Okay. Hi and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well. It's time for another Weekly Track Roundup, where I go over what I felt were the worst, best, and in-betweenest tracks of the week. Regardless of how I feel, it's all linked down below, so you could check it out for yourself, because I shouldn't be the only one listening to all this music. You should, too. But yeah. Also linked down below.

So let's get into the worst tracks of the week.

We have a handful of those, starting with a new one from Snoop Dogg and Sexy Redd. I shouldn't even have to go into why this song is awful. I feel like most people watching this video are going to see this and be like, 'Yeah, that's going to be bad.' But what I will say, just outside of, I guess, the premise of a Sexy Redd and Snoop Dogg song, being bad in and of itself. It sounds like neither of them are trying. It's the most phoned-in crossover I think I've heard in quite a while. No chemistry, no real attention to detail, no fun. Even the production is trash on this track. It sounds like everybody is giving about 25%, everyone involved. Everyone involved giving about 25% max, and this is a 25% effort track as a result.

We also have MGK, who is giving 100% on his new little pop rock crossover moment here with the track "Cliché". It is cringe, especially if you watch it with the music video. Tough to listen, tough to experience in any context, any way it could possibly be consumed or observed. Yeah, this man has changed genres so much, and every single time he does, he just finds new ways to just employ bad ideas in new musical lanes. It's fun. It's entertaining. It's quite something to watch.

We also have a new one from Black Lips over here, "Wild One", which does not really sound wild at all. I think it's actually one of the band's most tame singles in quite a bit, and the performance is slovenly to a fault. While I do know the recordings tend to run pretty loose and a little crazy sometimes, which I usually love. This to me, just felt very much lacking in energy and very much lacking in focus. Just felt like a psychedelic garage track that just never really came together, frankly. Hopefully, subsequent singles are Wilder.

All right. And also Chris Stapleton from F1: The Album, giving us a track contributing "Bad As I Used To Be", which he's one of many artists featured on this soundtrack. What I've perused so far from the bunch is not very good, and I will say that is also the case for this Chris Stapleton track. I mean, look, to be honest, it's not the worst thing in the world, but I feel like given the creative highs I've heard Chris Stapleton hit in the past on his older albums, I just feel like with his latest LP, with moments like this, the guy is just so deeply punching under his weight. He is capable so much more than just doing a ZZ Top rip-off song. I know they're an influence. I know he has the voice for it, but vocally, he is capable of so much more than just doing ZZ Top worship, which he's already done. He's already put out tracks that have a ZZ Top vibe. This just throws another log onto that already somewhat unimpressive fire. I mean, vocally, I feel like, again, while he can't pull off the ZZ Top thing, I feel like he's got more range than is required for a ZZ Top song. He could do so much more, but yet we're just getting him doing the ZZ Top musical cosplay. I don't know why. Again, he is capable of so much more. He's punching under his weight once again, and hopefully we don't have to continue hearing him do that outside of the context of a movie soundtrack, where he's probably getting paid a nice check to have his music involved in the soundtrack. So there you go.

All right, moving on from there. Meh, the tracks that I was on the fence with, but hey, you might like them more than me. They are as follows.

New one from Wolf Alice over here. A bit of a funky piano rock number with some super shouty, passionate, intense vocals that at times get to me a little bit. I mean, I will say there's a lot of fire and passion behind this track. It may be the most fiery single Wolf Alice has done in some respects. It has me curious to see what's going to be leading up to this new album, The Clearing, for sure, even if I'm not blown away by it necessarily, even if it's not my favorite thing. I would say there's some Florence and the Machine vibes on this track, too. If that's your bag, I would give this track a shot. Again, you may enjoy it more than me. Certainly a lot of passion going into this one again.

We also have a new one over here from Wednesday. If you're looking for some chill, low-key alternative country, their new single, "Elderberry Wine". While it didn't wow me, I think it will very much do something for you.

Also, Saliva, a staple as the intro to our weekly New Music Friday live streams. I'm sorry, scratch that outro because we love to play "Click Click Boom", Their classic alternative metal hit. But they have, for a second time, released their cover of Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us", as "They Don't Really Care About Us". But now, this time, it's like a collab with judge and jury, with bigger, I think, guitar and vocal tracks. I mean, it's a somewhat fun cover. I mean, there are other alternative rock and metal hit covers of Michael Jackson's music. Here we have another one, which is not too bad. It's silly. It's fun. And I think it's an underappreciated Michael Jackson track all around, too.

