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Psych rockers Mercury Rev are back with the announcement of a new album, Born Horses, and the release of its lead single, “Patterns.”

Due on September 6th via Bella Union, Born Horses will be the band’s first new original album since 2015’s The Light in You. Speaking about the album’s origins, the band’s Grasshopper explained that they were inspired by a certain sense of nostalgia. “When Jonathan [Donahue] and I first met, one thing we bonded over was Blade Runner,” he said. “Both Ridley Scott’s film and Vangelis’ soundtrack: that feel of the past and the future, the haunting noir mood and the romance of the future… Born Horses taps into some of that.”

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Grasshopper cited other influences, everything from “Broadway tunes, to lonesome blues, Chet Baker, Miles Davis’ Sketches Of Spain, records that our parents listened to” and more, but emphasized...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big new singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This week, Cardi B gets “better and better-er” in a self-assured single and appears alongside Sza on a sugary new Flo Milli remix, Kacey Musgraves has an existential crisis, and Becky G delivers an energetic dance jam. Plus, new tracks from Gunna, Zayn, and J-Lo.

Cardi B, “Enough [Miami]” (YouTube)

Kacey Musgraves, “The Architect” (YouTube)

Flo Milli feat. Sza and Cardi B, “Never Lose Me (Remix)” (YouTube)

Gunna feat.

On World Wide Whack, Philly-born rapper Tierra Whack examines her complicated and at times contradictory feelings surrounding her rise to fame over the last few years. The album’s brief opening track, “Mood Swings,” sets the tone lyrically and sonically, as Whack’s verses about her friends’ and family’s concerns about her mood swings are juxtaposed with a mellow beat.

Whack exudes a newfound confidence and braggadocio throughout WWW, sometimes rapping from the perspective of a character. She delivers exaggeratedly low-pitched ad-libs a la Playboi Carti and Travis Scott on the industrial-sounding “Ms Behave,” the titular persona of which is seemingly designed to conceal Whack’s struggles with mental health from those around her.

That façade, however, immediately begins to show cracks on “Chanel Pit.” “I am the shit you smell,” Whack says, and the disgust with which she regards herself is palpable. This could be seen as a...

Little Simz is back with a surprise new EP: Drop 7.

The latest entry in Simz’ Drop EP series, Drop 7 arrives with seven new tracks, each with ready-for-the-club beats produced by longtime collaborator, Jakwob. Over the arrangements, Simz offers introspective lyrics, echoing themes of becoming that illuminate many of the titles in her discography. Stream the EP below.

Drop 7 is Simz’ first release since her 2022 album, No Thank You, and the first title in the Drop series since 2020’s Drop 6. This upcoming August will mark 10 years since the series’ first release, Drop 1. Simz’ 2021 album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, was named by Consequence as the fifth best album of 2021.

Meanwhile, Simz is gearing up for the 2024 Brit Awards in March, where she’s nominated for Album of the Year (thanks to No Thank You), Artist of the Year, and Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act. Last year, she appeared in the Drake-produced Netflix drama,...

Jack of all trades and master of none Teezo Touchdown, whose gaudy style has already eclipsed his scant musical output, doesn’t want to be known as simply a rapper. He fancies himself a radical who doesn’t fit neatly into a predetermined categorical box. This is an artist who thought spitting verses over Panic at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” one of the most well-known pop-punk songs of the past decade, on 2019’s “100 Drums” was unique in an era where SoundCloud rappers frequently pay homage to such mid-2000s acts.

To be fair, there’s little to no actual rapping on Teezo’s major label debut, How Do You Sleep at Night? He positions himself as a modern-day pop star in the vein of Prince—as a soulful entertainer who can adopt R&b, pop, and rock sensibilities into his musical repertoire at what feels like the drop of a hat.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wap” exploded to Number One on the latest Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs chart. The Ayo & Keyz-produced track earned more than 52 million streams and more than 64,000 downloads, easily outpacing another high-powered collaboration, Juice Wrld and the Weeknd’s “Smile,” which debuted at Number Two thanks to 18.4 million streams.

Juice Wrld’s latest posthumous hit joined “Come & Go,” a collaboration with the producer Marshmello, in the Top Ten. The Weeknd’s appearance on “Smile” also gave him a second Top Ten hit on the latest...

Post Malone continued to dominate the Rs 100 with songs from his new album Hollywood’s Bleeding. “Circles” maintained its hold on Number One, thanks 21.7 million streams, while “Take What You Want,” “Enemies,” and “Goodbyes” also remained in the Top 10. This represents a slight downturn from the previous week, when Malone accounted for nine of the Top 10 singles.

Sliding in behind Malone’s “Circles” was Lil Nas X’s “Panini,” which jumped from Number 28 to Number Two following the release of a remix with the rapper DaBaby. DaBaby has become one...

Post Malone blew away the competition for the second week in a row to retain the Number One spot on the Rolling Stone Artists 500 for the week of September 13th through September 19th.

While the rapper’s overall song streams number technically plummeted by 137.1 million, he still racked up a whopping 244.7 million streams as his latest album Hollywood’s Bleeding cruised to a second week atop the Top 200 Albums chart, moving 193,500 units. Post Malone’s “Circles” also remained the Number One track on the Top 100 Songs chart for the third week in a row,...

A Boogie Wit da Hoodie weathers a stormy, unbalanced relationship in his new video for “Mood Swings.” The song is set to appear on his forthcoming album, Artist 2.0, which does not yet have a release date.

Directed by A Boogie and Eif Rivera, the visual opens with A Boogie chilling during an evening downpour, but there’s something otherworldly taking place amidst the storm. His eyes glow a blue neon before several people wearing hoodies obscuring their faces appear to join him as he strolls through the rain.

Later, he...

A Boogie wit da Hoodie‘s “Mood Swings” sounds like a reference track. The entire chorus is built around the Highbridge rapper avoiding the last syllable of a word, as if he’s forgotten mid-thought that he’s a multi-platinum rapper performing in a recording booth. Over a frantic Wheezy beat, words like “problem” and “bestie” are elongated into “problemmmmmhmmmss” and “bestiummmmmmmsss” and smoothed over with a layer of vocal processing. The effect is something akin to strapping Kid Cudi to a massage chair and recording what happens.

Nearly everything about “Mood Swings” feels unfinished,...