“Rescued” is the first new song Foo Fighters have released since the sudden death of the band’s beloved drummer, Taylor Hawkins, in March 2022, and its lyrics seem to address that tragedy and the grief of the remaining members. “It happened so fast, and then it was over,” sings Dave Grohl, before unleashing one of those signature screams that manages to rip and be melodic: “Is this happening now?” Hawkins’ absence is a gaping one Emptiness in “Rescued,” the first track off June’s album But Here We Are. But perhaps that’s why the Foos sound more focused than they’ve been in a while, fueled by a fresh sense of pathos and urgency. LINDSAY ZOLADZ
Muna, “The one who got away”
Katie Gavin lets a missed connection know exactly what she’s missing with the bold and sassy ‘The One That Got Away,’ a new single that pop group Muna debuted at Coachella last weekend. “If you never line it up, how am I supposed to sign for it?” Gavin sings on the synth-driven track, while the pounding, reverberant production serves to effectively amplify her feelings. ZOLADZ
Salami Rose Joe Louis, ‘Dimcola Reprise’
“I know it all feels like it’s falling apart all the time,” sings Lindsey Olsen, who records as Salami Rose Joe Louis, on “Dimcola Reprise” off her upcoming album Akousmatikous (meaning “sound where there is no identifiable source” in Greek). Most of the track is a busily looping, sizzling, splattering electronic backdrop to her whispering voice, which finally advises, “It’ll be alright/Just get through the day.” But before it ends, the song completely turns and turns towards slow chromatic chords and soaring vocal harmonies – a brief moment of stillness. JON PARELES
Sbtrkt with Sampha and George Riley, ‘LFO’
Aaron Jerome, the English electronic music producer who calls himself Sbtrkt and performs behind a mask, has been working on “LFO” since 2018 and seems to be making it weirder with every iteration. It’s an ever-evolving succession of thick, harmonically ambiguous synth chords that melt into a rhythm and push it aside, speeding up and falling apart and merging again. Sent in Sampha’s eerie falsetto and George Riley’s self-confessed breath, the lyrics offer paradox and self-inquiry: “I change, move, lose higher,” Riley sings. The song will appear on Sbtrkt’s new album The Rat Road in May. Whatever the context, it’s likely to be destabilizing. PARELES
Nathy Peluso, ‘Tonta’
Argentinian singer Nathy Peluso hired hit producer Illangelo (The Weeknd, Post Malone) for the furious kiss-off “Tonta” (“Foolish”). A throbbing, clattering beat propels her charge of her ex from seething to jeering to a well-placed scream. She also shows some gleeful contempt as she dubs her voice into a mocking brass section and trumpets “Tararatata” while shattering any hopes of reconciliation. PARELES
Grupo Frontera x Bad Bunny, ‘Un x100to’
Proudly from Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny is determined to grow his music into a pan-Latin coalition. On “Un x100to” (“One Percent”), he joins Grupo Frontera, a Mexican-based Norteño band from Texas, for a song about using the last 1 percent of your cell phone to call an ex and to admit that he misses her. Grupo Frontera’s section of the song is a cumbia with a traditional flavor and accordion accompaniment. Bad Bunny comes with a different, rap-informed tune over arena-scale electronic chords. But with Grupo Frontera’s work, he returns to the clip-clop beat and chorus of cumbia – another certified strategic alliance. JON PARELES
Florence + the Machine, ‘Mermaids’
“I thought I was hungry for love,” Florence Welch sings at the beginning of the menacing new song “Mermaids,” adding, “Maybe I was just hungry for blood.” The dark, brooding track sounds like a “Dance Fever” track ‘, the group’s 2022 album, on which Welch often weaved her personal memories and thoughts into a more mythical tapestry. This contrast emerges in the second movement of “Mermaids,” when Welch memorably sings about late nights of London debauchery and “girl hugs that smelled like Britney Spears and coconuts.” ZOLADZ
Christine and the Queens with 070 Shake, “True Love”
At Coachella and now online, Christine and the Queens’ Chris has gone original and musically skeletal. “I need you to love me,” he sings on “True Love,” over a jerky, pounding two-chord track, accompanied by 070 Shake, who sees “your dark eyes are staring at me.” The song is measured and quantized, but obsessive through and through. PARELES
Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain with Rakesh Chaurasia, “Motion”
Banjo player Béla Fleck’s latest cross-cultural foray is a collaboration with bassist Edgar Meyer and two Indian musicians: Zakir Hussain on tabla and Rakesh Chaurasia on bansuri (bamboo flute). For most of “Motion” Fleck takes a supporting role behind soaring, inquisitive melodies of bass and bansuri, while Hussain’s tabla creates a fluttering momentum. When banjo and bansuri share a melody in unison, the eerie timbre is an acoustic discovery. PARELES