Essential Listening: This week’s best new music
Welcome back to Essential Listening, a place where we compile all the best new music of the week into the definitive tome of modern music: The Far Out Playlist.
Last week, I made the bold proclamation that The Beths’ excellent new LP Expert in a Dying Field should take top honours as our Album of the Week. And you know what? That’s exactly what happened! It’s well deserved, considering how The Beths managed to make one of the catchiest and most energetic albums released so far this year.
If you’re not really in the mood for top-shelf punk-infused indie rock with gorgeous harmonies and pop melodies, first off, what’s wrong with you? But if The Beths aren’t tickling your fancy today, take a walk over to Whitney’s Spark, a wonderfully chill electro-soul LP from the Chicago duo. It’s also a fantastic album, and it’s pretty much the opposite vibe of Expert in a Dying Field, perfect for a lazy Sunday morning and a nice cup of coffee.
Over on the singles front, it’s been an equally solid week. New releases from the likes of Iggy Pop, Billy Nomates, METZ and Swim Deep have made this an awesome week for new music. Still, only eight songs can make it onto this list.
Here are all the best new songs of the week, compiled onto The Far Out Playlist.
Best new music, September 11th – September 17th:
Orlando Weeks and Chartreuse – ‘Satellites’
Orlando Weeks’ collaboration with Chartreuse is the sort of calming one that could quell the frenzy of a commuter crush into a tranquil vestibule of mindful hush. The team-up for ‘Satellites’ is everything you’d expect from a collision by the pair.
Swaying around with serenity, the duo craft a swell of textured simplicity before Weeks lays down a topline melody that does just enough to stop you from sinking entirely into mesmeric reverie and listen to what he has to croon.
Weyes Blood – ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’
American singer-songwriter Natalie Mering, better known under her stage name Weyes Blood, has announced a new album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. The new LP will be her fifth studio album and will act as the follow-up to 2019’s Titanic Rising. Co-produced with Foxygen member Jonathan Rado, the new album will feature guest appearances from Meg Duffy, Daniel Lopatin, and Mary Lattimore.
With the announcement also comes the release of the album’s opening track, ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’. A sprawling six-minute track in the artist’s familiar haze of strings, keyboards, and ambience, ‘It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody’ is a stirring ballad riddled with anxiety and loss. The only comfort is that the entire world is feeling this way: “Everybody splits apart sometimes / Living in the wake of overwhelming changes / We’ve all become strangers / Even to ourselves.”
Bill Callahan – ‘Coyotes’
Over his winding career, Bill Callahan has etched out a niche as one of the best and most original songwriters currently putting out music. With a voice that wavers with an unapologetic quiver and words of wry riddled poignancy, Callahan tells it how it is, and it is really rather charming. His latest outing continues that trend.
In the same vein as songs like ‘One Fine Morning’ and ‘Pigeons’, there is a sense of a songwriter propped up on a porch when it comes to his demurring musings in ‘Coyotes’. Somewhat rambling and filled with dissonant jazz flourishes, Callahan is not afraid to wander, but a joyous melody allows for this c’est la vie excursion as he tackles life in essence.
Angel Olsen and Sturgill Simpson – ‘Big Time’
The title track from the most recent album by folk-indie-genre blender extraordinaire Angel Olsen was ‘Big Time’, a hefty and heartfelt ode to leaning into the more emotional parts of life, whether they be uplifting or harrowing. Big Time was an album centred around the dichotomy of love and loss, but all you had to do was listen to the title song in order to really feel what Olsen was going for.
So how do you make it even better? Add another master of heartbreaking beauty. This time it comes in the form of cosmic country star Sturgill Simpson, who adds a new vocal to the original recording of ‘Big Time’. As he takes on the second verse, Olsen’s call for coffee and nature gets a boost from Simpson. The new perspective adds a palpable twang to the arrangement and a fresh angle to the song.
Björk – ‘Ovule’
At the end of the month, Björk will release her tenth studio album, Fossora. Fossora sounds wildly experimental and highly out there for popular music in the first new album from the Icelandic singer in half a decade. In other words, it’s sounding a lot like Björk. We’ve already gotten a preview of the LP through the first single, ‘Atopos’, released earlier this month. Now, we’re getting another peak into the weird and wild world of Fossora with another new single, ‘Ovule’.
Featuring a dense arrangement of orchestra horns and layered voices, ‘Ovule’ has a lot going on. Björk herself arranged the track, including the hectic horn blasts that pop up on top of the quasi-trap beat that skitters throughout the track. Like all of Björk’s work, a strange, cracked kind of beauty is hidden under the layers of craziness, but not one that’s crazy for craziness’ sake. It’s that special blend of Björk craziness.
Cate Le Bon – ‘Typical Love’
Welsh indie folk icon Cate Le Bon released her wonderfully wonky art pop LP Pompeii earlier this year. Filled to the brim with synthesizers, strings, and stirring vocals, Pompeii is certainly one of the better albums to be released this year. And like any good artist, Le Bon had some material that didn’t quite find its way onto the album.
Today, we’re to hear one of those tracks that didn’t make it onto Pompeii: ‘Typical Love’. The track is only an “outtake” as a formality: there’s nothing cast off or lesser than about ‘Typical Love’, a buzzy and mechanical take on the idiosyncrasies of sharing your heart with someone else. Sometimes it hits, and sometimes it hurts: typical love, right?
Fred Again.. – ‘Danielle (Smile on My Face)’
Fred John Philip Gibson, the producer more commonly known as Fred Again.., has announced his plans to release his new album, Actual Life 3, and he’s also shared the lead single, ‘Danielle (Smile On My Face)’.
‘Danielle (Smile On My Face)’ is euphoric and heartbreaking in equal measure. It’s dance music with bundles of soul, and Fred Again..’s Gen-Z-friendly twist on the genre is the antidote to emotionless EDM. It’s easy to understand why he’s been one of the most in-demand performers at festivals this summer and how he’s taken over my TikTok feed.
JW Francis – ‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’ (ft. Margaux)
If you don’t know New York indie rocker JW Francis, then you’re missing out on one of the goofiest and most fun indie rockers working in America right now. Last year was an awesome coming-out party, featuring one of my personal favourite songs of 2021, ‘John, Take Me With You’, and the great LP WANDERKID. Now, there’s a whole new album ready to run at the start of 2023: Dream House. As a preview of the upcoming LP, Francis has shared his latest single, the catchy and wonderfully weird ‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’.
Question: can basketballs be romantic? It might seem like a silly question, but hey, ‘I Wanna Be Your Basketball’ is a silly song. It’s not just basketballs, though: JW wants to be your favourite shopping mall too. Whatever gets him out of the house and on the path to happiness. When Margaux steps in for her verse, the song turns into a charmingly light duet about love setting you free.
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