Singles In Your Area: w/c Jun 30
New singles and videos from The Beths, Kesha, Lola Young, Kurt Vile, SPRINTS, Sarah McLachlan (?!) and more, plus Orville Peck performs with Willie Nelson
A few tracks I was listening to while figuring out which horse girl is which …
Another unintrusive acoustic ballad with a weirdly mixed drum track and a bit of accordion thrown in for good measure, and a video with a distinct art focus, from Alex G, formerly known as (Sandy) Alex G, formerly known as Alex G.
BENSON BOONE - "Mr Electric Blue"
Hot 40 Singles: #09
Normally I don’t include singles from albums I reviewed last week, but I couldn’t resist sharing this self-referential and mildly funny video. ‘We need a new gimmick,’ says his record executive, ‘maybe good songwriting?’ Boone leans in and replies ‘You know I can’t do that.’ Okay, so maybe a little too close to the truth.
BLOOD ORANGE - "The Field (ft Caroline Polachek)"
Dev Hynes - known as Blood Orange, formerly Lightspeed Champion - is a born collaborator, working with a wildly wide range of artists including composer Philip Glass, rapper A$AP Rocky, and rockers Turnstile. This new track turns an energetic beat and some gorgeous strings into a lovely piece of music, with Caroline Polachek contributing vocals and soul singer Daniel Caesar helping out.
Justin Vernon plays a limo driver who - for some reason - lets everyone sit in the front seat in the video for “From” which, honestly, I thought was one of the weaker tracks on his latest record. Though, in context, its still a damn good song.
CAROLINE POLACHEK - "On The Beach"
Speaking of Caroline Polachek, here she is with the moody, dark title track from upcoming Hideo Kojima video game sequel Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. The original Death Stranding prominently featured the music of the late Ryan Karazija and his group Low Roar, including this track, “I’ll Keep Coming”.
CENTRAL CEE - "GUILT TRIPPIN (ft Sexyy Red)"
Hot 40 Singles: #10
Lord knows I’m not a Sexyy Red fan, but I took some schadenfreude from the fact that she absolutely shows up Brit rapper Central Cee.
ED SHEERAN - "Drive"
Hot 40 Singles: #17
We’ve had a string of songs from the F1 soundtrack and it was just a matter of time till Ed Sheeran showed up. On the plus side, we can add ‘fast cars’ and ‘fuzzy guitar riffs’ off the list of best uses for Ed Sheeran.
Okay, so there is HorsegiirL, who is a German DJ - who released this fairly uninspiring techno track - but then there is also a band from Chicago called Horsegirl that is not related to the DJ. The music industry in 2025 is weird. (In case you’re interested, the band arrived first, forming in 2019.)
KATSEYE - "Gabriela"
Hot 40 Singles: #02 / Official Top 40 Singles: #28
Honestly, its nice to see Jessica Alba get some work, speaking for all of us as she sits multinational girl group Katseye at a conference table and straight up slags them off to their faces. Thanks Jessica!
Honestly, this track/video is unhinged. Kesha sings about how she is obsessive while alternately riding a Benson Boone lookalike’s back, sitting at the centre of a sexy Last Supper tableau, and breastfeeding a grown man. Insane.
KPOP DEMON HUNTERS CAST:
>> "Free" (Hot 40 Singles: #07)
>> "Golden" (Hot 40 Singles: #05)
>> “How It’s Done" (Hot 40 Singles: #08)
>> "Your Idol" (Hot 40 Singles: #06)
From what I can gather, KPop Demon Hunters is a kids movie on Netflix that is mostly notable to me for bringing Lost’s Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim - aka Sun and Jin - into the same cast. Also, the ‘parents guide’ page at IMDB lists one of the songs under ‘Frightening & Intense Scenes’ because (quote) “you may find this catchy, but some will find it annoying.”
KURT VILE & LUKE ROBERTS - "Classic Love"
Vile is one of our most consistent and pure songwriters, in the mold of a Neil Young or a Bob Dylan; this excellent cut is from his upcoming EP with fellow songwriter Luke Roberts, all acoustic guitars and noodling lead.
