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    A Bouquet of Songs for May Flowers

    Tom Petty, Patrice Rushen, Billie Eilish and more.Tom Petty.Chad Batka for The New York TimesDear listeners,Last month, I sent you a playlist of rainy songs, in honor of April showers. I also promised a sequel. I bet you have spent weeks racking your brain thinking what that playlist’s theme could possibly be. Well, wonder no more. It’s time for a selection of songs about (say it with me) …. um, no, not bell towers. And also not cauliflower, but that’s a fun guess.May flowers, guys! May flowers!Music history is, naturally, scattered with references to flowers — giving them to a lover, or maybe just buying them for oneself. There’s a song for just about every possible type of flora: irises, forget-me-nots, lilacs, you name it. Roses probably get the most mention of any flowers, but hey, even they have their thorns.Today’s playlist is just a smattering of the many songs out there about flowers. It features a few throwbacks from Scott McKenzie and Patrice Rushen, as well as a few freshly bloomed tracks — from Billie Eilish and Cassandra Jenkins — that came out this May. You’ll find a few wildflowers, a rhododendron and even a lotus. Consider this a sonic bouquet from me to you.Buy more stock in roses,LindsayListen along while you read.1. Tom Petty: “Wildflowers”We begin with the tenderhearted title track from Tom Petty’s great 1994 solo album. A few years ago I wrote about the deluxe edition of “Wildflowers” — a treasure trove for Petty fans — and a fact I stumbled upon in my research forever changed the way I hear this song. Written during a turbulent time in his life, the song is not a loving missive to someone else but rather, as Petty eventually realized with some help from a therapist, “me singing to me.”▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTubeWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Music for (Waiting in) Airports

    Songs that take flight from Liz Phair, John Denver and more.Liz Phair, not pretending she’s in a Galaxie 500 video.Rahav Segev for The New York TimesDear listeners,If you’re anything like me, you’ve already spent way too much of this summer in airports.* Flight delays are up, and the recent spate of severe weather hasn’t exactly helped. This means you’re going to need something to listen to while killing time in the terminal.Brian Eno understood. In the mid-1970s, he got the idea for one of his most enduring works during a long, stressful flight delay at an airport in Cologne, Germany. Wouldn’t the whole experience be a bit more tolerable, he wondered, if the airport piped serene, unobtrusive sounds throughout the terminals? He began experimenting with this concept, and it eventually led to the gorgeous and indefatigably useful “Music for Airports” (1978), his first declared work of what he called “ambient” music. The album and his subsequent installments in the ambient series spawned a fruitful, still thriving genre, and in a 2016 list of the 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time, Pitchfork ranked “Music for Airports” at No. 1.I’m not saying your flight delay needs to be as productive as Eno’s; I won’t judge if you fail to conceive an entirely new genre of music before boarding ends. All I’m saying is that you could use some music to soothe your nerves and put your plight into a larger context. That’s where today’s playlist comes in. A few of its songs — from Liz Phair, John Denver and the Byrds — are explicitly about flight, inspired by the fresh perspective that changes in scenery and altitude can bring. Others aren’t quite as direct but still have a kind of weightless expansiveness. One of them is, at least ostensibly, about a hot-air balloon, but I think that still counts.Hopefully this playlist is longer than your flight delay. But if you still need something to listen to when it’s done, there’s always “Music for Airports.” (And Jon Pareles’s playlist of Eno’s 15 best ambient tracks.)Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Caroline Polachek: “The Gate”Hopefully you won’t spend too much time “standing at the gate,” to quote this ethereal, tone-setting opener from Caroline Polachek’s 2019 album, “Pang.” (Listen on YouTube)2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “Learning to Fly”As on many of the songs here, flight serves as a kind of emotional metaphor on “Learning to Fly,” the 1991 hit from Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Jeff-Lynne-produced album “Into the Great Wide Open.” (In October 2017, shortly after Petty’s death, Bob Dylan played a beautiful cover of this song live, as a tribute to his fellow Wilbury.) (Listen on YouTube)3. Neko Case: “Lady Pilot”“We’ve got a lady pilot, she’s not afraid to die,” Neko Case sings on this impressionistic adventure from her great 2002 album, “Blacklisted.” (According to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, only 5.8 percent of the world’s airline pilots are female. Not even close to enough!) (Listen on YouTube)4. The Byrds: “Eight Miles High”Commercial planes don’t actually fly eight miles high, but the Byrds apparently thought “Six Miles High” didn’t sound as cool. What does sound unequivocally cool, still, is Roger McGuinn’s 12-string guitar; his playing on this pioneering psych-rock song was influenced by both Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane. (Listen on YouTube)5. Liz Phair: “Stratford-on-Guy”The perspective-shifting experience of flight makes poets of us all — especially when you have a window seat. Liz Phair perfectly captures the view from 27D on this track from “Exile in Guyville”: “As we moved out of the farmlands and into the grid, the plan of a city was all that you saw.” (Listen on YouTube)6. Howlin’ Wolf: “Mr. Airplane Man”On this song from the compilation “Change My Way,” the blues great Howlin’ Wolf implores Mr. Airplane Man to fly down to Jackson and deliver an urgent message to his baby: “Aahhhheeeeeee, ahhhehehehe!” (Listen on YouTube)7. John Denver: “Leaving on a Jet Plane”Next time you’re not sure what to do with yourself while waiting for a connecting flight, remember that John Denver wrote this song during a layover. Pretty good use of his time, I’d say. (Listen on YouTube)8. The 5th Dimension: “Up, Up and Away”Hopefully by the end of this playlist, you’ll be taking flight, like this exuberant, comfortingly retro 1967 tune by the Fifth Dimension. Preferably in an airplane and not a hot-air balloon, but at this point I don’t blame you for looking into alternate forms of transportation. (Listen on YouTube)Aahhhheeeeeee,Lindsay*Remember Friday’s Amplifier, when I told you about my experience seeing the North American opening date of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour? I almost didn’t make it to the show at all because my flight to Toronto was canceled — and then my flight out of Toronto was canceled as well. I was stranded there for two extra days, which I mostly spent on hold with various airlines. Now I know how Drake felt when he was runnin’ through the 6 with his woes.The Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Music for (Waiting in) Airports” track listTrack 1: Caroline Polachek, “The Gate”Track 2: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Learning to Fly”Track 3: Neko Case, “Lady Pilot”Track 4: The Byrds, “Eight Miles High”Track 5: Liz Phair, “Stratford-on-Guy”Track 6: Howlin’ Wolf, “Mr. Airplane Man”Track 7: John Denver, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”Track 8: The 5th Dimension, “Up, Up and Away”Bonus tracksFor more practical air travel advice, some of my colleagues at the Travel desk put together this handy guide that I really should have read before my trip to Toronto.And, RIP Jane Birkin, so much more than the namesake of a bag! Among many other things, Birkin was also a catalyzing collaborator with both the incomparable Serge Gainsbourg and the great filmmaker Agnès Varda, and of course a singular vocalist and songwriter in her own right. Spin “Jane B.” and “Di Doo Dah” today in her honor. More

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    16 Songs to Soundtrack Your Fourth of July Barbecue

    Listen to a genre-crossing hourlong summer playlist featuring Lana Del Rey, Funkadelic and Tom Petty.Tom Petty says take it easy, baby.Gus Stewart/Getty ImagesDear listeners,At last, the season of late sunsets, languid beach days and endless barbecues is upon us. This calls for a playlist.Today’s genre-crossing collection could definitely work as a soundtrack to your upcoming Fourth of July party, and there are a few references to Independence Day sprinkled here and there. But for the most part, I wanted to avoid the glaringly obvious and create a fun, breezy playlist that can be enjoyed all summer long.Appropriately for a Fourth of July gathering, all of the artists featured here are American. Well, except one: I forgot that the ’90s one-hit wonders Len were actually Canadian, but I wasn’t about to remove “Steal My Sunshine” from a summer playlist.This is a long one, because the best and most characteristic part of a summer day is the feeling of suspended time, the sense of a Saturday that may go on forever. Here’s to an endless-seeming summer, and to no one stealing your sunshine.Also: We won’t be sending out a new Amplifier on the Fourth, because I wouldn’t want to compel you to check your email on a holiday. We’ll resume our regular schedule next Friday. Til then!Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Lana Del Rey: “Doin’ Time”When I first saw this cover on the track list of her 2019 opus “Norman _____ Rockwell,” I had my doubts, but now I must agree with all the people in the dance: Lana Del Rey is indeed well qualified to represent the L.B.C. (Listen on YouTube)2. Sublime: “Badfish”It’s poor form to mention Sublime at a barbecue without then playing one of its songs, so here’s my all-time favorite, the wrenching but always buoyant “Badfish.” (Listen on YouTube)3. Solange: “Binz”Slightly under two minutes of immaculate vibes from Solange’s sonically fluid 2019 album, “When I Get Home.” (Listen on YouTube)4. Mariah Carey: “Honey”A sun-kissed summer jam from the elusive chanteuse. “Honey,” from Carey’s 1997 album “Butterfly,” famously found her embracing a more hip-hop-indebted sound. (Listen on YouTube)5. Len: “Steal My Sunshine”Centered around a clever sample of Andrea True Connection’s “More, More, More,” the ubiquitous “Steal My Sunshine” made Len one of the ’90s’ most memorable one-hit wonders. Warning: May cause spontaneous singalongs. (Listen on YouTube)6. The Breeders: “Saints”Kim Deal conjures the tactile pleasures of a day at the carnival in this blazing little ditty from the Breeders’ classic 1993 album “Last Splash,” before growling that memorable refrain, “Summer is ready when you are.” (Listen on YouTube)7. Eleanor Friedberger: “Roosevelt Island”This ode to a leisurely day on New York City’s most underrated island, by the Fiery Furnaces frontwoman Eleanor Friedberger, would almost sound like a spoken-word poem were it not for that deliciously funky keyboard lick. (Listen on YouTube)8. A Tribe Called Quest: “Can I Kick It?”A pitch-perfect soundtrack to, well … just kicking it. Phife Dawg forever and ever. (Listen on YouTube)9. Erykah Badu: “Cel U Lar Device”Badu reworks Drake’s “Hotline Bling” to fit her own singular personality on this centerpiece from her 2015 mixtape “But You Caint Use My Phone.” The voice mail menu instructions toward the end of the track never fail to crack me up. (Listen on YouTube)10. Funkadelic: “Can You Get to That”One nation, under a groove. (Yes, I know that album came out years after “Maggot Brain.” The sentiment remains!) (Listen on YouTube)11. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “American Girl”Fun fact: Not only was “American Girl” recorded on the Fourth of July, it was recorded on the Bicentennial. Petty manages to imbue this perfect song with enough specificity and antic poignancy that it still, after all these years, feels more personal than anthemic. (Listen on YouTube)12. Bruce Springsteen: “Darlington County”Because the title track of “Born in the U.S.A.” would have been a little too obvious, and anyway, this one’s just as fun to sing along to. Sha la la, sha la la la la-la. (Listen on YouTube)13. Luke Combs: “Fast Car”Speaking of singalongs, this current hit and surprise contender for song of the summer is sure to unite multiple generations of barbecue-goers who know all the words by heart — some to Tracy Chapman’s peerless original, and some to the country star Combs’s reverent homage. (Listen on YouTube)14. Beyoncé: “Plastic Off the Sofa”The most laid-back and sumptuous moment on Beyoncé’s 2022 dance-floor odyssey “Renaissance” is an invitation for a moment of summertime relaxation. (Listen on YouTube)15. De La Soul: “Me, Myself and I”Rejoice: It’s the first Fourth of July when De La Soul’s discography is on streaming services! (Listen on YouTube)16. Miley Cyrus: “Party in the U.S.A.”Just try not to put your hands up. I dare you. (Listen on YouTube)Summer is ready when you are,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“The Ultimate Fourth of July BBQ Soundtrack” track listTrack 1: Lana Del Rey, “Doin’ Time”Track 2: Sublime, “Badfish”Track 3: Solange, “Binz”Track 4: Mariah Carey, “Honey”Track 5: Len, “Steal My Sunshine”Track 6: The Breeders, “Saints”Track 7: Eleanor Friedberger, “Roosevelt Island”Track 8: A Tribe Called Quest, “Can I Kick It?”Track 9: Erykah Badu, “Cel U Lar Device”Track 10: Funkadelic, “Can You Get to That”Track 11: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “American Girl”Track 12: Bruce Springsteen, “Darlington County”Track 13: Luke Combs, “Fast Car”Track 14: Beyoncé, “Plastic off the Sofa”Track 15: De La Soul, “Me, Myself and I”Track 16: Miley Cyrus, “Party in the U.S.A.”Bonus tracksWhat I learned from writing Tuesday’s newsletter, about musical odes to Ohio is that The Amplifier is blessed with a very strong contingent of readers from the Buckeye State. Quite a few of you wrote in with your own favorite Ohio tunes, but the most requested by far was the Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone.” Akron’s own Chrissy Hynde beautifully and elegiacally captures the feelings of disillusionment that arise when you go home and — no thanks to industrialization and overdevelopment — don’t recognize your old stomping ground. Consider this one added to the Ohio playlist.Also, for a new column called The Answer, the good folks at The New York Times’s Wirecutter came by my apartment to interview me about my turntable, my vinyl setup and my preferred gear for listening to records. As someone used to doing the interviewing, it felt very strange to be the one answering the questions and even stranger to be the subject of a photo shoot in my apartment. (My neighbors had no idea why I was suddenly so important.) But check out the article to see my suggestions for setting up a relatively inexpensive stereo system, along with my (currently quite depressed) collection of New York Mets bobbleheads. Wirecutter has a daily newsletter full of independent product reviews that you can sign up for, too.Plus, it was a big week for new music: The Playlist features the triumphant returns of both Olivia Rodrigo and Sampha, along with 10 other fresh tracks. I also listened to Fall Out Boy’s updated version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” so you don’t have to. (Seriously, don’t.) More

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    First Favorite Songs Are Like Sonic Baby Pictures

    How a minor 1989 George Harrison single from the “Lethal Weapon 2” soundtrack opened a young listener’s ears.George Harrison, when he first had an impact on The Amplifier’s author.Pete Still/Redferns, via Getty ImagesDear listeners,What was your first favorite song?I’m not talking about that hip, semi-obscure tune around which you formulated your preteen identity — the one you told everyone at school you loved because it made you seem mysterious and cool. I’m talking about a time before all that, before you were conscious of taste, and all you knew about a song you loved was that it struck a resounding chord somewhere deep inside of you.Here’s what I’m talking about:Shortly after I turned 3, “Lethal Weapon 2” came out on VHS. One night my dad was lucky enough to score this coveted Blockbuster rental, and because it was — gasp! — an R-rated movie, I was not allowed to go in the living room while he was watching it. Of course, for the next two hours there was nowhere in the universe that I wanted to be more desperately than the living room.From my safe, G-rated perch upstairs, I strained to hear any sound I could make out from this tantalizingly forbidden flick. I was getting so cranky about it that my parents made me a compromise: They would let me watch the closing credits of “Lethal Weapon 2” — a black screen filled with a bunch of ascending white words and names I could not yet read. But it didn’t matter, because the song that played while they scrolled was incredible. “Again!” I cried when it was over; they were kind and rewound. There I sat directly in front of the television, enraptured by what turned out to be a very minor 1989 George Harrison single, “Cheer Down.”I didn’t yet know who George Harrison was. I didn’t yet know that it is kind of random that George Harrison wrote the theme song for “Lethal Weapon 2.” I didn’t even know who the Beatles were. I just knew that this evocative, lightly melancholic sequence of chords, that comfortingly gruff voice and those slide guitar notes that streak across the song’s coda like shooting stars made me feel a certain way, and that I wanted to feel that way forever.Before he returned it to the video store — F.B.I. agents, look away! — my dad gamely taped the closing credits for me on a blank VHS. It’s still an inside joke in my family, the story of a 3-year-old future music critic constantly asking her parents to put on “the ‘Lethal Weapon tape,’” just so she could listen to this Harrison song over and over.You can learn a lot about a person from asking about their first favorite