Best New Tracks Of The Week: 12/4/23

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5. Petroleum - Yard Act
While I came away from the first Yard Act album pretty mixed something tells me I'm going to like the follow-up a lot more. The singles have seen the band leaning into their grooviest eccentricities and the results are post-punk that fringes on danceability in the way very few bands can achieve. This may not be the most bombastic or infectious of the songs but I still like it quite a bit. 

4. Tunnel Lights - Chelsea Wolfe
While this track may not blow me away in quite the same way Chelsea's past two tracks have it still has everything I would want in one of her songs. From the spacious percussion marked by booming distorted drums to her haunting voice wrapping itself around mystical fairy tale refrains it's all still so compelling. 

3. The Fight - Future Islands
The most reserved single from Future Islands' new era might be its best moment yet. It has the patience to squeeze every moment of somber drama out of the verses and channel it into a soaring chorus that Sam Herring is as perfectly capable of delivering as ever. Add in the mystical dreamy synth lines the band is known for and you've got a wonderfully complete ballad.
Listen

2. MY HOUSE - Beyonce
Even if this is just a Renaissance leftover being packaged alongside the release of the movie, it's a fucking great song. Beyonce sounds HUNGRY on this track in a way I haven't heard in ages. The track is intense full of thumping samples and built around a killer beat. Even for a song called "MY HOUSE" though Bey feels like just one element in a chorus of excellent sounds blending together on the track. 


1. Bubblegum Dog - MGMT
Chapter two of MGMT's new surreal folktronica outing is just as satisfying as the first taste. This song features some even more wiry instrumentation but the songwriting instincts are perfectly intact. Alongside them are the same keen songwriting instincts that have made the band irresistible for their entire career and even some light dabbling into the murky gothic aesthetic of tracks from their last album Little Dark Age. This is yet another song I find exceedingly impressive. 

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