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This Week's Best New Songs

At Paste Music, we're listening to so many new tunes on any given day, we barely have any time to listen to each other. Nevertheless, every week we can swing it, we take stock of the previous seven days' best tracks, delivering a weekly playlist of our favorites. Check out this week's best new songs, in alphabetical order. (You can check out an ongoing playlist of our favorite songs of 2024 here.)

Adult Jazz: "Marquee"

The latest single from UK's Adult Jazz begins just as the band's name might suggest, as a piano chord is repeated over and over while a faint string arrangement flickers on and off in the background. Once bandleader Harry Burgess' vocals come in, the violin and viola raise their tempos and the energy begins to expand. But the melodies of "Marquee" never stay put for very long, as Adult Jazz zig and zag across the arrangement. The song is, at times, menacing, vibrant and paradoxically criss-crossed with regret and joy. "Marquee" sounds like Arthur Russell singing a new wave track and, at six minutes, its beauty will give you every possible feeling you could ever want. It very well might be the best thing Adult Jazz have ever done. —Matt Mitchell

Babehoven: "Ella's From Somewhere Else"

The third and newest single from Babehoven's upcoming album, Water's Here in You, might just be my favorite so far. "Ella's From Somewhere Else" was written by Maya Bon after seeing Ella Williams—aka Paste favorite Squirrel Flower—perform last winter. "When I got home from the show, I found some quiet space alone, I lit a few candles and kept the lights off," Bon said. "I began thinking of all the places Ella takes me in her songs." Likewise, "Ella's From Somewhere Else" charts many dreams and many memories—cornfields, beached whales, spaceships, black holes, "in the magic," "the place we said goodbye," Bon's childhood dog also named Ella and the flatness of loss. It's backed by an acoustic guitar-heavy melody that slowly builds into a full-blown chorus of voices singing "you're my brother, you're my family, you are everything to me" over and over, as Bon's bandmate and partner Ryan Albert lends his voice at the very end. But nothing can compare to Bon singing "Five years old, five years ago, I first loved you—your eyes like I've known them forever." —MM

Charli XCX: "Club classics"

We finally have a date for Brat, the much-anticipated follow-up to Charli XCX's monstrous ultra pop album Crash, and some new singles to satiate our thirst for whatever this new chapter holds for our favorite maximalist popstar. She told us on "Von Dutch" exactly what attitude she is bringing to her upcoming LP: "cult classic, but I still pop." With "Club classics," the avant-pop artist is bringing her rave roots and melodic pop to the dancefloor, blending blinding, deserved arrogance into the supersonics. Charli tells us with a bouncy delight, "I wanna dance to me / When I go to the club," and those lucky enough to squeeze their way into her Boiler Room set in February caught snippets of the album in the perfect sweaty, smoky club setting. So turn down the lights and steam up your shower to blast this through your headphones for that authentic club experience Charli is notorious for delivering. —Olivia Abercrombie

Draag: "Orb Weaver"

The Los Angeles-based shoegaze act Draag have released a new single this week—alongside an EP announcement. "Orb Weaver" is a hazy, shifting shoegaze track that reaches grandiose heights. Thick, luscious layers of guitar, bass and percussion seamlessly weave into one another creating a droning cacophony of sound with an underlying anxiety. The track is inspired by band member Adrian Acosta's severe phobia of spiders, which he regularly encounters on nighttime walks. He sings, "I'm running out of steam again / Underneath the orb weaver / I'm willing to go again / A feeling that might go deeper." Draag's textured and sweeping new single is intricate and expansive and, with each listen, you keep finding more about it to love. —Grace Ann Natanawan

From Indian Lakes: "The Lines"

