ScHoolboy Q - By Any Means: Part (1)
Welcome to our weekly roundup of the SPIN staffs favorite new songs. Below, sample the best from TDE consiglieres, electro-punk cool kids, and more.
Crocodiles, Telepathic Lover (Zoo Music)San Diego duo Crocodiles have been saddled with descriptors as varied as glam punk and dream pop, but the boys arent content to settle easily into any pocket. Their latest single, Telepathic Lover, off the bands upcoming sixth effort,Dreamless (October 21), drifts by so effortlessly, with shimmering keys and acoustics that recall the Church or Echo and the Bunnymen on sunnier days, that youll be tempted to dismiss it as indie ear candy. But dont be fooled: With deceptively paranoid lyrics, the song is an introspective new direction for the formerly fuzzy pair. DREW FORTUNE
Crystal Castles, Concrete (Casablanca Records)Like manyCrystal Castles songs, Concrete sits at the unsettling limen between EDM and goth. In the adjoining video, Edith Frances tromps backward through some Electric Zoo-like rave wearing a Type O Negative T-shirt and black lipstick, repeatedly screaming what sounds like Wade on the sleet / Wait with the reeds / Way to come clean, or something equally confusing and creepy. So if you were wondering whetherCC could survive without its formerfrontwoman, Alice Glass, Concrete demonstratesthat Frances is just ascapable of pouring the slab. MATTHEW MALONE
EZTV feat. Jenny Lewis, High Flying Faith (Captured Tracks)A year and change since the release of their stirring Captured Tracks debut, Brooklyns EZTV have announced a sophomore effort, High in Place (out September 30). Lead single High Flying Faith is buoyant and uncluttered, with crisp guitar tones and a sweeping baseline leaving room forfrontmanEzra Tenenbaumsmelancholic delivery. Inspired by lyrics to psych-rock Skip Spences Broken Heart, the track serves as an ode to a city in constant flux, a look back at the many changes New York Cityhas weathered since the groups inception. Together with an always-sparkling Jenny Lewis, EZTVs chorus harmonies balance the pensive mood with an eagerness for whats to come. JEFFREY SILVERSTEIN
Jonwayne, Jump Shot (Letherette Flip) (Self-released)Stones Throw rapper-producer Jonwayne has been releasing a slow trickle of singles this year following the 2015 release of the now-ironically titled Jonwayne Is Retired. the latest of which, Jump Shot, has now been remixed by Ninja Tune producer duo Letherette. The breathe-easy original was already plenty ethereal in its gently moaning vocal loop and distantly clanging cowbell, but the remix is even dreamier, with new-age-spa synths coating the proceedings and the bells now echoing in another dimension altogether. Write a track without a hook, and now its ready to blow, Jonwayne raps, and indeed, it might float right out the window if youre not careful. ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Russian Circles, Mota (Sargent House)This thundering epic is too smooth to be math-rock, so what is it? Mogwai given a slippery jolt of blast beats? Don Caballero with all the knots untied? Explosions not in the sky but on the ground? Perhaps the title is a clue: It means weed. DAN WEISS
ScHoolboy Q feat. Miguel, Overtime (Top Dawg Entertainment)Some people are probably still traumatized by how south Nas Life Is Good went when Miguel took a swing at the hook ofSummer on Smash. But huge misses like that are rare for the WILDHEART; remember, he arguably gave Wale his crossover career. Miguel now lends his aphrodisiac charm to theBlank Face LPhighlight Overtime. Smacked between the title tracks soulful anguish and the bleak prison pipeline laid out on closer Tookie Knows II, the jam reads like a s*x-positive respite. ScHoolboy Q glides over the sonic aquatics and manages not to say anything embarrassing (remember that drool on your b***s line?). This is how you follow up Studio. BRIAN JOSEPHS
Yohuna, Apart (Orchid Tapes)Clichd as it sounds, hindsight really does inspireemotional clarity. But waiting for 20/20 cant be easy when youre not, as Wisconsin-bornJohanne Swanson has described herself, a patient person. The ethereal singer-songwriter successfully pushes herself to hurry up and wait on this atmospheric charmer, though, opting to let go of what sounds like the kind of relationship that only sees progress when soaked in booze. RACHEL BRODSKY
Source: http://www.spin.com/2016/07/7-favorite-songs-of-the-week-schoolboy-q-crystal-castles/
