Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd, the Internet's sleepiest music nerd. There have been a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so. So here are my thoughts on them - whether I loved them or hated them or felt somewhere in between.

Worst tracks of the week

Anyway, worst tracks of the week. We have a handful of those. We have a few. Let's blow through them. Let's not waste too much time on these worst tracks. I'm kind of not in the mood to waste too much time on these worst tracks.

Boom! Starting off with this new collaboration between Che and Nettspend, which I think betrays Che's potential, in my opinion. It's just boring. It's just basic. I feel like these two artists pretty much overlapped on the most generic rage-type sound that you possibly can and didn't want to try anything too weird that might be out of the other guy's comfort zone. So it just kind of landed somewhere in the middle. I'm breaking my promise. I'm wasting too much time here, though.

We have NAV and Young Thug releasing "Woah"; yes, it sucks. Not only is it boring, but between the two of them, they have written this song cumulatively like 12 times already. We don't need a 13th one. Thank you.

We also have Kings of Leon releasing "My Whole World." It's boring. It's underwhelming. It stinks.

And a new one from Cage the Elephant as well: "Dying in Reverse" is the title. Starts off with pretty decent potential, some heavy riffs, a bit of an eerie psych rock sound, but then it goes absolutely nowhere once it finishes establishing itself. What happened to this one, boys? I don't know.

Meh Tracks

Meh. The tracks I was on the fence about just thought they were okay. You might like them more than me. They are as follows.

Bam. Slipknot. They have a new one. "Arsenal" is the title of this track, and it's okay. Sounds like typical old-school Slipknot, but Corey's kind of flubbing it on a handful of lines. They do an attempt at a big bridge. Does it go as hard as the old stuff? No, but it sounds like they're trying to get back in touch with their classic sound a bit, and it's okay.

We also have "crank 2" from Slayyyter, a more revved-up and slightly industrial take on "crank," and it's just kind of all right. I would rather listen to the original.

We also have a new one over here from Shygirl with "Lucky." Shygirl is going kind of acoustic on a single from this forthcoming project, and it's okay. I don't know if this kind of direction is Shygirl's strength, but there was an attempt, and it was fine. Maybe it will grow on me more in the context of the album.

I'm also feeling like that might be the case to an extent for this new Rachel Chinouriri track, which the song itself didn't necessarily pop out to me, but I was taken aback a little bit by her going in kind of an electro direction on this one. Rachel's vocals and songwriting generally do tend to run pretty subtle, so maybe when I get more listens on it in the context of the record, it'll do a little bit more for me. But yeah, Rachel is trying a lot of different sounds on this forthcoming record cycle.

We also have Quavo over here teaming up with T.I. on "Backwards." Just kind of sounds like the same summer jam formula that he hit us with the last single with Pharrell. But that track was quite a bit better. I don't know.

We also have Peaches in the midst of a remix with IDLES, the "You're Alright (Pixel Grip remix)." It's okay. It's bumping. It's fine. It's got some grooves to it.

And The War on Drugs is back with "Who's That," Just a very middling psych folk rock pastiche that I feel like the project has done so much better in the past. This is very much a watered-down and uninspired version of kind of that original formula, in my opinion, at this point.

Best tracks

Best tracks of the week. Let's get to those. They are as follows.

Starting with, boom, we have Twisted Teens. They are going to be dropping a new record on Sub Pop Records. Prolific duo. New album on the way. And it sounds like very much an if it ain't broke, don't fix it type situation with the sound of this new single, which is grimy, is distorted, is compressed, is saturated, is rocking. "When We First Met," it's a cute little garagey rocker with those pedal steel leads in the background that are so sweet and make Twisted Teens who they are. I am looking forward to the new album. Looking forward to the Sub Pop debut.

Here we have a Tinashe hitting us with "Pillow Fight." A very kind of bare-bones, but still groovy, catchy, funny, and sexy track from her, from her forthcoming project. Really been killing it consistently on the singles, in my opinion. Could this be one of the better pop and R&B blends of the year? Let's find out.