songs — it’s the sonic equivalent of looking at someone’s baby pictures. And since I’ve been dropping into your inbox twice a week with this newsletter, I figured it was only fair that you heard a few of mine.Listen along on Spotify as you read.1. Cat Stevens: “Moonshadow”I am pretty sure someone sang this as a lullaby to me when I was a baby, and to this day the-artist-formerly-known-as-Cat-Stevens’s voice can still make me feel an almost preternatural comfort — a feeling of being swaddled beyond what even the heaviest weighted blanket can offer. My parents got a CD player (state-of-the-art technology) when I was young, and I can still remember being taught how to place “Cat Stevens: Greatest Hits” into the tray very, very carefully and cue up track 8, which was of course my song, “Moonshadow.” (Listen on YouTube)2. Tom Petty: “Free Fallin’”I grew up in New Jersey and did not visit the West Coast until my mid-20s, so throughout my youth the proper nouns in this song sounded exquisitely exotic to me: Mulholland, Ventura Boulevard, this surely indescribably glamorous oasis called “Reseda.” “Free Fallin’” would now probably land on the shortlist of the most overplayed American rock songs of the 20th century, and yet — perhaps the reason I cannot imagine ever getting sick of it — I can still travel back to a time when its lyrics sounded alluringly strange to me, and when I believed there might be actual vampires haunting Ventura Boulevard. (Petty also co-wrote “Cheer Down,” and Jeff Lynne helped produce both of those songs — so clearly the Traveling Wilburys had a hold on my musical taste from an early age.) (Listen on YouTube)3. U2: “Zoo Station”After it came out in late 1991, U2’s angsty, glammy “Achtung Baby” was an absolute staple in my parents’ steel-blue Ford Taurus. Taking it in over and over again from the back seat, this album seemed to contain all of the mysteries of the adult world, set somewhere just beyond my realm of understanding. All I knew was that it sounded cool. And a little scary! On “Achtung Baby,” relatively straightforward rock songs are haunted by weird, ghostly sounds, like the mournful, malfunctioning tape loop at the beginning of “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” the eerie distortion of “Until the End of the World” or any number of ghost noises that lurk throughout the tone-setting opener “Zoo Station.” I later realized that a lot of this strangeness was the result of the Edge’s adventurousness with effects pedals and, even more ineffably, Brian Eno’s arty production. (I also realized much later — for shame — that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” was an iconic second-wave feminist slogan, not a funny lyric that Bono made up.) No matter what U2 does or how many albums it forcefully installs on my iPhone, “Achtung Baby” will always have a special place in my heart for being one of the first records to freak me out — in a good way. (Listen on YouTube)4. Peter Gabriel: “Steam”Peter Gabriel is another artist whose voice and melodic sensibility I’ve been drawn to — disquieted and then subsequently comforted by — for as long as I can remember. The seemingly childlike “Games Without Frontiers” was a song I always loved hearing on the radio, even if its geopolitical message and lyrical content went completely over my head. The one I requested over and over, though, was Gabriel’s punchy, absurdly satirical 1992 single “Steam.” (It boasts what I now regard as the most 1992 music video of all time.) Except I confess that I thought that this song was called … “Steve.” Yes, “Steve.” I imagined on the chorus he was demanding, somewhat menacingly over a telephone, “Give me Steve.” Being a kid is weird. So is this song. (Listen on YouTube)5. Fine Young Cannibals: “She Drives Me Crazy”This song was everywhere as the ’80s became the ’90s — it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in April 1989 — and, to quote a phrase, I just could not help myself. The bright, synthetic textures were such an adrenaline rush to me: the cavernous echo of that hopscotching breakbeat, those jagged lightning-bolt riffs that puncture the production’s perfect sheen, and the acrobatic, androgynous beauty of Roland Gift’s vocals. It sounded like the national anthem of another planet, and I wanted to live there. Even today, I’ll sometimes become obsessed with a song and not realize why I can’t stop listening to it, until I realize: “Duh, it kind of sounds like ‘She Drives Me Crazy.’” I am of course incredibly biased, still being an excitable ’80s baby at heart, but I still think it’s one of the more perfect pop songs ever written. (Listen on YouTube)6. George Harrison: “Cheer Down”Play the “Lethal Weapon” tape! Again! (Listen on YouTube)Give me Steve,LindsayThe Amplifier PlaylistListen on Spotify. We update this playlist with each new newsletter.