Earl Sweatshirt Exhibits His Evolution, and 14 More New Songs – The New York Times

In 2010, Earl Sweatshirt released his debut mixtape, Earl, and his new song titled for that moment in time shows how much hes evolved while still retaining his sagely iconoclastic spirit. Earls more recent releases Some Rap Songs from 2018; Feet of Clay from 2019 have represented his music at its most avant-garde, moving through murky, collagelike atmospheres in a constant state of transformation. 2010, though, is more straightforward and sustained, with an understated beat from the producer Black Noise that allows Earl to lock into a hypnotic flow. The succinctly poetic imagery (crescent moon wink, when I blinked it was gone) and strangely satisfying plain-spoken admissions (walked outside, it was still gorgeous) pour out of him as steadily as water from a tap. LINDSAY ZOLADZ

FKA twigs featuring Central Cee, Measure of a Man

This songs distinctive descending chord progression, dramatic swells and even its lyrics the measure of a hero is the measure of a man could make it a James Bond theme. Thats a sign of FKA twigss overarching ambitions, her willingness to engage carnality and idealism, and how carefully she gauges the gradations of her voice in every phrase. JON PARELES

Call it a meet twee: You lent me Nine Stories, while you starred in mine, the Australian-born, California-based musician Hazel English sings at the beginning of her ode to every artsy teens favorite J.D. Salinger book. The track is a three-minute dream-pop reverie, obscuring lyrics wryly bookish enough for a Belle & Sebastian song beneath a swirl of jangly guitars and shyly murmured vocals. Its also something of an act of nostalgia, finding the 30-year-old conjuring the sounds and memories of her high school days: Now that Im falling, I cant ignore it, she sings sweetly, sounding as blissfully crush-struck as a teenager. ZOLADZ

The young Chicago trio Horsegirl is proof that the shaggy-dog spirit of Gen X indie rock is alive and well within a certain subset of Gen Z. Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowensteins overlapping vocals are buried beneath a dissonant avalanche of Daydream Nation-esque guitars, but enough lyrical imagery comes to the surface to create a strangely poetic impression of their titular character on this stand-alone single, their first release since signing to Matador Records. He washes off his robes in preparation to be crucified, Cheng intones, while Lowensteins more melodic vocal line adds additional texture to the songs enveloping, shoegaze-y atmosphere. ZOLADZ

On Touch. Dont Scroll, Ben LaMar Gay and Ayanna Woods, two musical polymaths from Chicago, sing about trying to stay connected to each other in an overcorrected world. Now, baby, I will never leave you lone/Oh, can you hear me or are you on your phone? they drone in unison, an octave apart, over a syncopated beat and lightly twinkling electronics. The track is nestled deep within Open Arms to Open Us, Gays latest album and probably his most broadly appealing, pulling together influences from country blues, Afro-Brazilian percussion, puckish Chicago free jazz and 2000s indie-rock. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Bet It, from the soundtrack to Halle Berrys directorial debut Bruised, is only the second solo single Cardi B has released this year. And while its nowhere near as fun or inspired than that previous hit, Up, Bet It is more like a braggadocios status update on Cardis recent past, taking in her Grammy wins and her memorable Met Gala appearance in a dress with a tail so long it drag 30 minutes after. ZOLADZ

An impressively feverish turn from Morray, whose 2020 breakout single Quicksand leaned toward the spiritual. Here, though, hes ferocious, rapping with a scratchy yelp and a sense of defiance. Hes accompanied by Benny the Butcher, who is among the calmest-sounding boasters in hip-hop. An unexpected and unexpectedly effective pairing. JON CARAMANICA

Frank Dukes, Likkle Prince

The producer Frank Dukes whos made understated, hauntingly melodic work with Frank Ocean, the Weeknd, Rihanna and many others is releasing The Way of Ging, his first project under his own name. Its an album of beats a beat tape, as they used to say thats available for a limited time online, and will eventually be removed from the internet and available only as a set of NFTs. Likkle Prince channels early 80s electro along with some squelched disco majesty. Its spooky and propulsive. CARAMANICA

A rousing and trippy burst of hyperpop mayhem, Everybodys Dead! is a new single from underscores, who earlier this year released Fishmonger, an excellent, scrappy, and puckish debut album. CARAMANICA

The Mexico City sound artist Microhm, born Leslie Garcia, produced Spooky Actions and its accompanying EP using only modular synths. The result feels like hurtling through a Black Hole, where sound and time warp into quantum dislocation. Ambient textures swirl over the lurch of steady drum kicks, as the moments drip into oblivion. ISABELIA HERRERA

Leon Bridges featuring Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Rain

Leon Bridges looks back to Sam Cookes soul; Jazmine Sullivan can go back to the scat-singing of bebop. They trade verses over a slow-motion beat and rhythm guitar in Summer Rain to evoke endless conjugal bliss, urging each other dont stop now, for less under minutes of suspended time meant to play on repeat. PARELES

Ibeyis music has always harnessed a sense of ancestral knowledge: The Afro-Cuban French twins grew up listening to Yoruba folk songs that channel the spirit of enslaved people brought to the Caribbean over the middle passage. But their new single, Made of Gold, featuring the Ghanian British rapper Pa Salieu, trades the simple but potent piano and cajn for a celestial, spectral otherworldliness. Culling references to the Yoruba deities Shango and Yemaya, as well as Frida Kahlo and the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, the duo summons power from intergenerational sources to shield them. Oh you with a spine, who would work your mouth against this Magic of mine, they intone. It has been handed down in an unbroken line. HERRERA

Stings new album, The Bridge, often harks back to the jazz-folk-Celtic-pop hybrids he forged on his first solo albums in the 1980s; one song, Harmony Road, even features a saxophone solo from Branford Marsalis, who was central to The Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985. Many of the new songs lean toward parable and metaphor, but not Loving You, a husbands confrontation with the cheating wife he still loves: We made vows inside the church to forgive each others sins, he sings. But there are things I have to endure like the smell of another mans skin. Written with the British electronic musician Maya Jane Coles, the track confines itself to two chords and a brittle beat, punctuated by faraway arpeggios and tones that emerge like unwanted memories; its memorably bleak. PARELES

With patient arpeggios and soothing bass notes, the harpist and composer Mary Lattimore builds a grandly meditative edifice behind Chelsey Coy, the songwriter and singer at the core of Single Girl, Married Girl, in Scared to Move. Its from the new album Three Generations of Leaving. Cales multitracked harmonies promise, In a strange new half-light, I will be your guide as Lattimores harp patterns construct a glimmering path forward. PARELES

Deciphering the Message, Makaya McCravens first LP for Blue Note Records, could easily get you thinking of Shades of Blue, Madlibs classic 2003 album remixing old tracks from that labels jazz archive. On Deciphering, McCraven a drummer, producer and beat dissector digs through 13 tracks from the labels catalog and attacks them through his personal method of remixing and pastiche. Deciphering crackles with McCravens sonic signatures: viscid ambience, restlessly energetic drumming, the recognizable sounds of his longtime collaborators (Marquis Hill on trumpet, Matt Gold on guitar, Joel Ross on vibraphone, et al). Tranquillity stems from a track by the vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, from his 1966 album Components, and McCravens intervention is two-pronged: He doubles down on the originals curved-glass effect, adding whispery trumpet and fluttering flute atop the original track, but his own drums kinetic, unrelenting keep the energy at a rolling boil. RUSSONELLO

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Earl Sweatshirt Exhibits His Evolution, and 14 More New Songs - The New York Times