With a new album, Head Void, on the way, From Indian Lakes shared another single this week: "The Lines." Joe Vann's project continues to test the boundaries of pop and shoegaze here, with a catchy melody quaking beneath colossal distortion. Vann posited that "whichever direction the songs go on every album, there's always a sort of sweaty warehouse/basement/house show influence there as much as the indie or folk stuff that comes out because that's all we knew coming up" and he's onto something there. "The Lines" sounds great but echoes a kind of euphoria you can only get when you're stuffed into a 30-cap sub-level room. It's that kind of approach that keeps From Indian Lakes unique. "The Lines" sounds like it simmered in a crockpot of emo, bedroom pop and shoegaze for 24 hours, and the result is a remarkably replayable three-minute highlight. —MM

How To Dress Well: "Crypt Sustain"

How To Dress Well, the solo project of Colorado musician Tom Krell, has released a new, thrilling single from his upcoming LP I Am Toward You. Triumphant and electrifying riffs soar and expand over the tightly packed instrumentation layered with a staticky coating of tuned vocals that crackle and float through the track. "Crypt Sustain" drifts between passages of sparse noise to condensed, fleeting moments of thoughtful mayhem. Krell says the track is inspired by the "cryptic origin of all artmaking," expanding upon the mysterious and vital art of creation. In turn, the track is a frenzied, stirring single that mesmerizes listeners with its towering sound. —GN

Ibibio Sound Machine: "Mama Say"

London's Ibibio Sound Machine is all about blending African culture, electronic pop and funk, and their new single, "Mama Say," blends those with a loving message of women's empowerment. The single is off their upcoming album Pull The Rope, and it combines a disco-inspired beat with a chorus performed in pidgin with vocalist Eno Williams singing, "Mama say make I honor am," meaning "Mother says I must honor her." The combination of futuristic synth beats and traditional West African vocal stylings brings a unique flavor of fusion, and "Mama Say" is an infectiously catchy dance track with a simply beautiful message of uplifting women and celebrating culture. —OA

James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg: "Death Wishes To Kill"

With their new collaborative album, All Gist, on the way later this year, James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg have unveiled the project's second track: "Death Wishes to Kill." The instrumental tune takes its title from a chapter in T.S. Powys' Unclay novel, where, as the duo explains, "the character of Death descends upon a village to claim one of the inhabitants, but instead decides to become one of the villagers himself, having taken a shine to one of the local ladies." In turn, "Death Wishes to Kill" has that balance of pensive togetherness and an edge of villainy to it. Elkington and Salsburg so deftly let joy and anxiety converge, forging a real Wild West of sonics. Bassist Nick Macri and violinist Wanees Zaroor pitch in, and their presence is a game-changer. "Death Wishes to Kill" is beautifully constructed, twanged out with a pillow of pedal steel and vibrantly finger-picked. —MM

Jane Penny: "Beautiful Ordinary"

The latest and final single from Jane Penny's upcoming EP, Surfacing, might be the best one yet (though lead single "Messages" is still such a gem). The TOPS vocalist channels a lightness on "Beautiful Ordinary" that is timeless, though much of the song beams through eras—conjuring everything from the one-hit wonder synth-pop of yesteryear to the U.S. Girls and Flight Facilities electronica of the modern age. Penny has a knack for this kind of digital work, which contrasts greatly with the man-made rock and pop sounds she and her TOPS bandmates normally excavate. "Beautiful Ordinary" is aglow from the jump and never dims, and Penny's featherlight singing remains its magnetic core. —MM

Kamasi Washington ft. André 3000: "Dream State"

With Fearless Movement due out next month, Los Angeles saxophonist Kamasi Washington has unveiled yet another chapter in "Dream State"—his collaboration with André 3000. The song sprawls across eight minutes, beginning with a stirring combination of sax and looping synths. From the very beginning, "Dream State" is building towards a rapture, and it arrives just before the halfway point—when percussion sets in and André's flute kicks up and the bass scales start expanding. But "Dream State" never explodes beyond its own grasp, and it's one of the tightest jazz tracks that's come down the pipeline in a minute. Washington continues to prove just how ace a bandleader he is; "Dream State" is as lucid as the title suggests. —MM

La Luz: "Poppies"

