Welcome to the first installment of our new feature Friday Night Jukebox, in which In Between Drafts’ writers recommend the best new music from the last week or so. This week, we have a mixture of prog rock, synthpop, folk, and hardcore that have been stuck in our writers’ streaming playlists and brains for days.
Ryan’s Picks:
Hällas – “Face of an Angel”
“Face of An Angel” is the kind of hooky, solo filled AOR synth rocker that Rush or Blue Oyster Cult were making at the dawn of the ‘80s. The Swedish prog band Hällas do such a finely crafted job of reconstructing that specific sound that the song sounds like it fell out of a time portal. It’s nice to hear this sound on a new record, considering the period the prog bands were crossing over to pop and new wave isn’t exactly ground that newer bands in the genre often revisit. The song is a lot of fun too, and transcends its throwback nature by just being a sturdy rock song with a good chorus. Just like Ghost, who are also Swedish incidentally, Hällas have found a way to make classic rock styles sound fresh again.
Angine de poitrine – “Mata Zyklek”
This oddball French duo just appeared on the YouTube feed of anyone subscribed to KEXP with basically no context. There’s not much information about them beyond their wacky masks and their technical, instrumental math rock.The visuals are a perfect match for their music too, with its angular guitars and precision drumming on songs like the stand out “Mata Zyklek.” Angine de Poitrine has gotten the most attention in their career so far from this striking KEXP session, and it’s not one to miss for fans of math rock, prog, jazz fusion or any other time signature-dependent rock style.
Ally’s Picks:
Muna – “Dancing on the Wall”
Every couple of years, the Muna trio returns to remind us why they’ve established themselves as indie-pop icons. In all honesty, “Dancing on the Wall” is familiar to many of the group’s more notable hits – there comes a point where artists are allowed to coast on what makes us return to them time and time again. And in the case of the infectious “Dancing on the Wall,” it’s the playful lyrics, Katie Gavin’s distinctive, sweet, and sultry vocals, and the thrumming rhythmic beat that begs to move.
Lucia & the Best Boys feat Lauren Mayberry – “Lonely Girl”
In their first release since their 2023 debut album, Burning Castles, the Scottish indie band Lucia & the Best Boys enlists the help of Chvrches singer, Lauren Mayberry, for the jaunty and replayable “Lonely Girl.” Drawing on power pop ballad stylings and dance-heavy hooks, the song makes strong use of Mayberry’s piercing, singular vocals that help propel any number beyond simple fun and into songs that require cranked volume. It’s not the most inventive song, but it makes us yearn for outdoor festivals and muggy nights in a crowd as the song careens above, the baseline fishhooked in our chests.
Quinn’s Picks:
Anjimile – “Waits For Me”
“Waits for Me”, the second single for folksy singer-songwriter Anjimile’s upcoming album You’re Free to Go, is a delightfully weird bite-sized slice of infectious folk pop. The bulk of the song features an acoustic guitar line over mildly foot stomping percussion as the singer’s trademark earthy and airy vocals ruminate on childhood and gender identity, but around its midpoint, the beat drops out, and a quietly buzzing guitar layered behind choir-style cooing takes center stage.
On its own, that wouldn’t be anything too remarkable, but it leaves an impression because of how cleanly it works on a song under three minutes long, and it doesn’t ruin the momentum or pacing, and makes the return to the main hook hit that much harder. Following the album’s previous singles’ lead in having more of a pulse and varied instrumentation than you’d expect for this kind of artist, You’re Free to Go is shaping up to be one of this year’s most exciting albums to keep an eye out for.
Kevin Morby – “Javelin”
“Javelin”, the lead single for the rootsy Americana guitar hero Kevin Morby’s new album Little Wide Open, is exciting for a handful of reasons. Even more so than the lovely guest vocals by Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath, or the smooth and breezy guitar line that makes the album’s springtime release feel incredibly appropriate, is the fact that the song is produced by Aaron Dessner of The National.
Finally taking a step back into the indie world after playing in the big leagues with Taylor Swift and other superstars over the last few years, you can feel his pro-level touch in the flourishes that make what would otherwise be a pretty standard folk-rock track feel larger than life; the buzzing guitars that bubble up in the background after the first chorus, the perfectly timed utilization of choir vocals, and the swelling momentum built by the urgent percussion are all so casually implemented that it feels like this might be the album to finally propel Morby into a much deserved mainstream breakthrough.
Kim Gordon – “Dirty Tech”
It almost feels a bit too obvious to call Kim Gordon unpredictable at this point in the 72 year old Sonic Youth cofounder’s legendary career, but after the lead single for her new solo album seemed to find her pivoting back into the more guitar heavy sound of her alt-rock roots following a bizarre foray into the world of aggressive trap beats, here we get yet another curveball on its second single.
While it may trade in the blaring rage-rap stylings that she spoke-sang over for a hazier cloudrap aesthetic, “Dirty Tech” places her firmly back in conversation with the far-out fringes of the modern rap scene while still being less abrasive than anything off of her last album.The Queen of Cool once again more than proves both her timelessness and relevance by pointing her trademark venomously detached and ironic musings towards the modern dangers of tech and AI, leaving us on the edge of our seats to wait to see what she bares her fangs at next.
Lip Critic – “Legs in a Snare”
The lead single from Lip Critic’s upcoming album, Theft World, is a thrilling piece of dance-punk that sounds like an alternative reality in which the young Arctic Monkeys traded dive bars for industrial raves. With the vocals occasionally breaking into a snarling growl and the beat-you-over-the-head head synth blares giving way to pulsing dance beats, “Legs in a Snare” is nearly impossible to pin down.
Finding the balance between punk and dancepop is an easy line to misstep (see the inconsistency in Liars and HEALTH’s discographies or last week’s album by Mandy, Indiana for examples of many different takes this sound can branch into), but Lip Critic seems to have found the sweet spot that should make them more digestible to all kinds of audiences beyond the raveheads and gothpunks that would normally eat this up. If the rest of Theft World sticks the landing, then Lip Critic should have a hit on their hands to answer the promise of potential their debut only hinted at.
Kayla’s Picks:
All Them Witches – “Red Rocking Chair”
When All Them Witches drops a new single for the first time in six years, you stop what you’re doing and listen. “Red Rocking Chair” is 6.5 minutes of everything that makes me love All Them Witches. While this is technically a cover of an old folk song from the early 1900s, it has that vintage, dirty Appalachian sound that the band channels so perfectly and makes their own. The absolute banger bass from Charles Michael Parks Jr throughout the song and wild riff from Ben McLeod toward the middle of “Red Rocking Chair” will melt your face off. All I can say about this song is that we are so back.
Knocked Loose w/ Denzel Curry – “Hive Mind”
If you told me Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry were going to drop a collab on a random Tuesday in February, I wouldn’t believe you. Knocked Loose proves they get heavier with each new single on “Hive Mind”. Isaac Hale goes absolutely nuts on guitar from the moment the song starts, straight through to the end. While Kevin Kaine on the drums ties everything Bryan Garris and Denzel Curry throw at the listener together. The rap and hardcore fan overlap might not be huge, but this song will definitely make it larger.
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