Listen Up

Six tracks featuring seven talented women this week

Annie: Dark Hearts 11 years after Don’t Stop, Norwegian singer-songwriter, DJ and producer Annie (aka Annie Strand) plans to release her third full-length album in October. The record’s title track, “Dark Hearts,” explores family relationships and features Annie’s familiar saccharine vocals over a dark, pulsating, ’80s-inflected beat. She says in a statement that it relates to “the ongoing question of heredity and environment… If you …

The Roots: 100% Dundee

An immensely talented rapper, singer and songwriter, and founding member of the legendary hip-hop group The Roots, Malik “Malik B” Basit has passed away at just 47 years old. Basit began performing with Black Thought and Questlove in Philadelphia in 1987 and appeared on The Roots’ first four albums—widely considered their best—Organix (1993), Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), Illadelph Halflife (1996) and Things Fall Apart …

serpentwithfeet feat. Ty Dolla $ign: Receipts

serpentwithfeet (aka Josiah Wise) and Ty Dolla $ign (Tyrone William Griffin Jr) team up for “Receipts,” a sparse and stirring song—which consists of plucked strings, piano, deep bass and delicate vocals. The result is a glorious fusion of serpentwithfeet’s mystical gospel-inflected style and Ty Dolla $ign’s caramel, contemporary R&B. Minimal, but richly layered with emotion, it’s a song that begs to be played over and …