The best new tracks, picked by our staff

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Tyla – Jump ft. Gunna and Skillibeng

Over the past year, South African singer Tyla has quickly risen to the top of the charts around the world with her viral hit Water, a light slice of amapiano-influenced pop. But on her debut eponymous album, we get to hear her stray a little from the formula of her first few singles. On Jump, for instance, she teams up with Atlanta rapper Gunna and Jamaican star Skillibeng, merging the percussive sounds of amapiano with dancehall beats. ​“Oh, you know I love to make it jump, jump, jump,” Tyla and Gunna sing in unison, before making some on-the-nose innuendos in the verse. The result is an elevated, sexier approach to Tyla’s typically breezy sound, complete with a hook that might just get stuck in your head all day. OP

Skaiwater – Light! ft. Lil Nas X & 9lives

Nottingham genre-blender Skaiwater floats between tranquil electronica, drum’n’bass and emo rap. Their approach has impressed a couple of free-spirited A‑listers, namely Lil Uzi Vert – who hopped on a remix of Skaiwater’s viral track Miles – and Lil Nas X. After connecting over Instagram, Skaiwater ended up producing Nas’s track Holiday and joining him on his UK and European tour. On Light!, a glistening single with a hypey rap bounce, Nas shows up to declare war on a disloyal lover: ​“You cheated on my ass with a cornball /​Now I’m finna stunt on both y’all.” DR

Charli XCX – The von dutch remix with addison rae and a. g. Cook

Besties Charli XCX and Addison Rae link up once again, this time for a remix of Charli’s high-octane single Von Dutch. The lyrics are even brattier and the AutoTune is ramped up, adding a deliciously synthetic gaudiness to choice lines such as ​“Linked with Addison on Melrose /​Bought some cute clothes and wrote this in the studio”. The highlight, though, is Addison’s six second scream that pierces through A. G. Cook’s bolshy production midway through the track. It’s in your face and it’s slightly absurd, but mostly, it’s a lot of fun. OP

Two Shell & FKA twigs – Talk To Me

Back in January, FKA twigs told fans on Discord that she was a fan of the mischievous UK dance duo Two Shell. She also revealed that she’d fallen in love with techno after going raving in Prague, where she was filming The Crow, and clarified that her next album ​“isn’t techno but the spirit is there for real”. Regardless of whether or not there are pounding 4/​4 kick drums on her next solo record, Talk To Me makes a good case for twigs in club-mode. Over a fast-paced beat, silky strings and surging synths, twigs’ voice is warped and distorted as she pleads for a second chance from an ex, even though the relationship is doomed. It’s painful. But then again, a lot of the best club anthems are strangely melancholic. DR

Nourished by Time — Poison-Soaked

It was hard picking just one tune off Nourished By Time’s brilliant new EP, Catching Chickens, which sees the Baltimore musician come to grips with the success of his acclaimed debut, Erotic Probiotic 2. But the bittersweet song Poison-Soaked potentially hits the hardest. ​“I know who I am but I guess I need nothing /​Poison soaked are the memories /​I wonder if it’s been too long,” he sings, his voice echoing over a wall-of-sound built with soaring guitars, clattering drums and gospel-style backing vocals. JW

Varg2tm – Lucky ft. Eartheater and Earth

Varg2tm is primarily known for pulverising electronics and intense trance synths. But for his new single, a collaboration with Eartheater and Dylan Carlson’s legendary drone-rock project Earth, the Swedish producer strips the song back to its barest bones, with Eartheater’s vocals gliding hauntingly over softly picked acoustic guitars. The song will appear on Varg2tm’s forthcoming album Nordic Flora Series Pt. 6: Outlaw Music, which also features Drain Gang, Skrillex and the wild underground rapper RX Papi. JW