A Knockout Country-Rap Crossover and 13 other new songs

There’s been a growing crossover between country and hip-hop in recent years, though oftentimes the relationship between the two influences can feel strained. But here’s a collaboration between two rapper-singers, both in their teens, that sounds completely unapologetic: Kidd WOOD. Kidd G taps into influences from his Juice WRLD, with sad syllables and raw vocals, and YNW BSlime’s guest verse that sends chills, and is sung with innocence: “Two years my brother gone / And I’ve never / felt so alone.” It’s like the #1 song of 2030. JON CARAMANICA

A fun song about romantic indigestion, “Light Switch” is a lighthearted version of the electric funk-pop genre that made Charlie Puth’s 2018 album “Voicenotes” so compelling. Vocals lack commitment and texture isn’t tight, and there’s a slight hyperpop-esque treatment to the vocals that makes Puth sound like she’s lamenting from within the synthesizer. But the anxiety of the words is pointed out, and the production line scans like shortness of breath. CARAMANICA

Nilüfer Yanya, ‘Midnight Sun’

The escalation hints at the haunting in “Midnight Sun” from Nilüfer Yanya’s new album, “No Pain,” which is due out in March. “Maybe I can’t care too much / I can’t. clean this up,” she sings. “Get me out of this reel.” Both the acoustic guitar chords and the drum beat have a repeatable feel, with more of a Radiohead hint, but the other sounds that come in – acoustic and electric guitars – sound like they’re played with the hands and offer a sense of escape. . It is unclear whether she used them or not. JON PARTS

Gayle, ‘Ur Just Horny’

The pinnacle of grunge’s guitar-quantum chords – quiet-loud-MUCH LOUDER – get a full and frenzied workout in Gayle’s “Ur Just Horny,” the musician’s follow-up. teen for “Abcdefu.” As the guitars start to stack up, she spells things out: “You don’t want to be my friend / You just want to see me naked / One more time.” PARTS

Ecco2K and Bladee are members of Drain Gang, a Swedish pop group active in the field of fashion models. Their latest collaboration, produced by German musician Mechatok, is part of a super-popular pointillism that considers a synthesizer’s voice and timbre to be the same as bits of staccato reverb and pellets. computer-compressed of cosmic ambition: “Destroy and create, dream in a dream,” Bladee croons at the end, before the machine shuts down. PARTS

Sofia Kourtesis Has Manu Chao, ‘Estación Esperanza’

Sofia Kourtesis creates heart-fluttering songs with the hope of a new day. “Estación Esperanza” is a master class in citation selection, opening with chants of a Peruvian protest against homophobia before vocal samples in the song “Me Gustas” Tu” by Manu Chao comes into focus, interspersed with vibrant birdsong and steady whistles. When the noise of Kourtesis himself appeared, a single moment unfolded endlessly. ISABELIA HERRERA

INVT, ‘Anaconda’

Miami duo INVT lets genres run their fingers through their latest track. A high fever of puzzle fun is lifted from the Jamaican discotheque slamming to life. A slight reverberation and a fleshy groan beneath the production. There was the jingle of cow weights, the vibrato of the maracas. Is it a reggaeton? Minimal technology? It doesn’t even matter? HERRERA

Young Dolph, who was shot dead in his hometown of Memphis in November, mentored and partnered with his cousin, Key Glock. Key Glock’s tribute song, “Proud”, is the first single from the “Paper Route Empire Presents: Long Live Dolph” collection, and it’s burly presented but the lyrics still sting: ” I can get it back in my blood but I can’t get my time back. In the video, Key Glock speaks of his regret at the scene of the murder, a completely right choice. CARAMANICA

John Mellencamp, ‘I’m a Worry Man’

John Mellencamp remains grimacing and grimacing throughout his new album, “What a One-Eyed Jack.” In “I Am a Man That Worries,” he worries about everything and gets belligerent about it: “You better stay away from me,” he growled. It was a classic blues stop with a slide guitar and fiddle topping his vocals, and though he proclaimed his bitter solitude, he had a crowd cheers beside him. PARTS

Daniel Rossen, ‘Shadow in the Frame’

Nervous Energy Courses via “Shadow in the Frame,” the first single from a solo album to be released in April from Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen. Rossen plays every instrument except drums (by Christopher Bear by Grizzly Bear) in intricate arrangements, including strings and woodblocks. The song is a contemplation of ephemeral and catastrophic — “You’ll watch us flash and fade and fall,” he sings — carried by a revolving phrase that keeps moving between guitar and vocals, changing contours but never settling, alluding to the hope that it continues to move out of reach. PARTS

Musician Uwade Explores Infatuation in “Do You See the Light Around Me?” It’s a single on Sylvan Esso’s label, Psychic Hotline, and as it cycles through four chords with voices and instruments coming and going, it echoes a mix of sparse electronic beats and warmth. of the people of that group. But Uwade has a personality of its own, momentary uncertainty and clutter. PARTS

Jana Horn, ‘Jordan’

Jana Horn, the Austin-based musician, keeps her voice low and whispers throughout “Optimism,” her debut album she’s releasing this week. “Jordan” is the most exciting, explorative, determined song on the album: a steady rhythmic march with electronics on the edge, a mysterious bible story about a quest, a trial challenge, a dilemma, a revelation. PARTS

Gui Duvignau, featuring Bill Frisell, ‘Tristeza e Solidão’

Bassist Gui Duvignau began “Tristeza e Solidão” – a torch song by Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell and poet Vinícius de Moraes – unaccompanied, sounding introspective and pensive as he let low notes sounded. Guitarist Bill Frisell, appearing as a special guest, joined drummer Jeff Hirschfield, and traded the song’s melancholy tune back and forth with Duvignau. The track is somber, melancholy and slow, lacking the quiet samba that’s been motivated by the original Powell and de Moraes versions but sounds haunted. This performance comes from Duvignau’s latest album, “Baden,” in tribute to the influential guitarist, who passed away in 2000. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Cumbian rhythms, delivered on hand-swiped and mallet drums, pick up on the vibrating guitar and sleepy vocals of Kiko Villamizar. “Sembrá El Maíz” (“Growing Corn”) is an original that urges hard work and patience, even in the face of climate catastrophe. In the end, he worked to his fullest, trading vocals on call and feedback with the band. A musician, educator and organizer now based in Austin, Villamizar primarily grew up on a coffee farm in Colombia and has since traveled around the country collecting songs. When Los Destellos and Los Wemblers de Iquitos started doing windsurfing in the Peruvian jungle like this in the 1960s, it became world famous; Today, in writing similar songs, a younger musician from Colombia is building on what has become his own tradition. RUSSONELLO