We also have Spirit Possession, who are hitting us with a new one over here with "The Sharpening." It's a lengthy, six-minute, multi-phased monster that brings together elements of black metal, some death metal touches here and there, but it's so whacked out in terms of the song structure and the mixing and the production. It's just very disorienting in the most fun and creative way. You will hear vocal overdubs. You will hear drum passages. You will hear guitar parts that just kind of come flying out of nowhere, are so loud, or just play so subtly. It's a wild ride, and I think much better than their last single as well. Looking forward to a Cathedral Speech.

We have Shabazz Palaces. I think one of the most solid singles the project has dropped in a while. Maybe not multi-phased or out there or pushing the envelope as the Black Up material, but it's kind of bringing that weird, spacey, afro-futurist, psychedelic hip-hop sound that I like from the project, and it's a pretty focused song, in terms of lyrics and progression. I'm liking it quite a bit. I'm liking it quite a bit. Looking forward to their new album coming out.

We have Tierra Whack, who is teaming up for a new version of the track "QUEEN [THE WHACK VERSION" with Fat Nwigwe. And, man, is this a great lyrical team-up. Holy crap! This is fantastic. These two should make more music together, but just happy to hear more Tierra Whack out there. She's been on a run ever since the WHACK'S MUSEUM mixtape. Really seems like she's trying to re-establish herself, remind people: this is who I am. I'm actually one of the best rappers in existence currently, and one of the best rappers out of Philly; let me remind you of my lyrical talents, please. And great music video to boot as well, of course.

We have Liars, who I think are sounding better; they have changed quite radically in recent years, and Angus relocated out of the States as well. So that's been a shift too, but with this new single and the forthcoming album A Ban On Plastic Bag Bans, which is quite the title. "Ice Pink, Kalamazoo" is the name of the song, sounding better than they have in years. It's just very dark, demented, weird, industrial synth stuff with deadpan vocals and just groovy, dark, almost like gothy, beats. It's a really interesting blend of sounds and sounds fresh, sounds punchy, but simultaneously like classic Liars at the same time. I really appreciate it.

Also liking this new one over here that I was recommended in the inbox from Jeremiah Chiu, "Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines." It's this lengthy instrumental piece that has all these different kinds of minimal bells and whistles all orbiting around this linear progression. It's really in fall. It's really enthralling and quite beautiful, very textured and dazzling too. I will say it actually sounds a lot like how the track cover looks. If you could just sort of be encased in this square with all these fun little colors and shapes kind of flying around you, that's exactly how the song friggin feels. And I'm looking forward to hearing more from Mr. Chiu on this front.

We have also Soul Glo. Who are hitting us with a new single. It's straightforward. It's fast. It's in your face. It's bombastic, hardcore punk. That is bad-ass in all the ways. The track is "February Theory." Looking forward to a new album from them.

We also have a Gilla Band who is killing it with another single. "Alogia" is the name of this one. It's groovy. It's industrial. It's freaky. It's noisy. Please, Model/Actriz fans, take note.

And finally want to give a shout-out to Deerhoof, who have come through with this "Sun Like It Hot" track, which is this 12 minute monster of a song that has these kind of collective drum circle grooves and psychedelic passages of guitar and Satomi's killing it on the vocals per usual. And it's really like an odyssey of a cut, with an ending that kind of feels like the sun kind of collapsing or burning out or the earth kind of being sucked into a black hole or something. It's a really interesting progression and some psychedelic and weird textures from Deerhoof, and surprise with the song length and structure, considering how kind of condensed and punchy and, I would say, heavily arranged some of the songs were on their last record. This is definitely like an interesting change of pace for sure from these veterans of the indie underground.

And that is going to be that weekly track roundup, y'all. Hopefully you got some solid recommendations out of this.

Weekly tracks. Forever.