Hey, hi, and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a weekly track roundup. My thoughts, my feelings, my opinions, my beliefs on a bunch of tracks that have dropped over the past week or so.

Let's go to the worst tracks of the week.

We have a couple. We have a few.

A new one from Muse, "Unraveling". Muse just continues to make just more embarrassing pop rock music, which to me is crazy, considering the place they were at creatively years ago. It seems like with each new project, they find ways to either make their sound more bland and uninspired or grating and annoying. I would say this track is more the former.

We also have a new one from Cardi B, "Outside". One of the most uninspired, boring, and underproduced, and underwritten singles Cardi B has dropped since the release of her album, which is frankly, years ago at this point. I don't know if we're ever going to get another Cardi B album. Honestly, I'm just tired of anticipating it. I'm tired of waiting, especially if in the meantime, while we wait for a record – and who knows if this track is going to be on the album – we're getting hit with tracks of this very low, basic, again, uninspired quality. Cardi B phoning the hell in on this track. Just really not trying at all. Not really sure what else to say.

Moving on. Okay.

Tracks that I was meh on.

I want to give those a shout out to. Maybe I'm not crazy about them, but you might like them more than me.

Starting with this new Four Tet track, "Into Dust (Still Falling)". Very chill, low-key house vibes with some interesting Mazzy Star samples on this one as this track is a callback to "Into Dust", still falling, so on and so forth. So it's almost like a remix of sorts in a way you could say, and it's a decent one at that.

All right, we also have PinkPantheress, who is back with a loosie non-album track, "Close to You". It's a short one. It's danceable. It's catchy, but I'm liking the quality of the cuts on the new album more than this. But hey, it's an extra. It's not too bad.

We also have Marissa Nadler over here who is hitting us with a new single, a new album cycle on the way, New Radiations. And I don't know, I feel like while the calm and spacy vibes and atmosphere are there, as to be expected with Marissa Nadler, I feel like she's written songs with stronger and more interesting melodies than this. This just felt like the strummed patterns and the melodies were, I don't know, just maybe a bit too half baked for her, in my opinion. But maybe other singles and deep cuts will be a bit more intriguing than this one.

We've also got Lorde, who's hitting us with another single. Third, I believe. This one's the opener to the upcoming album, Virgin. "Hammer" is the title of the track. And yeah, I feel like this track falls in line with all the single so far. You've got some electronic and dance-inspired beats. You have a linear progression of sorts, not a super strong chorus. And Lord hitting us with a lot of lyrics that just feel like we're being rushed through a really intense experience and occurrence and are just very emotionally overwhelmed. It's almost cinematic in a way, but not nearly as catchy as many tracks from her breakout debut, or Melodrama And while I do concur that this is definitely a nicer change of pace from what she did on her last record, I'm just not super crazy about the songwriting. I think she's written better and more coherent songs, melodically and again, structurally.

The Dare, hitting us with the track, "Cheeky". Another song from the Afters deluxe edition of his latest record. It's pretty much your standard Dare affair. On this one, you got the shouty vocals, you got the dance beats, you got that New York indie sleeze influence. It's fine. It's okay. I'm not reading too much into it, given that this is an additional extra track. Just if you're loving that record that he just dropped, you're most likely going to enjoy this track, too, because it does go toe to toe energy-wise with some of the most hype tracks on the album. It's decent. It's fine. Personally, I'm looking forward to the next album cycle and era for The Dare, because hopefully it actually provides maybe a bit more variety, versatility, depth, and some more interesting lyrics. I think there's a lot of great strong bass line elements to the Dare's vibe and influences and style and sound, but I just hope to hear it be built upon on a future record. That is all. All right.

We also have a Westside Cowboy who are hitting us with a somewhat rootsy, peppy, high tempo, indie rock, alt country blend cut. "Alright Alright Alright". I mean, it's got a solid performance. I just feel like the vocals aren't maybe the most fitting for this sound or style, or could have been a bit more exciting or gruff or something. But still, Westside Cowboy building up quite a bit of momentum right now, doing some cool stuff, even if I'm not head over heels for this particular track.

All right, best tracks of the week.

We have quite a few of those. They are as follows. First off, I want to give a quick shout out to, and I forgot to include it here, that new track that Offset dropped with Jid, that has the insane Drowning Pool sample in the lyrics. That track is actually quite fun, quite good. Jid's, J-I-D's verse on it is very good. And even Offset, he does this typical Offset Migos thing on it, but it's decent. It suffices. And the production, the instrumental is quite fun. "Bodies" is the track.

We also have SOPHIE over here. We are being hit with some leftover material from the Product compilation era. And while these songs over here, "Get Higher" and "Ooh", do feel like they both contain elements that are repurposed from other songs that landed on the Product compilation, they're still cool, and they're still very fun and entertaining to hear, and is a very positive reminder of how fun and quirky and unique the Product era was for SOPHIE, and why it was so significant of a breakout, a jumping off point for the music that would come later. Rest in peace to SOPHIE.

