This week saw some releases we hinted at in our fall music preview, but if that wasn’t enough to sate your appetite for new tunes, we rounded up a handful of our favorite tracks that we heard this week.
Meow The Jewels – “Oh My Darling Don’t Meow”
Meow The Jewels, the cannabis-fueled dream of a remix album from hip-hop tag team Killer Mike and El-P, is almost here. El-P has shared a few early tracks, but “Oh My Darling Don’t Meow,” a remix of “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” by all-star producer Just Blaze, might just be the strongest yet. Just Blaze managed to twist and manipulate cats’ vocal cords into a eerie, industrial beat, and creates a narrative around a disastrous iteration of the imagined spectacle called “Cat Week,” which obviously ends poorly. This project continues to be one of the most absurd charity projects in the history of hip-hop.
Ibeyi – “Stranger/Lover”
Ibeyi is twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz, the French Cuban daughters of Buena Vista Social Club percussionist Anga Diaz. Ibeyi means “twin” in Yoruba, and the pair play with their duality in their latest video, for their smoldering track “Stranger/Lover,” from their self-titled debut. Their faces and voices are symbiotic — it’s difficult to discern between the two on screen or on the track, and it seems like that’s the point. The clip’s hand/face bondage themes recall FKA Twigs’ “Papi Pacify” video, but “Stranger/Lover” is more wistful, a longing for intimacy that’s more spiritual than sexual, at the moment when a lover becomes a stranger. Gorgeous.
Rizzla – “Twitch Queen”
Rizzla is a producer on LA-based dance label Fade to Mind’s roster; his upcoming EP, Iron Cages, is out September 25. “Twitch Queen” fits in with much of the Fade to Mind output (they’re the folks responsible for bringing Kelela to the masses), and that’s a good thing. It’s loud, pulsing, and implores you aggressively to move. Listen for it in your favorite DJ’s next set at Output or Cielo.
New Order – “Plastic”
New New Order is always news. “Plastic” is ostensibly about a lady of much style and little substance, but let’s be real, you’re probably not here for the lyrics. With a bass synth line that sounds lifted from the cutting room floor of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and heavy Pet Shop Boys vibes, “Plastic” is a modern disco banger. As much as we hate to admit it, it does lack some oomph on the backend, which one might or might not attribute to the absence of the Duke of Douche Peter Hook. But it seems we’ll always have Bernard Sumner’s jangle jangle to sooth the savage beast out on the dancefloor.
Brian Vander Ark – “The Freshmen”
While not technically a new song, the latest iteration of Daniel Ralston’s “Get a Room” series over at Vulture — in which throwback stars sing their hits in karaoke rooms — does shed some light on some of the most puzzling lyrics in pop history. “The lyrics are a mess!” says Brian Vander Ark, the lead singer of the Verve Pipe, whose 1996 hit has puzzled karaoke superstars for almost two decades. Here he clarifies some contentious lyrics, encourages sing-a-longs, and relates how some fans have told him that his own recollection of the words is wrong. It’s silly, cute, and informative; the Internet, just as it should be.