10 songs you need in your life this week

Tracks we love right now, in no particular order.

May 20, 2021
10 songs you need in your life this week Pictured L-R: Dark0 (Hendrik Schneider), Jorja Smith (Bardha Krasniqi), Skrillex (Marilyn Tang)

Each week, The FADER staff rounds up the songs we can't get enough of. Here they are, in no particular order.

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"Butterflies" — Skrillex feat. Starrah and Four Tet

Skrillex returned with two new songs last week, one a punky blast of noise featuring Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd and this altogether sleeker affair. “Butterflies” nods to Daft Punk’s French touch, fitting robotic, monk-like vocal samples alongside syncopated house beats to create something propulsive yet ecumnical. The perfect soundtrack for Saturday night celebrations or Sunday morning prayers. —DR

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"Wait For Me" — Dark0

London artist Dark0 builds songs that feel simultaneously anthemic and skeletal, echoing wisps of songs gone by that have since tangled themselves into tight euphoric knots. The second single from his forthcoming record Eternity (out June 4 via YEAR0001) operates in this meticulous confluence. — SM

“Wound Cries” — AKAI SOLO and Navy Blue

True Sky, the full-length collaboration from the two New York artists (SOLO is the lead rapper and Blue the producer), is a progressive synchronization of their creative powers. The restlessness is embodied in the highlight “Wound Cries.” The beat sounds like swimming in a sunset, all purple filters and pink chords, a blissful setting for SOLO’s deeply personal and jazzy lyricism. — JD

“The Accident” — Eli Keszler

Experimental percussionist Eli Keszler’s new album Icons, his first for LuckyMe, was written and recorded over the past year, when much of the world shut down and Keszler was forced to stay in one place — Manhattan — for the longest time in a decade. True to that, “The Accident” is a gelatinous, haunted jazz track, perfectly conveying an uncanny, constantly shifting feeling of dread. — SD

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“Bussdown” — Jorja Smith feat. Shaybo

If there’s anything Jorja Smith does best, it’s pair her cool, jazzy vocal style with dark, moody production. On the slow-grooving, reggae-tinged “Bussdown,” she teams up with UK rapper Shaybo to flex their successes while still asking the questions that matter. “If I go broke today, will you stay or leave?” Shaybo ponders on her verse. —SE

"Shitting Into Gaia’s Heart” — Fire-Toolz

The opening track from Angel Marcloid’s latest album could be the theme from a long-lost cyberpunk ‘80s teen romance film. Despite the blackballed titled, “Shitting Into Gaia’s Heart” creates an exhilarating atmosphere: chandelier-lit synths compete with growling black metal elements, and in middle we get a guitar solo that can only be described as “tubular.” — JD

"Running" — Pip Millett feat. Ghetts

Described by Manchester-born vocalist Millett as being about “the tiresome reality of being Black in an unequal white western world,” “Running” ruminates on a world where 'Suffering' is sexualised, fantasised’ and freedom is a pipedream. Millett sounds exhausted with the whole ordeal, though her soulful vocal is never anything less than magnetic. Grime MC Ghetts, meanwhile, continues a fantastic 2021 by popping up with a typically spiky and energetic guest verse. —DR

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“My Sway” — Not Waving feat. Jonnine Standish

“My Sway” is a frenetic highlight of Not Waving’s excellent new record How To Leave Your Body, troubling the album’s elegiac palette with clattering drums and a yearning pop vocal from HTRK’s Jonnine Standish. It’s a flushed, physical counterweight to the rest of the album’s thoughtful meditation. — SD

“Man Next Door” — U-Roy feat. Santigold

When Reggae legend U-Roy passed away back in February, he left behind a deep catalog featuring the earliest iterations of rap, and an upcoming album, Solid Gold U-Roy out on July 16, featuring Shaggy, Ziggy Marley and Santigold, who appears on the posthumous project’s lead single. The track’s slow, rock steady groove paired with both artist’s laid back delivery make for a new reggae classic in the making. —SE

"Ruins" — alexalone

The lead single from Alex Peterson's forthcoming Polyvinyl debut ALEXALONEWORLD ekes out a sense of tremendousness through the plodding necessities of survival. It's a journey best traveled through the whimsical, pixelated visual which was designed by Alex alongside Simon Cassar and Karolina Asadova on RPG Maker. — SM

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10 songs you need in your life this week