New Music Friday: 1/9/26

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"Punk Rocky," A$AP Rocky
People are talking more about this song's Winona Ryder-enhanced video more than they're talking about the track itself, which is sad in a way — I think there's a lot to recommend in its reverb-drenched, goth-synthy grooves — but on the other hand, it's also sort of encouraging, because it proves that even at a time when loads of people are rushing to (mistakenly) toss dirt on MTV's grave, it's still possible to release an attention-getting clip.

"Talk to Me," Robyn
Robyn made an appearance in this space last November when she released "Dopamine," and at the time, I wasn't sure whether it was a preview of a new record or just a stray single. Now we know she was prepping the release of her next album, Sexistential, which is due in March — and we also have the album's next single, "Talk to Me," which is a little more overt about reflecting the rather randy feelings that seem to have inspired it. It's been a rough few years for everyone, so why not let your freak flag fly, right?

"Good Things Will Come After the Pressure," SAULT
These are turbulent times for SAULT, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from listening to "Good Things Will Come After the Pressure," a confidently languid slow-burner that gets a lot of mileage out a short list of ingredients. Built primarily around a loping bassline and singer Cleo Sol's slinky vocals, this is one of several cuts from the collective's upcoming LP that was co-written with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. There isn't a New Jack Swing to be swung here, but I like it a bunch anyway, which is probably the only compliment I really need to offer.

"Sweet Love," Stephen Sanchez
The pastiche button tends to produce rapidly diminishing returns the more you press it, and when it comes to this type of Motown-indebted song in particular, it's a lot easier for me to hear self-conscious mimicry than it is to hear genuine love. Stephen Sanchez's "Sweet Love" is a happy exception to that rule, a falsetto fling that you could have heard on the soundtrack to The Big Chill or Peggy Sue Got Married without blinking an eye. Fun fact: Those are Sanchez's grandparents starring in the video, a tribute to his memories of discovering music by trawling through his grandfather's record collection. Sweet love indeed.

"The Old Law," Father John Misty
Father John Misty is one of those artists I've always known I was supposed to like, but I resisted getting into because I was supposed to like them. I guess this vaguely Beatlesque track marks the spot where my resistance wears down at least enough to acknowledge that he's up to something good. This has apparently been part of Father John's live sets for over a year, and was previously performed under the superior title "God's Trash," but even under a different name, it's still just as neopsychedelically sweet.

"I Know Where Mark Chen Lives," Joyce Manor
It hurts my feelings that the guys in Joyce Manor are being treated like elder statesmen, given that they got together in fucking 2008, but there's nothing to be won from fighting against the passage of time, so whatever — "I Know Where Mark Chen Lives" is an absolutely perfect, utterly fat-free, catchy-as-hell pop-punk banger that pays tribute to a slept-on singer-songwriter while hazily channeling the early days of legal weed. Turn it up, toke it up, repeat.

"Dance the Pain Away," Haute & Freddy
Dark times tend to produce protest songs and nihilistic party anthems in equal measure. We're in the midst of some pretty goddamn dark ones at the moment, and while we wait for some truly great protest songs to meet the moment, here's "Dance the Pain Away" to fulfill the latter half of that equation. Like a lot of the poppier stuff I hear on any given NMF playlist, "Dance the Pain Away" sounds like it could have been a hit for any random act opening for the Eurythmics in 1984, which is a criticism just as much as it's an endorsement.

"Therapy II," Viagra Boys
Once again, I have been duped into recommending a track from a bullshit "deluxe edition" of an album that was released months ago. In this particular case, the album not only came out awhile back, it's spent the last however many months being smooched and back-massaged by critics who can't get enough of the Viagra Boys. I've been kind of ambivalent about this group's whole deal until now, and to be honest, I sort of seesawed over whether or not to include this here even before I realized how it was released. But all that aside? This is a hot blast of pogo-jumping rock 'n' roll.

"Profane Prophecy," the Black Crowes
Speaking of fun rock 'n' roll, here's the leadoff single from the latest Black Crowes LP, which was just announced yesterday. Chris Robinson says they made A Pound of Feathers in "eight to 10 days," and although quotes like that one usually bear the whiff of bullshit, especially when coming from veteran rock acts, I'm inclined to believe it here — if for no other reason than the fact that a week and change seems like the upper limit of the amount of time you could expect the Robinson brothers to spend in the same studio before bones and recording equipment start to get broken. While I continue to maintain that the Georgia Satellites were the superior late '80s/early '90s Southern rock band, "Profane Prophecy" sounds like the work of a group that's been through some rough ruts before settling, at long last, into a groove.

