Best New Tracks Of The Week: June 25th, 2023
Day late, whoopsie I was swimming.
For the record new songs from Timbre Timber, Faye Webster, Little Dragon, and Lyrical Lemonade could have made this list in a weaker week.
5. Shy Boy - Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen songs basically have a spot reserved on this list but Shy Boy pushes that presumption more than most. The snappy dance beat and memorable lustful verses will sound VERY familiar for anybody whose enjoyed Carly's music before. My only real issue with the song is the singing on the hook which is clearly a stylistic choice but one that I think fractures the songs otherwise very good vibe. Ultimately it's the supplementary vocals in her normal register that save things and keep the song on the list.
4. BABY HELLO - Rauw Alejandro & Bizzarap
Consider me surprised. Not because I didn't know what these artists were capable of individually. Rauw Alejandro first impressed me on one of his biggest hits Todo De Ti before joining Rosalia for a very solid EP earlier this year. I've also enjoyed recent Bzrp session with Shakira, Peso Pluma, and Rauw himself. Maybe I just didn't expect them both to be operating near their peak at the same time and delivering what has to be an essential summer jam.
3. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f - Aphex Twin
In what would almost always been the most hyped comeback of any new week, Aphex Twin returned with his first official new music in years. The track is still decidedly IDM influenced but drifts away from the rigid and highly experimental electronic tailspin of the previous Aphex Twin EP. Instead, this is something more innately human which even features human-like hums during its conclusion following a colder but somewhat more familiar instrumental core.
2. kisses - Slowdive
Slowdive is back with their first new material in 6 years following their stellar self-titled comeback album. While my expectations were pretty high I had every anticipation that they would be met and they mostly were. The band seems to have somehow gotten even dreamier and more impressionistic overtime though the song still has one of the most enigmatic hooks they've ever written. It's a triumphant embrace of dream pop at its absolute haziest from some of the genre's pioneers.
1. Bending Hectic - The Smile
In the ongoing terminally online music dork discussion of who had the better comeback between Slowdive and Aphex Twin, have you considered voting for a third party? Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood's The Smile is back less than a year after releasing their debut project and while I expected their return to be good this is another thing entirely. Bending Hectic might be their best song yet and this is coming from someone who had Free In The Knowledge high on her Best Songs of 2023 list. The multi-faceted 8-minute epic is patient in its introduction to set up for an absolutely harrowing eruption that makes every creeping second of the song feel SO worth it.
