The opening plinking tones, the gently kneaded sample of Hugh Masekela’s version of the R&B song “Stop,” the easygoing urgency of Black Thought’s rapping: there’s so much about “No Gold Teeth” that commands attention. Presented as an introduction to a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Black Thought and Danger Mouse, “No Gold Teeth”

This is exactly the sort of breezy melancholy I’m looking for in my summer jams. Set against a shuffling indie-rock rhythm and lithe synth and guitars, the track expresses that sense of stasis that twentysomething scufflers have been humming about … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Sunflower Bean, “In Flight”

Yeah, that’s the stuff. We, the new album from Arcade Fire, is scheduled for release in May. Continue reading This Week’s Model — Arcade Fire, “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)”

I come by the selections for this weekly feature in a variety of ways, but I think this is the first time the cut in question first found my earholes because it was lobbed into my social media feeds by … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Linqua Franqa, “Oh Fxck”

Anna Calvi does not underachieve. After being hired to compose the score for late-series episodes of Peaky Blinders, Calvi just kept going, writing some songs inspired by the show’s main character, Tommy Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy). “Ain’t No Grave” … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Anna Calvi, “Ain’t No Grave”

Shilpa Ray has never struck me as an artist who is reticent about sharing her heated thoughts. Her new single, “Lawsuits and Suicide,” takes aim at a former abusive partner who followed the adhered to the common pattern of greeting … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Shilpa Ray, “Lawsuits and Suicide”

When the COVID-19 pandemic roared into destructive dominance in the spring of 2020, there was a lot of discussion online and elsewhere of the way it was upended the music industry. When venues shut down and acts couldn’t tour or … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Adia Victoria, “Ain’t Killed Me Yet”

Following up last year’s splendid attention-getter “Silk Chiffon” is no small task. MUNA is up to it, though. On the trio’s new single, “Anything But Me,” they tap into that sweet vein of Haimian pop, all eighties-sunshine gleam. It’s a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — MUNA, “Anything But Me”

Realistically, I’m sold from the opening riff, with its little tingle of disco-era Rolling Stones. It’s only a few seconds before the fuzzed-out, thick-bottom blues guitar really kicks in, the blaring alert that “Wild Child” is indeed the Black Keys … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The Black Keys, “Wild Child”

“Angelica,” the new single from Wet Leg, feels very current in a way that sometimes eludes modern music. There’s not a lot of reinvention in the music itself; it’s splendid indie pop with a well-deployed wash of chunky guitar on … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Wet Leg, “Angelica”