Here’s a rarity: A goodbye song that doesn’t go wrong. Well, not quite. “It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t mine,” Shakira suggests first. “It was because of the monotony.” Colombian Shakira meets Ozuna, who was born in Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Ozuna is close to his musical realm, Dominican his bachata with staccato guitar arpeggios and blasts of bongos. As they exchange verses, an accusation emerges. He was a narcissist. Both Shakira and Ozuna sing to get over it.John Pareles
Caroline Polacek “Sunset”
Flamenco may seem like an odd sound for avant-garde pop star Caroline Polacek to embrace — Rosalía’s influence? Dance agile and make everything work. “Lately I wear my body like an uninvited guest,” she sings in verse, her fast-footed verbosity conveying her itchy sense of unease. But it’s all resolved by the chorus, when the pace of Polacek’s voice suddenly slows and is comforted by her romantic embrace.Lindsay Zoraz
John Cale featuring Wise Blood “Story of Blood”
Legendary John Cale — a key contributor to the development of the Velvet Underground’s sound, Todd Haynes refreshingly reaffirmed last year in a documentary about the band — was in the late stages of his career, a young Has been a long and generous collaborator with artists. His next album, Mercy, his first collection of new songs in a decade, continued that pattern, featuring contributions from Animal His Collective, Sylvain Esso and Laurel Halo. The first offering from ‘Mercy’, the haunting ‘Story of Blood’ features captivating vocals from indie icon Natalie Melling, recording as Weyes Blood. In his seven-minute reverie of a patient pace of synth chords and clever electronic beats, their voices intertwine balletically, as if trapped in some kind of otherworldly dance.Zoraz
NxWorries featuring HER, “Where I Go”
Anderson .Paak brings the gorgeous nostalgia of Silk Sonic, a Grammy-winning partnership with Bruno Mars, to his previous collaboration, Nxworries (a project with producer Knxledge), releasing an album in 2016. . In “Where I Go,” Anderson .Paak professes his love, generosity and regret for his past events. But she sings about her lingering suspicions and finds hard evidence in her video. Neither his chatter nor the purring of an electric sitar can smooth things over.pareles
Kerela “Happy Ending”
After a long absence, Kerela is back in public with a recap “Washed away.” Now, she incorporates beats while conveying ambivalence in “Happy Ending.” A double-time breakbeat churns far below the starting vocals, paying little attention to the underlying propulsion. However, when she finds Kerela in a club and finds her ex, she becomes obsessed with beats. “I won’t chase you, but it’s not over,” she sings. is depressed and the song makes the situation completely suspenseful.pareles
iLe, ‘(Escapándome) de Mí’
Romance is often the poison in songs from Puerto Rican songwriter iLe’s new album, Nacarile. “All your beauty scares me,” she sings on “(Escapándome) de Mí” (“Escaping Myself”). “I’m scared because I like her.” As her tracks build around her, from a single plucked guitar to an electronic citadel, she recognizes her own vulnerability, ponders, and takes the leap anyway. To do.pareles
Yoshikaya “In the Plum”
Taken from Norwegian-American indie artist Okay Kaya’s upcoming album SAP, the gentle flow of “Inside of a Plum” is inspired by doctor-provided ketamine therapy, sometimes used to treat depression. It was done. It may sound heavy, but Kaya Wilkins’ signature ironic approach lends the song a charming sense of weightlessness and even a sense of humor. There’s an amusing banality in the way she describes the procedure (“Inside buildings, in offices, in chairs under weighted blankets”) and vivid psychedelia as her journey begins. , Wilkins tweets the song’s indelible descriptive hook. “Now I’m scuba diving in space”. Zoraz
Hagop Chaparian, “Right to Riot”
Hagop Tchaparian is an English-Armenian musician who took him from playing guitar in the grimy band Symposium in the 1990s to electronic music on his new album ‘Bolts’. Over the years, Chaparian has also collected recordings of Armenian and Middle Eastern music and gathering performances in live and video clips. The first note that pops out of “Right to Riot” is traditional. Aggressive is the six-beat drum pattern and the sharp, nose-biting grunt of the double-his reed instrument, which the Armenians call Zurna, used by various names in the Balkans. East, North Africa, West Asia.Layers of programmed beats, synthesizer swoops, bass drones and percussion only make the track more intense.