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Someone who doesn’t listen to “Jackie” is so overwhelmed by it. From its opening feedback boo to its final reverb, the song is a battleground of love discord – guitars frolic and cry in turn, and drums still ring. even when they fall. Yves Tumor searches the carnage for hints of life and answers that won’t happen. “These days have been tragic, I can’t sleep, won’t eat anything,” they sang in a voice that was both hot and hard, like anguish gnawing just beneath the surface of something. impenetrable cool. In moments of restraint and turmoil, “Jackie” is the song the heartbreaking cataclysm deserves.

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“Akokán” is a West African Yoruba word that means “from the heart”, and the big band took that word as their name using every note on their two albums to spread the gospel of the music. Cuba in the 19650s. The band is a product of both Havana and Brooklyn, and this song, from the album 16 Rayos, is a version of jumping into a carnaval amid a series of folk percussionists playing traditional conga rhythms from the area. area east of Santiago de Cuba. Trench is so infectious that if you don’t touch your foot, you could die.

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Dawn Richard kills it wherever she goes, but her home field advantage is unstoppable. Second Line is not only about New Orleans and her family, specifically her mother, who narrates the album, but also about the electronic music reformation of Black women. Thus, “Bussifame” was co-produced with Sam O.B. It’s an interesting statement: a velvety hip-house beat delivered by Richard’s rap muscles, rhythmically combined with big-money braggarts. The curving groove, lightly embellished with neon electric-pop polka dots, is a dream for any drilling team that needs a full-body routine, but will also put your feet to work.

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“Sacude” opens simultaneously with a clave and an irregular synth beat; each is a representation of where Xenia Rubinos’ music has been and is going. It was the slow sound of a machine that was a hybrid of organic and man-made parts. She sings, slowly, as if humming to life: “I’m carrying a heavy burden for both of us / It’s time to let go.” “Sacude” sheds that weight with catchy lyrics followed, “Cuanto quisiera salir de esto ya.” In the middle, the song is built around the chorus of “Sacude, sacude y Dios que me ayude,” a focused call she makes and responds to with unbound soneos. It’s a real despojo, the sort of ritual one seeks after a defeat, seeking a new self from the pieces of rumba that break apart and stick together.

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Juvenile’s iconic string of “Back That Azz Up” announced the arrival of “GYALIS,” but Capella Gray’s breakout single was a defining New York tie. With bold dancehall tunes (the Bronx singer-rapper is of Jamaican heritage) and drums that demand movement, it has the sultry rhythm of a New York summer, true to its theme. it. No wonder it was kept there before. Maybe it’s how easy Gray snakes in and out of his face, his giant’s boldness disguised as charisma, or a minute and a half never seems to be enough – “GYALIS ” becomes the perfect soundtrack for the outside comeback and all its mischief can bring.

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Berlin-based electronics maker Sofia Kourtesis created “La Perla” in tribute to her late father, inspired by trips to the ocean they would take together when she visit my native Peru. With its powerful heart-centric, heart-evoking drums, “La Perla” subtly reveals itself with layers of warm, sparkling sound, soft percussion, and ambiguous, dreary vocals, including envelop you in the sound of salty ocean waves lapping the shore.

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Since pass star Kacey Musgraves is positioned as her divorce album, listeners must be wary of any evidence of filth in the songs. But instead, what Musgraves conveys, especially in “The Good Wife,” is a deft dissonance with the gendered family roles she has taken on. The song is like a contemplative prayer, the measured subtlety of her voice clear even through the flimsy effects, as she ponders on the one hand her desire for companionship and on the other. is the emotional fear of managing a husband’s happiness. These are things that are subtly conflicting and destructive.

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Mannequin Pussy has appeared in Witchblood, the Western comic strip between vampires and witches, twice this year; first, a teal-dyed witch sings the band’s song “Patience” on a motorcycle, then the band members themselves become illustrated avatars. In that scene, Mannequin Pussy performs “To Lose You” in a small-town bar about to be destroyed by a worldwide rain of blood (and domination), a fitting setting for a song. Gentle ballad about the apocalypse of a relationship. The startling grandeur of “To Lose You” screams teen rom-com sync slot, but there’s a dark flair to Marisa Dabrice’s melodious vocal performance, a story line Deep romance and perhaps, yes, vampires – accompanied by the devastating loss of blood-bound love.

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