Hi, everyone. It's time for a weekly track roundup. Yeah, it's Anthony Fantano here, internet's busiest music nerd. This one's for the Melon boys. And I hope all of you are doing well. I'm going to, per usual, go over some of my favorite tracks that dropped over the past week, although I forgot to do one of these last week.

So I'm actually kind of rounding up some older songs in this episode as well. So yeah, basically everything linked down below that I talk about that's the weekly track roundup. Hopefully you get some good recommendations out of this video.

So yeah, there you go. Without any further ado, a link to our Turntable Lab page is down below, or rather, our affiliate link is down there so you can treat yourself to some records. It's the holiday season. Supports the channel. Also supports the channel– it's our Patreon page. Get some extra bonus monthly content while helping out the needle drop. That's all you got to do. And that's all you're going to get.

And worst tracks of the week. They are as follows.

We got just one, unfortunately, and it's one that I'm not happy about, but not super crazy about the new Anamanaguchi track, "Sucker Punch." I could see what the band is doing in terms of heading more into noise pop and shoegaze territory on this one, but it's maybe a little bit too lo-fi to come across as textured and lush as I would typically like from maybe these genres kind of come together on this one. I do like the fact that the band is experimenting, though, even if I'm not really particularly crazy about this track.

We do have songs that I was meh on, on the fence with.

They are as follows. Here we go.

We have a new Liars track. Angus is getting the project back up on its feet with some new material and a new album. This one is a very odd combination of synths and beats. Feels almost like a super experimental Radiohead track in some respects. I mean, I feel like it's a song that could grow on me when I hear it more in the context of the album itself. But I like the fact that Liars is still coming out with music that I don't quite expect, and we're doing at least something kind of challenging with this new material.

We also have Everything Everything hitting us with a new single, "Poison Pop." It's sort of their own trademark brand of artistic, artsy pop rock that's a little futuristic. There are some elements of this track that are maybe a bit too grating to my ears, but nothing quite sounds like an Everything Everything song. I will say that. Yeah, Everything Everything, a new record on the way. First single of this new cycle for them. So congrats. New album soon.

We also have over here a new one from Ecco2K. These latest singles I'm just a little on the fence with. They have a lot of atmosphere. They're very abstract, but vocally I just haven't found them to be as compelling as my favorite Ecco2K material that we've heard in the past. Most notably, like a lot of the Bladee collaborations and all that. But who knows? I know there's a project on the way. So these tracks could make much more sense in the context of an entire record or something like that.

So we also have Conway the Machine, who's coming through with this very underwhelming "Diggwutumsayn!" track. Also, I like how the cover art here reminds me of that one Peter Gabriel cover. That is a sick album from him. I don't know if there's like, any kind of crossover inspiration there, but musically, I don't think there is on this track. This just kind of seemed to me a little basic instrumentally and lyrically for Conway. I'm hoping, for whatever this album delivers, that he's doing something a bit more thoughtful than what he is approaching us with on this particular track.

We have also The Chats, who are back with this "Off It" track with a kind of a lengthy intro. The meat of the song is very short. I mean, it's very punky. It's very rough around the edges. It's very Australian. Looking forward to their new record, even if I feel like this one is a bit of a tough sell as a single, because it's not quite as anthemic and the structure is a bit choppy, but whatever.

We have also Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, who are coming through with a new record and really loved their last single, their "Googoo Gaga" single. This one over here is awesome as well at points, but there is something very odd about it. It's a lengthy cut, and it's a great kind of combination of vintage synth pop and dance. The grooves are killer. The production's amazing. But then in the midst of the track, the song is overtaken by this lengthy, very catty, very gossipy phone conversation. That's obviously meant in jest and is like pure parody. And the parody itself is, like, very well written. And I wonder how improvised it is.

It's, again, very funny. It's very sharp. There's a social commentary angle, you could say, as well, in terms of these therapy words being used and weaponized in this conversation. It's very sharp in that way. Again, I'll use the word sharp, but it takes up a lot of the song. Just so much of the song's length is sunk into this parody, silly phone conversation. I wonder how much it'll kind of like wear on me when I hear it in the context of this record. Maybe we need just like a dance mix of this song or something where the phone conversation is shortened or something. I don't really know. It's very odd, very funny, very surprising, but maybe doesn't make for the best musical experience. But it remains to be that nobody is quite doing it like Charlotte and Bolis. That is true. We can't deny that.

We have one over here from Cage the Elephant, "Make It Easy," which is kind of a slightly vintage indie rocker with some solid guitars, nothing too crazy, nothing too mind-blowing from them. But it's fine. It's Cage the Elephant. If you're looking for some kind of standard boilerplate modern alternative rock, they're not a bad place to turn.

And here we have the best tracks of the week.

They are as follows. Here we go. Got a quite a few of those.

Boom. This new one over here from Yaeji, "ddr." Look, it's a very on-the-nose dance cut. It's literally about Dance Dance Revolution. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. There's literally descriptions of up, up, down, down, so on and so forth. And it's a footwork style beat, a footwork kind of juke style beat, which is really cool. It's been a minute since I've heard like a dance track, that isn't exclusively made by a producer in that lane that kind of like embraces that sound and does it so well. And does it so playfully. And yeah, just kind of like the fun, very infectious DDR influence lyrics. And the grooves are great. And shout out to Yaeji for putting it together.

