Hi and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well. It's time for a weekly track roundup. My thoughts, my feelings, my opinions, my vibes on a bunch of tracks that have dropped over the past week or so. Whether I loved them or hated them or felt somewhere in between.

And the worst tracks of the week, they are as follows.

We have a handful, we have a few.

Linkin Park has come through with another track. "Over Each Other" is the title of this one. And yeah, this is really stale, frankly. It feels like the band is traveling into Evanescence territory on this one. I feel like I'm listening to bad Christian rock, but if we just made it slightly ever so slightly industrial, ever so slightly nu metal, it's just tacky. The new lead singer is really not doing it for me quite as much as she was on the last single. Yeah, there's just something missing on this one. This just feels thin and shallow in comparison. Even the first track that the band dropped with this new direction that I wasn't even that crazy about, frankly. This just doesn't even feel like Linkin Park in any way, shape, or form, even in a nostalgic sense, even in a sense that feels like they could be doing something cutting edge or different or whatever. This just feels like something a band that has a quarter of their talent would make, frankly, given the various hits and quality records they've dropped over the years.

All right. The Black Keys have come through with an extra from their recent Ohio Players album cycle. I guess we have a new revamped version of the album that includes this a new track titled "Stay In Your Grave". That really sounds like some Home Depot commercial music. But if you could make it spooky and add an Alice Cooper feature, of all things.

We also have a new one from Lady Gaga, "Disease". New album cycle. New hype. One that I was pretty excited for, given how much I enjoyed Chromatica and those Chromatica remixes. I like my fair share of tracks off of Joanne as well. But I feel like this new track is not really it. I think there will be a lot of Gaga fans that go gaga over this track because with the very gruff production and edgy lyrics, in a lot of respects, this song, aesthetically and emotionally, feels like a bit of a return to form. It does feel like Gaga is going back to a little bit of Born This Way, a little bit of "Bad Romance" vibes, just a touch. But if you could make it more aggressive and a little bit more tuneless, I guess, a bit more ghoulish and in your face. But I feel like its edginess wears thin after a while as I don't really think there's a strong anthemic chorus to this track. It's trying a bit too hard to be freakish while simultaneously missing the mark with doing so. Yeah, sadly, this one's just not going that far for me.

Let's move on to the tracks that I was on the fence with.

Was not crazy about them, however, you might like them more than me. They are as follows.

We have a new one from yeule over here. "Echo" is the title of the track. And while I do appreciate that the song is a bit peppier, catchier, and more tuneful, definitely sees yeule going in a more accessible direction. A lot of the weird glitchy, textured, experimental production ideas and vocal approaches that made you all so interesting to begin with get dropped and flushed down the toilet on this one. And as a result, what you get sounds pretty plain in comparison, so I'm not really super thrilled about, aesthetically, the direction we're moving in, even if the tune on this one is super sweet, and it's all instrumentally presented in a way that's very easy to digest.

We also have a new one from Lil Yachty over here, "We Ball Forever", where you can really feel that the guy is going in an introspective direction, a lot of commentary on people that have been at odds with him as of late and the hurdles that he's having to jump over in life and so on and so forth. But the very one-dimensional vocal delivery and stale flow throughout the track is just not really making the emotional impact on this one work all that well. He's really trying to work those vocals toward the end of the song as well that I feel like have also gone stale at this point.

We also have Tyler, the Creator. "Noid", new single, which was attached to a brand new music video and sees Tyler really going off on the obsessive fans who have put him in this position where he is afraid to go outside, afraid of the world, afraid of death, afraid of being stalked, attacked, so on and so forth. Tyler really is analyzing the way people interact with his music and interact with his image and is trying in his own best way to address the unhealthy parasocial relationships that we often find between creators and artists and their fans in the Internet age. I'm not super crazy about the instrumental. Musically, I don't really think it's super inspired, frankly, not nearly as intriguing compositionally as a lot of the production on Call Me If You Get Lost, for example, or even Igor. In fact, there are multiple moments on the song that to me feel a little Igor-esque. So nothing super new outside of like, it's going on with the guitars and the chants and the first leg of the song. But yeah, I'm a little on the fence with the production, even if I do think at the core of this track, at the heart of it, he is getting to something topically that is very urgent and is very necessary and is very now.

Moving on from there. Summer Walker comes through with a bit of commentary on femininity in the modern age with "Heart of a Woman". Not as tuneful of a track as I would have liked, but it's a decent R&B meditation.