All right, we also have a new one over here from White Pony, Riko Dan, Flowdan, "Do It Like Me", some quality hard-hitting grime on this one. Great flows, bassy beat, high energy. Loving this one quite a bit, too.

Also, shout out to Ninajirachi, who we also shouted out last week. Came through with this "iPod Touch" song and a bit of single art here. And yeah, it's a cool bit of Y2K dance pop with some great beats, some catchy melodies. It's quite fun as well. Very whimsical and free and fun.

Also, shout out to Mechatok, Bladee, as well as Ecco2k. "Expression on Your Face", one of the danciest and poppiest cuts we've seen these three come together on. I was surprised to see chat during our New Music Friday streams really mess with this track, even though a lot of listeners during the live streams don't really like Bladee quite too much. But this song, even for those non-Bladee fans, is quite appealing, apparently, and quite fun. It's not quite as washed out or navel-gazing as a lot of the Drain Gang type stuff that you hear. If you're looking for something that's got a straightforward dance pop, very synthetic flair to it that is direct and quite catchy... This is the one to listen to.

We've also got Lola Young, "Not Like That Anymore". New single from her, which I'm liking the post-punky vibe on this instrumental and the rawness in Lola's voice. I would say at this point, I'm a bit Lola Young-neutral. Some tracks to me come off a bit underwhelming. Others have maybe a bit more of a gruff attitude and bite to them. I would say this track fits into the latter, and it's quite fun. I'm liking it quite a bit.

All right, we also have Kesha over here, hitting us with "BOY CRAZY.", favorite single of the new album cycle so far. Loving the hard-hitting synth-pop production, loving the chorus, loving Kesha's vocals, keeps with the zany, high energy, kooky old-school Kesha vibe that she has clearly been going for with all of these new tracks. But I feel like this is the best example of bringing that vibe, but also pairing it with a great song that is not grating or obnoxious, in my opinion. I mean, hey, I know this new album cycle has not been for many, and maybe for some recent fans who are more used to the ballads and the more mellow material that Kesha has been making her name on in the recent years, this might seem like, whoa, this is a hard turn in another direction, but it's cool to hear Kesha go back to something that's a bit more classic in a sense, in terms of that high-attitude, in-your-face girly-pop type of era.

All right, we also have Jerome's Dream, hitting us with a new single. It is some very abrasive, very heavy, great feedback-laced riffs-type scrams, some very good quality stuff over here. It is visceral as hell. The vocals are fiery, too.

Also enjoying this new one from none other than horsegirLL, who has given us a bit of, I would say, Eurotrance on this "Yolo" cut, maybe a dated phrase to back the track behind. But as far as modern Euro dance goes, this track is pretty good, in my opinion. Great beats, very entrancing, as it should be. Dreamy vocals, very light and polite synths, too.

Liking this new Hives track, even with some of the weird drum segues and transitions that happen on this "Paint a Picture" track. It's very fun, it's very rowdy, it's very gruff, reminds me of old-school Hives, but maybe a bit more of a loose, wild attitude to it and not so speedy and tight and punky, just more all over the place.

Liking also this new one from Guerilla Toss. This track over here sees the band almost like making a mid to late '60s rock vibe, but with their typical alien strange lead vocals, but smooths out on the course quite a bit in an interesting way. The name of the track is "Red Flag to Angry Bull". Quite the contrast from their last single, too, stylistically. But it's Guerrilla Toss. Creatively, they're always going to be all over the place and pushing new frontiers and new ground with whatever the heck they do, which is whatever the heck they want.

Also, shout out to Fred again.., Skepta, and PlaqueBoyMax for this new single over here, "Victory Lap". What a banger. What a banger, man. We know Fred again.. is capable of making hard-hating cuts like this. We know Skepta to this day is a great rapper. But PlaqueBoyMax, really, shout out to him because he's making some impressive connections and actually putting out here and there some good creative output when he actually does nail down a good quality collaboration with an artist, with a collaborator, really making that super successful and valid transition. I wouldn't say transition, but being able to keep one foot in the streaming world while simultaneously growing his footprint in the music world in a legitimate sense and putting out some good material in the process with some very seasoned veterans. All right.

We also have Clipse. Speaking of seasoned veterans, these guys have been getting seasoned for years, and they've been baking for years for this comeback, for this new project, "So Be It" is the name of the cut. Pharrell production, of course. Loving what sounds like some Arabic string sections in the mix, the reverse percussion. Production is amazing. Malice has some killer wordplay. Pusha T has some killer wordplay. I'm sure all of you have seen the drama having to do with the Travis Scott call out and diss toward the end of the track. It's just classic Clipse, honestly. It's just classic Clipse, but with a bit of a darker, darker, nastier edge to it, and I'm loving it. Frankly, I'm fully here for it. I'm so excited for this album.

And that has been it for the Weekly Track Roundup, everybody. Hopefully, you got some good recommendations out of this video.

Anthony Fantano, Weekly Tracks, Forever.