Hey, hi, and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for another Weekly Track Roundup. My thoughts, my feelings, my ideas, on a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so. Whether I loved them or hated them or felt somewhere in between.

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Worst tracks of the week.

ROSÉ of Blackpink fame, as well as Bruno Mars. Bruno is coming through with some pretty big collabs lately. That one with Lady Gaga just hit a billion streams or so. That's been doing numbers even though it's bland as hell. And I feel like this new track is also bland as hell and will most likely do crazy numbers. I feel like we've heard this song before when it was "Hey Mickey". I feel like we've heard this song before when it was the Ting Tings' "That's Not My Name". It feels like a cross between that and like a bad Meghan Trainor single. I mean, it's tolerable, but it's not amazing, and it's not nearly as interesting as a lot of people are making it out to be. I will leave it at that and sit here and wait for Bruno Mars to get his shit together for another Silk Sonic album at some point.

All right, we also have ian, who has a new record out, Out of the Blue. One big track off of it features Chief Keef and is titled "Shit Sad". And the shit is most certainly sad because why is anybody hyping this up? This sounds like a random, basic auto crooner guy who was on that wave back in 2016 or something, and would have been forgotten within a year. And yet we're talking about this as if it's interesting now.

Let's move on. All right.

Meh, the tracks I was on the fence with, but not loving, not hating.

You might like them more than me. They are as follows.

We have a new one from Poppy, who has really been teasing quite a bit with multiple tracks toward a new full-length album. But in my opinion, a lot of these tracks, especially this new one over here, titled "The Cost of Giving Up", really just gives very melodramatic, nu-metal, alt metal 2000s vibes for the most part. Linkin Park, Evanescence-type vibes, which I know as Poppy has gone further into the metal space is something she's always flirt with, just a touch, just a little bit. But it feels like she's fully going into that now to the point where it's just a little bland, doesn't have that real Poppy spin to it. The vocals are certainly being a bit too processed to the point where I feel like the appeal of her voice is being lost a little bit, though the screams on this track are killer. I will give the song that for sure, for sure.

All right, moving on from there, we have a new one from mk.gee, "Rockman". Very interesting cover art over here. But for the most part, this song sounds like a very spacey Peter Gabriel or Sting demo that doesn't quite ramp up into anything all that interesting. The guitar licks are there. For sure, the guitar licks are there. The tune is most certainly there, but I wish the production was taking it to, I don't know, its full potential. I feel like that's the Achilles' heel of the track. It's got potential, but it's missing something.

All right, we have a new one from JADE over here who has come through the track "Fantasy". It is a throwback, disco-inspired piece of dance pop that is groovy and classy. It just doesn't really have a super strong, memorable personality to it, and I will leave it there. But the grooves are still quite good.

We also have a new one from Gunna over here who I am miraculously Honestly, enjoying a little bit on this new track, "HIM ALL ALONG". I feel like he's super awake on this track. He's awake, he's alert, he's hyped up, he's punchy, he's focused, he's alive. He may be a bit too focused because he doesn't switch up his flow enough on the track, but he at least comes across as lively and expressive, and I can certainly give Gunna some effort points on that.

We also have a new one over here from Father John Misty, who is just not really serving with these new singles, in my opinion. "She Cleans Up" is the new one, and in my opinion, it's okay. It's like Josh Tillman is doing a gruff badass rough around the edges rocker that feels almost like a little Viagra Boys-esque in a way. I think the instrumental is fine, but he doesn't have the vocal delivery or performance to really, I think, play off something of this style and really sell it. It's coming up a little short, in my opinion.

We also have Dorian Electra with their Fanfare project is dropping a version of the album that has some interesting demos on the front-end, one of which is "Only Got Your Number", which is pretty punchy and interesting. I mean, definitely more than what you would expect from a demo, but definitely not as epic or as over-the-top as a lot of the core fanfare tracks. But hey, if you're a Dorian fan, if you loved Fanfare or like quite a bit of the tracks off of it, most likely you will be interested to hear some of these demos. So check this one out.

Moving on from there, Ab-Soul has treated us to another single over here, "All That", featuring Jason Martin, Thirsty P. And this sounds like a very vibey, laid back, trap throwback with some braggadocious bars, nothing too crazy crazy. It sounds like something that Ab-Soul would have been out doing back when he was coming out with records like Control System, that thing. I mean, it's fine while it's on, but it doesn't really have a super potent vibe to it, in my opinion.

Moving on from there, we have none other than 070 Shake, who is teasing toward a brand new album with a new single, "Winter Baby/New Jersey Blues", which I don't know, there are elements of it that I find awkward, but there are also elements of it that I find very interesting that she's doing this throwback, rock and roll, vocal pop, love song thing, but doing it with new grade production and some heavy 808s and stuff like that. I mean, it's unusual. There's a lot of nostalgia out there these days, but I think she's going about it in a somewhat interesting and unique way, even if the execution is a little stiff and leaves something to be desired. I'll say that.

All right, best tracks of the week.

They are as follows. Pay attention because we got some bangers over here.

Okay, here we go. We have FKA twigs treating us to another taste of EUSEXUA. "Perfect Stranger" is the name of this new track, and I'm actually even liking it a little bit more than the title track, to be honest. It's a very spacey, very intimate. A very sweet, melodic, and catchy bit of low-key dance pop with some great grooves and production really picks up in the last leg, too. I'm liking this quite a bit. I feel like it's got some nice punch to it.