“Sonic Baby Pictures” track listTrack 1: Cat Stevens, “Moonshadow”Track 2: Tom Petty, “Free Fallin’”Track 3: U2, “Zoo Station”Track 4: Peter Gabriel, “Steam”Track 5: Fine Young Cannibals, “She Drives Me Crazy”Track 6: George Harrison, “Cheer Down”Bonus tracksA few years back, I wrote about another song that similarly enchanted me as a child, perhaps more than any other: Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” I omitted that track from this playlist because I would prefer that you continue subscribing to this newsletter, but you can read that essay if you’re so inclined.I also love this 2014 column from my old colleague at Pitchfork, the brilliant Jayson Greene, about a song that captivated him at a very early age: Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”Plus, if you’re looking for new music, this week’s Playlist has fresh tracks from PinkPantheress, Rosalía, Romy and more.Don’t forget: your Pride songs!I’m still collecting your stories and song suggestions for Pride. So, tell me: Was there a certain song that first gave you the courage to come out? Or is there a particular track that, to you, embodies the spirit of Pride? Share your answers here so I can consider them for an upcoming edition of The Amplifier. More

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    SZA Teases What’s Next, and 11 More New Songs

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }At HomeRoast: Thick AsparagusVisit: National ParksRead: Shirley HazzardApologize: To Your KidsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe PlaylistSZA Teases What’s Next, and 11 More New SongsHear tracks by Lucy Dacus, Jorja Smith, Charles Lloyd and the Marvels, and others.At the end of her video for “Good Days,” SZA hints at an even newer song.Credit…VevoJon Pareles, Giovanni Russonello and March 12, 2021Updated 1:45 p.m. ETEvery Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter, a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.SZA, ‘Good Days’[embedded content]SZA gets tangled in both ambivalent feelings and acoustic-guitar filigree in “Good Days.” She’s trying to pull away from an ex — “I worry that I wasted the best of me on you, babe/You don’t care” — but she’s “got me a war in my mind,” still torn between memories and moving on. Her video for the song has her gyrating amid giant mushrooms and doing a pole dance in a library. It also teases a minute of an even newer song, sparse with percussive interruptions and a choppy, leaping melody, as she hints at romantic strife that gets bloody. JON PARELESRosé, ‘On the Ground’“On the Ground” is the debut solo single from the 24-year-old New Zealand native Rosé, who is one-fourth of the K-pop juggernaut Blackpink. Disillusioned with the empty promises of fame (“suddenly you have it, you find out that your goal’s just plastic”), the song’s brooding verses and lacquered sheen recall Britney Spears’ glittering pop-confessional “Lucky.” But then the chorus hits, a steely beat drops and Rosé finds strength in the sudden realization “Everything I need is on the ground.” LINDSAY ZOLADZLucy Dacus, ‘Thumbs’The situation in “Thumbs” couldn’t be more quietly fraught. The singer’s 19-year-old girlfriend’s father is in town to see her for the first time in nearly a decade. The encounter is tense — “Your nails are digging into my knee” — disguised in smiling politeness: “Do you get the checks I send on your birthday?” Lucy Dacus sings with sweet determination, sustaining a foursquare melody over misty electronic chords while envisioning mayhem. “I would kill him if you let me,” she croons, and it’s clear she means it. PARELESJorja Smith, ‘Addicted’“Addicted,” the new single from Jorja Smith — the English singer-songwriter who first came to prominence on Drake’s 2017 mixtape “More Life,” and released her soulful debut album “Lost & Found” a year later — is at once subtle and devastating. “There’s no light in your eyes since you won’t open them,” Smith sings to an indifferent paramour atop skittering percussion and a drifting, moody guitar riff. The music video, which Smith co-directed with Savanah Leaf, captures not only the solitary, all-dressed-up-nowhere-to-go vibe of lockdown but also the specific kind of loneliness conjured by the song. “The