We're slowly drifting into the atmosphere with La Luz's new track "Poppies" off their recently announced new album, News of the Universe. Led by Shana Cleveland, the Seattle indie poppers are ensnaring us in their surrealistic soundscape that's harmonic '60s girl group-meets-sublime psych-rock. The band began writing the album soon after Cleveland's breast cancer diagnosis, and "Poppies" envelops us in the tumbling aftermath, trying to make sense of it all. The dreamy guitars mimic the haze of feeling detached from yourself when you go through a traumatic experience, and the stroll through the flowers is where Cleveland imagined herself going through this rebirth. —OA

Margaux: "I Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way"

A member of Katy Kirby's band and one of Allegra Krieger's trusted collaborators, Margaux Bouchegnies already has an expedited pass into Paste's heart on that alone. Usher in the fact that she is one of my favorite singer-songwriters working in New York right now, and it's all solidified. Margaux's latest, "I Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way," is the latest single from her newly-announced debut album, Inside The Marble. The track really cuts at a feeling that is likely familiar to many of us, the ache of breaking up with someone who was also a dear friend. "Years pass and I pick up the phone to see where this could go," Margaux sings over her own finger-picking. "How could we ever know, so let's just take it slow." Cue a backdrop of faint synth teardrops and blink-and-you'll-miss-it percussion, and "I Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way" is one of the tenderest singles of the week. —MM

Pedro the Lion: "Modesto"

Though I've never been to Modesto, I imagine it has the same dreamlike stillness that Pedro the Lion creates in their new track, titled after the California city. "Modesto" is the first single from David Bazan's upcoming album Santa Cruz—the third in a trio of albums titled after the places where the frontman has lived throughout his life. This piece of the series follows Bazan's teenage years up until the first Pedro the Lion EP dropped. "Modesto" especially details a time when Bazan spent six months living in the city writing the earliest Pedro tracks, in a home he once saw as dull but discovered a vibrancy that would lead him to pursuing music. "I heard the perfect song at work today / Having asked if there were bands to see and spots to play / Jim said 'Hell yeah,' then he handed me a tape," he sings, finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places. —OA

The Drums: "The Impossible"

Few artists have quite as brilliant a grasp on pop music as Jonny Pierce and the Drums do. Last year's Jonny was one of my favorite pop albums that served as a comeback and still floated under the radar. Now, Pierce is tossing a deluxe-edition our way with five new tracks—including "The Impossible," which just sounds great. It's a bulletproof earworm that Pierce explained was "forged in childhood" with a "survivors-brain." "It seems to be working overtime trying to protect me from emotional shipwreck in the future," he continued. And the song, while buoyant and vibrant on the surface, harbors a multitude of emotions—namely regret and retrospect. "We were the only thing that I ever had faith in," Pierce sings. "Stupid, stupid me now… getting too hopeful and placing all my bets on the impossible. With guitars that sound as beautiful as sythesizers and a steadfast metronome of snares, "The Impossible" is four minutes of colorful, sublime verve. —MM

Young Jesus: "Moonlight"

The latest single from Young Jesus' upcoming album The Fool, "Moonlight" is a track about Instagram and late-night lurking—and a beautiful one at that. "By mistake, David liked one," bandleader John Rossiter sings. "Eloise heard her phone buzz / Her doctor liked her picture at night." All of this transpires over a piano-and-acoustic-guitar melody, with Rossiter's singing and a faint chorus filling in behind him, and the arrangement echoes the story's anxieties. We've all doomscrolled before bed, and many of us have certainly scrolled through an ex or a crush's page and tried our best to avoid an accidental like. Rossiter doesn't try to make some profound statement about social media dependency. Instead, he just wants to make sense of the kind of moment that was non-existent 15 years ago. The line "leaning over the glow of a phone and a picture of a stranger at night" will stick with me for a good while. —MM

