This week in dance music: We spoke with white hot U.K. producer HAAi on the occasion of her new album, the video for Daft Punk and The Weeknd‘s “I Feel It Coming” reached a casual billion views on YouTube, Acraze continued to do it to it by signing with Capitol Records in partnership with Thrive Music, in honor of Pride Month we ranked the top 60 LGBTQ anthems of all time, ODESZA dropped a new single ahead of their hotly anticipated album coming next month, Claude VonStroke’s venerable Dirtybird Campout West Coast dropped a mighty lineup for its October fest, the PNAU edit of Dua Lipa and Elton John‘s “Cold Heart” clocked its 34th week at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and we spoke with L.A. producer Swardy upon the occasion of his immensely delightful (and Porter Robison-approved!) new animated short film.
Is there more? Yes, there is more! Here are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Anna Lunoe, “Like Me”
On her new single “Like Me”, Anna Lunoe makes her message crystal clear: “You’ll never find another one like me.” The Australian multi-hyphenate announced last week a new EP, Saturday Love, and this latest taste of the project delivers more of the vibrancy and bouncing club heft from previous tracks “Double Dip” and “Back Seat.” “Like Me” is both boisterous and tender, bold yet intimate as Lunoe’s filtered sugary vocals balance out a thick, deep bassline and whirlwinds of technicolor synths — a centering calmness among the swirling action. Add some hands-in-the-air breakdowns and it’s an outdoor festival moment in the making.
Lunoe co-wrote “Like Me” with Bag Raiders’ Jack Glass during lockdown in late 2020. “We were originally making a vibey chord-driven tune, but the track sonics took a turn when reconnected with my DJ side over NYE ’22 and decided to take it heavier and weirder!” she said. “I was blown away when I played it 2 months later on the USA tour in March this year — people instantly reacted to it and it felt like [it] perfectly encapsulated the anticipation, love and longing I feel for life, clubbing and connection during this weird moment in time.” Saturday Love arrives on July 29 via NLV Records, the label by Australian artist and Lunoe’s longtime bestie Nina Las Vegas — KRYSTAL RODGRIGUEZ
Marshmello & Khalid, “Numb”
Marshmello and Khalid have a proven track record, with their 2017 collab “Silence” hitting No. 1 on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart and No. 30 on the Hot 100. Logic would follow that the this success would lead to another collab from the R&B crooner and one of music’s most adaptable stars, and today we have it with “Numb.” A straightforward tune built from a strong bassline and even stronger whistling, the track is out via the ‘Mello man’s own Joytime Collective.
“Me and Khalid always talked about doing another song, so I sent this idea to him and he loved it,” says Marshmello. “I was super happy when I asked him if he wanted to do the song and he said “yes” — because the song is a little different vibe for him, but I knew he would crush it. He sent it to me the next day, and I immediately knew we had one with this.” — KATIE BAIN
Shygirl, “Come For Me”
It takes a bold presence to make melodies of Arca’s most experimental productions, but U.K.-based baddie Shygirl is never more in her element than when she takes the lead on a scratchy, gritty, broken glass beat such as this. “Come For Me” is as haunting as it is daring, a scary kind of sensuality that’s become Shygirl’s (and Arca’s) signature. It follows the tangled sweetness that was “Firefly” as the second single on the singer’s forthcoming debut album, Nymph, and we’re more than willing to follow her down this path of musical mood. – KAT BEIN
Jamie Jones, “Bionic Boy”
After releasing Defected single “My Paradise” in April, Jamie Jones returns to his own Hot Creations label with a three-track EP, Bionic Boy, his first solo appearance on the label since the Billboard-recommended Handy Work last September. From the sweeping, emotional disco of “My Paradise,” Jones on the EP’s title track is all naughty tech-house business, baby. This bump-and-grind jam hits heavy from the first beat, building upon its hard-edged percussion with foghorn synth stabs, chopped ‘90s R&B vocal samples and glitching accents. While the kick-drum remains constant in its walloping, the song’s stuttering nature makes “Bionic Boy” sound like a cyborg chanteuse who’s (rhythmically) short-circuiting during a performance in the year 3000. Count us in. — K.R.
Phantoms, “Letting Me Go”
A little bit dreamy, a little bit damned, Phantom’s latest single “Letting Me Go” is a bittersweet piece of synth perfection that’ll have your head swimming in a haze of disbelief. It represents for the softer side of breakup anthems, a disco-laced house-pop tune that feels smooth on the skin but still kicks.
“It was another one we wrote pretty early on in the album process and tried to incorporate a lot of the sounds we felt characterized the record,” says the L.A.-based duo. “It’s still dance driven with synthesizers and punchy drums, but we also wanted it to feel euphoric and melancholy, like you could float away while listening to it.”
“Letting Me Go” is the fourth single from the duo’s forthcoming album This Can’t Be Everything, and it’s the first song on the tracklist, setting the tone for the hooks and synthplay to come. The LP is due out in August, via ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective. – K. Bein
The Chainsmokers, “The Fall”
Some of the best moments of The Chainsmokers’ recently released LP So Far So Good — which recently debuted at No. 1 on Dance/Electronic Albums — are when the duo leaned hard into the experimental production side of their work. This just-released bonus track from the album, featuring Ship Wreck, is more of that experimental good good, with the track stuttering to life like a slightly melancholic machine — before Drew Taggart delivers lyrics about what sounds like a fairly doomed relationship and the track swells into one of the more sophisticated build/releases the duo have ever produced. “The Fall” is the first of three new tracks from The Chainsmokers’ deluxe version of So Far So Good, and the pair (along with Ship Wreck) are hosting a remix competition for the song, which fans can submit to by July 26 for a chance to win $10,000 in prizes . — K. Bain