We also have a new one from Romy and Sampha, whose vocals... I like hearing together on this track. It's a pretty little ballad from the both of them. They sing together well, but it's not the most thrilling production or escalation or anything like that. It's just a very intimate piano ballad, duet number between the both of them. That is certainly nice while it's on.

We have a new one from Leikeli47 over here who has a new album cycle on the way. Loved her last record, Shape Up. That was fantastic. Hoping for another bop on this next LP, though the single is kicking things off. I think it's okay. She has dabbled in fusions of rap music and dance music before, specifically ballroom type stuff. I feel like she's doing that again on this new one over here, "450", though not to as great a degree as I think she has in the past. So yeah, I just think this one's okay, frankly. The chorus doesn't exactly pop off for me either, even if the groove is coming out of the production are pretty strong.

We also have Disclosure, "Arachnids", another track that has some highly groovy moments coming out of the bassier bits, the drops from the track, but the attention building moments, the passages that lead up to those drops, I feel like are a bit too tedious and just take a bit too long. The buildup is not really worth what you get out of the payoff, in my opinion. And is this supposed to be a dark and edgy one from Disclosure? Because if it is, I don't really feel like it's working on that front either, but I digress.

All right, moving on from there. We have Amyl and the Sniffers, whose new record is fully out now, but before we get that album, or before earlier this week, before we got that album, I keep saying before, we just got this single "Jerkin'", so I'm just letting you guys know. We have a very positive, self-loving moment on this track. It is a self-esteem-packed punk rocker, but I feel like the vocal flow and the guitar riffs are pretty generic. It's really the message of the song that makes it interesting and gives it what's actually worth commenting on or parsing out of the whole thing. Just musically and performance-wise, I wish it were a bit better, even if I do like the content of what the band has passed along on this one.

All right, we have a new one over here from Amber Mark. Damn. Sensual, low-key fusion of RnB and dance music with some incredibly intense. I'm not even going to say suggestive, just full on out there like, We're having an intimate moment type lyrics over here. I mean, chorus-wise, song-wise, I wouldn't say it's one of her strongest tracks for sure. But if you're looking for something with an intensely sensual vibe and some intensely sensual lyrics, this is what you're going to want to listen to.

All right, we are... God... God. We also have one over here from Addison Rae, which look, mind you, the throwback, late '90s, early 2000s, Y2K dreamy entrancing, electronic dance, music, pop, fusion, aesthetic thing going on here... It's very in vogue. It's very of the moment, this retro sound is really coming back with a vengeance. But can we please get someone to help Addison Rae write some better lyrics and write some better choruses? God, the "touch the pearl" line. We need better lyrics. We need better lyrics. I'm going to leave it there. I'm going to leave it right there. That's where it's being left.

The best tracks of the week, they are as follows.

Here we go.

We have Shygirl, who has a new track out with with Saweetie, titled "Immaculate". Some of the rapping on the verses is a bit off, but total banger. Very sexy, very fun, very good commentary, the gender politics of the track and so on and so forth... But yeah, it's hype, it's hard-hitting, it's a little grimy, too. I'm liking it. Good, eerie, groovy, shy-girl vibes. It's what Shygirl does best.

All right, moving on from there. We have none other than Sharon Van Etten, who has come through with a band? Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory? "Afterlife" is the name of the track. Sharon, who's typically known for her her songwriter, indie folk bona fides, is coming through on a track that is a little synthy and a little like alt-country at the same time. There are pockets of it that remind me of Lucinda Williams. There are pockets of it that remind me of The Knife. There are pockets of it that remind me of when Angel Olson was doing that more synth-aided direction. But it's quite cool. I think her vocals work really well in this context. The production is very layered and lush. Lots of loud and soft dynamics throughout the performance on this track. So it's quite heavy and again, very lush, very thick, very dense. Interesting just to see what else is going to come out of Sharon Van Etten in this band context. This should be cool. This should be interesting for sure.

All right, we also have Megan Thee Stallion, "Bigger in Texas" is the name of the banger, and it is a banger. Megan this past weekend, has seen fit to drop an "act two" of her brand new album, a deluxe edition of the album that adds on a dozen or so more tracks. And this one over here, "Bigger in Texas", is just one of the tracks on the record. It's just Megan straight up bragging over some Southern hip hop shit with some funny "quoteables" and bars here and there. The decimal bar is pretty funny. The testicle line is really funny. Megan's really on top and doing a bit of a victory lap with these extra tracks, this one specifically, and she sounds great. So, hell, yeah, out of that. All right.

