Best New Tracks Of The Week: September 10th, 2023
5. shake my bones - Matana Roberts
Though this is a much shorter offering than the expansive single Matana led this era off with, the track is no less exciting. She continues to have a style of jazz deeply influenced by world music but firmly rooted in her fundamentals as a composer and the result is individual moments that absolutely soar over the familiar but impressively performed undercurrent of sounds throughout. It's quite a bit of excitement crammed into just 4 minutes.
4. WUACV - Tkay Maidza
Tkay's newest short, thumping banger does feel a good bit like her past two as well as tracks in her past like Syrup. But that feels less like familiarity and more like experience on this song which wastes no time getting into some of its most lethal refrains. Could the lyrics be better, certainly, but that isn't really what you put on a song like this for in the first place.
3. Mad-Dauber Wasp - Matmos
After releasing an album last year that I wasn't crazy about the most interesting duo in all of experimental electronica are back. With them, they've brought another surreal new concept and one of their most explosive songs in years. With the wiry pitching of tones making everything sound vaguely human and completely unrecognizable at the same time and the pulsating drums throughout the results are a surreal and fascinating new single.
2. Engine - Slaughter Beach, Dog
Slaughter Beach, Dog continue to be interesting and impressive on new singles. For this track, they absolutely morph into the form of Kurt Vile doing a track that you could really easily convince me was conceived or written by him. The jangly 9-minute indie folk wandering even nails Vile's vocal inflections and lyricism but it all feels less copycat and more tribute. Regardless the song itself is wonderful and drifting through its sparkling malaise was never anything but a pleasure on successive listens.
1. Only - Sampha
Sampha just announced the release date for his MASSIVELY anticipated new album, his first since 2017. He's led off the new era with two great singles the most recent is Only which is a bit less abstracted than it's predecessor both thematically and sonically. Sampha handles this track with his beautiful vocals directly as is perfectly on display on the songs simple soaring hook. Once again he's blending the familiar with the genre-pushing to craft a mysterious and other-worldly R&B soundscape and it pays off big time.