Other Notable Songs: Ava Max: "My Oh My"; Bacchae: "Cooler Talk"; Chilly Gonzalez: "Fuck Wagner"; Cloud Nothings: "Silence"; Empire of the Sun:"Changes"; Iron & Wine: "Anyone's Game"; Knocked Loose: "Don't Reach For Me"; Lillie West: "holyholyholy"; MILLY: "Drip From The Fountain"; Mount Kimbie: "Shipwreck"; Nat Harvie ft. Alan Sparkhawk: "Red"; Other Half ft. Matthew Caws: "Lifted Fingers"; Peggy Gou: "1+1=11"; Porij: "Ghost"; Sumac: "Yellow Dawn"; The Drin: "Tigers Cage"; Umbra Vitae: "Belief Is Obsolete"; Washer: "Come Back as a Bug"; Yaya Bey: "me and all my n****s"

Check out a playlist of these great songs below.

The Restaurateur Behind Zemam's Is Bringing An 'Ethiopian Block' To Broadway

Tucson's first international dining and entertainment district will open in April along a stretch of East Broadway that's still recovering from the city's years-long road-widening project.

The first phase of the Afro-centric Z Street, which stretches from the corner of Broadway and Treat Avenue to Rocco's Little Chicago, includes the expansion of Zemam's Ethiopian Cuisine at 2731 E. Broadway and a new international bar, Zerai's, next door at 2725 E. Broadway. The long-vacant Shakey's Pizzeria building next door to Rocco's was torn down and paved over to provide parking.

The second phase, set to open later this year, will include Zidamo coffee house, a collaboration with Savaya Coffee going into the long-vacant Flanagan's Celtic Corner gift shop at 2719 E. Broadway, and space for international food trucks and carts.

Restaurateur Amanuel Gebremariam, the owner of Zemam's Ethiopian Cuisine and Zerai's international bar, created what Fletcher McCusker calls an "Ethiopian block" on East Broadway, featuring Afro-centric food, drinks, music and art.

Grace Trejo, Arizona Daily Star

"I want all my customers to have a good time and enjoy all we have to offer to experience the African culture," said Zemam's chef-owner Amanuel Gebremariam, who came up with the idea for Z Street not long after the neighboring Insurance House closed early in the pandemic.

The project lies within the Rio Nuevo Sunshine Mile from South Country Club Road to North Euclid Avenue on Broadway that was created after the city deeded Rio Nuevo 39 midcentury residential and retail properties. The properties, which included the Solot Plaza and the Friedman and Bungalow blocks, were abandoned during the years-long road-widening project.

When Gebremariam and his sons/partners Lucas and Noah approached Rio Nuevo in 2021 with their plans for Z Street, the board was excited, said Chairman Fletcher McCusker. The tax-revenue funding redevelopment arm kicked in $500,000 for the project, initially estimated at $800,000.

"All of this is really creative," he said. "We don't know of anything else that is internationally themed. It's basically an Ethiopian block."

The cornerstone of the project is the rebirth of Zemam's, whose Broadway location has been closed since early 2021. Gebremariam said he closed not so much due to COVID-19 but more because of the ongoing road construction.

"They were digging everywhere in front of the restaurant," he recalled. "There wasn't anywhere customers could come in and out."

Gebremariam thought he would reopen in a few months.

A few months turned into years.

"It lasted so long," he said. "Thank God we had the Speedway location (Zemam's Too at 119 E. Speedway) to earn some money otherwise we could have gone out of business." The family closed the Speedway location on March 17, saying it was impossible to find enough staff for both restaurants.

Zemam's Too! Closed down permanently on March 17 after being open for 10 years at 119 E. Speedway.

Grace Trejo, Arizona Daily Star

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With the original restaurant closed, the Gebremariams started imagining what Z Street would look like. Lucas envisioned that flatscreens in Zerai's would broadcast international sports during the day and on weekends, they would recreate the global music dance parties they held for several years at Zemam's Too.

