Hey, everyone. Skinthony Glowtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well. It is time for a Weekly Track Roundup. Basically, some thoughts on a bunch of songs that have dropped over the past week or so.

Worst tracks of the week.

We have a handful. We have a few. They are as follows. Bam.

A new one from That Mexican OT with Lil Wayne. OT has been on fire lately, commercially. Been getting a lot of banger tracks out. Strong voice, strong flow, strong personality. But this new track with Lil Wayne is pretty much unlistenable. It's annoying. It's like a terrible novelty song. His voice and flow is totally off. He doesn't really stick to his usual thing that historically has worked for him. I feel like this track is, sadly, a big miss for That Mexican OT. But still, I'm sure he'll have better tracks coming out into the future.

We have Kesha over here, AG Cook remix of "Yippie-Ki-Yay", and not even an AG Cook remix could save this track and make it just not so grating that I would actually listen to it. Yeah, but sadly, the "Yippie-Ki-Yay" track is annoying, and I can't stand it. But they're not all going to be bangers.

We have Kid Cudi over here, "Neverland", coming through with what sounds like a very dated single with a, whoa-whoa type over-the-top chorus that I feel like is just not really in right now. This just... It feels so, again, dated. I have no idea what Cudi is trying to do here. When I say dated, I don't even mean like, Oh, man, he's going back to his original sound, or something like that. This just sounds like a pop and rap blend that, frankly, at this point, is old hat and unflattering as of right now, I would say, frankly, beneath him. Creatively, Cudi has written so much better stuff than this in the past, and stuff that was, frankly, more adventurous and interesting than this. This just seems like he's on autopilot a little bit, frankly. "Neverland" is the name of the track.

We also have Avril Lavigne teaming up with Simple Plan for a track where they're "Young & Dumb". It's a horrendous, watered-down pop punk that is overly nostalgic. It's cringe. It's hard to listen to. It's embarrassing. We should move on.

All right, meh. Tracks I was on the fence with.

You might like them more than me. They are as follows. Boom.

The Weeknd, "Timeless" remix, Playboi Carti, with an additional verse from Doechii. It's a solid verse. It's cool. It's just unfortunate that it's added to a song that is very uninteresting, and frankly, one of The Weekend's least interesting singles ever. The verse is not so good it saves the single. I'll say that. But it's cool that Doechii continues to get attention and shine. She certainly deserves it, and I anticipate great things coming from her in the future. I think she put way more into this track than it deserved, I guess I'll say. Fine verse on a mid-single. All right, moving on from there.

Stereolab, they have a new album on the way. Their first in over a decade. "Melodie is a Wound" is the second teaser they have dropped from it. And this new one over here certainly has a lot of interesting passages to it. But as an overall song, as an overall cohesive idea, it's just not there. It's just not there, especially with one track, one portion of the track, rather, literally fading out at random and then just bumping into another part of the song. It really sounds like three songs just bunched together with no real effective transitions between each section for no reason. Again, interesting ideas for what they are, but they're not assembled into a cohesive and frankly enjoyable piece, enjoyable at the length that this lasts. This could have been, frankly, three decent different songs if they were all fleshed out into their own thing, I suppose, and I'll leave it there.

All right, we also have $UICIDEBOY$, "Self Inflicted", new single from them where they are continuing on their creepy Memphis vibe and sound. It's a little short, not really too much in the way of a memorable structure, or a chorus, or anything like that, but they've never been big hook boys. They're $UICIDEBOY$. If you like that grimy, spacey, cloudy hip hop sound, deeply Southern sound, that is, they typically bring to the table, you will most likely mess with this track, too. All right, moving on from there.

We have a new one from Haru Nemuri. "Panopticon" is the name of this latest single, where she goes into a surprisingly art pop-y direction, not so much rock or experimental. I don't know. I feel like it's quite the hard transition, really veering left, very aggressively. We're talking like a 90-degree angle turn here. I think the instrumental is maybe a little bit more chaotic than it should be. It's loud and in your face, like a rock tune, but I feel like the instrumentation is not really conveying that because it does sound so soft and flowery, and maybe such a chaotic presentation doesn't really complement it. I see the intention there, but it's not really coming together fully, in my opinion. But maybe more tracks of this style will bring some more clarity, some more interesting tunes. I guess we'll just have to see.

Anamanaguchi, "Darcie" is the name of the track. Apparently, the band was chilling over in the American Football house while they were putting this album together, which is pretty cool. Nice little a bit of backstory there. And the band has decided to come back and is giving us what they are saying, what they are billing as their rock album. This is their rock album. I know Anamanaguchi has always had some rock roots to their traditionally 8-bit chip-tune type sound. But I guess this is going to be their full-on rock album, and "Darcie" certainly pushes things in that direction. It's a bit of a lofi, alternative rock, almost like early Weezer thing. It's fine. I wouldn't say they're reinventing the sound in an exciting way, but maybe more singles, more tracks to follow will bring some brighter and more vibrant and more interesting sounds. I'll leave it there. All right, moving on from there.

Best tracks of the week.

The songs that were really hitting for me. We have quite a few of those. They are as follows. Let's shout them out. Boom.

"Thugin' Not Clubbing", Peysoh & AZ Chike, who you guys know from a very solid feature on the newest Kendrick album, GNX, bringing a deeply LA, Bay Area sound on this new single with some banger bars and a sick chorus as well. Solid production, too. But again, if you're really enjoying a lot of the vibes and sounds on GNX, listen to some of the artists who are really riding for that fully and completely on this new single.