Also, a shout out to Bill Callahan, who I guess is coming through with a bit of a nice, sweet little Peel Session EP back from 2001. Hardcore Bill, hardcore Smog fans are most likely going to want to hear this. "Beautiful Child" is the name of the track, the name of the performance from this little Peel Session EP that should be dropping very soon. So Bill Callahan, completists, keep an eye and an ear out for this project. It will be dropping very soon.

All right, we also have Rebecca Black coming through with a single that actually slaps with multiple different vocal deliveries. It's got the breathy, sexy dark Britney bits. It's got some crazy dance groups. It's got a banger chorus. It's all over the place. It's creative. It's wild. It's in your face. It's really got some punch to it. Shout out to Rebecca and her team for coming through with this song, this single, this music video, this everything, because it seems like a bit of a new, bold step forward for her. I feel like with her last record, she proved she could do the pop star thing without it sounding silly. The last record certainly sounded serious, but it didn't sound specific. This sounds like she's getting more into that specific alternative pop territory, and I'm liking it.

All right, moving on from there. Panda Bear has come through with a new single from his forthcoming solo album. And the first teaser, the first taste of it, is actually a collaboration with none other than Cindy Lee, formerly of Women fame, who has really been an indie MVP this year. "Defense" is the name of the track, and it's a nice, steady, meditative rock track with some great vocals and killer drums. I'm really liking it.

Moving on from there, we have a Bon Iver, who has a fully released his brand new EP, several songs off of it. This one over here that I want to point to, specifically, is a wonderful little indie folk ballad with some killer vocals and great guitar work, "Things Behind Things Behind Things". I really love the lyrics on this track as well. It's meditative, it's entrancing, it's gorgeous, it's moving. Bon Iver is really back in his indie folk bag.

Also liking this new one from Full of Hell and Andrew Nolan. This track has a grime, post-noise industrial blend going on, and it's an interesting shift between the song structure sections because you don't even know you're changing genres as the track is happening. It's pretty heavy, it's textured, it's very gratifying as well. "Burdened by Solar Mass" is the name of the track. Really looking forward to seeing how the rest of this project, Scraping the Divine, comes out.

Also enjoying this new A$AP Ferg track, which has a really great beat switch up on the back-end. Ferg is on his weird multi-phased experimental track with this new cut over here. It's braggadocious, it's in your face, it's energetic, it's wild, and it's weird. Like A$AP Mob and Ferg, we're proven to be from the get-go. I feel like there was a point where Ferg was taking things in more commercial and a formulaic direction. But I feel like with this new string of tracks and this new project he has coming out, very soon, he's doing something weird and more true to him, and I'm liking it.

Also, Danny Brown has dropped the Deluxe version of Quaranta, his latest full-length project, and "Cheaters", which has a little bit of Bruiser Wolf in the mix on it, is one extra track off of it that's actually excellent. I wish this song made the the first cut of the album. I love the whistles and the beat, love the groovy bass line, again, love Bruiser Wolf's vocals on the chorus, and I like how focused and topical the track is in terms of cheating and infidelity and so on and so forth. Danny Brown is a man who raps about his temptations, his vices, and this is certainly one that he hasn't necessarily played too deep into the angle of on a previous project, so it's interesting.

We also have Chelsea Wolfe, who's coming through with an Unbound EP, which features stripback versions, ballads of tracks from her full-length album that just dropped recently, which I loved. One of the best records of the year. If you're really looking for a industrial goth trip hop blend with some heavy instrumentals and beckoning gorgeous lead vocals. And on this project, or at least the first teaser that we're getting from it, we have a piano version of "Place in the Sun", which is fantastic. So it sounds just as powerful, just vocals and piano, as it does on the record with the full spectrum of instrumentation behind it. A

lso, shout out to BANKS, who has come through with a brand new single featuring Doechii, which, damn, it's been a while since I feel like I've really been struck by a Banks single, but this is a wild track. Not only is it dark and moody for BANKS anyway, in my opinion, but her and Doechii have some insane vocal chemistry on the song. She really gives Doechii the room on the track to go absolutely off the screaming, the wild performance, and so on and so forth. And she really lends a lot to the track and makes it a lot more powerful as a result. And yeah, it's a dark, grim little track, and the whole ex-girlfriend angle topically makes it a pretty interesting play as well.

And finally, shout out to Ari Lennox who was coming through with an absolutely badass single over here titled "Smoke", which is stylistically an old banger soul anthem type of but then she's singing about wanting all the smoke and just absolutely going fucking off in the lyrics, the threats, the posturing, the you better not try me type shit all throughout this track. The fucking lyrics are insane, but the vocals and the instrumental are so amazing. It's really just an incredible mix. It's just an incredible mix. It's an incredible incredible juxtaposition. We'll say that. So a shout out to Ari because this is just an incredibly fun and amazing track that I feel like not enough people are talking about how just off the rails but incredible this song is, truly and honestly. So if you check out any track from this weekly track, Roundup This Week, make sure it's this one because this is fun as hell.

That is going to be it, I think.

Anthony Fantano. Catch you in another video very soon. Forever.