Best New Tracks

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  Zola Jesus

  Zola Jesus: "Fall Back"

  Sacred Bones

  By Jamieson Cox; August 14, 2013

  "I realized I didn't have to bark, scream, or turn myself inside out… I could express the songs dynamically, which was something I was afraid to do before." That's what Zola Jesus' Nika Roza Danilova told Pitchfork while discussing a moment of clarity that followed a 2012 performance at the Guggenheim with JG Thirlwell. That performance resuilted in Versions, a new LP featuring Thirlwell's classical rearrangements of Zola Jesus songs (out August 20 via Sacred Bones).

  "Fall Back" is the sole new song on Versions, and it represents Danilova's realization of dynamic possibility in musical form, a soaring, well-paced declaration of love. She enters "Fall Back" lightly and quietly, accompanied by seasick, ominous strings that give way to booming, spacious percussion. "I would do anything to be the one with you," she repeats, with that keening string line hanging over her like a bad omen. It's a sustained peak that feels natural and earned, as "Fall Back" is an enjoyable glimpse at Danilova exploring new dynamic expression.

  Zola Jesus: "Fall Back" (via SoundCloud)

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  Neko Case

  Neko Case: "Night Still Comes"

  Anti-

  By Stephen M. Deusner; August 14, 2013

  After proving on “Man” that she could write New Pornographic power pop with the best of them, Neko Case returns to more familiar territory on “Night Still Comes”. The song inhabits the same odd netherworld where so many of her songs are set; fifteen years after her debut, she's settled into this simultaneously stark and lush sound comfortably. Which is not to say she’s repeating herself, since Case always manages to reveal some new topographical feature in this terrain, and so “Night Still Comes” features not only a parallax layering of voices but also a wryly incisive self-reckoning that’s not bound to any concrete confessional language.

  “If I puked up some sonnets/ Would you call me a ‘miracle’?” she asks with signature frankness. But it’s that cathedral chorus that may be the most revealing and confounding: “You never held it at the right angle.” Whatever “it” is, she’s still looking for the right angle herself.

  [from The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You; out 09/03/13 via ANTI-]

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  Big Sean

  Big Sean: "Control (HOF)" [ft. Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica]

  G.O.O.D. Music

  By Corban Goble; August 13, 2013

  Last night, Hot 97 DJ Funkmaster Flex lit a fuse that earned light internet acclaim by dropping an outtake from Big Sean's Hall of Fame-- the No I.D.-produced "Control (HOF)", a cut left off the record because of sample clearing issues. The primary stimulus in question was a jaw-dropping verse from Kendrick Lamar, a ceremonious bar-raising that was immediately celebrated as both a call to arms and as an obituary to Jay Electronica. While there's plenty of lines to wrap a thinkpiece around, the one that stands out is "I'm usually homeboys with the same niggas I'm rhymin' with/ But this is hip hop and them niggas should know what time it is/ And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake/ Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller/ I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you niggas."

  The rest of Kendrick's inky verse is dense and hyper-referential-- Saddam Hussein, Louis Farrakhan, Elvis Presley, unnamed Decepticon, Paul McCartney, Lindsay Lohan, Kurupt, Sean Connery, Phil Jackson, Bob Marley, they all live here. Given that one of Kendrick's early standouts was called "Michael Jordan"-- and that a chunk of his "Control" verse goes "If Phil Jackson came back, still no coachin' me"-- many have been quick with the sports comparisons, comparing Kendrick's bloodthirstiness to Jordan's insatiable need to win, framing Kendrick's triumph as a splendid end result of competition, both real and completely self-imposed. But, what Kendrick produces here is something that, above all, we value as customers and fans; prowess. Who you root for is beside the point. "On Control", we're all witnesses.

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  Juana Molina

  Juana Molina: "Eras"

  Crammed Discs

  By Ian Cohen; August 12, 2013

  It's been five years since Juana Molina's last album of experimental electronic folk, so a reiteration of her oft-repeated origin story is in order: at one point in the 1990s, the Argentina native canceled her wildly popular comedy show to dedicate herself to music. It's not an uncommon transition, but over the span of three albums she became the first comedian ever to successfully lose the jokes and become a "serious" musician while keeping her sense of humor.

  "Eras", the first single of her upcoming Wed 21 (out October 29 via Crammed Discs), bears the qualities that have defined her previous work, an alluring construction of curious juxtapositions: organic and electronic, acoustic and distorted, straight time with jazz meters, Spanish and English, poetry and the phonetic qualities of counting. Above all, it's a playful song, infatuated with the textural and melodic qualities of pure sound and Molina aspires to make sure you're enjoying it as much as she is.

  Juana Molina: "Eras" (via SoundCloud)

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  Drake

  Drake: "Hold On We're Going Home"

  Young Money Entertainment

  By Corban Goble; August 6, 2013

  Much has certainly been made of Drake's ability to rap and sing on the same song-- "That's why every song sounds like Drake featuring Drake", remember-- but the truth is, he's at his best when he picks one side or the other. As he continues to knock out teasers for the forthcoming Nothing Was the Same, Drake checks in by going full pop, dropping a disco-y two-step called "Hold On We're Going Home" the morning after his own OVO Fest wrapped up. It's a joint that comes across as a more quickly paced, more assertive take on cuts like Thank Me Later's "Find Your Love" or "Karaoke". "I want your hot love and emotion, endlessly," Drake sings, starry-eyed, charging headfirst into an heavenly breakdown. "Hold On We're Going Home" is pure pillow. Don't be surprised if it smothers the radio.

  Drake: "Hold On, We're Going Home" [ft. Majid Jordan] (via SoundCloud)