Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you are doing well. It's time for a weekly track roundup, isn't it? It sure is. Basically, my thoughts, my ideas, my feelings, my emotions, my abstract concepts on a bunch of music that has dropped over the past week or so.

And the worst tracks of the week are as follows.

We have a handful. We have a few. First off, Shaboozey, even though he is absolutely smashing it with that tipsy "Bar Song" track, so many weeks at number one, tying "Old Town Road" for the record. Maybe it'll surpass it. I guess we will see very soon. Yes, this new one, "Good News", is like just some very stomp-clap, folk, indie, country fusion pap, not really liking it. I feel like he's written better and more interesting stuff in the past.

Moving on from there, we have a new one as well from Miss Tate McRae. "Two Hands" is the title of it, and it's just basically some generic baby voice 2000s era pop music. It wishes it was Britney. It is absolutely not. I mean, the aesthetic is there in a way, but the singing and the songwriting absolutely is not.

All right, next we have Bon Jovi and Pitbull. Pitbull basically sampling. It's for just an absolutely awful song. But you know what? It's Pitbull. You can't help but smile when listening to it anyway, because it is freaking Pitbull.

And Lil Baby, "5 AM", very short new single that is absolutely forgettable. Little to nothing to it, really. How many years has it been? And Lil Baby has still not progressed, grown, evolved as an artist at all, frankly, pass. All right.

Meh, the tracks I was meh on.

You might enjoy them more than me, though. They are as follows.

Shabaka, or Shabaka Hutchings – Horn player, band leader, composer, has a new EP on the way, put out a record not too long ago. The first taste of it "Timepieces" features none other than billy woods. It's a solid track all around. I just wish it was longer. Loving the woodwind harmonies on it, liking billy's contribution. I just wish there was more to it, honestly.

We also have a new one from Lil Nas X. Lil Nas X is coming through with a brand new single, "Light Again", is the title of it. And I feel like content-wise, he's starting to run out of things to sing and rap about, frankly. The production is very high grade and sounds very expensive and gets a little epic toward the end. But for the most part, I feel like he's just borrowing a lot from Kid Cudi on this one. Just a lot of Kid Cudi vibes all around on the vocals, on the progression of the track, outside of almost like the Yeezus-esque ending at the very finish, but very Cudi, very Cudi all around honestly.

All right, next, we have what is maybe one of the slickest and most commercially geared posthumous tracks from Juice WRLD to come out in a long time, in a long time. Maybe the most slick and commercial track ever to drop a post Juice's passing. This is just like very, very melodic, very, very clean. It's sounding dated at this point. It's locked, obviously, very deeply in that emo trap era. Nicki Minaj is on the track, too, and she's singing her butt off as well. It's just okay. It's not terrible. It's not great either. I just feel like they should let him rest. Just let the guy rest, please.

All right, we have a new one from Imperial Triumphant. Amazing ending and really impressive series of progressions in the second half on this new single from this wonderful avant-garde progressive metal outfit. The first half, in my opinion, though, was rough. It's cluttered and it's cacophonous in a way that I didn't really find to be all that interesting or flattering. It really gave me a bit of mental fatigue in the first half, but when things really started to sync up and come together after the halfway point, that's when the track actually became quite amazing. I'm a little torn on it. "Hotel Sphinx" is the the name of the track.

Moving on from there. Next, Jack Antonoff, Bleachers, coming through with a brand new Christmas single. Of course, it's like some very washed-out pop rock per usual from Bleachers. Not the most Christmas-y vibe either, I suppose, though. That's most likely intentional. I just feel like aesthetically, melodically, it's just an okay Bleachers track. It's just okay.

Moving on from there. We have Addison Rae teaming up with Arca for an "Aquamarine" remix. "Arcamarine" is the title. I wish it popped off a bit more. It's a very exciting crossover in concept, but honestly, I don't really know if Arca had that much to work with, frankly. I mean, taking an already very light on the ears, trancey Y2K era dance pop track, and then throwing a light reggaeton groove behind it. I suppose it reinvents it a little bit. I think Arca's approach here to the production does make it seem a bit more watery and more immersive, but the baseline material, the original work it's built off of, isn't that strong to begin with. So it's not like the remix goes crazy or anything like that, but still, it's interesting that it happened. It's interesting that it happened. Some Arca production on an Addison Rae record would be cool. I would probably mess with that.

But moving on. All right, we have Angel Olson over here, who on this upcoming Cosmic Waves project, dropping via Jagjaguwar, has a Poppy Jean Crawford cover, the song "The Takeover". It's very acoustic and stripped back and skeletal, really pushing her voice into her upper register. Sounds a little Jessica Pratt to my ears a bit there, but it's not too bad. It reminds me of some of the skeletal acoustic demo-type cuts that she released on a record not too long ago.

