SOUNDCHECK
Nigeria’s Tekno makes a cookout anthem, and NewJeans turns electroclash sweet.
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.
“Sexy To Someone” - Clairo
No matter how much we all try to play it cool, Clairo knows we just wanna feel desired sometimes. Now, she’s turned that emotion into an anthem that feels as easy as a walk in a park.
“Caught Up” - FLO
FLO perfects the brilliant genre of “sassy ‘90s R&B song telling off the unfaithful boyfriend.”
“Wayo” - Tekno
We’re calling it now: This will be the afrobeats bop blasting at block parties and cookouts this summer.
“How Sweet” - NewJeans
Electroclash and K-pop? Somehow NewJeans makes it work, and spins it with their signature sweetness into a cotton candy ditty of a song about slipping out of a toxic relationship.
“stick of gum” - Nemahsis
Nemahsis’s “stick of gum” feels like a descendent of the charming, handcrafted indie pop (by the Lenkas and Lily Allens) that was huge in the ‘2010s.
“Raining On Your Pillow” - DIIV
With a guitar riff that sounds like an omen, DIIV’s “Raining On Your Pillow” offers futilistic but urgent commentary on the global war industrial machine.
“Stuck Up” - Romy Mars
Romy Mars, famously Sofia Coppola’s daughter, makes her music debut as a witty bedroom pop song-maker who describes bad luck as “the tire waiting on me drive drunk.”
“U Should Not Be Doing That” - Amyl and the Sniffers
Amyl, of Amyl and the Sniffers, was “in Tokyo, showing off my crack,” when haters around the world decided to chime in. This is her message to them.
“The Groke” - Okay Kaya
The slightly off-tune recorder whistles in the otherwise funky beat of “The Groke” perfectly encapsulate the charming weirdness of Okay Kaya’s pop music.
“My Moon” - Habibi
This is dreamy rock music that’ll make you feel like a sad but glamorous movie star in the ‘60s.