We also have a new one over here from the legendary band Pulp, who has a new album on the way. Liked the last single quite a bit. This one, I feel like, is just okay. It's a bit of a rock/soul blend where they're spelling out the words. I mean, it's a bit campy in terms of the performance and the execution and everything. But it's got a big epic feel to it that's pretty entertaining. "Got to Have Love" is the name of the track. Check that out, too.

We also have a brand new single from a rapper who's getting a nice, really strong underground buzz over in the UK. That would be fakemink. And this new track over here also features Ecco2K. And I got to be honest, I mean, I've had to do some digging into this artist after seeing the demand and the request for me to talk about this track. And overall, I thought it was okay. I mean, it's interesting that he got Ecco2K to come out of the woodwork here to do a bit of a crossover and a in the lab. But of what I know of Ecco2K's work and what I have been able to check out of fakemink's work, I don't think it's either of their best stuff, frankly. But if you're looking for some very low-key, spaced-out, weird, somewhat lofi, terminally online rap, I think fakemink, most definitely, has something to what he's doing. There's a there, there. I just think he's put out more interesting tracks. To me, this one just sounds like boneless Slowthai. And I think that there are a lot of other tracks he's put out that don't sound like that, and frankly, sound more interesting. And again, I think that also counts for Ecco2K. I mean, surprising crossover, got me to check out his stuff. I will be looking forward to more of his stuff in the future, for sure. But I guess I just wasn't blown away by this particular track. I'll say that.

All right, we also have a Logic, Bobby Logic. I guess he's got a side quest project on the way. "Go Round" is the name of a single from it that I am trying to push you guys toward. And I think this one's actually pretty great in some respects. I like the flow switch-ups. I like the psychedelic detail, booming, beasty boys, Hello Nasty-era-inspired production. I think it's a really thrilling, colorful track that's really entertaining, and I think showcases all of Logic's talents. However, it's just too dang short. I mean, it hits a great peak, and then it coasts out, and it's over, and it's just about two minutes in length. What's going on? We need more. We need more of this. This is magic. We need this extended. Could have used a feature, something. Needs something a little bit more from this, Bobbert. But yeah, great track, great production, good quality, everything. Just wish it was a bit more something.

All right, on top of that, we have a new one from Jane Remover over here. Additional track, "Supernova" featuring Funeral. Not enjoying this as much as all the material on Revengeseekerz, frankly, though. I can see what it has in terms of connections to this creative era, this album cycle for Jane Remover. It seems deeply influenced by a lot of the internet brain rot rap out there right now, that obviously seem to be a big reference point for a lot of tracks on Revenge Seekers. But this seems like it goes into the brain rot direction maybe a little bit too much to the point where it just sounds like pure mind numbing, just like a jittery noise. So I see where it's coming from. I get the inspiration. I see what other tracks Jane has that I share with it. But I feel like this one in particular, not as crazy about.

Moving on from there. We also have one over here from DIIV, "Return of Youth" is the name of the track. And DIIV hit us once again, predictably with that very spacy, somewhat shoegaze-y, very dreamy, indie rock sound. And it's fine. It's relaxed. It's lackadaisical. If that's your thing, if that's your sound, if that's your vibe, make sure you don't miss out on this one.

We also have "TaTaTa", a new one over here from Burna Boy and Travis Scott. And while I did think the course was pretty cool and Burna Boy is doing his thing, I just find there to be just zilch added to this track by Travis Scott. I just don't find these two to be a great, explosive, interesting combo. I do think Burna Boy does need to be doing more in terms of maybe embracing more interesting production here and there. And maybe Travis Scott is a throughway to some of those ideas, as Travis does tend to. They were very colorful, psychedelic beats, and so on and so forth. But I don't know, I just don't really see what he adds to this track, because vocally, he's one of the most forgettable parts of the song, honestly.

Moving on from there, though. We have the best tracks of the week. Let's start digging into those because we have quite a few, frankly.

Moving on, we have "Hollywood", new one from YG, Shoreline Mafia. Banger over here, big West Coast vibes, and I mean, it seems like it's in lockstep, visually, from the promo anyway, with his big single, previous to this, where he's going over the essay experience that he had as a younger guy. And It seems like he's on a bit of a roll here with some of these new tracks. I'm really loving the direction that YG is going in lyrically and creatively with these cuts. He could be gearing up toward a really awesome album cycle, and you'll love to see it.

