Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, Internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well, and it's time for another weekly track roundup. My thoughts on a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so.

Let's get the recommendations going, shall we? Bam.

Worst tracks of the week.

We have a handful of those, really just a couple. They are as follows. Bam.

Rihanna, "Friend of Mine". When I heard there was new Rihanna, I thought like, Man, new Riri album on the way. She's doing it. Coming back. No, we got smurfed. We got smurfed, y'all. It's just a song from the Smurfs soundtrack, and it barely even features that much Rihanna. It just seems like they take a couple of vocal lines and they chop them up into a track that mostly sounds like a remix of maybe what could have been an original song. It's just not really that interesting. We can move on.

And the Black Keys, who just can't seem to put together a badass rock track. "No Rain, No Flowers" is the name of the single from their next album. And yeah, it just sounds like some just very bad new wave that they would play at the mall with the synths and everything. It's very pillowy. It's very soft. No real edge to it. It reminds me of some of the records they started to come out with when they began to really lose their edge. They're losing their edge twice somehow. I don't know. But yeah, still not really a big fan of the music the band's been putting out lately, despite loving a lot of their early work. But c'est la vie.

All right, meh. The tracks I was on the fence with.

But you might like them more than me, they are as follows. Bam.

The Cure has come through with a nice little Orbital remix of the track "End Song", which I think provides a nice little electronic edge to the original song. It's a cool remix. Orbital – OGs in the electronic scene. So I think they did a pretty decent job of this, even if it's not like blowing me away or anything like that.

We also have Obongjayar, who's dropped another single from his forthcoming album, this one, "Jellyfish". I mean, the track hits hard. It's very speedy, very intense, but I wish it wasn't so short. I wish it had more to it. But maybe in the thick of the album's tracklist, it'll be a bit more satisfying as a singular moment. I suppose we'll see. All right.

We also have NxWorries teaming up on a new single that is very, very slick, very club-centric, very summery. It's okay. It's bland, honestly, much blander than anything on the recent NxWorries album, I'll say that. But it sounds like something that could have been off a very big blockbuster soundtrack or something like that. But yeah, it's all right. Not their best work, in my opinion. But you got to come out with a commercial track every once in a while, I suppose.

All right, we also have over here a new track from Laufey, "Tough Luck", is the name of the single. And despite really loving "Silver Lining", I'm not as into this new track melodically, and with a lot of the sassy lyrics here and there, the bad relationship storytelling going on. It just feels like a Sabrina Carpenter song. It just feels like a Sabrina Carpenter song with more lush instrumentation and maybe some extra steps here and there. It just seems weirdly derivative, considering that Laufey usually comes with a very distinct, recognizable sound and songwriting style. This to me just felt like very borrowed in an odd way, but I don't know, whatever.

We also have a GIVEON, who is hitting us with a new single over here that is very, very Marvin Gaye-influenced, to the point where it's distracting. "Rather Be" is the name of the track. But hey, if you're looking for that nice classic soul sound, I mean, give this one a shot.

We also have a new one from Lil Yachty and 2 Chainz, the track "Sista Wives" from this short film, Red Clay, that's dropping. And yeah, it's okay. I feel like Lil Yachty and 2 Chainz... I mean, it is a somewhat surprising team up, I suppose, but I feel like both of them are just running with so little gas in the tank at this point in terms of new ideas, truly fresh bars. I mean, the flows and production are okay. It's listenable. It's fine.

All right, moving on from there.

We have Arca, who is gracing us with two brand new tracks, back to back. "Puta" and "Sola", both of which I think leave a little bit to be desired. The latter of the two is very spacey and very pretty, but I think it could have used, I don't know, some more tangible sounds and more direction. It feels like it gets a little lost in the sauce as far as the overuse of effects on the track. And "Puta", while I do think it goes in a more interesting direction, fans of maybe the first two Kick records, I think, will appreciate the combination of hip and reggaeton and industrial esthetics and so on and so forth. But with that being said, I think structurally, Arca has written stronger, more eventful tracks. I feel like this one starts strong and gradually winds down in terms of momentum or anything truly gripping going on. But still certainly experimental and out there as Arca's best work usually tends to be. Just not her boldest stuff that I've heard for sure. All right.

Best tracks of the week.

We have a bunch of those. They are as follows. Bam.

Man, the giant cat on this thing. Shout out to yeule on this brand new track over here, "Du Du", which is the latest single from their forthcoming album. I think it's my favorite of the singles and tracks so far. It's got a real old-school trip hop and pop blend combination to it with some cool like vocal cycles, strong chorus as well. Again, good grooves, solid chill vibes, detailed instrumental, solid tune to "Du Du".

Moving on from there, we have a new one from Little Simz, "Young", is the title of the track. And this song and music video has been turning a lot of heads, generating some polarizing opinions. And I will say, going into this track, know this is like, consciously and intentionally, like Little Sims' most unserious song ever. It's silly, it's playful, it's goofy, she's taking the piss, it's intentionally humorous, and it's very funny, and it's entertaining, and it's got a snarkiness and a sassiness to it and a satire to it that I think is really cool. I guess that's rubbing some people the wrong way, but I guess if you don't get the joke, I guess you don't really get the joke. And even without taking the humor into play, the beats are great, the bass line's great, the vocals are fun and full of life and quirky. So a lot to like about this track, in my opinion. If you're into anything that's even a little bit left field and you like fun also.

