Dear listeners,
What was your New Year’s resolution? Eat better? Exercise more? Keep up with new music? One of those sounds more fun than the other two, and, luckily, it’s also the one I can help you with.
Every month or so, I compile some recent highlights from the pop music team’s Friday Playlists, which round up the best and most notable songs in a given week. These newsletter digests are rarely longer than 30 minutes or so — which means that you can still stay up-to-date on new releases even if you’re pressed for time. What if you listen to this playlist while exercising or preparing a healthy meal? I swear, my mind blows my mind.
Today’s selection features a few indie stalwarts returning with new albums (Perfume Genius, Lucy Dacus, Japanese Breakfast); two young hip-hop stars teaming up for a collaboration (Central Cee and Young Miko); and a certain 79-year-old Canadian legend debuting his latest band and, thus, continuing to rock in the free world.
Big guitars strumming,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Perfume Genius: “It’s a Mirror”
I generally associate Perfume Genius — the long-running, consistently excellent project helmed by singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas — with moody synths and pointillistic piano, so this new single from the forthcoming album “Glory” is a bit of a surprise. (A very welcome one, though.) The stomping percussion and rough-hewed acoustic guitar provide a satisfying contrast with Hadreas’s tremulous vocals, as he sings of spiraling anxiety and emotional collapse. Plus, I’m a sucker for a song with a fake ending, and “It’s a Mirror” has a great one.
2. Lucy Dacus: “Ankles”
’Tis the season for the women of boygenius to start releasing music individually. Last month, Julien Baker released “Sugar in the Tank,” a country-rock collaboration with the singer-songwriter Torres. Then, a few weeks ago, fellow genius Lucy Dacus announced that her next solo album, “Forever Is a Feeling,” will come out March 28. “I want you to show me what you mean, then help me with the crossword in the morning,” Dacus sings on this sweet, twinkling first single, which imbues her distinct songwriting voice with a fresh pop sensibility. Phoebe Bridgers, your move.
3. Central Cee & Young Miko: “Gata”
Central Cee — the British MC who broke into the mainstream in 2023 with “Sprinter,” a nimble collaboration with fellow rapper Dave — teams up with the Puerto Rican rising star Young Miko on this highlight from Cee’s recently released debut LP “Can’t Rush Greatness.” As my colleague Jon Caramanica noted, perfectly describing the appeal of Cee’s signature flow, “Tossed-off triple-syllable rhymes delivered like casual chitchat are just part of what makes Central Cee so effective.”
4. Japanese Breakfast: “Orlando in Love”
Michelle Zauner had a huge year in 2021. Not only did her indie-pop group Japanese Breakfast release the Grammy-nominated “Jubilee,” its most successful album to date, Zauner’s stirring memoir “Crying in H Mart” also catapulted her to literary fame, spending over a year on the New York Times best-seller list. (There’s also a movie adaptation in the works, with a screenplay by Zauner.) I must confess that, while I loved Zauner’s memoir, I could never quite get into “Jubilee.” Maybe the upcoming Japanese Breakfast album, “For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women),” will better resonate with me, a melancholy natural brunette. I certainly dig this dreamy lead single, inspired by the Italian Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo. (I told you Zauner is literary!)
5. Daneshevskaya: “Kermit & Gyro”
This enchanting, orchestral folk song is the first I’ve heard of Daneshevskaya — the New York-based musician Anna Beckerman — and now I’ll be keeping an ear out for her subsequent releases. “Like a tree frog, I’ve begun to change color,” Beckerman sings in a calm lilt, amid a lush, swirling atmosphere, as she learns to adapt after a breakup. “I’m a different kind of reptile now.”
6. Hamilton Leithauser: “Knockin’ Heart”
As anyone who’s ever heard the Walkmen’s coiled-up classic “The Rat” can tell you, Hamilton Leithauser is adept at singing with intense desperation. He taps into a similar vein on this rocker from his upcoming solo album “This Side of the Island.” The co-producer Aaron Dessner got the song’s layered, blown-out sound in part by using not one but three basses. Said Leithauser in an accompanying statement: “That is a first for me.”
7. Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts: “Big Change”
Finally, here’s a guy who knows all about layered, blown-out sound. “Big Change” is the first song Neil Young has released with his latest backing band the Chrome Hearts, which features the guitarist Micah Nelson, the drummer Anthony LoGerfo, the bassist Corey McCormick and the organist Spooner Oldham. The song is at once ominous and hopeful, and it features a wonderfully on-brand swipe at stultifying technology (“Take the bits and pixels / Put your old phone down”). “Big change is coming,” Young intones over a squall of distortion. “Big drums are drumming.” Indeed they are, Neil!
The Amplifier Playlist
“7 New Songs You Should Hear Now” track list
Track 1: Perfume Genius, “It’s a Mirror”
Track 2: Lucy Dacus, “Ankles”
Track 3: Central Cee & Young Miko, “Gata”
Track 4: Japanese Breakfast, “Orlando in Love”
Track 5: Daneshevskaya, “Kermit & Gyro”
Track 6: Hamilton Leithauser, “Knockin’ Heart”
Track 7: Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, “Big Change”
Bonus Tracks
Last weekend, Timothée Chalamet was the host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” where he performed three Bob Dylan deep cuts. I am … still confused about the whole thing, and grateful that Jon Pareles put it into context in this notebook.
Also, the Grammys are Sunday, and on Friday, we’ll be back with an Amplifier spotlighting the nominees in one of the night’s most stacked categories. Until then, here’s a sharp reported piece from Ben Sisario about the Grammys’ decision to go on with the show in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires.
The post 7 New Songs You Should Hear Now appeared first on New York Times.
