9 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week

Songs we love right now, and why they matter. In no particular order.

April 18, 2015
1. Hudson Mohawke, "Ryderz"

(Radio rip)

"Ryderz," from the Glasgow producer's forthcoming album Lantern, premiered on his Radio 1 special this past week, although FADER FORT fans—and Travis $cott—were getting down to it during his headlining set back in March. It features a sample from '70s soul producer D.J. Rogers' song "Watch Out For The Riders," and sounds like a ticker tape parade for the digital generation. More, please. — Ruth Saxelby

1. Hudson Mohawke, "Ryderz"
(Radio rip)
3. Girlpool, "Before The World Was Big"

This week, when I posted the title track to teenage duo Girlpool's debut album, I said it sort of reminded me of The Shaggs, the band of three New Hampshire sisters that played sparse, sloppy, and inexplicably absorbing pop songs at church dances near the end of the '60s. But Girlpool are much more conventionally skilled; on "Before The World Was Big," with its sing-song melody and blunt lyrics, the duo are intentionally harnessing the kind of teenage longing that the Wiggins sisters tumbled into by accident. — Patrick D. McDermott

3. Girlpool, "Before The World Was Big"
4. Tyler, the Creator f. Kali Uchis, "Yellow"

Tyler, The Creator's Cherry Bomb impacted last weekend, and now—just in time for what will likely be the nicest day of the year thus far in New York—we get the breezy bonus track "Yellow," too. It's a lackadaisical duet between Tyler and our girl Kali Uchis, and almost certainly the cutest thing I heard all week. — Zara Golden

4. Tyler, the Creator f. Kali Uchis, "Yellow"
5. Saga, "Tryst"

This week Ireland's Saga, who has previously released on Visionist's Lost Codes label and J-Cush's Lit City Trax, dropped a new EP on Bandcamp titled Treachery. The opening track's got something of a film noir vibe about it, albeit one set in a Minority Report style future. Both murky and merky, "Tryst" is a twisted little grime instrumental from a promising new producer. — Ruth Saxelby

5. Saga, "Tryst"
6. Toupée, "Sensei, Swami, Guru"

I didn't hear Chicago band Toupée's last 7-inch until sorta recently, several months after it was first released on Lake Paradise Records. But then I listened to it a lot—like, every day. Lucky for me, Toupee just announced an entire new full-length album, Leg Toucher, and first preview "Sensei, Swami, Guru," does not disappoint even a little. When Whitney Allen's vocals turn from sweet to vicious, pleading with someone: When I walk down the street I look at you/ Won't you look at me, it's everything a good punk song should be: unnerving, cathartic, endlessly re-playable. Patrick D. McDermott

6. Toupée, "Sensei, Swami, Guru"
7. Empress Of, "Water Water"

On "Water Water," New York songwriter and producer Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, conjures yet another dense mixture of lyrical yearning and churning synths. It's heady but also elemental, suited to soundtrack a night on the dance floor but also perfect for, like, laying in bed and vaping. — Liz Raiss

7. Empress Of, "Water Water"
8. Will & Dana, "My Bro"

I didn't know who Will & Dana were when I clicked "My Bro," and I think that's the best way to watch it for the first time. It's more rewarding to discover for yourself—by worried inference and googling—that they're "a struggling Boston comedy duo." It's still very confusing. Like all good parodies, it calls the seriousness of the thing being parodied into question—no matter how earnest Yung Lean is, or whoever, how do you take anything seriously in this world of mirrors? What confidence can be left that things have meaning? (Fun fact for our regular readers: the video arrived by way this tweet, which can itself be contextualized in a blurb from two weeks ago.) — Duncan Cooper

8. Will & Dana, "My Bro"
9. Wiz Khalifa f. Charlie Puth, “See You Again”

In five weeks, Wiz Khalifa's contribution to the Furious 7 soundtrack, a melodramatic tribute to Paul Walker called "See You Again," has amazingly climbed from the 100 slot to the tippy-top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart. And yet, the song had somehow slipped under most of The FADER staff's radar—until earlier this week, when we gathered to listen to the most popular song in the country all together. Here's what we thought. — Zara Golden

9. Wiz Khalifa f. Charlie Puth, “See You Again”
9 Songs You Need In Your Life This Week