All right. Hey, hi, hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a weekly track roundup.

Yes, another one. My thoughts, my feelings, my ideas, perspectives on a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so. That's the point of the video. Yeah, that's the weekly track roundup, ladies and gentlemen.

All right.

Worst tracks of the week.

We have a few. They are as follows, starting with this new one from Russ. Just a very generic piece of light on the ears pop rap track with some confounding lines. Why does he say his life is like the movie Black Swan? I don't know. I'm so confused. Anyway, yeah. Pretty mediocre one from Russ and not very enjoyable. I really could not make my way through it.

We also have this new one from Linkin Park over here, a bonus track from the deluxe edition from the band's latest LP, and I really couldn't make it through this track either. It's just so freaking squeaky, clean, and poppy. Kelly Clarkson has written and recorded songs that sound more badass than this. I'll say that.

We also have this new one from Yung Lean over here. He's going in a bit of a rock and singer-songwriter-ish direction. Either way, the instrumentation and vocals are sloppy beyond belief and just very unappealing, generally.

We also have this new one from Kesha, which I really wanted to like going into to it because of how silly and kitschy it is and some of the lyrics are and the "yippee-ki-yay" thing and T-Pain and the slight country vibes. But it's just annoying. I'm sorry. It's just annoying. Like, her voice slathered in that much autotune right from the jump. Sounds like a dentist drill in my head. I really couldn't get past all of that.

Meh, the tracks that I was meh on.

They are as follows. Boom.

PlaqueBoyMax. Shout out to PlaqueBoyMax. Producer, streamer extraordinaire. He's got a new EP out where he collabs with a bunch of artists from the UK, one of which, of course, is the legend Skepta. "Less is More" is the name of the track. It's not bad. It's not mind-blowing either. It's viby, it's chill, it's laid back. Skepta has some decent bars and flows on it. The vocal sample chops throughout the beat are pretty good. I mean, is it mind-blowing? No. But it's just cool to see somebody who is in the streaming world making so many different connections in music and actually making some viable, pretty decent music and some just cool crossovers in the industry. Obviously, this EP definitely shines a light on UK artists and hip hop in the UK is, internationally speaking, a little underrated. So respect to a PlaqueBoy for putting this project together. It's pretty cool.

All right, we also have a Kali Uchis over here who has hit us with a brand new single, "Sunshine and Rain". It's that typical, at this point, I would say, very laidback dreamy, poppy, Kali Uchis vibe. Not quite as adventurous here as stuff she broke out of the gate with, in my opinion. I feel like she's settling into a sound a bit with this new single, which, again, I suppose is fine. She's just playing into what works on this new track.

We also have Floating Points, who has contributed a track to this Lazarus soundtrack, which we'll talk about another track from it in a bit. But yeah, we have a track that feels like almost a... Could have been a very, very lengthy, cold cold leftover from his latest album, which I enjoyed quite a bit. But to me, this track really took a little bit to get going. But still, once the groove has hit in the second half, it's some very respectable and super-textured techno for sure.

We have Dua Lipa, who is pretty much at this point celebrating the release of her last full-length album, which commercially and culturally just was such a superior product to the latest record she put out. She's reminding us of that record release, Future Nostalgia, with it having been five years since the album came out or so, with a remix of the song "Physical" with Troye Sivan. I don't know, at this point with so many years past, I mean, yeah, it's "Physical". It's the song that we already know and love and enjoy. It just has a bit of Troye Sivan on it. It's okay. I guess I just don't really see the point, but all right. I just would have much rather her latest record had been better.

All right, we also have the Bug Club over here. "Jealous Boy", brand new track. They also had a track about whales, which was very cute and post-punky and funny, tongue-and-cheek as well. This new track over here sees the band going in a fuzzy indie rock direction, which... it is okay. It feels less distinct than the last single, but maybe they're just going to be one of those bands that is a little bit of everything, which is fine. New album on the way. Keep a look out for that.

We also have the best tracks of the week.

Let's get into those. We have a lot of them. There's a bunch of best tracks this week, so pay attention. Pay attention. Bunch of best tracks. Boom.

Starting with YG, mind-blowing track, crazy track. "2004" is the name of the song. YG addresses some very painful personal experiences on the song, dealing directly in SA, age gap, when he was very young, goes super in detail, and it's a very vulnerable track and exposes a lot about having his youth robbed of him, essentially, and the ways that that manifested in behaviors and perspectives as he got older, and essentially discusses the trauma and obviously, all the downsides of this very horrible experience he had as a kid. An experience that, as he discusses in the song, if a lot of people his age or even a little bit older had heard about second-hand or even straight from him, maybe in a private moment, said, Oh, Oh, yeah, that's totally cool that that happened. Yeah, sick. I wish that happened to me.