Latto has come through with, I think, honestly, her best single in a minute. "Somebody", is the name of the track. And yeah, it's just a cute lovey-dovey song with some sweet vocal melodies, a great beat, solid flows from Latto. Again, I think it's one of her best put together tracks ever, killing it on this new single over here, for sure, for sure.

All right, we also have Joey Bada$$, who really elevated this, at one time, one sided beef with Ray Vaughn to an explosive level with a deadly lyrical response over here titled "The Finals". And yeah, Joey really came through with the top-notch wordplay and was very nasty, very mean on this track. However, as killer as the song is, I'm anticipating probably a response, or at least a couple responses from Ray after this. Ray finally got what he wanted from Joey, a response. I think Ray, as good as this track is, his diss tracks up until this point have been fine, have been decent, and he could come back pretty strong, especially with a lot of great rappers and artists seemingly on his side with his TDE connections. I guess we will see. But yes, Joey is heating up the beef over here between him, between Ray, between Kendrick, between TDE. It's multifaceted, multi-layered, and hopefully, again, stays within the realm of artistry and sport as far as hip hop and lyrics goes.

So let's continue.

Also digging this new Grande Mahogany track, "Salford Softie", which is this intense, insane, psychedelic journey of a song that honestly, as much as I've listened to it a handful of times, really, I'm still yet to fully make heads or tails of it. It's an insane listen, man. It's an insane listen. I mean, I really loved Grande Mahogany's combination on his last record of garage rock and psych rock and hip hop and hard rock and so on and so forth. But this is all of that and even much more in terms of texture and layers and sounds. This is definitely quite disorienting in an entertaining way. So definitely check this out for sure.

We also have King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard, whose forthcoming album is on the way. I do want to say, once again, I have said this before, and I will repeat myself. I think after all of these years – and Phantom Island is the name of this forthcoming album, mind you – this is the most King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard album cover. I don't think there's an album cover that is more King Gizz than this. This is the most King Gizz album cover. I mean, just look at it. Look at all those gizzards. Look at all those Lizard Wizards. Anyway, "Grow Wings and Fly" is the name of the latest single from their forthcoming album. And it just sounds like a more flutey and arranged and refined take on their very linear psych rock style and sound, which I love. I think it's a pretty... It checks a lot of your typical King Gizzard boxes, but it's much prettier and much more lavish and much more instrumentally, I would say, flowery than their usual stuff. So it's a cool change of pace in that respect. I don't think they've been sounding this pretty since Paper Mache Dream Balloon. I'll say that.

All right, we got more over here.

New one from Dog Race, who's laid a single over here, continues the band's eerie, gothic, post-punk sound with a track that seemingly is all about the day being so bad, you wish you could return it like you could like an item that you didn't mean to buy. It's a cool turn of phrase, and I like the song quite a bit overall. It's, I think, another solid single for the band for sure.

We also have La Dispute, post-hardcore and screamo legends, coming back after quite a bit for a new album cycle, and they're teasing toward that with a bunch of singles all at once: "I Shaved My Head", "Man with Hands and Ankles Bound", and "Autofiction Detail", three songs, back to back to back, dropped all at once. And got to say, the band, performance-wise, is sounding ferocious. Jordan is still writing lyrics like nobody else in this lane stylistically. He's still an intense and theatrical performer as far as the genres go, too. And very winding and captivating songs and song structures that I'm still wrapping my head around, honestly. So really excited to have La Dispute back and sounding very bold, as they've always been in their best moments.

All right. And finally, Boldy James over here who was teaming up with Your Boy Posca, and they have a new album on the way titled Magnolia Leflore. "Nancy Botwin" is the first single from it. It seems like it's five new tracks with instrumentals of those tracks on the back end, which is cool. But I'm really liking this "Nancy Botwin" track. Not only do I like the relationship dynamic and the interactions that he describes with the woman he's primarily rapping about in the first half of the song. But there's some great production on this track, and a very funny swagger to it as well on some of Boldy's bars. There's this one bar on the track about, "If you dream of killing me, you better wake up and apologize." Just absolutely hilarious fucking bar. It's funny. The guy's delivery is usually so low-key and so monotone, which can be a little, I think, comes across a little unassuming or can make you think like, maybe he's not saying as much as he is, but he actually does through with a lot of narratives in his songs and witty lyricism, a lot of detail and wit as well. So Boldy James, once again, doing his Boldy James thing and being as prolific as ever because the guy just comes out with so much music. But there you go. Forthcoming project from them. It's dropping over in late May, May 23rd. Again, the title of that one is Magnolia Leflore.

And that is going to be it for this weekly track roundup.

Hopefully, you got some good, good, good, good, good.