Hey, hi, and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well, and it's time for a weekly track rundup. My thoughts, my views, my feelings on a bunch of songs that have come out over the past week or so.

Worst tracks of the week.

We have a couple. We have a few. A few overwhelming and disappointing cuts. They are as follows. Bam.

Logic has yet to come out with this Sidequest project. He has been teasing toward it madly with one track and single after the next, some of which have been impressive and entertaining and lyrical and creative. Others, I feel like is to be expected on a project that is being framed in this way, feel out of his comfort zone creatively and don't necessarily play to his strengths. I would say this is one of those cuts. It's titled "My Demons", and it's this psychedelic, auto-tune-heavy, distortion-heavy trap cut that's maybe slightly ragey, slightly psychedelic. It's difficult to see where exactly he's going with this one. The fact remains, he's just made far better tracks. But I think Logic would probably also tell you that himself. I don't know if his investment in a song like this runs all that deep. It seems like he's just experimenting, trying some different stuff here and there, hitting some varied vibes, and it either pans out or it doesn't. He side questing. So some are going to work, some aren't. It is what it is.

We also have Cardi B hitting us with "Imaginary Playerz", brand new single from her upcoming album, Am I the Drama? And Yeah, unfortunately, despite this forthcoming album cycle, I think it's really going to be make or break for Cardi because it's been so many years at this point since we have had a new Cardi B album. I actually came to realize that we've been waiting for new Cardi B for longer than we've been waiting for new Chance the Rapper, which to me is maddening. Anyway, with that being said, this song over here is pretty much a color by numbers version of Jay-Z's "Imaginary Player" from back in the day. There's definitely some standout lines here and there, like the glory bar. But Cardi B's voice, I think, loses its flavor and its charisma as the song progresses. And by the end of the song, it really sounds like she's just reading off of a script. And unfortunately, Cardi B's bars just don't stand up to '90s and 2000s Jay-Z. They just don't. Cardi doesn't hold attention for that period of time, that same period of time classic Jay-Z does, because the wordplay just isn't there at the same level. There's a few standout one-liners here and there, but the slickness, the creativity, the charisma is just not on the same level, sadly. So as a result, I feel like this track falls flat and just feels like a very mediocre cover in a way. Again, this is disappointing because I did enjoy Cardi's breakout debut, well, her commercial debut, rather. I was very much looking forward to a follow-up of some sort, but I feel like it's just dragged on so long to the point where I'm just sitting here wondering, what is the quality of this album even going to be? But anyway, I digress.

The tracks I was meh on.

On the fence with, they are as follows.

We have this new one here from Sugar Pit, who's going through this new iteration of the project, this new evolution since moving away from the label that he was teamed up with off of his last full-length LP. And it's definitely got potential. The zany vocal, sometimes in places feel a bit too over the top in the progression of the track. It does draw on a little bit, and it seems to just exist purely to go through this very cartoony, loud, banging crescendo at the very end. But the instrumentation and production still sounds good, and the eccentricity of Sugar Pit's music is still very much there. Just hopefully, next single, into the future, features maybe a stronger hook or something. We'll just have to wait and see.

All right, moving on from there, we have this new one from Shame, "Cutthroat". A bit of a straightforward rocker on this one. Some Fontaines D.C. meets the Strokes vibes. It's fine, it's cool, it's vibey. If you like your indie straightforward, you're going to dig on this one.

And also a new track from A$AP Rocky from the new Highest 2 Lowest soundtrack with Denzel Washington, obviously. But yeah, this track is okay. Quirky beat, some standout bars here and there, including, I guess, a couple shots at Drake's abs, interestingly. I'm just sitting here waiting for the album. I really want to hear the album. I'm desperate to hear the album. I'm just wondering where the album is. Hopefully, we get it soon. All right.

