SpringBytes
30 tracks to clean up the residue of your New Year’s Resolutions
A collaboration w/ Tyler Pavlas
It’s the second day of Spring, and another Nor’easter is rearing its head in New England. Q1 is nearly over and your quota deadlines are looming. It’s been a long winter, for everyone, and you’ve been searching for a reset. SoundBytes is here for you with a new playlist for a new season: SpringBytes. These 30 tracks are our favorites right now by artists both new and familiar. Each one was painstakingly hand-selected by our expert curators and is headphones-approved. Go ahead and let ’em soak in; you’ll be listening on repeat.
1.) Young Fathers — “Toy”
MF: Start off your season with a bop featuring the slickest album cover 2018 has to offer yet — like Hercules & Love Affair forgot to take their Ritalin before recording “Blind”.
2.) Grace Jones — “Pull Up To The Bumper”
MF: Grace’s iconic disco record Fame turns 30 this year. But Nightclubbing is an even better record and this cut helps me weave my way through traffic on the steamy Midtown Manhattan streets. Except when cabs literally pull up to the bumper and you can’t get around them.
3.) Brent Faiyaz — “Make Love”
MF: In a right-place-right-time scenario, Brent Faiyaz’s debut LP blends influence from rainmakers like TLC, D’Angelo, The Weeknd and newcomer Khalid into something that is, somehow, a fresh and new sound. Vibe.
4.) Ravyn Lenae — “Closer (Ode 2 U)”
MF: Ask me who gon make money moves in 2018 and my answer is THIS GIRL. The Chicago fine arts pupil floats through her latest EP like Badu through Return of the Ankh: with great dedication and care to layering, while making the song sound like a single-take freestyle. Thanks to producer Steve Lacy of The Internet for making this grown-ass sound.
5.) Bishop Nehru — “Potassium”
TP: The 3rd leg of the New York Millennial Rapper Relay Team just released an album produced exclusively by Kaytranada and MF DOOM. For a kid who just reached legal LES bar-hopping age, that kinda clout is remarkable.
ICYWW: 1st Leg = Cardi B| 2nd = Desiigner | Anchor = Joey Badass
6.) Everything is Recorded — “Show Love”
TP: Yeah, I’m back on my Sampha shit. Everything is Recorded is an initiative by Richard Russell, head of XL Records. The British independent record label has quietly amassed one the hottest rosters in music, featuring powerhouses like Adele, Frank Ocean, and Jack White along with urban legends like Ibeyi, Jai Paul, and Sigur Rós. Teaming up with The Internet’s Syd, this is a must-listen track from the album.
7.) Janelle Monáe — “Django Jane”
TP: Janelle Monáe or Nicki Minaj? In a year for the rap history books, spearheaded by Cardi B’s anthem of self-celebration, women found empowerment through a typically misogynistic source — rap music. Zeitgeist Janelle joined in on the parade with some fireworks of her own. As expected, the result is fireeeeee.
8.) Joji — “Will He”
TP: “Cause I don’t wanna knowww, I just wanna make sure you’re okay.” Joji captures the paradox of playing caretaker post break-up with perfection.
9.) Kali Uchis — “After The Storm”
MF: In what is subjectively Uchis’ greatest song thus far, she swims (literally) through a Thundercat-esque instrumental with friends Bootsy Collins (!!!) and fun, fumbling Tyler The Creator. Her badass swagger steers this song with a cadence that trips up the listener with each new line, making it irresistible for the passing of the figurative storm of winter.
10.) Leon Bridges — “Bad Bad News”
TP: Oh baby, this new Leon is soulful. Channeling his contagious optimism, the Fort Worth native turns a song lyrically resembling Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues” into an upbeat confidence booster.
11.) Nanna B. — “Golden”
MF: Hodgy features on a track that is fun enough to supplant the gray days likely still ahead for much of the country before the sun’s back for good. And the song sounds very elegant — despite it also sounding a little manic.
12.) Logic — “Indica Badu” (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
TP: At this point, if there’s a weed reference in the title of a rap song and either Wiz, Curren$y, or Snoop aren’t featured, something’s missing.
13.) Perfume Genius — “Die 4 You”
MF: Speaking of those gray Spring days, Mike Hadreas writes a hell of a track here that vibes on rainy day sonic energy. Though the material is more proud even: “Die 4 You” is a paean to erotic asphyxiation, describing a love so vivid and full that it brings one partner to the brink at the hands of the other and both are cool with it. Sounds like Moby kind of.