LOLA YOUNG - "Not Like That Anymore"
I was more excited for a quick follow-up album from Lola Young - after her brilliant 2024 record This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway - until Benson Boone’s rushed followup turned out to be a flop. Young has now released two solid singles, at least. I’ll wait and see. But I’m concerned.
LUCY GRAY - "Saviourism"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #09
Ōtautahi singer/songwriter Lucy Gray’s new single hit the charts - to her eternal joy, based on her Insta - and for good reason: its a bit quirky, a bit Rodrigo, and a lot fun. Gray appears to be hitting at just the right time.
OFFSET - "Bodies (ft JID)"
Hot 40 Singles: #16
Trap music is like my kryptonite. I feel weaker after I hear it for more than just a few seconds. That said, I was entertained by the fact that it worked in the hook for Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” over a stamped piano chord that sounds like a down-tuned version of the chord from the opening to Alt-J’s “Tessellate”.
SARAH MCLACHLAN - "Better Broken"
The “Angel” singer is back with a new single, the title track from her first album in almost a decade, releasing in September. It sounds like a Sarah McLachlan song. I don’t know what else you want from me.
SOMBR - "we never dated"
Hot 40 Singles: #04
Better known as Shane Boose, the popstar known as sombr is from America, which means he has somehow misspelt somber all this time. Sombr’s alt-pop leanings are entertaining background music.
One of my faves last year, Irish garage punks SPRINTS are back with a new album dropping in September, and based on first single “Descartes” it’s going to be a step up in quality. In even bigger news, SPRINTS now outranks sprinting when you google the word ‘sprints’.
Speaking of groups I’m glad to see back, here is the new track from The Beths. New album Straight Line Was A Lie drops August 29.
THE KID LAROI - "How Does It Feel?"
Hot 40 Singles: #11
I’m about to admit probably the worst thing that I’ve had to admit this week:
This new Kid LAROI track isn’t too bad. Actually, its pretty good. It feels like a throwback to the early noughties. And I kind of hate that I like it.
Underscores - typeset as underscores - is completely new to me even though she is onto her third album cycle, but I found this track completely undeniable; it scratches that Jane Remover itch, kind of electro but clever and experimental.
A more downbeat track for Wet Leg, but still super enjoyable. Davina McCall is a famed TV host in the UK - kind of their Hilary Barry, I guess. I know of her because I saw her get impaled by a Christmas tree on Doctor Who one time.
Also new this week:
$uicideBoy$ - "Now And At The Hour Of Our Death (ft BONES)"
Hot 40 Singles: #13
TW: discussion of suicide and self-harmHotline TNT - "Where U Been?"
Check out my review of their new album last week.Streetlight Manifesto:
>> "Enormous"
>> "Everything to Everyone"
>> "Imagine This"Sub Focus, Culture Shock & Fragma - "Miracle"
Hot 40 Singles: #15Teddy Swims - "All Gas No Brakes (ft BigXthaPlug)"
Hot 40 Singles: #20Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "Death Comes From The Sky"
Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles: #11
Check out my review of their new EP last week.Ye (Kanye West):
>> "Beauty And The Beast" (Hot 40 Singles: #19)
>> "Preacher Man" (Hot 40 Singles: #14)
I cannot - in good conscience - link you to Ye’s music.
It is only listed here as it is in our charts.
Oh, one more thing:
Orville Peck released this brilliant live rendition of his duet with Willie Nelson from last year’s Austin City Limits festival - the best song from his album Stampede, I reckon. Meanwhile, the White Stripes have released a video for their song “Red Rain”, the penultimate track from their album Get Behind Me Satan, which turned 20 years old back in June. Enjoy!
SONGS SOURCED FROM:
| Official Top 40 Singles | Official Top 20 Aotearoa Singles |
| Hot 40 Singles | Hot 20 Aotearoa Singles | Radioscope 100 |
| r/Indieheads | TheNeedleDrop | Pitchfork | 13th Floor |
Thanks for reading, everyone - I’ll be back later in the week!
Chris xo
If trap is your Kryptonite you'd better avoid Kryptonite by Don Tolliver, one of last year's better efforts. But for me the key is, that trap's a leaden, serious downer style for men, and it's far better suited to women singing and rapping it playfully, i.e. fairy trap - try Jvcki Wai's Neo Eve or Enchanted Propaganda