"Hell if I Know," Tyler Nance
Fans of Ryan Bingham, Sturgill Simpson, or Tyler Childers will probably dig this, although with the caveat that Nance's sound is a little less scuffed up and a little more polite than the aforementioned artists. Unlike those guys, he's just starting out — his first release, Wasted Chances, only arrived in 2024. Strong start, lots of room to grow, and bonus points for the wheezing harmonica in the arrangement.

"Pressha," Jill Scott
It's been over a decade since Jill Scott released an album of new music; based on "Pressha," the second single from her upcoming To Whom This May Concern LP, all that time off hasn't taken anything out of her ability to tell stories we need to hear with a voice that commands attention. "Pressha" is an R&B ballad in the classic tradition, a dismissal of a feckless lover that spares no culpability for the partner who wasted her time going along with his bullshit. Bodes quite well for the rest of the record.

"Proof," Choker
Speaking of New Jack Swing, there's a Drakkar-anointed whiff of it skittering along the rhythm of Choker's new track, which snaps a seven-year drought in style. Don't expect Keith Sweat vibes, though; "Proof" takes those familiar ingredients and twists them into unfamiliar patterns, coming up with a new dance routine for those classic Cavariccis. If it really took close to a decade to come up with this, well, fair enough, I guess.

"Lonely Touch," Sarah Kinsley
We seem to be gathering quite the crowd of singer-songwriters whose aesthetic kind of boils down to "Kate Bush, but less quirky," and Sarah Kinsley is a charter member of that list. This probably sounds dismissive, but it isn't; if you like your midtempo love songs gussied up with widescreen pop production — up to and including synth splashes that are juuuust adjacent to the ones programmed for "Running Up That Hill" — then you'll find a lot to like here. And if the sounds don't draw you in, just wait for the smoothly surging emotion fueling Kinsley's lyrics and vocals.

"Cherry Rose," Kashus Culpepper
I try not to feature the same artists in this space very often, but goodness gracious, I have been rendered powerless in the face of the gorgeous second pre-release track from Kashus Culpepper's upcoming Act I LP. Although he's popularly positioned as a country artist, Culpepper's "country" in the same way Ray Charles was; he can and does incorporate easily identifiable strains of the genre, but his overall sound is a lot more expansive than that. And speaking of Charles, I think he would have loved "Cherry Rose" — and maybe even made a meal out of a cover.

"Magnetic," Zee Machine
It's been a few weeks since I recommended something purely because it presses the "1987" pleasure buttons in my brain, so I suppose I've earned the right to include "Magnetic" in this column, Linn drums and all. This isn't a decision I can strongly defend on a compositional level, but imagining a world where Steve Lukather was called in to track the guitar solo is fun enough that I don't really care. Making a note to explore the rest of this guy's catalog.

"Here with Me," Drama
"Here with Me" is also pretty '80s, albeit in a subtler way, and one that isn't designed to leave one wondering whether the artist is having a laugh. The retro vibe here has more to do with the glossy keyboards and canned-sounding drums, both of which offer a slightly chilly contrast to the gentle warmth of Via Rosa's vocals. The type of track that doesn't necessarily burrow its way into your brain upon first listen, but is very easy to get lost in while it's playing.

"Kabul," Pullman
If there can be such a thing as a "post-rock supergroup," then Pullman fits the description. Featuring members/ex-members of Tortoise, Rex, Come, and Eleventh Dream Day, these guys have been an occasional ongoing concern since the late '90s, yet their new album — suitably titled III — is only their third. Like many worthwhile works, III was sort of an accident; following drummer Tim Barnes' early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2021, they originally intended to put together a single track for a compilation, and were wise enough to step out of the way when a full album started to manifest itself. The whole thing is well worth a listen, but at the moment, closing track "Kabul" is my favorite, a slowly swirling, banjo-led ballad that conveys contemplative worlds without the aid of a single lyric.