hardest thing — you are not addicted to me,” Smith croons, though by the end of the chorus that lyric turns into something defiant: “You should be addicted to me.” ZOLADZChika, ‘FWB’The rapper and singer Chika is making the most of her attention as a nominee for best new artist at the Grammys; she’s releasing an EP, “Once Upon a Time,” two days before the awards show. It includes “FWB,” as in “friends with benefits,” a song she put out in 2020 that fuses a leisurely, quiet-storm ballad with brittle trap drums, while Chika sings and raps about a strictly unromantic one-night hookup. “I ain’t here for love, so promise not to fall for me,” she instructs, even as the slow groove promises seduction. PARELESSkullcrusher, ‘Storm in Summer’Skullcrusher is something of an ironic name for the solo project of the upstate New York native Helen Ballentine, who makes plaintive, acoustic-driven indie-pop. The drizzly dreamscape “Storm in Summer,” from her forthcoming EP of the same name, is anchored by Ballentine’s yearning voice, which effectively pierces the song’s pastoral atmosphere. “I wish you could see me,” she sings with building intensity. It’s crushing in its own particular way. ZOLADZcehryl, ‘Outside the Party, Inside the Dream’The whispery songwriter cehryl is from Hong Kong, studied at Berklee School of Music and spent time making indie-pop in Los Angeles. “Outside the Party, Inside the Dream” lilts along eccentrically and insinuatingly on a five-note, 5/8-meter guitar lick — fans of Juana Molina will appreciate it — as she ponder absence and anticipation, connection and inevitable distance. PARELESSpoon, ‘Breakdown’/‘A Face in the Crowd’Spoon covering Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers makes almost too much sense. Both are Southern rock bands that don’t really sound like “Southern rock bands,” unafraid of atmospheric empty space and more interested in enduring songcraft than trend-hopping. Spoon first played its impressively faithful cover of the Heartbreakers’ 1976 debut single “Breakdown” last October at the livestreamed “Tom Petty’s 70th Birthday Bash.” Even better, though, is a second cover they’ve released with it today, of Petty’s 1987 solo tune “A Face in the Crowd.” Britt Daniel’s mellifluous croak is, in its own way, as distinctive as Petty’s, and he brings just the right balance of detached coolness and aching wistfulness to the vocal. ZOLADZGary Louris, ‘New Normal’Gary Louris of the Jayhawks wrote and recorded “New Normal” more than a decade ago, only to find himself with a song that suits the pandemic’s sense of time: static but also vanishing. It’s part of a solo album due in June. Steady, up-and-down piano chords pace the song amid ticking drums and stray electronic buzzes and drones; a distorted guitar solo erupts midway through. He sings about “Hours that slip by, never to return,” and at the end there’s a chilling bit of prescience: “Deep breath, you’re leaving what you came here with/Gathering like slow death, nipping at your heels.” PARELESBajofondo featuring Natalia Oreiro, ‘Budem Tantsevat/Listo Pa Bailar’Two kinds of stoic romantic melancholy — Argentine and Russian — converge in “Budem Tantsevat/Listo Pa Bailar,” which translates as “Ready to Dance.” It’s sung in Spanish and Russian by Natalia Oreiro, from Uruguay, as Bajofondo merges the sound of a vintage tango group (topped by piano, violin and bandoneon, the tango accordion) with a thumping beat, a synthesizer bass line and, eventually, Slavic choral harmonies. Minor-chorded amorousness bridges continents. PARELESCharles Lloyd and the Marvels, ‘Peace’When Charles Lloyd moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, he joined a small tradition of Southern improvisers who had moved out west seeking artistic and personal freedoms (he’s from Memphis originally). Lloyd, 82, opens “Tone Poem,” the new album from his quintet the Marvels, with two tunes by Ornette Coleman, a major figure in that little diaspora: A Texan, he had come to L.A. before Lloyd, and became well known in those years for pioneering the music that would be known as free jazz. These two tunes, “Peace” and “Ramblin’,” first appeared on the final two albums from Coleman’s Los Angeles years. The Marvels have both the American West and the South built into their sound, partly thanks to Greg Leisz’s pedal steel guitar. On “Peace,” he fills in the space around Coleman’s quizzical melody, which becomes syrupy and slow and untied from any set tempo. GIOVANNI RUSSONELLOAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More