theAngelcy
My Baby Boy
Plucked strings, a chorus of voices and Rotem Bar Or's raw tenor make this Tel Aviv folk song feel like a lullaby sung in a dark, uneasy time.
Instrument
percussion
20 tracks.
Solange
Losing You
Solange and Dev Hynes wrap the end of a relationship in a skittering, eighties-tinted R&B groove: the 2012 lead single of the True EP on Terrible Records, with a Melina Matsoukas video shot in Cape Town's Langa township.
Robin Thicke, T.I., Pharrell Williams
Blurred Lines
A cowbell-clacking, falsetto-laced funk-pop strut from Robin Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. that owned the summer of 2013 and then the courtroom.
Joss Stone
Less Is More
A teenage Joss Stone leans into a lilting, reggae-kissed soul groove and sings about wanting less with the husky authority of a singer twice her age.
James Newton Howard, Jennifer Lawrence
The Hanging Tree
Jennifer Lawrence's bare, unpolished voice sings an eerie murder ballad from Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay, set to a melody by the Lumineers, that swells into a rebel anthem as James Newton Howard's orchestra gathers behind her.
Jain
Mr Johnson
Handclap-light percussion, a bouncing bass and Jain's playful, slightly mischievous delivery make Mr Johnson one of Zanaka's sunniest little stories.
Jain
City
The closing song of Jain's 2015 Hope EP, produced by Yodelice: her bright, slightly mischievous voice riding a homemade-sounding beat that mixes pop simplicity with the rhythmic colours of a childhood spent between Dubai, Congo and Abu Dhabi.
Hindi Zahra
Music (Remastered Version)
Hindi Zahra sings a love letter to music itself, her warm, smoky voice swaying over interlocking guitars and soft percussion that blend folk, soul and Berber roots.
Hindi Zahra
Beautiful Tango (Remastered Version)
Hindi Zahra's smoky voice glides over a lilting, desert-blues guitar and soft percussion in Beautiful Tango, a slow dance of a song that sounds like dusk in a small room.
Glass Animals, Gilligan Moss
Gooey (Gilligan Moss Remix)
Gilligan Moss stretches Glass Animals' sticky love song into a glistening electronic daydream of chiming percussion, warped vocal slivers and a slow-blooming groove.
Gin Wigmore
New Rush
Gin Wigmore's 2015 comeback single, co-written with Charlie Andrew, hits like a jolt of adrenaline: pounding drums and a chant-along chorus pushing her husky voice towards a fresh start after a stifling relationship.
Gin Wigmore
Black Sheep
Stomping drums, chanted backing vocals and a shout-along hook frame Gin Wigmore's gravel-edged voice in a proud anthem for everyone who never fit the flock.
Ed Sheeran
Shape of You
A plucked marimba-like loop, a dancehall bounce and a flirtation that starts at the bar: Shape of You is the minimal pop machine that took over the world in 2017.
Daft Punk
Give Life Back to Music
The curtain-raiser of Random Access Memories: live drums, Nile Rodgers' guitar and a vocoder mission statement announcing that Daft Punk came back to make music breathe again.
Corinne Bailey Rae
Put Your Records On
Corinne Bailey Rae's sun-dappled soul-pop single is a gentle invitation to let your hair down, all breezy guitar, soft horns and a warm voice telling you to grow into yourself.
Ayọ
Down On My Knees
Ayọ pleads for a lost love over acoustic guitar and a gentle reggae lilt: the 2006 debut single, recorded with a live band in five days in New York, that made a German-Nigerian singer a star in France.
Ultraísta
Smalltalk
'Smalltalk' is the 2012 lead single of Ultraísta, the trio of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, drummer Joey Waronker and singer Laura Bettinson: layered synthesizers and afrobeat-minded drums under a plea to stop the small talk, heard here in Four Tet's garage-shuffle remix.
Groove Armada
Superstylin'
Groove Armada's 2001 single fuses house with dancehall, reggae and dub over a speed-garage bassline, with MC M.A.D. on vocals and a live horn section; a UK number 12 and a 2003 Grammy nominee.
Nouvelle Vague
Too Drunk to Fuck
Nouvelle Vague turn the Dead Kennedys' punk satire into a hushed bossa nova sung by Camille, a 2004 cover whose softness makes the lyric more absurd and more unsettling than the original's noise.
Jorge Ben Jor
Take It Easy My Brother Charles
Jorge Ben's 'Take It Easy My Brother Charles' is a two-and-a-half-minute samba-soul classic from his 1969 album: a swinging guitar, Trio Mocotó's percussion and a warm word of caution to a 'brother of color', half in Portuguese, half in English.