Each week, The FADER staff rounds up the songs we can’t get enough of. Here they are, in no particular order. Listen on our Spotify and Apple Music playlists, or hear them all below.
The Armed feat. Prostitute: “Broken Mirror”
The Armed have never sounded more essential than on THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED, the hardcore collective’s new album that’s as heavy as a dying star. Detroit punk group Prostitute guest on the highlight “Broken Mirror,” with lead vocalist Moe adopting a Mark E. Smith cadence, swaying through his incendiary exhortations with a droll disposition. The sense of desperation is inescapable, down to the synth line that whines with the pitch of a dentist’s drill burrowing into a tooth that’s rotted beyond repair. — Jordan Darville
Marjorie WC Sinclair: “Still Here”
The latest cut from Marjorie WC Sinclair — the freewheeling, smooth-rapping alias of hyperpunk provocateur Orion Ohana (aka Evanora:Unlimited) — is a quick dose of disco euphoria with a side of bars that feel tossed off at times but are punchy nonetheless. “Baby please don’t ask me if I’m still here, ’cause Ion’ know / It’s on track to be a good year… or so I hope,” Ohana raps, unbothered but by no means emotionless. “A hundred packs got me a good scare, somethin’ like a ghost / Just as quickly as it had appeared, could turn to smoke.” — Raphael Helfand
Acopia: “Real Life”
Melbourne band Acopia’s upcoming album Blush Response, due September 12 via Scenic Route, has the unmistakable air of a band finally comfortable in their own sound. “Real Life” is an exploration of compulsion and exhaustion, picking at the desire to live life fully until it all becomes overwhelming and retreat seems like the safest option. “Wasting my days, Watch it grow old, Back to default” Kate Durman sings over a sophisticated mix of austere pop and modest post-punk as she readies herself to start over again. —David Renshaw
Emily Yacina: “Talk Me Down”
Arriving with the announcement of a new album called Veilfall, “Talk Me Down” sees Indie-rock/bedroom-pop veteran Emily Yacina switching up her soft, airy style to incorporate looped keyboards and trap drums. It’s a changeup that could feel contrived or worse if done badly, but Yacina’s expert songcraft makes it work. Over the course of three minutes, she strings together memorable motifs, creating a dynamic tapestry that ripples with life. About halfway through, the beat slows. The components remain largely unchanged, but the decreased tempo presents them in a whole new light, another feat Yacina pulls off with ease. — RH
Anysia Kym & Tony Seltzer: “speedrun”
If you like Tirzah’s woozy twilight lullabies but sometimes wish there was a little more zip to the tunes, check out “speedrun” by Anysia Kym. This dreamlike R&B track, filled with frantic drum and bass production from regular MIKE collaborator Tony Seltzer, is the first from a new collaborative album titled Purity that the pair will drop on September 12. Clocking in at just over 1 minute long, it’s built to be looped over and over again. —DR
Burial: “Comafields”
Returning last week by surprise with a new two-track EP, Burial is once again putting on a masterclass in composing electronic music with an epic emotional scope. In contrast to his more rave-centered outings, “Comafields” glides on a gently pulsing drum beat that shifts forms repeatedly over the 12-minute runtime while retaining the same transcendent energy it helps imbue on the song. — JD
Sir Chloe: “Passenger”
Sir Chloe’s forthcoming album Swallow the Knife mines the fallout of an abusive relationship for catharsis. On “Passenger,” the New York-based artist is plainspoken about her past pain. “It happened then, but I still have the wound,” she sings over slow-rolling drums and a massive guitar lick. It’s a simple, streamlined message, repeated three times across three minutes, growing in urgency with each iteration until the song is stretched to bursting point. — RH
Hayley Williams: “Glum”
The Hayley Williams solo project fans are calling Ego is an intriguing insight into a songwriter who enjoys defying expectations. Buried among the 17 songs, all released individually for fans to piece together how they prefer, is “Glum.” Williams takes her voice, a soulful bellow normally found bouncing off the back walls of arenas, and unceremoniously fucks with it, layering effects until it’s unrecognizable. The vocoder is removed for the song’s loudest moments, though, with Williams crashing out and questioning everything except her ability to write a killer chorus. “On my way to 37 years,” she sings. “I do not know if I’ll ever know what in the living fuck I’m doing here.” “Glum” might come from a place of confusion but it’s executed with conviction. —DR
Håvard Volden: “Oryzae”
The closing track from Norwegian guitarist/producer Håvard Volden’s new album Small Lives is also the seed from which the record germinated. The song’s title refers to a mold, also called koji, that grows on starchy foods and is the key ingredient in many Japanese products — soy sauce, sake, miso, etc. According to Volden, “the other songs on the album grew out of this song, just like…oryzae grows and spreads on rice.” The metaphor works even when the song is taken on its own; it’s based around a relatively simple chord progression that, rather than mutate, stretches its tendrils out for seven minutes, allowing other flora to bud around it. It’s a rolling landscape that mesmerizes the ears to such a degree that, before you know it, new sounds and textures have blossomed all around you. — RH