Best tracks of the week.

We have quite a few of those. They are as follows. Bam.

New one from FKA twigs. Pretty much three for three on the new singles. Pretty much three for three on the new singles, I would say. This one, which also features Koreless, is titled "Drums of Death". Maybe not as poppy as the last teaser or as vocally intensive, but there are a lot of like chops of Twigs's voice throughout the track, and the beat is just banging, just great, great, great groups throughout this very heavy, very bassy, very punchy cut. Koreless really killed it on this one, in my opinion.

All right, next, we also have Squid, who's coming through with another project very soon. Looks like 2025 is going to be another squid year. And yes, they are delivering to us once again a very tense, very gratifying, very epic, very linear piece of art punk with a great progression to it on this track, "Crispy Skin".

Also messing with this Killer Mike single, which I know isn't the newest freshest thing, but it's hitting streaming services now. "STILL TALK'N THAT SHIT". It features Key Glock and Project Pat, who's really bringing some classic flows and inflections the track. But great chemistry all around and Killer Mike's rapping is bold, electrifying, and in your face, per usual.

Moving on from there, we have this new one as well from Matt Champion, who has really been pushing deeply into his own solo career at this point post Brockhampton. And this new single that he has off of an EP that has just dropped. This track, that features Deb Never, is like this cool sensual combo of bedroom pop and maybe just a touch of R&B. There's some decent vocal chemistry, and even though the singing is understated, it still got a snappy melody to it and a sweetness in the performance that I like a lot on the vocal side.

Also, Julia Holter has treated us to a nice little non-album single over here. "The Laugh is in the Eyes". And of course, it's as gorgeous and wondrous and dreamy and abstract and as progressive as much of the pop music on her brand new album, Something in the Room She Moves, which is a record that you absolutely should spend some time with if you have not already.

James Blake seems he has unlocked the ability to write a really amazing In Rainbows era Radiohead track on this brand new single, "Like The End". Yeah, even though it is like a dead ringer for that sound and that era of the band, it's actually really good. It's incredible. It's just a great song all around and a killer vocal performance. Didn't know James had it in him, and yet he did, and he smashed it.

Also, Jack White treating us to a little non-album single post-release of his little no title record that he dropped not too long ago. And yeah, it's very much in the same vein, just very brash, garagey blues rock with a bit of a rough punk edge to it. It's not the most lyrically dense song that he's put out in this era, but the guitar licks are absolutely sick, and the drums are killer as well. That raw performance style is most certainly still there. So if you enjoyed the new Jack White record, you're going to want to hear this single, too.

All right, Ichiko Aoba, Japanese singer, songwriter extraordinare, has a new album on the way. Exciting stuff. February 2025. Our first taste of it, this "Luciferine" track, is a gorgeous, acoustic ballad with just dense, wonderful, luscious arrangements. The strings are amazing. The vocals are entrancing. You're going to want to give this a listen. This is just pure bliss, pure beauty. You don't want to miss this one. That's for sure.

All right, next. horsegiirL, teasing toward the EP that we're going to get toward the end of January – vip - very important pony – is coming through with another track, another teaser. First, we had "eat, sleep, slay, repeat", and now we're getting this take it off track, which is like a catchy but still grimy piece of Euro dance. It's very slick, it's very groovy, it's very low-key, but still entrancing and fun. Again, again, not as weird, not as quirky, not as out there as eat, sleep, slay, repeat, but still feeling this one quite a bit.

All right, clipping., experimental rap trio has come through with another single. They dropped "Run It" not too long ago. This one over here, "Keep Pushing", is also seeing the group embrace maybe a bit more of a commercial sound, but clipping.'s stuff is usually so out there that they could make their shit a bit more accessible, but it still has an alternative appeal to it and it's still quite adventurous for a lot of rap standards out there. I'm feeling this direction. And David even sings a little bit on this track, which I feel took a few listens from you to really warm up to. But it works out quite well in the context of the group's overall sound.

Finally, shout out to Blanck Mass, who has come through with a first single in a while over here, I believe. "Bloodhound" is the title of it. It's this crazy combination of bright hype, punchy electronics, but then these very harsh, abrasive, killer, pounding, industrial passages. It's quite the contrast. It is quite the progression. It comes to a really epic finish, too. "Bloodhound", again, is the name of the track. It's quite epic, and I am liking it a lot.

That is going to be it for the weekly track roundup.

Anthony Fantano, Weekly Tracks, Forever.