Okay, okay, okay. I'm ready. First Weekly Track Roundup back. It's 2026. It's time to talk some tracks. Let's go ahead and do it. Basically, a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so, a little bit deeper into the past, just a smidge. And what I thought about them, loved them, hated them, somewhere in between, all linked down below, per usual. That's the deal. All right.

And yes, quickly, a shout out coming by way of Austin, which comes from Jane Remover. It's a new track that samples Sophie, SoundCloud-only track. It's called "Conversion 2". Austin says it's maybe the most insane track Jane's done in this rage style, which is saying something, especially considering what she accomplished on Revengeseekerz. They're saying this isn't the direction of the next album, but still nice to hear them having a fun with this sound. So there you go.

Worst tracks of the week.

Let's get into it because we have a handful of those, honestly, starting with, boom...

Man, didn't want to start here, but Robyn, "Sexistential". There's a few singles out from this forthcoming album, and I like the other ones more, especially "Talk To Me", but this one over here, I am not feeling at all. It's a bit too hokey, it's a bit too on the nose. The vocal lines seem like offbeat from the first measure of each beat on the song. I don't know what it is. There's just something about it that feels just a bit off and also off-putting. Maybe trying too hard, I don't know. It's just not really doing it for me. But it seems like this track might end up being a bit of an anomaly on the record? I anticipate I'm going to enjoy deeper cuts from the rest of Sexistential, given that the other two singles are like a pretty different vibe.

Morrissey. Even worse over here. What is this cover? Can I just say, Soy Facing? What is he doing? What is this? "Make-up Is a Lie" is the title, and we have the title track from the record, and it's terrible. It's awful. This is a record that, from what I understand, he's been trying to put out for a while. Sire finally came through to drop this hunk. Look, if your lead single is this bad, imagine how terrible the rest of the record is going to be. That's all I'm going to say. It's just painfully obnoxious. Music is drab. Vocals are drab too. What are we doing here? What are we doing?

All right, moving on. Chief Keef, "Harry Potter". This is like, total snooze fest, super tedious, going nowhere fast. What is even the point? Chief Keef has come out with way more adventurous and more interesting songs as of late on his last few albums. This is just not really doing anything.

We also have this new one from KATSEYE, "Internet Girl". It's like if you took all of the eccentricity and camp of The Pussycat Dolls, but then none of it was landing. And just the forced quirky lyrics about Zucchini, it's so terrible, it's so bad. This is just brain rot. I don't really know what else to call it.

We also have one from Joji over here who just sounds like he's doing a Joe Keery song on this this one, "LOVE YOU LESS". I don't know why he's just doing a Djo song. I feel like his talents allow him to do so much more. Why are we doing this? This just seems so derivative for him, frankly.

We also have David Byrne covering "drivers license" from Olivia Rodrigo. Look, I like their friendship. I like their artistic connection. I think it's cool that we have this intergenerational respect going on from one generation's pop artist to another, that's cool. I think that's a neat thing. Do I think David Byrne's cover of this song is neat? No, I do not. I feel like it's a little ham-fisted, I think it's a little awkward, it's unflattering, and I just don't really feel like I needed to hear this perspective sung in David Byrne's voice. I just don't really feel like it works. Even in like, "Oh, what if it was David Byrne singing it, though?" There's not really, I don't know, anything endearing about that switch to my ears.

All right, let's move on to the tracks that I was just on the fence with.

Not crazy about, not disliking all that much either. You might like them more than me. Here they are.

We have this new A$AP Rocky single, "Punk Rocky" from Don't Be Dumb, which is dropping this Friday. And yeah, it's like a super reverb-y, twangy, indie rock tune from the early 2010s. I've been just tired of this sound for years. I don't really feel like Rocky brings that much more to it than some of the original bands did. It's fine, it's okay, some of the beat switches around the midpoint and the ending are cool. But is this the sound that I would want to hear from A$AP Rocky? No. Is it the sound that I want to hear from much of anybody? Not really. It's not even my vibe when A$AP Rocky isn't doing it. So to hear him do it, it's not really my thing. However, there are some fans that like the fact that he is switching it up on this, which is cool. I do respect the fact that he continues to be an adventurous artist for sure. This is just not really my cup of indie rock tea, I guess I would say.

We also have IDK and Pusha T coming together for a kind-of-okay crossover. Pusha's verse on the back end of the track is respectable for sure. There wasn't much else about it that really stopped me in my tracks, though.

We also have Chinese American Bear hitting us with "No No Yeah Yeah", which is a cool, fun, silly indie bopper, which at some points reminds me a little bit of Go! Team, a little bit of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, early Unknown Mortal Orchestra. It's a fun track. It's a cute track for sure.

Also, The Romantic, new Bruno Mars album finally announced. It's on the way. Years in the making. He's hit us with the first taste of it with "I Just Might", which is a fusion of disco and pop. It's funky, it's fun, it's light on the ears. A lot of people have been calling it something like, "future Target commercial music," which I don't entirely disagree with. However, when it comes to pop, I feel like you could do a lot worse. I feel like you could do a lot worse. If Bruno is getting some people to listen to some funky disco-tinged jams, I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing, especially since the grooves are solid, the vocals are cool, the chorus is there; it's not too bad. It's not too bad. It's probably going to climb up the charts a bit. I guess we'll just have to see.

