All right. Hey everyone. Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well. You know who it is. You know what it is. It's the Weekly Track Roundup. My thoughts, my opinions, my point of view on a bunch of tracks that have dropped over the past week or so. We have a bunch of them to talk about.

Worst tracks of the week.

Let's get straight into it because we have maybe more than average of what we typically have this week on that front. Boom.

New one from Zayn, "Sideways". Uh, not only is this a lackluster song, Zayn insists on kind of jumping into this very goofy falsetto, "sideways", at a few points in the track. But also production for a pop tune these days in 2026, very dated, very dated. This is like some dreamy, over-the-top, dramatic, trap pop blend stuff that somehow sounds more behind-the-curve than what Katy Perry did on her newest record. I have no idea what Zayn thinks he's doing here at this point.

We also have Oliver Tree, who can't seem to do anything else other than make a weirder-sounding Twenty One Pilots song on "Deep End".

We also have this new one from Failure, which, I mean, this is like everything that made '90s rock and post-grunge boring, all manifesting onto one single track, unfortunately, with "A Way Down".

We have also this new one from MIKE and Earl [Sweatshirt]. SURF GANG in the mix too. "Leadbelly", they sound asleep at the wheel on this one. If you're not gonna be awake for your own track, I'm not gonna be awake for it. That's really all you have to say.

And, oh, we also have a new one from Che, "MILLION DOLLAR MANSION". You know, the underground is doing some cool stuff right now, but this Cookie Monster voice, this is not it. Honestly, I feel like I'm personally, I'm getting nothing from this. I don't– it doesn't sound good. It's not interesting. It's not hype, it's not exciting, and it's disappointing because Che, I think, has been putting out some very exciting, thrilling, hard-hitting stuff as of late, but not with the Cookie Monster vocal. Not with the Cookie Monster.

All right, meh.

The songs I was on the fence with, you might like them more than me. They are as follows.

We have Terror sounding pretty Terror-like on this new single, not as exciting and not as long or as heavy in my opinion as their last teaser from this forthcoming album. Also, Still Suffer, again, is the name of the record. Also feeling very on the fence with — oh, "Destruction of My Soul" is the title of the track, by the way.

Also very on the fence with this new Paul McCartney track, which, you know, is a very nostalgic, sentimental acoustic ballad with some super weepy vocals. It's fine for what it is. And you have to admire at this point that Paul has the heart to do such a track. But is it the most dynamic songwriting or memorable songwriting he's ever done? Not really, but it is personal. You could say it's personal.

All right, we also have Miley Cyrus who is hitting us with "Younger You" in this very sort of nostalgic Hannah Montana remembrance era that she's going through, also giving us an acoustic ballad over here that's looking back quite a bit. The vocals are great, you know, production and tune itself is a little underwhelming, but you know, at least Miley still bringing some great vocals to the table.

We also have Future Islands who are hitting us with an okay one over here. "Sail" is the name of the track, a song that really could have used, I think, a more climactic finish. But with that being said, this is for an upcoming kind of like double LP of rarities and B-sides and kind of, you know, celebrating 20 years of the band and so on and so forth. So, you know, it's — don't look at this track as like, 'oh, new single, new era, new whatever'. You know, this whole archival release the band is going to be releasing very soon is like, you know, kind of a victory lap, all about celebrating the time that they have been recording and performing together and just sort of like putting out there for the fans some of these, you know, never prior officially released songs and bits of material, which should be pretty cool. Honestly, there's probably going to be at least a handful of tracks on there I think are pretty fire.

All right, we also have a couple of new ones from Portrayal of Guilt, which I'm shocked were a little underwhelming for me, especially since I did really get a kick out of their first two singles and the kind of nu metal, industrial metal vibes that they were kind of bringing together with their typically noisy, harsh sound on those tracks. Now, again, these two new teasers, especially "Object of Pain", I found to be very repetitive and just really going nowhere fast and reminding me more of like what was so uninteresting about a lot of those genres in their heyday or what made them sort of go stale over time. I'm hoping that if Portrayal of Guilt is going to lean further into this sound, that there are some more, uh, you know, interesting and exciting tracks in the deeper cuts. I'll say that.

All right, we have Dorian Electra who's given us another cover over here, not "Mr. Tambourine Man" this time; "Feel Good Inc." Yes, the "Feel Good Inc." De La Soul rap verse and laughing intro and all. This is a true cover of the song. Production is not too bad, you know, honestly though... Um, yeah, I don't know if I'm completely sold on Dorian's kind of like monotone, half-hearted, too cool for school kind of vocal delivery. I don't know if it does the song that much justice, but it definitely is a spin on a track that we, you know, is truly a classic, but we rarely hear covered, you know? I feel like Dorian has gotten closer to good than maybe most would attempting the track, even if I'm not like super crazy about it.

We also have Cheekface hitting us with a new one over here, "Black Site". I do think this is like some of the most witty lyricism and honestly, real, in terms of like reflecting on the current state of things lyricism that we have heard from Cheekface so far. But I feel like the band is in like a very weird spot right now sonically where they've become conscious maybe of like the elements of their sound that are grating to maybe the average Cheekface hater. And they're doing things with their sound that I feel like is embracing that or making their music sound like maybe what the average Cheekface hater thinks they sound like. And what I mean by that is there's this incredible, like, reedy, like, sort of note vocally that is hit on the track, and then it is distorted into an intense buzz to the point where the vocal almost sounds like a kazoo or a giant fly crawling into your ear and basically fucking your eardrum. I'm not crazy about it personally, but it's very bold of the band to do it, I guess. Still, I do mess with the band's lyrics and grooves, and I do think they are really kind of continuing to carry the torch for, you know, the nerd rockers out there.