Although it's months down the road, Savaya already has agreed to create a special roast for Zidamo with beans imported from the coffee-rich Sidamo Province in the senior Gebremariam's native Ethiopia.

But the first thing on everyone's agenda: expanding the restaurant that Gebremariam opened in 1993.

Gebremariam had no real business plan or cooking experience when he announced to his family that he was going to open an Ethiopian restaurant "and Tucson was going to love it," son Lucas recalled.

Gebremariam came to the U.S. In the early 1980s as an Ethiopian refugee. After he earned a chemistry degree from the University of Maryland, he went to work for the federal government before getting a job with a company that built planes. That job landed him in Tucson several years later and a disagreement with his boss landed him in the restaurant business.

"He came home from work and said, 'I quit my job and I'm going to open an Ethiopian restaurant,'" Lucas said, recalling childhood memories of piling into the family's car and driving his dad to work before school.

Named after his mother, Zemam's had just four tables tucked into small alcoves near the front door; his father-in-law lived in the rest of the house. The kitchen was no bigger than a primary suite bathroom, equipped with a refrigerator, stove top and a hot food table. Customers parked along Treat Avenue or in the two or three parking spots in front of the restaurant.

Zemam's Ethiopian Cuisine has grown from just four tables to 28 with renovations as part of the Z Street project. The restaurant and neighboring international bar are set to open in early April.

Grace Trejo, Arizona Daily Star

The restaurant quickly found a loyal audience for the food Gebremariam recreated from recipes handed down by his mother and fellow Ethiopian refugees in Tucson.

When they reopen next month, Gebremariam will be cooking in a kitchen three times the size of the original and outfitted with updated appliances, including a commercial refrigerator, ice machine and prep tables. A former closet has been converted into a shelf-lined pantry.

Diners will have their choice of 28 tables set up in little nooks and corners created when Gebremariam tore down walls and created arches where doors had been.

The family had hoped to reopen the restaurant last year, but construction delays and obstacles slowed things down and pushed up the costs. The family invested nearly $400,000 of their own money into the project, Gebremariam said. In addition to its initial $500,000 investment, Rio Nuevo kicked in $300,000 more to bring the project to the finish line, McCusker said.

"We thought it was a really important cultural opportunity," he said. "We don't know of anything else that is internationally themed. Zemam's is one of those have-to-go-to restaurants in Arizona and to bring back them on Broadway, keep Rocco's on Broadway, it is really cool."

Z Street is the first of several redevelopment projects to open in the Sunshine Mile district, although McCusker said there are a number of new restaurants and retail projects in the works.

Kacey Musgraves Teases New Music During 2024 Grammys: 'My Saturn Has Returned'

Kacey Musgraves is teasing new music. During the 2024 Grammys on Sunday night (Feb. 4), Musgraves shared a promotional spot that aired just after 9 p.M. ET.

In the 30-second spot, the country star is shown out in nature, among horses and in fields, drafting song lyrics that appear to read: "I'm getting rid of the habits/ That I feel are real good at/ Wasting my time/ No regrets, baby."

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Dreamy images of Musgraves wearing pretty dresses lead into a cutaway to the songwriter with her guitar, and to one of her braiding her hair, and finally one in which she gazes intently at the camera with her arms crossed.

"My Saturn has returned," Musgraves sings in the final seconds of the promo.

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The clip ends directing viewers to KaceyMusgraves.Com.

The promo comes a day after Musgraves posted a photo collage on her Instagram grid that featured her curled up nude in the grass.

Musgraves, who presented best country album to Lainey Wilson at the Grammys ahead of the promo airing, was nominated in two categories Sunday night: best country song and best country duo/group performance, both for "I Remember Everything" with Zach Bryan. The pair won the best country duo/group performance award prior to the televised show, during the Grammy Premiere Ceremony. Meanwhile, the best country song award went to "White Horse," written by Chris Stapleton and Dan Wilson.

Musgraves' new music will follow her 2021 album Star-Crossed, which reached No. 1 on the Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

Watch the promo below:

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