Every week, members of the Vulture staff highlight the best new music of 2015. We do not discriminate; as long as the song is worthy of your ears and attention, you will find it here. Read our picks below, share yours in the comments, and subscribe to the Vulture 2015 Playlist for a comprehensive guide to the year’s best new tunes.
Bully, “Sixâ€
When I first heard Bully last October, I compared them to Renée Zellweger’s character from Empire Records singing on top of the store’s awning. That is still a super accurate comparison, but after listening to their terrific new album, Feels Like, which came out today, I think Hole meets Nirvana is also a fine description. Regardless, they demand your attention. —Jesse David Fox (@JesseDavidFox)
Desaparecidos, “Von Maur Massacreâ€
At first, because I don’t tend to listen to lyrics, I picked this track off Conor Oberst’s recently reunited band’s new record, Payola, which came out today, because I thought it was a fun punk jam. But with a name like that, I had to look it up. The song is a reference to the December 5, 2007 mass shooting at the Westroads Mall in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Now I find it absolutely chilling. —JDF
Selena Gomez feat. A$AP Rocky, “Good for Youâ€
The former Mouseketeer’s first single after the “Bad Blood†music video is an unapologetically sexy collab with the A$AP Mob capo. It’s not sexy like Marvin Gaye sexy. It’s more like “This could be in the next Fifty Shades movie†sexy. “I want to look good for you,†Selena whimpers. Look good for yourself, Selena! —Eric King (@erickingdavid)
Iron and Wine & Ben Bridwell, “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)â€
Iron and Wine has always known his way around a cover and a chill vibe. If you like those two things, you’ll love his take on this Talking Heads classic — especially if you’re into lap steel guitars. Band of Horses’ lead singer Ben Bridwell, whom I&W is releasing a covers albums with next month, helps out here with some sweet harmonies. Twee as F, the song will make you long for cardigan weather. —JDF
Luca feat. Tei Shi, “Best Onâ€
Look, let’s not pretend this song isn’t all about Tei Shi. It respectfully says “featured†because Luca (from the band Yellerkin) produced it, like he has much of the 25-year-old’s bold pop sound over her last two EPs. But Tei Shi makes the song shine by serving us En Vogue harmonies and young Beyoncé swagger. —Dee Lockett (@Dee_Lockett)
Kiiara, “Goldâ€
I’m not cool, but if I had to guess what cool sounds like, it would be this. Like, when cool people are hanging out on a Monday night in some cool basement — I don’t know — smoking weed and ironically reading tarot cards, a song like this is also playing. It’s sensual and glitchy, like Her, if FKA Twigs did the score instead of Arcade Fire. —JDF
Kacey Musgraves, “Somebody to Loveâ€
I’d be selling Kacey Musgraves short if I said I wasn’t as wholly impressed with her sophomore album, Pageant Material, as I thought I’d be. Maybe it’s because I bought into the unfair expectations so many critics placed on her head as the savior of country music (when did it need to be saved, by the way?), or I just haven’t warmed up to the album yet. To be fair, I slept on her debut, too. But if there’s one bright spot on the record, it’s “Somebody to Love,†a brutally honest (but beautifully sung) confessional about why we’re all so bad at loving each other. —DL
Parquet Courts, “Pretty Girlsâ€
With a chorus like “Sunshine is a motherfucker / Pretty girls is a motherfucker / Happiness is a motherfucker / Pretty girls is a motherfucker,†I’m pretty sure this Joey Pizza Slice cover is my personal front-runner for song of the summer. —JDF
Peaches feat. Empress Stah, “Light in Placesâ€
The audacious queen of filth is back after a six-year hiatus, and I’d like to take a moment to celebrate my favorite lines from her moody new single: “I’m an everlasting iconoclast / I came to destroy the past / My stargasm makes the blast / shake the system then surpass / Liberate en masse, eliminate the class / All humans free at last, so much beauty coming out of my ass.†There are literally lights coming out of Empress Stah’s butt in the video. It has been too, too long. —Lauretta Charlton (@LaurettaLand)
Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique feat. Maluca, “Love Is Freeâ€
Is there anyone more consistently fabulous than Robyn? Last year, in between solo albums, she teamed up with Röyksopp to give us one of 2013’s best EPs. And now she’s back with yet another side project called La Bagatelle Magique, a collaboration with her touring keyboardist Markus Jägerstedt and producer Christian Falk (who passed away from cancer last year). Their first single, “Love Is Free,†is a pure bombastic homage to ‘90s freestyle dance music, enhanced by the Latin spice of Mad Decent’s Maluca. It deserves to be played at every rave for the next decade. Robyn says there’s at least five more songs where this came from that’ll appear on an upcoming “mini album.â€â€”DL
Tink, “I Likeâ€
A fresh, lusty new track from Timbaland’s Chicago protégée. Her syrupy vocals drip over producer C-Slick’s R&B beats. Tink sounds both vulnerable and determined. It’s just more ammo to get us revved up for the ThinkTink debut due later this year. —LC