Also, "X-ray Eyes", brand new single dropped out of the blue from LCD Soundsystem. Maybe an album cycle on the way. There was a bit of confusion with that announcement this week. But yes, James Murphy and company are back with a brand new track, and "X-ray Eyes" is a peculiar one from the band. If you know anything about James Murphy's style, his influences, his production, his anything, you know he loves to pull from a lot of those super obscure '70s, '80s, electronic post-punk new wave, no wave gems, that thing, and elevate them in a lot of interesting and artsy ways that might push them in. Dance music direction might bring in some abstract, weirdo social commentary, that thing. But on this track over here, it seems like rather than pulling from the thing and elevating it, he's just making the thing. This track reads like a very weird repetitive, obscure, old post-punk single that somebody made in his basement. And it sounds good. It's fun. I mean, it's cool to hear him going super rudimentary in a way on this track. It's quirky, it's got personality to it, and maybe not everything needs to be a giant dance epic. It's quite cool. It's a fun one. "X-ray Eyes".

All right, we have "Shake It Like A", the awesome new track from Danny Brown and Frost Children, has gotten a Jane Remover remix treatment, and it's been turned into an insane banger that sounds like something that you would get if Tonight collab'd with Sophie. Yeah, that's what it sounds like. It's absolutely unhinged. It is totally nuts. And yeah, kudos to Jane for making a banger out of a banger. There you go.

All right, we have Elias Rønnenfelt of Ice Age Fame, whose new album, Heavy Glory, is out this week. I'm not going to talk too much about this track over here because I do want to review the album very soon. But the song "Doomsday Childsplay", I will say I do like pretty much like every single from the album so far. Elias has been dropping some bangers in the lead up to this record, and I'm pretty pumped to talk about it. If you're looking for some singer-songwriter music with a really that sad boy edge to it, a heartbreak edge to it, you're going to want to give this a spin. Okay? Heavy Glory.

All right. corook. "crumbs". Brand new track. You guys know this singer-songwriter The Other Person who wrote the, If I were a bish, if I were a bishop. I'm joking. I know those aren't the full lyrics, but you guys remember that viral track on TikTok and so on and so forth. And corook has been dropping some singles, other singles as of late, frankly. But this one grabbed my attention. It is a very heart-wrenching tune, a very personal tune about personal growth, emotional growth, the way that can be impeded by those around you when they mistreat you and hurt you, especially when you're under the thumb of that particular individual as well in one way or another. It's got a little Phoebe Bridgers vibes, which may not be a bad thing. I know there's going to be some people that'll be like, Oh, it just sounds like Phoebe Bridgers. There'll be some Phoebe Bridgers fans that won't think anything of it and be like, Okay, this is my vibe, and I love it. Regardless of the musical vibe coming out of it and the vocal vibe coming out of it, it's just good songwriting. It's good thoughtful lyrics. It's very personal. It's quite intense. It's very thoughtful, and I'm liking it a lot. I just think it's very well put together and impressive, and looking forward to more corook singles, given just how good this is.

All right, a couple more.

We have the guy, Cameron Winter, who many of you have enjoyed his vocals, I believe, in the band Geese. He's coming through with a solo record, and we're getting some tastes of it, specifically on this track in the form of "Vines". It's a very dramatic piano ballad with some awesome strings at the end. Cameron's vocal and songwriting contributions to the band Geese, obviously very good. So hearing them in a stripped back raw format on this song for this upcoming album is pretty interesting as well. Cameron, the Geese Goose, he goosed it on this new one. He goosed it up. So kudos to him.

All right, last one. Alice Longyu Gao has come through with a brand new mini-album/EP type situation. It is out now for everyone to listen to and to behold. "Little Piggy" was the last taste of that we got before it dropped in full. And if you're looking for something that's bringing that weird electro hyper rock, the clash, punk, whatever the frig this is because so many different things coming together. Give this track a spin then. Other singles that Alice has dropped recently, like that "Lesbians" track and "I Love Koreans" track, and so on, and also the one with Danny Brown. All those bops are on this little project as well. If you liked how chaotic and fun and creative and multifaceted those songs were, you absolutely should check this new Alice project out.

That is going to be it for my favorite tracks and least favorite and everything in between.

Anthony Fantano. Weekly Tracks. You're the best. Thanks for watching. Forever.