Featuring tracks by Dana Dentata, Zubin, recovery girl, Joony, Mercury, and more essential artists
Follow our Unleashed playlist on Spotify to stay up to date with our bi-weekly must-hear tracks:
Dana Dentata – “pantychrist”
Dana Dentata gives birth to the “pantychrist” on her latest single, ushering in a new wave of femme-centric nu metal. Amidst a fervor of religious imagery stands Dana, a modern day Mary Magdalene who chose the devil over Jesus. In her womb swims new life: the satanic spawn of someone long dead. Dana emerges anew through this vessel, giving birth to herself mere moments after reciting her own eulogy (“May she rest in peace”). This is the act of an empowered woman ready to write an even newer testament with the blood of her non-believers. “Don’t you ever fuckin’ doubt me,” she sneers over chugged power chords. Christ is fallen and Dana Dentata rises, plucking long wooden nails from her bleeding womb. – Katie Manners
Zubin, nev ver, & thislandis – “Hurt”
Genre-defying vocalist Zubin teams up with vocalist/producer nev ver and producer thislandis for a somber new collaboration called “Hurt.” Zubin’s distinctly pitched vocals paint a vivid portrait of loss on the hook as he pours out with sincerity, “I know I never fit the part / I never wanted to hurt / But it keeps getting worse.” nev ver’s vocals are equally potent and the trio’s production oscillates from rapid hip-hop flourishes to sparse, minimalist moments. It’s a powerful mission statement for their Where Love Goes 2 Die EP which arrives this Friday. – Mike Giegerich
Mercury ft. Ethereal – “Panko”
With triple digit temperatures and bloodthirsty bugs occupying the city, summers in Atlanta should be miserable. Yet somehow, summer is the best time of the year. Mercury’s “Panko” embodies this phenomena to a tee. In the music video, she and Atlanta legend Ethereal host a small day party under the scorching sun. They have a water balloon fight, grill some burgers, dick around on ATVs, and just enjoy the music and their company. Mercury sounds celestial, effortlessly laying down airy bars about her euphoric state of mind: “I just popped a bean now I feel like I can fly / With my little island bitch she got tattoos on her thigh / All she wanna do is smoke so you know we touch the sky / Either way that it go, yeah you know we get high.” – Millan Verma
Izaya Tiji – “Bye Bye”
Izaya has perfected the inside voice: he’s as poignant as your favorite crooner with half the breath, making autotune trace the closest details in his tearful mutters and clipped phrases. On “Bye Bye,” he careens alone through space. “I can’t trust no one, I can’t risk no love,” he cries over an interstellar trance-plugg beat that seems to constantly evolve. “Bye Bye” sounds like multiple songs playing at once, searching for a place to land — but Izaya’s keening voice is its center of gravity. – H.D. Angel
luluwav – “ISOLATION”
Wandering through the static soundscape of luluwav’s “ISOLATION,” the listener is thrown into a full-blown panic attack. The track’s overbearingly distorted beat encourages an assault of pained screams before being reduced to nothing more than a numb pulse. Isolated, the listener is left to catch their breath in the darkened corners of the track’s production. For a moment, this feeling lasts forever; then suddenly, a soft glow appears. Midwest emo guitar fills the space with warmth as lulu laments, “I try so hard to make this last / But every time it seems to pass.” In this reflective state, their voice is defined less by aggression and more by a deep unease. The panic is dormant, but not dissolved. Something is coming: a sound that is both organic and electronic. “Dark as fuck and my face is invisible / Shit is mystical,” breathes a voice from the shadows. The lights go out and the screams start up. “This is real,” lulu chants — a mantra to scare away the monsters. “This is real.” We need more guitars. More sweet melodies. More reflection. “I’ll make it / I’ll make it this time,” they sing, joining forces with the listener and escaping isolation. – Katie Manners
i9bonsai – “cherry blossom”
From the hazy collages of their singles’ artwork to the 2000s-aesthetic lyric posting under every upload, i9bonsai exists in their own, playful world. They hop on beats that sound like the Internet turned inside-out to reveal its secret customs, and their voice floats like a wisp across each one. On “cherry blossom,” CJ808 and ssh1be — two of digicore’s most otherworldly producers — conjure up a circus of spirits while i9bonsai bobs and weaves through the action: “I don’t wanna talk — at all / just go,” they rap, waving the listener away with every word. – H.D. Angel
recovery girl, Junior Astronaut, & dynastic – “i promise”
recovery girl finds her voice buried deep at the back of her throat on “i promise,” a collaborative track off of her latest project, recovery girl & friends. The mixtape features over 20 artists, including several iterations of recovery girl herself. On “i promise” she casts aside her pixieish demeanor in favor of guttural growls — dawning a wholly new persona for the two-minute track. With supporting vocals from Junior Astronaut, the duo strike a balance between melodic and primal that evokes mid-2000s post-hardcore. But even dynastic‘s production can’t preserve this reminiscent feeling, as recovery girl-isms unapologetically spring up during the track’s most sincere moments. Each comically timed “boioioing” sound effect marks punk’s evolution: from hardcore’s severe past to recovery girl’s slapstick future. – Katie Manners
Joony – “I dont fight.”
Joony’s newest album, Silent Battles (Deluxe), isn’t a conceptual piece like its predecessor, but rather an exhibition of his rapidly expanding sound. It features a traditional, hard-hitting punch-in DMV rap song (“No Hook”), an internal monologue sung over just a guitar (“Milan”), and most interestingly, “I dont fight.,” a jazz-infused boom-bap slice of introspection. “I dont fight.” displays Joony’s remarkable ability to seamlessly weave between singing and rapping; a trait found in superstars such as Brent Faiyaz and Drake. Read our February interview with the Maryland artist here. – Millan Verma
Ducey Gold ft. BigBabyGucci – “Green Eggs & Ham”
Ducey Gold delivers his diverse brand of pop-rap on “Green Eggs & Ham,” off his latest project Midnight Sky. Recruiting fellow Carolinian BigBabyGucci to manufacture this cool and collect tune, Ducey recounts making moves on his uphill journey towards a check. He swaps through flows and cadences, while BigBabyGucci’s flow is prescriptive, healing anything wrong with you. – Michael Heiman
mynameisntjmack ft. Nesmith – “Gumbo”
mynameisntjmack’s latest double single,“Gumbo/Changes,” turns hip-hop on its head. The track features D.C.-based singer Nesmith opening up about his introspective wishes of perseverance as mack raps about DUIs and popping pills. While Nesmith is the high-falsetto voice of reason and mack’s grumbling verses make up a gumbo of harmful thoughts, the distinct paths they take bring the listener back to the same place of severe self-analysis. – Michael Heiman