New Music Friday: 11/29/24

Here are the rules: I listen to all 100 tracks of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, except for anything that rhymes the n-word with itself more than three times, any screamo or screamo-adjacent stuff, any CCM that reveals its true intentions in time for me to hit the skip button, and any egregiously corny modern country music, typically performed by a dude with two first names. Having sifted through this week's playlist, here's what I actively enjoyed:

"The Autograph," J. Cole
This one is a bit of a cheat, because "The Autograph" — and the Friday Night Lights mixtape it's part of — was originally released way the hell back in 2010. It's making its debut on (paid) streaming services now, which is how it ended up on this week's NMF. Whatever; I'll take the loophole if it means including this cut, which rests on a hypnotic sample culled from the Class-Set's 1975 song "Julie."

"Fig Tree," Chloe Slater
This is my first experience with Chloe Slater's music, and based on this admittedly minuscule sample size, I'm declaring that she's very good at disguising a barbed message — in this case, flipping the bird at the patriarchy — with cozy vocals and a deceptively smooth pop arrangement.

"WHY," Sasha Keable
Those who are prone to saying "they don't make 'em like they used to" with regards to modern soul and R&B — and I've certainly been guilty of doing so on occasion — should be happy to hear "WHY," which does a fine job of highlighting Keable's lifelong love of classic Donnie Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, and other classic acts. She's said this song is an ode to a love she never thought she'd feel, and that thrilling sense of discovery is palpable; if you're listening from the right angle, it almost feels like a hymn.

"One Foot," Greentea Peng
The second pre-release track from Peng's just-announced TELL DEM IT'S SUNNY LP, "One Foot" kinda-sorta hints at a world where Portishead entered the studio after drinking a gallon of coffee. It's moody and atmospheric, with a trip-hop-adjacent bottom end, but compared to a lot of other stuff cut from similar cloth, it's breathlessly uptempo. The end result is addictively replayable.

"You're the Only One Watching (Showbiz)," MIKE
In an era when it isn't all that uncommon for artists to take years between new releases, MIKE is still recording like it's 1970 — he released two albums in 2023, "only" one in 2024, and "You're the Only One Watching" is the leadoff single for his next one, due in late January of 2025. My only beef with this song is that it's too damn short — MIKE's laid-back flow is the perfect complement for the classic soul-steeped backing track.

"I Need Love," Nicotine Dolls
I mean no disrespect when I say "I Need Love" makes me imagine a parallel universe where Michael Bolton was born 40 years later and became the frontman for a 21st-century New York rock band rather than a purveyor of adult contemporary bellowing. I'm just saying — close your eyes and listen, and once you hear it, you won't be able to un-hear it.

"Amsterdam," total tommy
If you're going through a tough time emotionally, I suspect you could do a lot worse than ending up in Amsterdam — especially after listening to total tommy's "Amsterdam," which purports to be a quickly written recap of a night spent wandering through the city, high and looking for a soft spot to land.

"CHURCHES & DIVE BARS," Maxwell Luke
All things considered, I would much rather be in a dive bar than a church, but if I got to have Maxwell Luke's "CHURCHES & DIVE BARS" as my musical accompaniment, I might be persuaded to enter the latter. I don't know anything about Mr. Luke, but this is sweetly melodramatic stuff, with strings and soaring vocals setting the stakes before more intimate moments are allowed to sneak in. If this guy toured with Lana Del Rey, the world might never recover.

"Walk with Me (edit)," Felix Jaehn featuring Shouse
I'm usually allergic to anything that sounds like it could be played in a dance club, which I share with you not as a point of pride but as a way of explaining that I've never even heard of Felix Jaehn or Shouse, and I fervently hope that neither of them have done anything terribly problematic that will make me look like even more of an asshole for publicly stating that I enjoy "Walk with Me." I mean, it's still a dance track, and as far as I can tell, dance music hasn't changed one whit since the early '90s — but this song balances its rump-shaking agenda against a vocal line that's twice as memorably melodic than it needs to be.

"The Downfall," LEAP
Even after docking these guys serious points for describing themselves as "indie rock sad boys," I can't come up with any strong arguments against including "The Downfall" here — not only is it a sturdy little piece of, uh, indie rock, but it has the decency to keep on stomping for close to five minutes instead of wafting away like an algorithmically intoxicated fart before the three-minute mark. Devil horns and ironic PBRs for everyone!

"superstar loser," Chiara Savasta
There's a dash of candy-coated Veruca Salt-style energy to this song, which does a fine job of propping up Savasta's somewhat wispy singing voice with buzzing guitars, a driving beat, and lyrics that make repeated use of the word "whore." Also, it's pretty damn catchy.

"In the Way," Christian Kuria
Christian Kuria was born in Vallejo, CA, and if you know anything about Vallejo, you know Christian Kuria is lucky to be alive. But growing up on the mean streets of a North Bay city that spent years being widely regarded as a lawless hellscape didn't prevent Kuria from growing up into the type of guy who creates pillow-soft ballads like "In the Way," and I, for one, am grateful. PM Dawn would be proud.

"Loose Ends," Half Moon Run
Half Moon Run is a quartet made up of multi-instrumentalists, which lends their fairly standard dad rock a small but pleasant dash of shambolic synergy that suggests — ever so slightly — the bucolic anything-can-happen vibe that suffused the Band's best stuff. I realize I'm dooming them with that comparison for anyone who's ever listened to the Band, because Half Moon Run isn't even close to that level yet, but if you're in the mood for something basic but enjoyably woozy, "Loose Ends" should do a decent job of scratching that itch.

"Nintendo," Letters to Lions
Letters to Lions is also quite basic, but pitched far more toward the "anthems for young Caucasians" side of the spectrum; basically, this is a banger for folks who think early Bleachers is better than the more recent stuff. Clearly, I identify with this crowd, despite the fact that I am no longer young; if you ask me, the only thing "Nintendo" is missing is a wailing sax solo.

"Dont Wanna C Me Rich," Redman
Get on your hustle, baby! Nearly 30 years after dropping Muddy Waters — and roughly a decade after releasing his most recent album — Redman appears to be finally almost ready to bring us the long-awaited Muddy Waters Too. Better late than never, and based on "Dont Wanna C Me Rich," the results may be well worth the wait. Granted, it isn't particularly original to sample Billy Brooks' "Forty Days" at this point, but this song is still a lot of fun.

"Isley Money," The LOX
We're staying in throwback mode with this song, which represents the latest return from an extended hiatus for a hip-hop trio that made its debut with the Bad Boy-distributed Money, Power & Respect way back in 1998. And it isn't just the LOX's elderly vintage that leads me to say that — there's a strong '90s vibe here, owing in no small part to the Isley Brothers samples that gird the whole thing. Even as an Isleys fan who has little use for the baby-makin' rabbit hole the Brothers tumbled into several decades ago, I can't argue with this.