Featuring tracks by Alice Longyu Gao & Alice Glass, ericdoa, blackwinterwells, RXK Nephew, BBY GOYARD, and more essential artists
Follow our Unleashed playlist on Spotify to stay up to date with our bi-weekly must-hear tracks:
Alice Longyu Gao & Alice Glass – “LEGEND”
Alice Longyu Gao teams up with Alice Glass to answer the age-old question, “Alice, Alice, who the fuck is Alice?” on their latest track “LEGEND.” Fueled with vitriol, the duo take on insecure misogynists with a potent “fuck you,” but this is more than a male manipulator call-out track. “LEGEND” is the “rich bitch recipe” for uplifting women in an industry that constantly tears them down. From the track’s opening screams to the punchy, distorted vocal delivery, Alice and Alice prove that femininity is best served raw from the mouths of legends. “Fuck you if you insecure / Bitch, I’m fucking Alice.” – Katie Manners
ericdoa – “fantasize”
ericdoa firmly steps outside of the hyperpop circuit with a funky, dance-oriented new single co-produced by fortuneswan, glasear, and zetra. He croons with lush, layered harmonies that thrive through reflective ambiance and horn-driven exclamations. – Mike Giegerich
BBY GOYARD, Dirty Bird – “Cradles2038”
While Dirty Bird is paving a way for himself with his solo work in Afrofuturist house music, he is also becoming one of the favorite producers for left-field rappers. It seems like artists with inherently abrasive styles love the contrast that Dirty Bird’s heavenly, oftentimes disco-infected production offers. First was his “Mcfly” tape with ICEDOUTOMNITRIX, then “Slither Island” with RXK Nephew, and now Dirty Bird has secured the last track on BBY GOYARD’s newest tape, The Secret Lies With Charlotte 2.
On “Cradles2038,” GOYARD sounds like a regular at Dirty Bird’s late-70s discotheque. “Face paint on the face / Gene Simmons no Kiss / And I’m scrapin’ for pennies like Go Go Gadget bitch.” Horns are blowin’, the bassline is cruisin’, and a deep organ helps the beat keep pace with the wispy drums. – Millan Verma
blackwinterwells – “OMEN”
helix tears headliner blackwinterwells fleshes out her sound into a dynamic, multi-dimensional blend of crushed synth stabs and emotive vocals. Complete with a dramatic beat-switch, it’s her most fully realized creation to date. – Mike Giegerich
OSKAR O. – “roll it out”
Massachusetts native Oskar O writes about the emotional churn of breakups with fine-pointed specificity. Her 2019 EP Drift chronicled the unraveling of a romance doomed by long distance, and her latest project 1v1 tallies up the subtle moments of mistrust and miscommunication in a relationship hurtling toward heartbreak. On the spaghetti western stomper “roll it out,” she confronts her lover for flirting with a guy from Texas, capturing the dramatic moment when the last straw breaks the camel’s back. “Hope you don’t mind if I just lean up on the wall / While you and your cowboy pack up all the boxes / Wish that I could help, but I’m already done / Rolling out your shit, curses rolling off my tongue.” – Jack Ellis
daine – “dainecore”
Originally breaking onto the scene with an understated emo sound, daine has leaned into maximalist production that makes her vocals pop. The “dainecore” beat from Ninajirachi and min1skirt sits somewhere between club flourishes and hip-hop swells while daine appears at her most impassioned (and subsequently pained). For more on daine, read our 2020 interview with her here. – Mike Giegerich
RXK Nephew – “Beam On Ya Toes”
On “Slitherman Activated,” which is by far the most experimental, chaotic, and ambitious tape from RXK Nephew, the Slitherman himself (RXK) performs his routine of viciously spitting his stream of consciousness onto the mic — but this time it’s over industrial Berlin-club instrumentals.
Right before the abrasive droning of “Beam On Ya Toes” really starts to kick in, the Rochester, NY rapper lets us know that he only “had Wheat Thins and Pop-tarts today,” making the crass absurdity of his morbid lyrics a bit more understandable. After rapping in his usual style for the first minute, RXK turns the track into a looping chant that, if recited loud enough, could probably summon earthbound demons equipped with pounds of cocaine. “Who wanna get high?! / Who wanna fuck up their life?!” he screams, obviously void of any regret if he does indeed fuck up his listeners’ lives. “Imma throw a rave to this one / Whenever I perform this, I’m givin’ out free cocaine,” he says mid-song, and after listening to this track all the way through, nobody should be surprised if he actually does. – Millan Verma
hidingthehurt – ”wait4me”
hidingthehurt delivers an introspective vocal performance with hints of emo inflections on “wait4me,” a genre-bending new single that blends acoustic guitar licks and glitchy synth stretches. – Mike Giegerich
Lango – “Watch Ya Mouf”
On Wikk Tapes, Lango’s first project since 2019, the Baton Rouge rapper puts his versatility, wordplay, and knack for crafting Top 40 hooks on a platter for his listeners. Standout track “Watch Ya Mouf,” allows Lango to unload a ceaseless stutter-step flow that makes his lyrics sound like they’re walking down a never-ending spiral staircase. – Millan Verma
Static Dress – “Sweet”
Static Dress continue to develop their expansive alternative universe on “Sweet.” Driven by absolutely scorching sweeps, the track also offers melodic refrains that conjure up some of the band’s catchiest moments. As always with Static Dress, the single is complemented by a surreal music video that drives their enigmatic worldbuilding forward — complete with the recurring imagery of their iconic red rotary phone. To delve further into their world, read our interview with vocalist Olli Appleyard. – Mike Giegerich