Every week, we bring you #SOUNDCHECK — your destination for the best new music that hit the web over the course of the week. Because you should always be prepared when someone passes you that AUX cord. This week's roundup features 10 of our favorite emerging and established artists.
“Closure” is sexy, vaporous club music you’d imagine aliens would dance to — in other words, a classic Kelela bop. (YouTube)
After three high-energy singles, the real beating heart of Paramore’s new album lies in the softer cuts, like this beautiful and brutal diss track tearing apart the literal big man. (YouTube)
Driving, gloomy ‘80s synths make Key’s “Killer” a fun thrill ride that in another universe could’ve lived on a Weeknd project. (YouTube)
Jessie Ware made the most exciting modern interpretation of disco on her 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure, and she’s keeping up her lustrous streak with “Pearls.” (YouTube)
There’s a self-aware cheekiness to Two Shell’s frisky, high-octane electronic music that’s only further highlighted by the inclusion of Apple’s infamous text tone here. (YouTube)
Lyrics like “And the love I feel is so very real that it’ll drag you down” will strike you like a lightning bolt on Indigo De Souza’s tremendous new ballad. (YouTube)
Sidney Gish didn’t go to film school, but you’d imagine she did with this sassy, endearing song about film school pedantry. “Have you. Even seen. A film?” (YouTube)
Los Angeles-based Chloe Gallardo’s gauzy but pretty indie rock feels meant for the next YA coming-of-age film. (YouTube)
I love the way the melody turns on Australian song-maker CXLOE’s perky pop anthem about making more time for yourself. (YouTube)
Toronto singer Rowena Fysx’s glowy R&B almost defies laws of physics in how silky, slithery smooth it is.(YouTube)