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Johnny Cash wasn’t all the time the stoic Man in Black. He additionally had a droll aspect, as revealed on this tune reconstituted from demos he recorded in 1993; a latter-day band, together with Marty Stuart on guitar, now fills out the unique tracks. In “Well Alright,” previewing “Songwriter,” an album due June 28, Cash is deadpan and droll, singing a couple of liaison that begins at a laundromat. Even the Man in Black had garments to scrub. JON PARELES
“I run away, ’trigger I’m on valuable time,” the British musician Nilüfer Yanya sings on the primary single she’s launched since her wonderful 2022 album “Painless.” In basic Yanya trend, “Like I Say (I Runaway)” has an nearly collagelike really feel, reveling in contrasting textures and immediately erupting right into a blaze of guitar distortion on the refrain. “The minute I’m not in management, I’m tearing up inside,” Yanya sings, as her personal sonic universe bends to her will. LINDSAY ZOLADZ
Normani that includes Gunna, ‘1:59’
In August, it will likely be 5 years because the R&B artist Normani launched “Motivation,” a deliriously catchy and kinetic single that proved the previous Fifth Harmony member had main potential as a solo pop star. In the time since, although, Normani has been comparatively quiet, save for a number of decent-if-unremarkable one-offs just like the 2022 ballad “Fair” or the slinky 2021 Cardi B collaboration “Wild Side.” Normani will lastly launch her feverishly anticipated debut album “Dopamine” on June 14, and its first single, “1:59” is … one other decent-if-unremarkable sluggish jam, this time centered round a looped acoustic guitar lick and that includes a lusty, sing-songy verse from the rapper Gunna. It’s all nicely and good for an album monitor, possibly, however we’re nonetheless ready for that world-conquering bop. ZOLADZ
Coi Leray, ‘Can’t Come Back’
Even a self-described “dangerous bitch” can demand good manners. That’s what the R&B hitmaker Coi Leray does in “Can’t Come Back,” a post-breakup tune about getting over a nasty selection. Over a minimal beat and two minor chords, she advises any prospects to “Lower your tone, inform me ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you,’ and open up my door” — or count on to get kicked to the curb. PARELES
The Jamaican songwriter Shenseea (Chinsea Linda Lee) can’t resolve whether or not she’s rapturously in love or courting hassle in “Neva Neva,” a tune that’s much less overtly raunchy than her previous hits. The monitor, which pumps up classic lovers-rock reggae with arena-scale bass and reverb, leans towards elation. PARELES
PartyNextDoor, ‘For Certain’
PartyNextDoor — the Canadian singer and songwriter J.A. Brathwaite, who typically croons about womanizing — dips into Nigerian Afrobeats with “For Certain,” co-produced by Kddo from Nigeria. With a minor-mode tune over a skeletal beat, he sings about an uncertain flirtation, repeatedly admitting, “I would like you” and recalling, “I prolonged my hand and let go of my satisfaction.” But in a spoken-word outro, he can’t commit; he leaves her behind to “hit a number of extra spots” as a substitute. PARELES
Diiv, ‘Frog in Boiling Water’
The title monitor of the approaching album by the Brooklyn band Diiv is a hazy, droney, baleful evaluation of society’s prospects, envisioning solely decay and collapse: “The future got here and every little thing’s recognized/There’s nothing left to say — present’s over, take me dwelling.” Distorted, steady-strummed shoegaze guitars and a chord development that stays unsettled maintain the desolate temper. PARELES
Pearl Jam’s new album, “Dark Matter,” doubles down on the band’s longtime strengths: ferocious hard-rock riffs, neo-psychedelic guitar tangles and Eddie Vedder’s pressing ethical compass. “React, Respond” hurtles forward, with guitars blasting in unison after which ricocheting in stereo, as Vedder requires unified, purposeful motion, insisting, “We may very well be combating collectively/Instead of combating ourselves.” PARELES
Teddy Swims, ‘Hammer to the Heart’
Teddy Swims, a songwriter born in Georgia, leans into Nineteen Sixties soul and ratchets up the masochism in “Hammer to the Heart,” which wallows in his give up to a femme fatale. A gentle chug, reverbed guitars, a string part and even chimes present the retro backdrop as he confesses, “I’m such a sucker for the ache,” wallowing within the drama. PARELES
Margaret Glaspy, ‘24/7’
Margaret Glaspy confesses to ceaseless anxiousness in “24/7” from “The Sun Doesn’t Think,” her intimate new acoustic EP. With simply acoustic guitar selecting and some overdubbed backup vocals, she sings a couple of lifetime of all the time seeing the draw back: “I assumed clouds have been simply smoke from a fireplace/and love was wrapped in barbed wire.” There’s no self-pity in her tone, simply self-acceptance. PARELES
In Karen Dalton’s tenaciously affectionate “Right, Wrong or Ready,” from 1969, she sang a couple of man who’s absent however “stays on my thoughts.” Kara Jackson makes the tune twice as languid by slowing it to half pace and opening up areas: at first with sparse acoustic guitar selecting and piano, later with a cushiony string association, singing as if every phrase holds one other fond reminiscence. PARELES
Thom Yorke, ‘Knife Edge’
Menace and dread, acquainted Radiohead modes, suffuse “Knife Edge” from Thom Yorke’s soundtrack rating for the Daniele Luchetti movie “Confidenza.” It’s a waltz set to halting electric-piano chords and uncanny resonances, with a melody that would nearly be a lullaby. But Yorke’s tidings are ominous; he gently counsels, “If I have been you I’d run away/Get out when you nonetheless can.” PARELES
