Listen Up

Post-punk, jazz, hip-hop, some '90s rave nostalgia and more new music from this week

Romy: Lifetime Romy Madley-Croft of The xx offers her first-ever official solo material (under the moniker Romy) with the uplifting “Lifetime”—a song featuring her familiar silken vocals over soaring synths. Written during lockdown, it tells a story of togetherness. “I think subconsciously the upbeat energy of the song is a reaction to the stillness and anxiety I was feeling in lockdown. I was missing the …

Molchat Doma: Ne Smeshno

A pre-pandemic live favorite from Belarusian post-punk trio Molchat Doma, “Ne Smeshno” (which loosely translates to “not funny”) now appears as a cryptic music video—complete with unexpected dance numbers and zombie-like characters. Both the track (which is drawn from the band’s forthcoming album, Monument) and the video feel yanked right out of the ’80s. That said, there’s something prescient to their presentation—and it’s danceable, too. …

Spillage Village: Hapi

Spillage Village (aka J.I.D, 6LACK, EarthGang, Mereba, Hollywood JB, Jurdan Bryant and Benji.) was founded in 2015, but formalized and expanded later with the signing of J.I.D and EarthGang to Dreamville Records and the addition of Pittsburgh-based rapper Benji. in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The group released their fifth studio album, Spilligion, this week and its most soulful single (though all bear gospel references), the …