The FADER’s Songs You Need In Your Life are our picks for the most exciting and essential new music releases out there. Every day, we update this page with new selections. Listen on our Spotify playlist or hear them all below.
BADBADNOTGOOD: “Take What’s Given”
BADBADNOTGOOD add a little classic soul to their sound, recruiting Houston-based vocalist Reggie Helms Jr. on their new song “Take What’s Given.” The Canadian group have always had a vintage quality to their music and that shines through stronger than ever here with a perky bassline complimenting wistful keys and a horn section that illuminates everything around it. It is Reggie’s pipes that shine the most, though. Offering simple life lessons aimed at bringing warmth into the world (“your medicine is better when it’s kept”), he delivers a much-needed fuzzy glow that radiates more and more with every listen. — David Renshaw
DJ Dayeh & MC Bibi Drak: “As Mais Top”
In São Paulo, Brazil, where the producer reigns supreme, DJ Dayeh is at the forefront of bruxaria, one of baile funk’s most twisted tendrils. “As Mais Top,” one of three singles released with the announcement of a new NTS compilation of the city’s sounds, opens on strings, a siren, and rolling static, with a vocal recreation of a kick-snare entering soon thereafter. After a DJ/MC tag that sounds like a haunted lullaby, the track kicks into gear, with Bibi Drak’s bars maneuvering through the debris of sub bass, whistles, and high-pitched laughter that follow. As in most of the bruxaria pantheon, the track’s powerful pulse is achieved in the absence of traditional drums; instead, Dayeh uses the long-stewing materials in her cauldron — negative space perhaps being the most important of all — to evoke the sense of punishing percussion. — Raphael Helfand