We also have PARTYOF2 over here coming through the new single as well, "Just Dance 2". As much as I've enjoyed this new era for the duo since changing from Group Therapy, a trio, to this PARTYOF2 duo, this track, to me, hits in a very odd way because it feels like they made a bunch of throwback house and hip hop club and dance tunes. But rather than creating one song, they made five or six different songs, and they mega mixed them or medleyed them all together. Some of the moments that this track offers are stronger than others. It never really quite settles into one single idea. Some of them, I feel like, have the makings of a really great full-length song, but you only get a certain passage or a certain concept or vocal like or whatever for only so long, and then it may move on to something else that might pale in comparison, or maybe feel a bit too cartoony. Either way, it's still creative and shows that there's still a lot of ideas firing off between the duo at this point. But as a cohesive song, I'm not quite sure this one really works quite as much. But still, I am looking forward to their new album and enjoyed quite a bit the EP they dropped recently.

Best tracks of the week.

We have actually quite a few of those to go through, so let's get to it.

We have this new one from Sudan Archives. It It's a very unhinged rap track with some strange vocal inflections and some funny tongue-in-cheek bars, an odd flow. I don't think this is going to be for everybody, but if you did observe a lot of the deeper cuts on Sudan's last full-length LP, she did have some quirky and odd and left-field rap tracks here and there. So I feel like this fits in the Archives rubric, as it were, and it's just very fun, I want to say. Clearly, probably not taking itself as seriously as some of the other tracks, the other teasers so far. I think it's pretty cool and should fit interestingly shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of other cuts in the tracklist.

We also have a new one from Steve Lacy over here. New era, new single for Steve Lacy, "Nice Shoes" is the name of the track. And if you're looking for something that was really hooky and straightforward, you're not really going to get it on this one. This is a zany cut, funny little commentary on lust and desire. The opening line is ballsy. The hard dick line is even ballsier. Really famous breakbeat in the background of this one, too, that's used quite creatively. Love the random soul transition in the background of the track, too. Everything about this one is solid, and I love that even at this peak of his career, commercially, and in terms of visibility, too, Steve is still keeping it relatively bedroom, relatively lofi, and notably, eccentric as well, and unfiltered, too, in a way that I feel like a lot of artists on his level really aren't quite. So cool single, cool offering from Steve here.

We've also got a new one over here that I want to point to. It's a teaser. It's a single. It's available on Bandcamp, but simultaneously, the entire album is out. You've just got to go pick it up if you actually want to hear the entire thing. It's this new Phil Elverum project with Arrington de Dionyso. This is a very different Mount Erie/Phil Elverum type of project, seemingly, from the track that is being offered here that I'm going to link down below. It's like this sick, noisy, contra-bass drone type project, which is nuts. It's intense, it's distorted, it's noisy, it sounds great. I love the engineering that's going on here with the recorder. It's really got me buzzed. If you like some noise, if you like some drone, definitely check this out because it's quite dark and it's very harsh and intense.

We've also got a new one over here from Machine Girl. Loving some digital hardcore and industrial stuff over here. "Come On, Baby, Scrape My Data". A funny, hilarious song title. Love the cover art here, too. This is insane. It's cultish, it's intense, it's firing on all cylinders, it's creative as hell. Very fun, very over the top.

We've also got this new one over here from KIRBY, who's a singer I don't think I've covered her music too extensively before, either a weekly track roundup, but reviews, too. And this team up with Big K.R.I.T. is a great bit of social commentary with a killer instrumental and some just good vocal dynamics between the both of them as well. I just love what both of them offer. Lyrically on this one and the way the soul chops work in the background of the instrumental, too. Really great, thoughtful, solid track. I think one of the most thoughtful songs that Big K.R.I.T. had his hands on in quite a few years. And again, shout out to KIRBY as well for getting this one out there.

We've also got The Hives over here who are still teasing toward their next full-length LP. Garage punk and garage rock legends, still at it after all these years. And this song over here, essentially, feels like a commentary on that with some very interesting, fun, plucky Bloc Party-esque vocal leads layered on top of each other. Not vocal leads, guitar leads layered on top of each other. The track is titled "The Hives Forever, Forever the Hives". Really celebrating their legacy at this point.

