At Paste Music, we’re listening to so many new tunes on any given day, we barely have any time to listen to each other. Nevertheless, every week we can swing it, we take stock of the previous seven days’ best tracks, delivering a weekly playlist of our favorites. Check out this week’s best new songs, in alphabetical order. (You can check out an ongoing playlist of our favorite songs of 2024 here.)
A$AP Rocky: “Tailor Swif”
Between this and “HIGHJACK,” the unlikely collaboration that landed Jessica Pratt on the Billboard Hot 100, A$AP Rocky has been on an absolute tear lately. Not only does “Tailor Swif” have maybe the most fun, engaging, perfect-frames-per-minute-dense music video of 2024, but Rocky’s spitting his hardest bars since his TESTING days. “Tailor Swif” is the high-energy ideal of radio rap from a veteran who continues to prove that he can sustain the hype. —Grace Robins-Somerville
Downhaul: “Sleep in the Sunroom”
The fourth and final single from Downhaul’s forthcoming record, How to Begin, comes in hot, with a driving beat and lyrics hopped up on present-tense nostalgia. The title-dropping chorus of “Sleep in the Sunroom” is bright and breezy, holding fast to a fleeting romantic moment. Gordon Phillips’s vocal delivery matches the urgency of his lyrics, seizing each moment like it’s all he has. —GRS
FLO: “Bending My Rules”
Leading the pack on the ‘90s girl-group revival, British R&B trio FLO showcase their sleekest, silkiest harmonies on “Bending My Rules.” Shy admissions of romantic nerves are juxtaposed with dominant sexual bravado—“I don’t wanna spell it out / You know what the fuck I’m talkin’ ‘bout”—balancing sweetness and seduction in perfect sonic and thematic harmony. When the horns come in and meet their high notes in a glorious finish line slide, it’s liquid gold. —GRS
Georgia Gets By: “Not This Time”
Split Lip, the forthcoming release from Georgia Gets By (the solo project of BROODS’ Georgia Nott), is my favorite extended play of the year, and “Not This Time” is the final confirmation of that. Georgia bargains with intimacy on the track, returning to an ex and finding reward in familiar comfort. “When heaven forsakes you, I’m coming to save you,” she sings. “Something always gets the best of me, loving you is just a recipe for disaster.” The arrangement, like much of the EP, is minimal, but it’s that soft orchestration that allows Georgia’s voice to remain at half-mast, as she reckons with being in a place she doesn’t belong in with a person she doesn’t belong to anymore. There’s hurt and there’s hope in “Not This Time,” and few voices can juxtapose both truths as personally as Georgia Nott’s. —Matt Mitchell
Grumpy: “Saltlick”
The new single from New York-based project Grumpy is Auto-Tune heaven. “Saltlick” marks the dawn of a new era for Heaven Schmitt and their legion of exes (their ex-girlfriends are on bass and keyboard, ex-husband on drums), as the group has signed with Bayonet Records and will put out an EP called Wolfed later this autumn. “Saltlick” is all about killing moods in the name of self-preservation and doing embarrassing shit. Schmitt sings about putting on a wardrobe built from pieces in a clearance bin; they’re at Radioshack, high as a kite, asking employees for a phone charger; they’re looking for a bargain on a “better life” so they can provide for a second wife. “I try until I get bored” becomes the song’s thesis statement, as Grumpy plugs a bunch of drum machines and synths into a collage of glitchy, non-chalant ecstasy. —MM
Jane Remover: “Magic I Want U”
Genre-bending extraordinaire Jane Remover has released another double-sided single. Following “Flash in the Pan” from the end of July, every release from her has become more and more difficult to describe. The lyrics of “Magic I Want U” are simply focused on sexual desire (“I like the way he use his hands and his words / I could be his new favorite think piece favorite girl”), but Jane’s production diverts your attention to something new every single second. Combining elements of hyperpop (with some synth patches reminiscent of Bladee), Latin percussion, sample work conjuring ‘90s hip-hop, Jane Remover makes it clear she refuses to be put in a box—and if you try, she’ll go ahead and make that impossible, too. —Leah Weinstein
Liquid Mike: “Man Dies”
The deluxe-edition of Liquid Mike’s great 2024 album Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot is here, and it includes two new, complimentary tracks: “Man Dies” and “Man Lives.” Bandleader Mike Maple does an impression of Guided By Voices but pop-punk, and “Man Dies” is this frenetic, sprightly and sticky outing. It’s quick (a 1:42 runtime) but effective (crunchy, anthemic riffs). “It’s never, forever!” Maple chants, as the guitars scrape upwards into a bouncy, head-splitting coda. If “Man Dies” (and “Man Lives”) is any indication of how good of a year Liquid Mike is having, then there’s no better place to be right now than Marquette, Michigan. —MM
Lunar Vacation: “Fantasy”
Just a few Fridays out from the release of their sophomore record Everything Matters, Everything’s Fire, Atlanta indie rockers Lunar Vacation shared their final pre-release single “Fantasy” this week. A masterclass in the use of sonic space, expansive synths and guitars drowned in reverb surround frontperson Gep Repasky’s airy vocals as they yearn for a quickly fleeting love. “Shadows in the ashtray, whisper ‘some things never change’ / Reflections of the fantasy I let hold me so dearly is over,” they confess as the track prepares its build towards its dreamy chorus. —LW
MJ Lenderman: “Wristwatch”