We also have Bladee, who's hit us with a few new tracks over here. This one in particular, "Love Is a State", I found to be very dreamy, very underwhelming. Honestly, I feel like Bladee has put together more interesting material before. This is really not standing out to me as a single.

And then we have the best tracks of the week.

Of which there are quite a few. So pay attention, pay attention. Here we go.

Boom, starting with Fire-Toolz. Congratulations on an upcoming album on Warp Records. Whoa, crazy. Whoa, crazy. This song, I'm not even sure I can say the whole title really because it's crazy stuff, bunch of numbers. But "Balam Says..." is this, as you would typically expect from Fire-Toolz if you're at all familiar with the project, you know, this amazing combination of Y2K muzak and vapor type electronics with, you know, metal riffs and drums and crazy glitch aesthetics and so on and so forth. It's a very creative, but short and punchy number from Fire-Toolz that has me really excited for what this upcoming record is going to offer. It doesn't necessarily feel like the project re-envisioned or anything like that, but I feel like this deal is an opportunity to present this project to a lot of new listeners. It feels really like a distillation of everything that Fire-Toolz has been defined by and done well up until this point. And yeah, just done with the authenticity and the unique style that the project is known for. Shout out to Angel for keeping Fire-Toolz going for this long and bringing it to this peak.

We also have Tkay Maidza, who is back. Wonderful. Excited about that. And we have from her a very kind of quirky, colorful, over-the-top, left-field, eclectic, but very still fun and clubby and hard-hitting rap banger, as she has been known to do. "Must Be" is the name of the song, and it is a good one in my opinion. Really excited to see what she's gonna do this year off of this.

After this, we have a new one from Skrillex, Young Miko. "Duro" is the name of the track, and, you know, it's a really catchy little dance pop tune that has a huge Europop flavor to it that I really wasn't expecting. I mean, Skrillex has proven himself, if nothing, to not be a very versatile all-around kind of producer who can, you know, capture a lot of different sounds, not just merely brostep or whatever. And, um, you know, this one threw me for a little bit of a loop, but honestly, it was a pleasant surprise. Very well-written, catchy pop tune with some great dance beats and again some old-school kind of Euro vibes that I really appreciated.

And speaking of Euro, we have Nia Archives over here with a new one. "Danger" is the name of the track. And you know, as to be expected with Nia, you continue to hear those kind of drum and bass and jungle influences with the breaks and all that. But I feel like with the very upfront sexual lyrics and the low-key bedroom pop type vocals, Nia's giving us something a little different this time around, and it's, it's really a track I think maybe even Pink Pantheress fans could appreciate. I think for a while there's been more crossover potential in terms of appeal there than maybe some people have appreciated. But, yeah, I mean, as long as Nia continues to write songs that are this catchy, regardless of kind of the mix of influences, she's going to continue to grow. I'm liking this one quite a bit.

We also have Leikeli47, who has really bounced back off of, in my opinion, a somewhat kind of so-so album with this new "Bad Guy" single. Super catchy, simple-spoken earworm hook, braggadocious bars, quirky production. You know, I would, I would like say some early Nicki vibes in terms of the energy, but a lot more low-key and confident, and a little more, you know, sort of like eccentric without trying too hard sort of way. Liking this track a lot. Again, I feel like Leikeli has just sort of, I'll say, you know, just like underrated potential that a lot of people just haven't seen for a long time. In my opinion, The Shape Up is a record that should have gotten way more attention than it did. But yeah, you know, "Bad Guy", I feel like is a great single. A lot of people need to be paying attention to this.

We also have Jim Legxacy. Jim is him on this new one. Jim is him, new single, new project on the way, "idk idk". The UK is killing it at the moment, especially with dudes like Jim, who in my opinion has pretty much distilled everything that was great about the highlights off of Black British Music into a new single for this new era. Loving the, you know, jerk style snares, loving the super melodic samples, loving the way Jim sort of works this, you know, half rap, half sung delivery. And it's incredibly catchy. It's incredibly passionate. It's very emotional, but also quite charismatic and fun and bouncy and catchy too. Jim is, you know, really the way forward in my opinion. Had my single of the year last year with "Stick". And, you know, regardless of how this next record pans out, "idk idk" is probably going to land pretty high on my singles of the year list too.

We have also over here Jessie Ware, who's given us "Automatic", new single from her, the sexiest of all the singles so far. It's trying to be the sexiest of all the singles so far. It's dancey, it's flirty, it's hot and heavy. Give it a listen, give it a spin.

Also next, we have a new one from Indigo De Souza, who for a little bit has been flirting with the idea of, I think, rather than giving us kind of a standard indie rock singer-songwriter type sound, experimenting more with electronics and, you know, just like sequenced beats and that sort of thing. And this is like really the first song with that backing that has truly won me over. "Come to God" is the name of the track. Solid vocals, solid songwriting, much glitchier, more colorful electronics and beats on this track that I think come together really well. Indigo De Souza's, you know, really kind of evolving before our eyes and ears in an interesting way for sure. And looking forward to hearing, you know, more that sounds like this. Or more that sounds different. I don't know. Indigo De Souza continuing to impress in my opinion.

All right, we have— and also finally, girl_irl with Danny Brown, "Magic". I mean, that's essentially what the song is. The team-up is great. Danny's verse on the back end is great. girl_irl's, you know, very kind of monotone rap-type delivery is, you know, very smooth and very entrancing. It's a very hypnotic track. That is until Danny hits the mix and then the whole thing kind of like explodes with a really great finish.

And, uh, that is pretty much going to be it for this Weekly Track Roundup. Hopefully you got some good recommendations out of this video.

Weekly Tracks forever.