We also have Hayley Williams of Paramore fame dropping a new collaborative single in tandem with the one, the only, Moses Sumney. "I Like It, I Like It" is the title of the track. It's got a bit of a groovy art pop, neo-soul combination thing going on. And Haley's and Moses's vocals actually marry way better than you might expect, given the very different worlds of music that they come from. But it's actually an incredible performance they both put on here. A lot of chemistry going on here, again, vocally. A great tune, too, about temptation and desire and so on and so forth. Cool instrumental, great production, does a lot with a little. I don't know, it's such a good song. I would frankly love to hear more from these two. It would be really cool to hear them cross over again, sooner rather than later, given just how great this track came out.

All right, we also have a new one from Miley Cyrus. She is hitting us with another single from her forthcoming album. This one over here, maybe not as daring or as bold as the past two, but it's still a very solid classic ballad with very tried and true turnarounds and so on and so forth. With old adages in the lyrics and the title "More to Lose", and obviously it's about a relationship, and so on and so forth. But great vocal performance. Miley's voice is aging like a fine wine, honestly. And again, it's a bit of an old-school sound, but her singing delivery really plays into it really well. So yeah, actually enjoying the artistry and the maturity that we're hearing on these new tracks from Miley so far, honestly.

All right, we also have Maruja, coming through with the second single for their forthcoming album. "They Look Down On Us" is the name of the track, and it's absolutely killer. It's a 10-minute monster, and it's like, obviously, the linear art rock and post-rock vibes that have made their past releases, EPs, so exciting up until this point. But I would say there's almost like a rap-rock flavor this time around. Very bold and socially aware, revolutionary lyrics on the track, too. And an incredible ascent instrumentally in the second half of the track as well. It's like, Godspeed You! Black Emperor Against the Machine. It's got a rap rock thing going on. It's got a post-rock thing going on. It's an immense, incredible performance, strong, passionate poetry, thoughtful lyricism, and just incredible all around. I really can't put into words, personally, just how exciting a band like this is on the current musical paradigm. But I feel like a lot of people are sensing that, so maybe it doesn't need to totally be put into words fully yet, but very excited to listen to this full-length album when it is eventually out.

We have Leikeli47, who is hitting us with this new single over here, "Soft Serve", is the title of the track, and it's almost I think if you could take a ballroom tune and give it production that makes it sound like it's something out of a horror film. I also love a lot of the songs' lyrics. The lyrical allusions to ice cream flavors and so on and so forth. She does a really great job being a very skilled rapper, obviously, sticking to a concept, very solid flow, very solid delivery. I love how steady and low-key and entrancing it all is. A great track all around, really enjoying this one from Leikeli47.

We also have HEALTH and Chelsea Wolfe teaming up on a brand new single. "Mean" is the title of the song. It is a low-key, groovy, moody bop for the goth club. In a recent interview with Chelsea Wolfe, she did hint toward or say some stuff about the possibility of writing more songs into the future that might have a bit more of a traditional structure, maybe more of a pop appeal. And I feel like this song is certainly an example of that, and it's coming together pretty well. I think her voice plays really well into a track that's more straightforward and hookier like this. And with HEALTH, I feel like they're both able to stick to their guns by making something that's obviously going to appeal to that goth audience, give it a bit of a dance and an industrial edge, too. So really liking this one quite a bit. All right.

Hayden Pedigo, who is a stellar guitarist I've talked about, I think, on the channel maybe once or twice before. He's got a new album on the way titled I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away. And I'll be honest. In the past, I've been mostly neutral on a lot of Hayden's stuff. It's mostly instrumental. It's very serene. It's very pleasant to listen to. But I feel like his writing and his performance and his picking on this track in particular is just absolutely stellar and very expressive, much more expressive than I think some of his recordings in the past have been. Really beautiful, beautiful, beautiful – I stress beautiful-sounding instrumental on this one. Really clean recording and playing, too. I commend Hayden for putting together a track this damn good and gorgeous. So yeah, give this one a spin, too, if you want to, because it's a very, very, very pretty listen.

All right, we also have Gorilla Toss, who are hitting us with this new single over here, "Psychosis is Just a Number". The band is, once again, just really in that amazing left field, quirky, freak-out, weird-ass post-punk pocket. That they pull off so well, and they kill it once again on this new single that's shouty vocals, great grooves, killer baseline, too. All right, a couple more.

We have Fiona Apple, "Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)". Fiona Apple coming through with her first single in quite a while on this track. And it's a very thoughtful number about just the way that the court system has torn apart lots of people's lives, specifically certain stories of women who she has witnessed in this song, where they're pulled out of their house and that woman being the homemaker and also the person taking care of everybody in the home, and bringing in the money, and paying the bills, and so on and so forth, is no longer there to actually keep track of those things and take care of those things. And of course, the house falls apart, CPS is called, so on and so forth. It's like she's really going down, just like, the terrible snowball effect that having your life totally pulled apart, and being held and not being able to bail yourself out to go out and take care of your family until your trial and so on and so forth. It's really devastating for a lot of people, especially, obviously, the poor in this country. And I think it's great that she's not only pulled together a great tune here, a great track, but she is highlighting and bringing attention toward a very worthy cause on this song. So, great song, thoughtful lyrics, very important, urgent, pertinent issue that should be fixed and changed. And it's amazing that Fiona is putting in the work here on all fronts. Check that out, too. All right.

And finally, we have Ms. Dev Lemons, who's hitting us with a new single over here that has almost like a 2000s clubby pop flair to it. But the production, especially with the beat switch around the midpoint, is very zany, very textured, very creative. Dev has been flying under the radar for for a minute, but it's cool that she is back with another bop with a very, very, very strange cover here. The jorts, the pigtails, the dirty carpet, the microwave, it's really a sight to behold. And it's a bop of a pop tune, too. So don't miss that.

All right, that is going to be it for this video.

Anthony Fantano, Weekly Tracks, Forever.