“I got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome.” It’s one of the many bizarre boasts MJ Lenderman makes on “Wristwatch,” the last smoldering single from his hotly anticipated 4th record, Manning Fireworks. This line in particular is very “No one knows what it means but it’s provocative! It gets the people going!”-coded in the way that most idiosyncratic Lendermanisms often are. Inspired by manosphere/billionaire grandest-type egomaniacs who preach behind podcast mics, “Wristwatch” is a strange character sketch that lays bare the absurdity and frailty of scammer masculinity. “So you say I’ve got a funny face / Well it makes me money,” this character retorts, uncanny in his “debate-me” cadence, hollow and alone with all his earthly possessions. —GRS
Mount Eerie: “I Walk”
This week, Phil Elverum announced the next Mount Eerie album, Night Palace, and released two of its songs: “I Walk” and “Broom of Wind.” The former is pure Microphones-style goodness, as Elverum traipses through the melancholy of nature and the soundscape hikes up into lo-fi, buzzed out climax shadowing the wilt. “Walking away, shedding slow the generations the towns dissolve, in my drumming footfall, but I still carry it all,” he sings, as the guitar plod until they don’t, erupting into a volcano of abandonment and surrender. “Until I too dissipate, find me blinking at dawn,” Elverum concludes, and swirls of air gust through the speaker. Skepticism has never sounded so desirable. —MM
My Wonderful Boyfriend: “My New Shirt”
Incredible band names aside, My Wonderful Boyfriend’s new song, “My New Shirt,” has been stuck in my head all week. Part-Big Star and part-Pavement, it’s a stroke of pop joy colored by slackerish, scrappy hues. There’s some emo in there too, for good measure. It’s a fussy song detailing the brink of collapse, with riffs and keys tangling up into each other. The harmony voices are total Malkmus, until they strain into a tattered, punkier release. “My New Shirt” is an earworm that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Beginning in a power-pop lane, the song nosedives into a tempest second half. From start to finish, you can’t look away. It’s like a car crash with old-school chart potential. —MM
Nilüfer Yanya: “Made Out of Memory”
The new album from Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor, is going to be one of the best records of the month when it comes out next Friday. For now, we have its final single, “Made Out of Memory,” to chew on—and it’s a pretty good one. Deeply textured by synthesizers that wouldn’t sound out of place in a 1980s coming-of-age movie ballad, Yanya takes the sorrow of the keys and plugs it into a cavernous, brooding moodboard. “I know you’re not afraid of nothing, I guess we’re all afraid of something,” she laments. “So sharpen your brade and cut me wide, the rest goes up in flames.” “Made Out of Memory” doesn’t have a climax; instead, the arrangement swirls and simmers, guided by a guitar cushioned by an instrument that sounds as delicate as a pedal steel. —MM
Raavi: “The Upside”
The title track of Brooklyn singer-songwriter Raavi’s forthcoming EP The Upside is lush in a way that becomes more sublime upon every re-listen. Flowing layered acoustic guitars dance alongside the unique timbre of Raavi’s voice as she sings about being hesitant in the company of love: “My love, I’m shy / But I just might / Be yours forever.” Sitting at only two minutes, Raavi makes her point and leaves you to ponder on your own terms—she doesn’t need to take up more space than necessary, her words and melodies linger regardless. —LW
Royel Otis: “Til the Morning”
It’s been a pretty remarkable year for Royel Otis. Whether it’s scoring two viral hits (their covers of “Murder on the Dancefloor” and “Linger”) or putting out their own very good record, PRATTS & PAIN, Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic are leaving a mark. The Sydney duo are continuing to extend the lifespan of their record, and new single “Til the Morning” is immediately one of their best efforts yet. It’s a dreamy, woozy ballad that flirts with anthem territory. As Pavlovic cries out the “time has seen you change, still I want you to stay with me ‘til the morning, to when it all falls down” chorus, it’s not hard to imagine a couple hundred lighters in the sky behind him. Maddell’s guitar tone remains bright throughout, while a backdrop of synths bleeds into a full rhythm section that nurtures Pavlovic’s world-building at the microphone. “Til the Morning” is a tranquil three-and-a-half minutes, unfurling into a resounding triumph from a band whose style is undeniable and immediate. —MM
Uncle Emmington: “I Just Like Being a Piece of Furniture in Your Weird Life (The Furniture Song)”
Inspired by a scene from Juno, it makes sense that Uncle Emmington’s tender, minimalistic folk track would recall the twee stylings of the film’s Kimya Dawson-led soundtrack. It probably wouldn’t sound out of place on the latest Softies record either. “The Furniture Song” is homespun and heart-forward, Em’s lullaby-like vocals and frank vulnerability make their latest single feel like a handwritten love letter passed from one shaking, sweaty palm to another in the back of a classroom. —GRS
Other Notable Songs This Week: Charlotte Cornfield: “Audience of One”; Foxing: “Spit”; Future Islands: “Glimpse”; Jamie xxf t. Kelsey Lu, Panda Bear & John Glacier: “Dafodil”; John Davis: “Indifferent Stars”; Katrina Ford: “Dungeon”; MICHELLE: “Cathy”; Mo Dotti: “Whirling Sad”; Naima Bock: “Feed My Release”; Party Dozen: “Coup De Gronk”; Primal Scream: “Deep Dark Waters”; Regional Justice Center: “Moral Death Sentence”; Sleater-Kinney: “Here Today”; Stevie Wonder: “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart”; The Innocence Mission: “This Thread is a Green Street”; The Jesus and Mary Chain: “Pop Seeds”; The The: “Sometimes I Drink My Coffee By the Grave of WIlliam Blake”; Thus Love: “On the Floor”; yunè pinku: “Half Alive”
Check out a playlist of this week’s new music below.