We have one over here from test plan, a bit of a very rowdy, nasty post-punk cut, but with some gnarly bass and a mix that is so heavy, it feels almost like a metal song. So again, it's got like kind of a dancey, post-punk-y, dark goth rock sort of vibe to it. But there's almost like a slight metallic element as well that really just makes this one of their most aggressive songs so far. So shout out to test plan. This one's a rager for sure.

We also have one over here from SWAVAY, "2MUCH" with Kai Ca$h. Love the flow on this one. Love the flow on this one. Very unlikely beat and very unique. I wouldn't say technical, but like very nimble flow. Like you find some super interesting pockets on this track, and that's what really sells it for me. Yeah, this one's a killer, even if it's not like the hookiest song I've ever heard. Like, the flows and the grooves are so compelling just on their own. It really stuck with me.

We have also one over here that I am really enjoying as well from Slayyyter, "hey boyyy." She is kind of continuing the Worst Girl in America cycle by just like adding on more material. And as I guess neutral on some of that Worst Girl material, as I was; "hey boyyy" has to be like the most stunning post-album track I have heard so far. It's got a very tuneful pop element to it, but it's also mixed with kind of those super aggressive, distorted lead vocals too that a lot of people are kind of drawn to from the Worst Girl in America record. But I found that some of the songs were lacking in terms of their full hook potential or their melodic component. But I feel like "hey boyyy" finds a nice balance between some approachable dance-pop grooves, but then also kind of like those aggressive bits as well that made Worst Girl kind of the record that it was, if all of that makes sense, hopefully.

We have a new one over here from Fire-Toolz, "Clustered Around My Opening!" is the name of this track. And it's a very interesting one. It's sort of like, I guess like listening to internet cafe funky beats, but with black metal-style vocals and crazy experimental jazz chord progressions. And while it was a bit of difficult sort of like, detangle at first, when I was introduced to it, it really did kind of grow on me, the more that I heard it. Fire-Toolz just is a producer like none other; what else can I really say at this point?

We also have one over here. Also really crazy single art too from Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, "Beam Me Up Then!" it's a kind of progressive, wild, all over the place psych rocker. If you really love bands like King Gizzard, you're going to get a lot out of this track for sure. Shout out to the Porn Crumpets.

Pixies have decided to drop a little bit of old material through some new single release. This one is called "Punk Loop." It literally is sort of like a bunch of loud, groovy rock loops with Frank basically going crazy vocally on top of it. I kind of like it. There's something almost a little Viagra Boys about it, I suppose you could say. Even if it's, like, not anything new from the band or whatever.

Also liking Olivia Rodrigo's new Christmas song. Olivia is dominating Christmas early in November with a brand new track over here, "Take Me Home for Christmas." It's kind of a playful, post-punk, poppy mutant disco type cut that is heavily influenced by The Waitresses. In fact, The Waitresses' songwriters sort of went to one of her performances, and I guess connected with Olivia, and she sort of, like, showed him her appreciation and told him that she digs the group. So, yeah, it's cool that this very obvious sort of, like, nod to, in my opinion, like legendary group. "Boys Like" is an amazing track, like one of my favorites of kind of that era when it comes to that post-punk-leaning pop and pop rock music. And also, who can forget that The Waitresses also dropped one of the most legendary Christmas songs of the new wave era as well. So Olivia and her pop literacy continue to reign supreme with this very fun track with super tongue-in-cheek lyrics all about being kind of chaotic and a mess when you're brought to your boyfriend's house for the holidays and so on and so forth. It's a very fun song. It's a very fun song.

Also, shout-out to Boys Noize; Brutalismus 3000 is the feature on this new track over here. They have a new album out now. A lot of the tracks seem to run like very EDM, but a little punky as well, like cyber punky; I guess you could say a very rough and distorted and groovy kind of liking this direction for Boys Noize. I'm going to have to check out that new album this week.

We also have a new one over here from an artist I'm just hearing about now for the first time through the feature on this track. Meiv, Armand Hammer is featuring on the song. The track is called No Future Pt. 1 & 2, and it's not only an incredible track, but it's so cool and unlikely to hear Armand Hammer over this kind of production that is so bubbly and fruity and kind of fun, but they definitely meet the moment lyrically and vocally in their own sort of Armand Hammer way. Would love to hear them sort of over a production like this more into the future. And also, from what I understand, Armand Hammer is not going to be spending the rest of 2026 silent. So keep an eye out.

We also have the original score for the new Grand Theft Auto. Of course, we have to shout out some material off of that Justice and Gesaffelstein "Pusher." This one is an awesome, hard-hitting electro banger. It's French as hell and really well produced. One of the best tracks that I think either of these artists have come out with in a while.

And The Flaming Lips are back; new album on the way via Third Man Records. And I was really captivated, not only by the songwriting on this new track, "God Will Control The Werewolves," but it was also sort of a surprise by Wayne and company embracing the sort of, like, old-school vintage Motown style soul, like vocal and songwriting style on this track and production style too, that actually complements their kind of Neo-psych sound really well. So yeah, really enjoying the direction this track is moving in and wondering if we'll hear more like it on this forthcoming album.

And then, final track, we're shouting out the new Chvrches track. New Chvrches, "Overthinker" is the name of the song. And despite not really being much of a Chvrches guy, believe it or not, I loved this track. I thought it was a really catchy, indie electronic and synth-pop number. Lauren Mayberry's vocals are popping off. The production is killer too. Again, have never really been a super big Chvrches fan, but for whatever reason, this song is really doing it for me, frankly. So looking forward to new Chvrches, more Chvrches very soon.

And that's going to be it for the weekly track roundup, everybody.

Anthony Fantano. Tracks. Forever.