Best Songs of the Week

With so much good music steadily coming through, it's easy to miss out on some of the best. To help prevent this, we've rounded up the best songs from the past week. Here are the songs you can't afford to skip, in no particular order.

It's not exactly a shocker, but NxWorries' long-awaited Yes Lawd! is the butteriest thing I've heard since Anderson .Paak's Malibu. This is Paak's project with Knxwledge, and they've been making music together for a minute—but 2016 has been huge for .Paak, and this is resultantly NxWorries' biggest release. 

The duo doesn't disappoint, displaying incredible chemistry and a loose, joyful energy across the whole album. "Scared Money" is an early favorite, but this already feels like a record we'll have on repeat for a long time.—Graham Corrigan

Every time I hear a new Pusha T verse my reaction is similar to Kanye at the My Name Is My Name release party. Even with the jab at my favorite rapper Lil Wayne ("I walk amongst clouds, so your ceilings ain't real"), this song has been on repeat non-stop since it's release this past Wednesday. 

"HGTV" is essentially a G.O.O.D. Music State of the Union Address: President Push reassures his soldiers ("Don't listen to 'em Desiigner"), addresses his contemporaries, and reminds listeners why he is the President in the first place with clever wordplay and extreme poise. With King Push set to release this fall—in addition to all of the other accomplishments of his label mates—it looks like the first year of Pusha T's presidency has been a major success.—Eric

When Adrienne caught Kaytranada playing this remix live last week, I couldn't get the clip out of my head. It's not what Kay changes, it's how he changes it, making sure to preserve the incredible strings and vocals at the core of Solange's "Cranes in the Sky."

He ups the tempo just enough to give the song a whole new vibe, and that massive bass drum slices through the song's threshold like a fillet knife. Even that twitchy lo-fi outro is unmissable. Kaytranada is on another level—here's hoping this leads to more from these two.—Graham Corrigan

The kids are going to be alright. 17-tear-old British artist Yellow Days sings with the weight of the world on his shoulders on “Your Hand Holding Mine.”

"It's a song about that first love ending and how you used to tell each other you'd stay together until you're old and grey but it hasn't worked out like that," he told us, and it’s his debut on Good Years, the label that has previously released music from the likes of Banks, Lil Silva, and Mick Jenkins. Yellow Days brings something new to the table—youthful, raw music in the indie rock singer/songwriter tradition that also draw influences from jazz and blues. Look out for an EP, coming soon.—Alex Gardner

To be completely honest, when I first read Riff Raff and Skepta's names together in the same sentence, I couldn't even imagine what a collaboration between these two might sound like. But I was very curious. With no prejudgment or expectations, their single "Back From The Dead" hit hard, and in the best way possible. 

There aren't too many songs out there fit for the Halloween season that aren't cheesy, but at least we have this. "Back From The Dead" starts off sounding fairly eerie, but when the production opens up, this track is a haunting, infectious cut. One listen is more then enough to have people singing the chorus and dancing along. This single, taken from Riff Raff's forthcoming Balloween album, might be made for the season, but I want to hear this all year long.—Adrienne Black

We've been telling you Jammz is a problem for a minute, and his upcoming EP Warrior is his most complete work yet. It's a five track release which includes previously released "Warrior," but "It's a London Thing" is the new single, and it's heavy. Flipping Scott Garcia's 1997 garage track of the same name into an edgy grime beat, Jammz delivers a raw survey of the ups and downs he sees in the ends every day, reflecting on London's many paradoxes.

Yet again, Jammz raps with a clarity that puts him a level above most other grime MCs. The Warrior EP is out November 3.—Alex Gardner

Have you ever stopped to think about how weird it is that humans scream? We’ve evolved to a point where we wake up every day, cover ourselves in clothes, communicate with each other all over the world on digital devices, and generally coexist in an amazingly civilized manner. I mean, we’ve even sent ourselves to space—we’re incredible. But sometimes when we’re surprised or excited, our body lets out a weird gasp of sound that we can’t quite control: a scream. It’s a rare reminder that inside our “highly evolved” exteriors exists a primal being. We’re still animals.

On “Bodhrán,” London-based producer/vocalist Bonzai takes advantage of this. As the song approaches its climax, layers of modern electronic production techniques build on each other. Programmed drums, pulsating synths, and a collection of bizarre whizzing noises whirl together. Then, as the song reaches a breaking point and you can’t figure out what crazy new electronic sound she could throw at you next, Bonzai takes advantage of the most powerful instrument at her disposal to cut through all the noise—a wild, human scream. Perfect.—Eric Skelton

Gucci Mane's new album Woptober has arrived, keeping his non-stop barrage of music going, and "Wop" is an early standout. Over hypnotic production from London On Da Track, Gucci wastes no time getting right to the point, and he keeps it packed with classic Gucci charisma throughout the three-minute, no-frills "Wop."—Jacob Moore