\n<\/p>\n
\u201cSelfish,\u201d Justin Timberlake\u2019s first new solo song in six years, covers a thematic terrain similar to Nick Jonas\u2019s hit \u201cJealous\u201d<\/a> (2014), but swaps that tune\u2019s bravado for muted melancholy. \u201cSo if I get jealous, I can\u2019t help it,\u201d Timberlake croons, in a flatter approximation of Justin Bieber\u2019s more successful forays into mid-tempo R&B. \u201cI want every bit of you, I guess I\u2019m selfish.\u201d A fun, lightly carbonated beat keeps things moving forward \u2014 perhaps the only element of the song aware that it\u2019s not quite as deep as Timberlake thinks. LINDSAY ZOLADZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The lilting, understated guitars and pattering bongo drums of Dominican bachata usually carry songs of restrained regret. But the salsa singer Marc Anthony isn\u2019t one for restraint. In \u201cPunta Cana,\u201d named after the Dominican resort town, he\u2019s a rejected boyfriend bitterly monitoring the happy photos posted by his ex \u2014 a scenario like the one in Maluma\u2019s hit \u201cHaw\u00e1i.\u201d<\/a> From the first verse, he works up to throat-tearing rasps, trying to convince himself that one kiss would get her back, eventually deploying a horn section as his desperation grows. No wonder she\u2019s keeping her distance. JON PARELES<\/p>\n The kaleidoscopically imaginative Philadelphia musician Tierra Whack returns with a bit of minimalistic funk on \u201cShower Song,\u201d a playful ode to getting clean, ruminating on wild ideas and belting like no one else can hear. \u201cI sound great when I\u2019m singing in the shower,\u201d Whack declares on this single from her forthcoming album \u201cWorld Wide Whack.\u201d \u201cSoap and water give me power.\u201d As usual, it\u2019s accompanied by a riotously colorful, \u201cPee-wee\u2019s Playhouse\u201d-esque music video showcasing the singularity of Whack\u2019s world. ZOLADZ<\/p>\n The Australian band Hiatus Kaiyote revels in musicianly games like shifting meters, angular harmonies and leaping, zigzag melodies, adeptly drawing on jazz, funk, rock and psychedelia. \u201cEverything\u2019s Beautiful\u201d is true to form: structurally tricky but ultimately just a romp, still blithely funky above its underlying math. PARELES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ice Spice<\/a> has a way with a hilarious, monosyllabic insult hurled like a blunt instrument. First there was \u201cMunch.\u201d Now, even more to the point: \u201cFart.\u201d An insistent, skronky beat from producers RIOTUSA (who goes by Riot), Synthetic and Venny inspire the nonplused Ice to go in harder than usual: \u201cI got my foot on they necks, I can\u2019t let up,\u201d she raps, venomously. \u201cShe all on the floor, told her \u2018get up.\u2019\u201d ZOLADZ<\/p>\n Jade Bird sings about trying to leave behind both human and digital memories in \u201cBurn the Hard Drive,\u201d singing, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing left to do but erase moments one by one.\u201d A nimble, triplet-driven, nervous-energy track concocted by the producer Mura Masa has instruments popping in and out like those stubborn, unwanted thoughts. PARELES<\/p>\n The Pillow Queens are a four-woman rock band from Ireland that can be chiming and consonant<\/a> \u2014 but not in this song. Fuzz-toned guitars create a tolling, churning backwash as Pamela Connolly sings about a decisive breakup with someone who lied and took her for granted: \u201cI was in your top five things to do,\u201d she recalls as she moves on. Now, she gloats, \u201cI\u2019m someone else\u2019s problem.\u201d PARELES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n River Shook matter-of-factly describes mental health turmoil in \u201cRevelations,\u201d a minor-key roots-rocker laced with twangy guitar and steel-guitar lines. \u201cGood days I levitate off the ground\/Some days I can\u2019t get out of bed,\u201d they sing, later adding \u201cbaby, I barely get through each day.\u201d There\u2019s no happy ending, just perseverance and a steadfast beat. PARELES<\/p>\n At 71, the longtime musician, songwriter and producer John Leventhal \u2014 who has worked with Shawn Colvin, Marc Cohn, Sarah Jarosz<\/a> and with his wife, Rosanne Cash \u2014 has released his first solo album, \u201cRumble Strip.\u201d In \u201cThat\u2019s All I Know About Arkansas,\u201d Leventhal constructed a mandolin-topped string band in the studio to support a modal, Appalachian-tinged melody. Cash joins him on vocals, sharing a laconic narrative about a woman who just \u201ctook her dress and the shoes she wore\u201d and left Arkansas behind, perhaps to become a singer; the outcome is unknown, but the music is stoic and sure-footed. PARELES<\/p>\n The rising country upstart Megan Moroney receives a disruptive, middle-of-the-night phone call from a troublesome ex on the wrenching, well-written \u201cNo Caller ID,\u201d which finds her wrestling with her own reaction. \u201cWhy do I want to? I shouldn\u2019t want to,\u201d Moroney sings with warmth, grit and a self-deprecating sigh. ZOLADZ<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The country-rooted indie-rock singer-songwriter Matthew Houck \u2014 a.k.a. Phosphorescent \u2014 went quiet after the 2018 album \u201cC\u2019est La Vie.\u201d His return, the title song of a coming album called \u201cRevelator,\u201d stays true to form: leisurely, layered, desolate but resigned. \u201cHey, I told you before, I needed you more,\u201d he sings, \u201cbut you couldn\u2019t even turn around.\u201d The track puts a string section behind a country band topped with pedal steel guitar, while Phosphorescent stays serenely inconsolable. PARELES<\/p>\n El Perro del Mar \u2014 the recording name of the electronic songwriter, singer and producer Sarah Assbring \u2014 questions a self-destructive obsession in \u201cBetween You and Me Nothing.\u201d She sets up weightless electronic tones and faraway vocal harmonies as she wonders, \u201cWhy do I keep returning to something that\u2019s long gone?\u201d The sound is meditative; the mood is both analytical and bereft. PARELES<\/p>\n Tuareg electric-guitar music, from the nomadic North African people who live across the Sahara, has long been known as \u201cdesert blues.\u201d The Texas bluesman Gary Clark Jr. reinforces the connection in \u201cMaktub,\u201d Arabic for \u201cit is written\u201d; it\u2019s from his exploratory, style-hopping new EP, \u201cJpeg Raw.\u201d The modal, six-beat, distorted guitar riff echoes Tuareg musicians like Tinariwen and Mdou Moctar, and Clark sings and raps lines about being persecuted and mobile: \u201cWe gotta move in the same direction,\u201d the chorus declares. PARELES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTierra Whack, \u2018Shower Song\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Hiatus Kaiyote, \u2018Everything\u2019s Beautiful\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Jade Bird featuring Mura Masa, \u2018Burn the Hard Drive\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Pillow Queens, \u2018Gone\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
John Leventhal featuring Rosanne Cash, \u2018That\u2019s All I Know About Arkansas\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Megan Moroney, \u2018No Caller ID\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
El Perro del Mar, \u2018Between You and Me Nothing\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Gary Clark Jr., \u2018Maktub\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n