Here are our top 5 songs to stream this week — and remember to subscribe to our Spotify playlist for all of our weekly picks.
Radiohead — Burn The Witch
The first new single from Radiohead since 2011 hit speakers early this week, offering longtime fans an initial taste of the band’s hotly-anticipated ninth studio album — which we now know is due out Sunday at 11 a.m. A string-laden jam that channels Rite of Spring, the song is driven by electronic drums and floating vocals. It comes with a dark claymation video which is not to be missed.
Kendrick Lamar and Prince — Untitled
As the music world continues to deal with the shocking news of Prince’s sudden passing, the Prince Museum opened the doors of his famed vault this week to share an amazing on-stage collaboration between the legendary artist and rapper Kendrick Lamar. A five minute video which heavily showcases the late musician’s all-female live band (including one ripping guitar solo), the collaboration sizzles for its entirety, and features compelling verses from both Lamar and the man in purple.
Charlotte Day Wilson — Work
First thing’s first: Charlotte Day Wilson may be from Toronto, but her song Work is most certainly not a cover of Drake’s latest collaboration with Rihanna. Instead of an upbeat dance hall number for the scantily clad, the R&B singer offers listeners a heavy-hearted chorus of rejuvenation. “It’s gonna take a bit of work/Now that you’re here” the singer croons over gospel-tinged background vocals in the middle. The song may not be upbeat, but it is optimistic — an interesting perspective from a musician like Wilson who, with some work of her own, could be looking at a fantastic musical future.
Nothing — The Dead Are Dumb
Shoegaze revivalists Nothing have come a long way since their hardcore beginnings, offering fans some seriously ambient sounds above an extremely pop-influenced chorus on their latest single, The Dead Are Dumb. The song crawls pleasantly throughout its four-and-a-half minutes, a heavy-rocking tortoise for whom the journey is more important than the finish line.
Quiet Hollers — Broken Guitar
“I wrote a song on a broken guitar/ I knew it was gonna be an instant classic/ Only the kids they didn’t ever catch it/ you know they only ever want to feel good,” sings Quiet Hollers’ bearded frontman Shadwick Wilde on the band’s latest single Broken Guitar. And he’s right: This song isn’t kid stuff. An interestingly fragmented expose of grown-up failures and various real-world items in a state of disrepair, the band holds together the cracks in its new single with muted guitar and piano melodies. This is a breakup song with literally-broken things, but it’s not the tears-on-the-pillow variety; This is the track that you put on when you finally decide to get out of bed, take a shower, and move on with your life.
That’s it for now, but check back every week for more new tunes to stream!
