With its infectious synth lines, Southern drawl and sly message, "Miss Prince" shows what's special about Republican Hair, a band unlike any other in Nashville today.
The jazz-vocal superhero moved to Michigan when she was only 3, but the city of her birth left an indelible impression. Hear it in the first single from her forthcoming album, Memphis.
On IIII + IIII, Otura Mun and his bandmates weave hip-hop, jazz and dancehall influences into Afro-Cuban music. It's an electronic take on tradition that embraces the human touch.
The Bay Area band features members of Joyride, Watercolor Paintings, Void Boys and Dreamspoiler, and combines the best elements of each of them for maximum, collaborative joy.
We open this week's essential mix with the sweetly melodic sounds of Michael Andrews and his score for the film The Big Sick. Also: the sensual sounds of Rhye, Protomartyr's existential rock and more.
Cale's "Guitar" opens Driftless Instrumental I, a compilation featuring one-take solo performances by guitarist Hayden Pedigo, pianist Andrew Abboushi, cellist Chris Votek and others.
Reese McHenry's got a voice like a preacher turning a standard sermon into a cathartic epiphany. She's joined by fellow North Carolina garage-rockers Spider Bags for a collaborative album.
Katie Crutchfield has polished Waxahatchee's sound to maximize its glimmering-but-spiky forcefulness, but her words remain as bracing and unsparing as ever.