14.) Lolawolf — “House Key”
TP: Lolawolf and Zoë Kravitz are the same person and I got the privilege of seeing her perform a couple summers back at Free Press Summer Fest in Houston rocking stilettos, an oversized Chanel tee, solo cup, neon party glasses, and hoop earrings. This song embodies that exact same aesthetic.
15.) Rina Sawayama — “10–20–40”
MF: More great, fun material for Spring. This track is about an OxyContin addiction (the title references dosages in milligrams), it has a drumbeat that snaps and a guitar solo that shines for a brief moment. It’s dramatic, a little gothic, a lotta early 2000s pop music influence.
16.) Musical Youth — “Pass the Dutchie”
TP: I literally found this song waiting for the start of a small-budget production of “The Wedding Singer” musical at Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. Yes, it was not that great. Yes, it is based on the romantic-comedy with Adam Sandler. And yes, this song is featured in the movie. As Musical Youth explains repeatedly in this track, don’t you dare pass that shit to the right. The mantra also applies when you reach this song in the playlist and start having thoughts of hitting next.
17.) Lorde — “Supercut (El-P Remix)”
MF: This is a remarkable deconstruction of a song that is already very good and forward-thinking in its original iteration. Run The Jewels’s El-P plays maestro on the soundboard this time around and both El-P and Killer Mike feature.
18.) POWERS — “Closer”
TP: Can you please just let me enjoy this song that is the guilty pleasure equivalent of NBC’s This is Us?
19.) Beach House — “Dive”
MF: Play this during spring break at your beach house! Ha! Sick brah.
20.) Sango & Xavier Omär — “Sweet Holy Honey”
TP: Here’s hoping 2018 is Sango’s Kaytranada year and Xavier Omär’s Khalid year. They deserve it.
21.) Soccer Mommy — “Cool”
MF: Sheryl Crow walks into a bar…and gives her blessing to this young songwriter who is doin’ her damndest to emulate Crow’s 90s apathetic empathy. Nailed it.
22.) SiR — “Something New” (feat. Etta Bond)
TP: TDE’s male crooner is primed to add versatility to their already stacked roster. He’s got Anderson Paak’s duality — check out “I Know” for the hip-hop persona.
23.) Amber Mark — “Love Me Right”
MF: I’m a sucker for lower octaves on the keys. Amber Mark plays with this texture lots, but it really works here. She uses her lower timbre to stick to those keys like sap, delivering lines that hint at how exacting she can be on herself: “Help me / I feel I’ve lost myself / It’s just this one thing / We’re fine everywhere else”. Oh — and a key change!
24.) Sonder — “One Night Only”
TP: Is this the Golden Age of R&B or is that just all I listen to these days?
25.) Quadron — “Favorite Star”
MF: I rediscovered this gem of an album recently (from 2013) and before long, I’d fallen in love all over again. Just get up and dance for a second while it’s playing.
26.) ¿Téo? — “Uno Dos” (feat. Jaden Smith)
TP: Fun facts: ¿Téo? is Mateo Arias, Moises Arias’ older brother. Moises Arias is Rico from Hannah Montana. They’re all friends with Jaden Smith. “Uno Dos” is his only song on Spotify or Apple Music. #MSFTSRep
27.) Teedra Moses — “Be Your Girl”
MF: It’s late, 2 or 3 in the morning, and this track is playing as you slip into your favorite after-hours club. You’ve got a gin martini in hand. You’re enjoying it.
28.) Unknown Mortal Orchestra — “So Good at Being in Trouble”
TP: The M.O. of kids in detention. UMO has remained relatively unknown sticking to the beat of their moniker. Real live example, I just realized this song is from 2013, but thought it came out in the last 6 months. Too late/lazy to swap it out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
29.) Banks — “Underdog”
MF: One of my favorite pop tracks from this year comes from an artist who situates herself far outside pop music’s normal scope. Banks kills it with this lilting, lascivious creeper featuring a peppy horn section and some cool vibrato in the verses to accompany her growling.
30.) Yaeji — “Feel It Out”
TP: BRB tryna buy secondary tickets off Craigslist to the Yaeji shows in the Bay Area on 4/18 or 4/19 because they sold out in 2 minutes. She may rock a haircut like Matilda and glasses like your grandma, but I promise you that this artist who employs a fusion of English & Korean lyrics in her songs has more swag than you could ever dream of attaining.
Yooooo you made it to the end! You’re a Day 1 real OG. We love you.