So I think, again, ultra vulnerable track from YG and approaching a topic that I feel like a lot of men have a hard time being honest about and frankly, recognizing it for what it is. So good on YG for dropping this track, being so open and honest, and framing this topic in a very accurate way that I feel like it needs to be framed in for there to be some actual, real, greater understanding around it. On top of that, it's rapped really well. It's written very well. It's delivered with conviction. It's got a very solid chorus, which feels quite Outkast-inspired. The instrumental itself is coming right out of the Dr. Dre 2001 era. So it's not really just about the message. The music itself is nothing to sneeze at either. So very commendable. Again, very commendable, entertaining, and sharp song from YG.

All right, we have a new one from St. Vincent from the Death of a Unicorn soundtrack. "DOA" is the name of the song. And St. Vincent, if you paid attention to the last album, you noticed, as did I, that she was embracing a lot more electronics in the production on those tracks, and she's going fully in that direction on this new soundtrack single. And it's a killer song. It's got passages that feel like something straight up like a goth club gem from decades ago. It's got some great beats, great synth sequences, some spacier production than I think we're used to from St. Vincent, but it sounds fantastic. Liking the new direction, the song itself is very solid, too. It's really a cool little switch up for sure. Hopefully, we hear more songs dabbling in that sound.

We have Viagra Boys as well, who has hit us with a new track, "The Bog Body". It's a song about bog bodies, and becoming obsessed with a really weird niche topic, presumably through the Internet. And it's quite hilarious. There's a great music video attached to it as well that's wild as hell, but I would expect no less from Viagra Boys. This may be... Thinking about it, I would say second favorite single of the three singles that have dropped so far. But yes, very much looking forward to the Viagra Boys album that they'll be dropping very soon.

All right, following this, Little Simz, new single, two for two on the new singles, as far as I'm concerned. And this one is killer. It's titled "Free", and it's all about love. It has some great acoustic bits laced into the production in the background. Rapping is on point, per usual. That's to be expected. And the lyrics, of course, are heartfelt and poetic and honest and just very well written, but not many people people are messing or beating, really, is what I want to say, beating Simz's pen game these days in terms of it being thoughtful and impactful emotionally, so on and so forth. So incredible stuff from Simz per usual.

We also have SEBii over here who has hit us with a new track titled "Melt". It's very synthy, it's very hyper. It just reminds me of a lot of the terminally online rap trends of the SoundCloud era, but if you could make it just more futuristic. I know this is like a vibe and an aesthetic that isn't really necessarily going to be for everybody because the sorts of hip hop SEBii borrows from, I feel like have a niche appeal. Anything hyper pop adjacent automatically has a niche appeal in combining those two vibes in a way, I feel like you're getting even more niche. But with all that being said, "Melt", I feel like, is an incredibly catchy track that if its sounds and if its vibes don't turn you off, I think there's a lot to enjoy about this song. It's very fun. It's very quirky and very exuberant. I'll say that.

All right, we also have Rico Nasty over here, who is also two for two on singles. Speaking of the SoundCloud era, this new song over here, "On the Low", goes back to exactly that time. This track, aesthetically, sounds like something straight out of her Sugar Trap era, which you're digging way back into the Rico Nasty catalog to hit something from that point in time. The main melody of the song is great. The rapping is great. Production is on point. It's aggressive, sweet, and snappy all at once. Really enjoying the versatility that we've heard among these two singles so far. And Rico has really a hefty back catalog at this point. Lots of great highlights in her discography. She's going to be looking back a little bit. There's so many ideas and sounds that she could be pulling from again and compile a really impressive album from. So I look forward to seeing all the other bases that she covers on this upcoming record.

We also have also, Quadeca alert, Quadeca alert, new Quadeca album on the way, which you may already know, that's been announced for a minute. But the first single is out, "GODSTAINED". It's very interesting to see Quadeca, production-wise, especially, going in the '70s, acoustic, singer-songwriter direction with the super-refined production and the lovely arrangements and so on and so forth. The vocals are on point. Then when he starts busting into some flows on the back end of the song, it's just great how his rap style fits in with this instrumental aesthetic so seamlessly. The song itself is very solid. It's just cool to hear Quadeca grow artistically while simultaneously, and change and evolve, while simultaneously not completely throwing away everything that has made him the artist up until this point. Often, a lot of artists will drift away from their old sound completely and entirely as they change and as they grow. But you can see even at this point, at the heart of what he does, he's still very much like a rap artist in a lot of ways while still dabbling in a lot of different sounds creatively and writing a great song in the process, too. So shout out to Quadeca for coming through with a great highlight single to start things off.

