Tracks we love right now, in no particular order.
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.
Rosalía, “Berghain”
All original El Mal Querer fans please stand up. Rosalía is back in her high drama, classical music pocket — singing operatically in German as Vivaldi violins whip around her — and this time she’s brought Björk and Yves Tumor along. —Steffanee Wang
Lily Allen, “Pussy Palace”
I have been unable to stop singing the addictive and, frankly, hilarious chorus of this song, a ruthless drag and scathing masterpiece. The story behind Lily Allen’s cheater-exposing West End Girl is obviously devastating. But the pop star knows what parts of the story can be inflated to crowd-pleasing heights of sensationalism. —SW
Dave, “No Weapons” (feat. Jim Legxacy)
U.K. rapper Dave’s new album The Boy Who Played The Harp is a conscious exploration of what it means to have a platform and apply your voice. Amid a project filled with guest stars like James Blake and Tems, it’s Jim Legxacy’s appearance that shines brightest. The regular collaborators nurture a comfort on “No Weapons,” trading verses and bouncing off one another as they exchange uplifting words about taking risks and reaping the rewards. —DR
Dutch Interior, “Play The Song”
On Dutch Interior’s latest track, “Play The Song,” the LA county sextet mixes lolling piano chords with subtly picked acoustic guitar alongside an ambient hum to create a warm backdrop. From there Noah Kurtz sings in a meta way about using music as a way to fill awkward silences. “It’d be so tragic,” he sighs. “To give my life to static.” —DR
monte booker & Mereba, “b 2 b”
monte booker’s long-awaited debut album arrives with a lead single ready to set a fire under the asses of anyone growing complacent. Over blown-out bass, Mereba questions the world with a healing chant: “These days I wonder why, I scream up to the sky / These days don’t call for peace, set fire to the beast.” At a time when so many are left voiceless, Mereba’s chords create noise and meaning just as powerful as monte’s pounding production. —Kylah Williams
BNYX, Clara La San, “Telepathy Love”
If I could insert the meme of SpongeBob ascending into the air right now, I would. The pillowy voice of one of R&B’s underground favorites collides with BNYX’s synth-heavy production, forming an endlessly rhythmic bond. Their seductive meeting leaves you unsure where the song begins or ends — and honestly, that’s probably in your dance moves’ best interest. —KW
Major Lazer, “BRUK DOWN” (feat. PARRIS GOEBEL, AMERICA FOSTER, SADBOI)
Diplo and Walshy Fire’s long-running project Major Lazer welcomes a new voice: America Foster, a British-Jamaican siren with heaps of charisma and smolder. Her explosive debut on “Bruk Down,” alongside acclaimed choreographer Parris Goebel and reggae artist Sadboi, proves her to be a mighty, rejuvinating addition. —SW
Masego, “Spin The Block”
Reminiscing on that one sticky situationship just got a lot more fun with Masego’s latest, proud-to-be-toxic, funk-laced single. If your friends are tired of hearing about it, the group chat of instruments on Masego’s production will fully support you hitting up whoever you want. And just when you start to regret sending that text, the song flips into a Jersey club beat that reminds you there’s nothing’s wrong with wanting that old thing back. —KW
Ratboys, “Anywhere”
“Anywhere,” Ratboys’ first single off their upcoming album Singin’ To An Empty Rocking Chair, is a song on which vocalist Julia Steiner expresses feelings of anxious attachment while confronting through a period of change. Abandonment leads to panic as handclaps and wiry guitars offset Steiner’s pep-filled chorus and the song helter-skelters its way to a zippy conclusion. —DR
Navy Blue, “Orchards”
On “Orchards,” the first release from Navy Blue’s upcoming album The Sword & the Soaring, the rapper navigates loss, spirituality, and grand connections illuminated by a retreat into himself. Over a serene beat from Child Actor, he raps: “God doesn’t make it too hard for those who seek / Now I’m moving so slowly through this river of grief.” Even as he’s leaden down with burdens, he still floats. —Jordan Darville
Harlan Steed, “Meet Me in the Graveyard”
Show Me The Body bassist Harlan Steed’s first solo single in five years is an archetypal goth track whose title says it all. It opens with John Carpenter synths that are soon augmented by a colossal, militant drum line and a bruising bass/guitar progression. “If it’s got blood, it can get sucked,” Steed states, his voice warped and fried by an ultra-coiled effects chain, cementing the track as a vampiric classic just in time for Halloween. —Raphael Helfand
Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott, “A Lover’s Theory of Value (FREAKS MIX)”
Ruth Mascelli and Mary Hanson Scott met in the 2010s New Orleans experimental music scene. They both now live in different places but the swampy textures of the Gulf South resonate deeply on their forthcoming collab album, Esoteric Lounge Music Now. Where the original “Lover’s Theory of Value” is a slow, discomfiting tour of Mascelli’s perverted mind, Freak Heat Waves’ remix adds a dubby delicacy to the track, couching the sleaze in sunrise synths and a playful trip-hop drum line. —RH
FRANKIE & Kelman Duran, “GRAYT”
Berlin-based musician Franziska Aigner and Dominican-American producer Kelman Duran — best known, perhaps, for his work on Beyoncé’s Renaissance — quietly released two excellent singles this fall. “GRAYT” is a standout. Above stabs of industrial percussion, sweeping strings, and fractured vocal samples, FRANKIE waxes ethereal about crossing her heart until the heavens break in two. —RH