Also, St. Vincent giving us a track from her recent album. Now, not too long ago, St. Vincent dropped a brand new record. Then she dropped a version of that album, but in Spanish. And now we have one of the strongest Spanish versions, one of the strongest songs, one of the Spanish versions of one of the strongest songs on the new record. There's a lot to say here. But now featuring Mon Laferte, which is, to me, fire, I think, Annie's vocal performance on this track is great. Mon Laferte, who I've reviewed recently and whose work I definitely appreciate on this track, is great. Love the crossover, love the combo. Totally makes sense. And again, it's fire.

All right, we have another single from the upcoming Turnstile album, "Look Out For Me". A long one, six minutes and change, but actually it's really well worth it, in my opinion. And you really get the full range of everything Turnstile is trying to do in this current era of their career on this track. You have those hardcore bits. You have the dreamier section on the back end, a really great fluid progression with some decent segues throughout the entire thing. So really enjoying what the band is doing creatively on this track. It's dreamy, it's hardcore, it's pretty progressive as well. A lot of thought into it and great execution, too.

We have MSPAINT over here, an underground band that has been getting a bit of a buzz as of late. They have a new EP out, and this track, off of tt, "Drift", is the opening track from it. And it's indicative of a lot of the band's very interesting influences. There's maybe a prog, Rush "Tom Sawyer" vibe going on at the start of the track, but then there's some rap rock and alternative metal and groove metal influences, I would say, a little bit deeper into the song. It's wild. I think the band is doing a lot of interesting things on this cut and on the rest of this brand new EP, too. I think they've come a long way from the synth out punk rock that they originally started making some noise with and have really gained some new dynamics to their sound that is keeping things really interesting. So, yeah, shout out to MSPAINT on on this new track for sure.

We have also over here, Kneecap, with this new track, "The Recap". Now, if you are at all familiar with Kneecap's discography, with a lot of singles they've dropped in the past, obviously a buzzing Irish rap group over here. They are no strangers to incorporating news clips and context of recent social controversies they've been embroiled in into their music. And given everything that has come out about the band, given everything that has been said about the band in mainstream news media since their Coachella performance, which we've talked about on the Fantano channel and other stuff as well, the charges they have actually received recently, they are reacting and commenting on all of that and essentially giving us a ranger, a banger in a response. I basically love the track and wish the band all the luck in the world with basically staving off these charges that they are faced with, which we will most likely do an update on the Fantano channel pretty soon, given that it seems like a pretty significant topic.

All right, moving on from there. We have Isabella Lovestory, "Telenovela", is one track from her forthcoming album, which I'm liking quite a bit. It seems like some really experimental, colorful reggae tone with an eccentric vocal performance, very odd and creative production. Two, a lot of flavor on this one for sure.

Also digging on this new track from Igorr. Really interesting crossover between Trey Spruance, Mr. Bungle, and Secret Chiefs 3. And it's this insane combination of extreme metal and some plucky Middle Eastern or Southeastern melodies or even surf rock-inspired leads. You could say it is, again, it's a really insane combination of a lot of different things. And I don't know, I just think, Igorr continues to be an incredibly creative project where just continually hear these very unlikely genre clashes coming together into very cohesive, very extravagant, very eccentric productions that you just won't hear anywhere else. So blown away by how fun and wild this one is for sure.

All right. And we have U.S. Girls over here, "Like James Said", new single from this project, which is quite mysterious and beautiful and odd, very hypnagogic indie, coming from a very left field place. And I'm digging on that a lot.

Also digging on this track from Diasonics. The name of the song is "Oriole". And if you're liking some very quirky synthesizer pop and synthesizer funk, I would dig this one up. This, I think, has some really creative production. It reminds me of an old, what is it? Like Hot Butter track, "Popcorn", something like that, but a bit funkier, maybe not quite as novelty in comparison.

And also want to give a shout out to Giant Claw, "Pulled Me in the Dark", is the name of this new monstrous single, which is quite lengthy, but it's a bit of an art pop epic with, once again, lots of strange manipulated sounds and synthetics and vocals. It really is like such a mystery in a trip to continue listening to, Giant Claw and the whole web of music projects connected to this whole scene, you could call it in the, I guess, Orange Milk universe. Of course, I am talking about the Orange Milk Records Bandcamp, which I highly recommend that you check out because there's such a treasure trove of experimental out-there production and electronic music and beyond on the entire label, dropping all the time. But yes, very impressed with another production from that world, and not really surprised that I am.

Weekly track roundup in the can. Hopefully, you guys got some good recommendations out of this.And I will see you in the next one.

Anthony Fantano. Weekly Tracks Forever.