We also have PUP, Who Will Look After the Dogs, brand new album on the way. They have dropped a couple of singles from it. This latest one over here features freaking Jeff Rosenstock, and it's a heavy punk banger, quite anthemic, too. It's titled "Get Dumber", and it's got some great riffs, just very fiery, shouty vocal performances, too. It's hype as hell. I hope you listen to it.

All right. We also have Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, who have really been switching up big time with their latest tracks. This new one over here, I feel like, has almost a bit of a debut album era, Idless quality to it with the very aggressive bass and the spoken word vocals and just the aggressive punky pacing of it all. I'm really loving it quite a bit. I feel like they've covered a lot of bases with these new tracks, and they're drifting a little bit away from their classic psych rock sound that has been featured on prior records and really heading into something different. "Weird World Awoke" is the name of this new track, and it's quite entertaining. I will say that.

We also have Natalia Lafourcade, who is treating us to a new album very soon, another single from it. And this one is an acoustic duet that is gorgeous, that is intimate, that is so, so, so well-sung, very skeletal, Not a whole lot of layers to it. Very dry production, but it's gorgeous because the vocals are so damn good. "Como Quisiera Quererte", I believe is the pronunciation there. If I didn't get it right, I apologize. But a beautiful tune. Beautiful tune. Natalia, usually going to be a shoe in for one of the best records of the year. So keep an eye out for this one.

We also have Model/Actriz coming through with a brand new track over here. Second single from their upcoming album. "Doves" is the name of this one, and quite a melodic one from them. I would actually say in a weird way, the instrumentation and vocals shift into almost like a Radiohead In Rainbows vibe after hitting us with a lot of guitars and groups that really could have been lifted straight off of the band's first record. The track felt to me almost like a little typical off the bat, but then when they shifted into these bolder and more alluring vocal melodies, it was like, Oh, okay, cool. This is developing in a very interesting way and showing more versatility than I think some of their past stuff has. But very tight beats, great performance. I love that the way that this band continues to fuse together elements of dance music, very moody left field, artsy indie rock, and further now, some art rock vibes as well.

All right, moving on from there. McKinley Dixon, treating us to another single from his upcoming album. This one over here features Blu, Shamir, some great singing, killer production. It's the closer to the forthcoming album. And yeah, McKinley Dixon just continues to be on another level in terms of giving us hip hop music that is lyrical, is passionate, is artful, still continues to be quite underrated in the current field at the moment. But hopefully, after this record comes out, that will no longer be the case.

We also have Kamasi Washington, who has also lent a track to this Lazarus soundtrack, and it's a fiery, incredible, trumpet-heavy jazz jam with just a killer performance all around. But it is Kamasi Washington, so what else would you expect? So yeah, really enjoying this as well.

Enjoying this new single from Julien Baker and TORRES. I feel like this is the strongest single from their forthcoming collab album, where they're just going track for track for track so far. "Dirt" is the name of the song, and it's just a gorgeous alt country ballad with some great vocal harmonies on it.

We also have this band Real Farmer over here. Post-punk outfit from the Netherlands, I believe. Great riffs on here. Some vocal passages that read as very pixies, some fiery passionate bits as well. A real roller coaster ride for dark rock. I'll say that.

We also have Black Country New Road, who are three for three on these new tracks, on these new singles, on these new teasers. "For the Cold Country" is the name of this latest one. I believe it's the most lengthy and multi-phased of all the track. It's certainly the most multi-phased of all the singles that have dropped so far. It's also quite the roller coaster ride. Amazing vocal harmonies on this one, too. The band just continues to bring just tons of lush, creative, and ornate instrumentation to every new song that they're putting out in this album cycle. Their evolution as of late after this lineup change has just been incredible to watch, and they're just getting more and more interesting.

And we have Ms. Ari Lennox, last single that I want to point you guys to. The last one she came out with, I believe, was "Smoke", where she was getting hyper-aggressive with the soul singer background vocals on the track and a lot of very funny in your face lyrics. On this one, she's in her "Soft Girl Era". The range, much more skeletal instrumental, but the vocals are so damn good, and it is Ari Lennox, that is not a surprise. The vocals are so damn good. The track doesn't really need a whole lot of layers for it to work because the tune is strong, the singing is gorgeous, the lyrics are on point, and the Ari Lennox continues to be one of the most underappreciated artists in the R&B and Contemporary Soul field, and certainly one of the most underrated artists on Dreamville. With that being said, hopefully, with tracks like this, she continues to grow her profile.

And Weekly Track Roundup is done in the can. Hopefully, you guys got some good recommendations out of this video.

Anthony Fantano, Weekly Tracks, the Forever.