We've also got a new one over here in a very odd time signature from Guerilla Toss, You're Weird Now is their forthcoming album. I need to listen to it more times, but this might be my favorite single so far from this new album cycle that they're in the midst of. "CEO of Personal and Pleasure" is the name of this one. If you're looking for some zany, progressive, left-field, weirdo fucking rock, you're going to dig on this track for sure.

We've also got Ghostface Killah, second single from his forthcoming Supreme Clientele 2. And he's really bringing back the vibe of that record with his flows and the instrumental on this new track, this "Metaphysics" track over here. Some very funny and charismatic bars, just bulletproof delivery as well on this song, too.

In addition to that, shout out to Galen Tipton, who is giving us some stuttering samples and some trippy weird effects on this new jam over here, which is titled "Real Bodies".

Also want to give a shout out to a duo that I'm just recently coming across and finding out about, and their name is Deki Alem. They've got a new EP out of tracks. Whole thing is out. And at least one track I want to point to you is the song "Stray Dog". It's one of many good tracks on the record, but they've got a bit of a classic hip hop/trip hop thing going on. Some songs, especially this track, sound Gorillaz-coated. Other tracks sound heavily influenced by the likes of Massive Attack. And it's all done very well, done very, very well. It's definitely throwing it back to some classic trip hop ideas, but it has a modern punch to it. Production's great, vocals great. Really enjoying what this duo is doing. It's some truly creative shit, honestly. And they're bringing back, again, a classic sound with a lot of fire and a lot of precision.

Also, shout out over here to Dean Blunt, who for a minute now has been working with singer, songwriter, Elias Rønnenfelt of Ice Age fame, which again is the case on this new track over here. It's a beautiful, very moody ballad, "Tears on His Rings and Chains" is the title of this one.

I also want to give a shout out to clipping., who are still dropping tracks in the wake of their latest LP, Dead Channel Sky, which I enjoyed quite a few tracks off of. And some of these post-album tracks, deluxe tracks, so on and so forth, are some of the best songs of this album cycle, in my opinion, even besting some of the original records core songs. And I would say that's also the case for this one, too, "Forever War". Again, if you're looking for this weird rave, Y2K rap fusion stuff that's quite techno-futuristic and dystopian, you're going to get a lot out of this track for sure. This is fire. All right.

Legendary experimental and oddball rock band, Cardiacs, are back with a new single because they've got a new album cycle on the way. "Woodeneye" is the name of this new track, and it's badass as hell.

Also want to give a shout-out to this new one from none other than Armani White, who is still at it with this new track "Ghost". I don't know what it is with this guy. I just feel like just the formula for what we know as the banger, just in concept, is laced in his DNA in a way to where it's just a part of him. It doesn't matter what track he's doing. It's going to take some form or shape of a banger. And in the case of this one, we've got what sounds like a massive major incredible club hit with some touches of Timbaland in the mix coming off the production on this one. Love the group vocals, too. He does the gang vocals on the track, too. He's got a lot of catchy snappy bars on this one. Samara Cyn is in the mix, too. And yeah, it's just an absolute anthem, just a throwback, Bling-era anthem, and it sounds absolutely killer.

And finally, last one, a shout out to the new Agriculture single, "The Weight" is the name of the track. It is this progressive black metal cut with some really noisy and chaotic passages, especially with that guitar solo. It's got one of the most nuts guitar solos I've ever heard on any black metal or black metal adjacent song ever in my life. It's just so nuts. And the squawking bits, I'm not even going to describe the whole thing. It's just completely insane and unhinged as far as black metal guitar solos go. But yeah, most definitely give this a spin, and I am very much looking forward to, especially after a very great EP recently, very much looking forward to their next album, The Spiritual Sound.

And that is going to be it for the Weekly Track Roundup. Thank you very much for watching.

Anthony Fantano, forever.