This week is filled with artists we haven’t heard much from lately. Sure, Ab-Soul is on his pre-These Days promo grind and releasing new material regularly, but Jessie Ware? This is her first single of the year. Earth? Largely off the radar since 2012. Busdriver? Same thing. Some of these songs sound like they took months to perfect, and in an era when anyone can release a track on SoundCloud in just a couple clicks, that quality control is refreshing.
10. Lemonade – “Stepping”
Every element of the latest track from New York electronic trio Lemonade screams summertime fling — or it would if it weren’t so damn chilly. There are mentions of the sea, those mesmerizing bubbles of percussive synth, but there’s something dark going on too. The lyrics are about looking out, and seeing “them” as indistinguishable, like “grains of sand at the beach.” There’s something that “lifts me up and then it pulls me under,” too. Regardless of the shadows, that stumbling synth line will be lodged in my head for the next few days. “Stepping” and the rest of Minus Tide, the group’s follow-up to 2012’s Driver, will hit stores on September 9th via their new label, Cascine. –Adam Kivel