All right, we also have Ari Lennox hitting us with a new single, another single from her forthcoming album, which is dropping very soon this year. This one over here being "Twin Flame", kind of a bubble gum track for her. I'm not super crazy about it, but given how much discussion there has been around the future of her career, maybe there's some willingness to switch up. Not entirely, but make an attempt here and there to be like, 'Oh, what if we do something that has a bit more of a pop appeal or something like that?', just to see what happens. It seems like she's going to be giving us a big record this time around, and maybe she's going to be just jumping into a bunch of different musical and stylistic options just to see what works. I mean, Ari Lennox has been doing it for years at this point and has come out with a lot of great songs, a lot of solid projects. She's probably itching to just experiment a bit and try something new after all this time.

All right, we have best tracks of the week.

Best tracks, they are as follows. Here we go. Boom.

This one is coming from Wesley Joseph, crossover with Danny Brown, "Peace of Mind" is the track. Yeah, really awesome UK cut with some electronically tinged rap beats, crazy chemistry vocally going on between Wesley and Danny. If you liked any of the very left field and forward-thinking tracks from Danny's latest full-length LP, I think you're going to get a lot out of this, too, frankly. So don't miss out on this. Definitely looking forward to seeing what Wesley is going to be doing this year.

We also have Viagra Boys, who have hit us with the extended edition of Viagr Aboys. They are going to be touring around the Japan area and decided to essentially add some extra tracks to this record in celebration of that. We have four extra cuts. The one that stood out to me is "Therapy II". It's the most Devo-flavored of all the songs, and it's all about going in a very tongue-and-cheek, silly way. It's post-punky, it's rocking. It's got some cool 'bing, bing, bing' synth bits. I'm liking it quite a bit. But yeah, whatever.

All right, moving on from there. Mandy, Indiana. New album on the way, second single from it, this one is titled "Cursive". If you're looking for some really dark, groovy, industrial jams, something a little along the lines of a Model/Actriz, which a lot of people have been digging on their stuff lately, I know I certainly have, you're going to like this. This is very strange, very freaky, very hip shaking. The hips are moving, and we're all moving to Mandy, Indiana.

Okay, moving on. We have isobel, who I want to shout out over here on this "limn" track, which is a very beautiful, ornate, baroque indie folk cut. Lovely, intimate vocals, cool arranged instrumentation. Very sweet. Reminds me of a lot of great indie folk cuts from the blog sphere back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, liking this quite a bit. Very sweet on the ears, new album on the way from her, which I'm looking forward to.

All right, a couple more.

We have Gorillaz, this one came out a little while ago, but I'm catching up with it now, "Damascus" featuring Omar Souleyman as well as Yasiin Bey. Banger of a cut. I mean, it does suffer a little bit from Humanz-itus in that if I wasn't told this was a Gorillaz song, I would just think it's like an Omar track with Yasiin featuring in the mix. But either way, Gorillaz song, not a Gorillaz song, I feel like it's a really cool cross-cultural bop with some funny bars from Yasiin. Omar kills it vocally, the production is going crazy as well. It's a lot of color. It's a lot of punch. It's a lot of fun. And yeah, digging it quite a bit.

All right, we have also a bit of a loose-y, an extra, over here from from Father John Misty, "The Old Law". I guess a bit of a fan favorite I wasn't super familiar with up until this point, but it's got a bit of a rough indie rock feel to it. I'm trying to put my finger on what it was reminding me of. Maybe a little Paul McCartney vibes here and there, like Ram era, that sort of thing. But yeah, it's a very good track from Mr. Tillman over here. Cool to hear an extra from the vault for sure out of the blue.

We also have Exhumed, a classic death metal outfit, they are coming back with a new album called Red Asphalt. Lots of funny titles in the tracklist, all relating to car wrecks and dying on the road and so on and so forth. "Unsafe at Any Speed", which is a very clever title, love the book reference there, is the first track from the record. Cool call and response vocals on the hook. Love the lyrics as well. The riffs are great. The guitar tone is sick as hell. Yeah, it's just classic fucking Exhumed, man. If you like your death metal super dirty, and filthy, and nasty, and grating, and heavy, and bone crushing, like a 10 car pile up, you're going to dig on this.

All right, and finally, Doechii, featuring SZA, "girl, get up", a new single from Doechii, essentially reminding people, "Hey, I'm going to be making noise in 2026, new album on the way. And in the midst of reminding you of that, I'm going to address just all of the BS, all the claims that I'm an industry plant and I didn't earn my success and so on and so forth." And considering how intense, and wild, and out-of-pocket, the Doechii hate has been over the past year, I feel like a track just facing that head-on was very much warranted, honestly. It was very funny to watch guys like Adin Ross essentially shitting his pants over the fact that this song existed. Then seeing him get taxed was hilarious as well. Poor guy. Maybe he's learned his lesson. We'll just have to see.

All right, that is the Weekly Track Roundup, everybody. Thank you very much for watching. Y'all are the best.

Anthony Fantano, Weekly Tracks, Forever.