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Keeping up with new music releases can be a difficult task. Your Weekend Playlist offers a brief introduction to a broad range of the most interesting new tracks and emerging artists.
This week’s playlist also features new music from Jazmine Sullivan, Madlib, Squid and a collaboration between J Balvin and Skrillex.
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dvsn & Ty Dolla $ign feat. Mac Miller: I Believed It
dv$n? Ty dvsn $ign? Whatever nickname emerges for the upcoming collaboration between dvsn and Ty Dolla $ign, you know the project is going to be fun.
Since dvsn burst onto the scene in 2015 with the slow jam epic “The Line,” the Toronto-based duo — made up of singer Daniel Daley and producer Nineteen85 — has released a steady stream of earnest and radio-ready R&B via Drake’s OVO Sound. Meanwhile, Ty Dolla $ign has become one of the most in-demand and ubiquitous figures in all of popular music, lending his gravelly golden voice to any artist who needs a bump. Both dvsn and Ty have helped to transform the sound of commercial R&B by employing irresistible hooks in the service of expansive hip-hop production.
And thus, the idea of Dollavsn feels not only appropriate but inevitable. On the project’s first single, “I Believed It,” Ty and Daley take turns working their magic over an instantly gratifying loop of sitar and strings, before handing the song off to the late Mac Miller. Though Miller’s presence is a touch unsettling (he died at 26 nearly three years ago), the beloved rapper’s laid-back delivery and clever wordplay offer a welcome dose of nostalgia.
If Ty’s collaboration with fellow R&B crooner Jerimih (“MihTy”) is any indication, dvsn fans can anticipate another collection of low-stakes, high-reward songs. Sometimes that’s all you need.
Declaime and Madlib: Cool Ways
Madlib, the legendary DJ and producer best known for his collaborations with artists like MF DOOM and Freddie Gibbs, remains one of the few hip-hop beat makers whose instrumentals feel worthy of their own release.
Back in January, fans received a rare treat in the form of a Madlib solo album, arranged, edited and mastered by the English electronic artist Four Tet. The primarily instrumental “Sound Ancestors” is a sundry feast of samples and drum breakbeats, a tribute to Madlib’s former partner and friend J Dilla, and one of the best albums of 2021.
Six months later, Madlib has returned with a new full-length collaborative album with veteran underground rapper Declaime. The California MC, who released his first solo album some two decades ago, sounds right at home on “In the Beginning Vol. 1,” effortlessly navigating the ebbs and flows of Madlib’s neo-soul experiments.
The project is a reminder that while Madlib has the chops to work as a solo artist, he also brings out the very best in those MCs willing to join forces.
Jazmine Sullivan: Tragic
Jazmine Sullivan is on a hot streak. In January, the Philadelphia singer-songwriter returned after a lengthy hiatus with “Heaux Tales,” an irresistible and critically acclaimed EP featuring Ari Lennox, Anderson .Paak and H.E.R. A month later, she performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl LV (with Eric Church, for some reason). In June, “Heaux Tales” was named the Album of the Year at the BET Awards. Now, Sullivan is back with a new single, “Tragic,” hopefully signalling more new music to come.
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Musically and thematically, “Tragic” is an extension of “Heaux Tales,” which Sullivan described as “my observation of today’s women standing in their power and owning who they are.” Repurposing a viral clip of Rep. Maxine Waters “reclaiming (her) time” in Congress, the track is a joyous and candid affirmation of a woman’s right to dismiss an underperforming partner.
J Balvin and Skrillex: In Da Getto
It’s impossible to not be at least slightly impressed by Skrillex’s second act. Once the poster boy of the short-lived “brostep” explosion in the early 2010s, the American DJ/producer has in recent years expanded his horizons, lending his considerable talents to pop and hip-hop acts like Justin Bieber, A$AP Rocky and Ty Dolla $ign. Skrillex’s sound today is far less obnoxious than his earlier output, but his productions retain a unique sense of hyperactive energy, like a kid hyped up on a Capri Sun.
On July 1, Skrillex teamed up with J Balvin — the Colombian “Prince of Reggaeton” and one of Latin America’s bestselling artists of all-time — for “In Da Getto,” an update on the 1996 hit by the American house music icon Crystal Waters. The track is an aggressive dance-party banger, one that — like the accompanying visual — feels shrouded in an almost sickly neon sheen.
Squid: Paddling
Squid are a bit of anachronism within the musical landscape of 2021 — a landscape largely devoid of guitar-driven music and increasingly focused on individual artists rather than bands or groups in the more traditional sense. Listening to the English quintet’s mixture of post-punk, prog, krautrock and new wave can feel jarring at first, but there’s harmony amid the chaos.
A good example is “Paddling,” the second single off Squid’s debut album, “Bright Green Field,” which came out in May. You’ve got twangy guitar riffs, disorienting tempo changes, a vocalist that sounds quite a bit like Fred Schneider from the B-52’s, laser sounds and a spoken word breakdown, all within the first 150 seconds of the six-minute epic. Yet all the pieces fall into place for the song’s outro, as the band locks into a satisfying crescendo of sound that will have even the casual listener pining for the return of live music.
Farah: Fountain of Youth
On “Fountain of Youth,” the mysterious artist Farah delivers line after line of hypnotic poetry in English and Farsi, her deadpan vocals surrounded by cascading synths, driving drums and effects-drenched guitar.
The unsettling atmosphere will be familiar to those acquainted with Italians Do It Better, a musical collective headed by multi-instrumentalist and producer Johnny Jewel. Beyond his work with the synthpop legends Chromatics, Jewel also provided the haunting score for the 2011 Ryan Gosling film “Drive” and contributed to the David Lynch series “Twin Peaks: The Return.”
Teaming with Farah, Jewel provides yet another chilling soundtrack for a dramatic late night drive through the rain.
Bonus Track
Remi Wolf: Liz
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Weekend Playlist: dvsn team up with Ty Dolla $ign and six more songs you need to hear - Toronto Star
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