Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From Fred again.. & Anderson .Paak, Disclosure, Romy & More
This week in dance music: Late Detroit musician Amp Fiddler was honored at Detroit’s Movement festival, Nicole Moudaber issued a statement about her cancelled Movement performance, John Summit revealed the name and release date for his debut album and also addressed commenters who’ve compared him to Avicii, Justice announced a second leg of 2024 U.S. tour dates, including an October show at the Hollywood Bowl and Skrillex and Fred again.. announced a last-minute outdoor set happening this weekend in San Francisco.
To all that we add a hot batch of music. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Fred again.. with Anderson .Paak & Chika, “Places to Be”
“Hello I’ve got places to be,” Anderson .Paak announces at a speedy clip on his new song with Fred again.., a declaration to which Alabama-born rapper Chika cooly responds “like me next to you, and you next to me.” Indeed, Fred’s latest is a breezy, d’n’b-laced love song upon which .Paak unfurls an agile, elastic flow over a production outfitted with Fred’s signature stuttering vocal chop, with the track altogether encompassing a joyful, totally undeniable vibe. “Places to Be” comes ahead of Fred’s very sold out show with Skrillex at the San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza this weekend, a performance the latter producer announced by saying “Fred and I have way too much new music we need to test out so we’re going to throw a rave in San Francisco next week.” Places to be, for sure.
Disclosure, “She’s Gone, Dance On”
Disclosure is back, baby. The Lawrence brothers swagger into your earholes with their disco/funk/soul-jam “She’s Gone, Dance On.” Sampling Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for the 1978 Italian film Così Come Se, the lush, blissed out swirl of a song has been rinsed by DJs including Todd Edwards, Joy Anonymous, salute, DJ Seinfeld, Peggy Gou, Sammy Virji and Dom Dolla, the latter of whom played it while Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce danced in the crowd during his Coachella set this past April.
Released in partnership with Capitol Music Group, the track marks Disclosure’s first release on the London-based Disorder, the dance label launched late last year by longstanding electronic industry exec David Dollimore. “Thank you all for your patience with this one,” the duo wrote on Instagram upon sharing the song. “We actually started working on this back in 2017, so if you think it’s been a while for you, imagine our pain!”
Romy, “Always Forever”
Donna Lewis’ 1996 smash “I Love You Always Forever” — which spent 41 weeks on the Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 2 — has experienced a recent dance world renaissance, with Four Tet playing his dreamy slow burn edit in sets over the last few years, and the pop classic now getting heavily reinterpreted via Romy’s latest, “Always Forever.” The U.K. producer takes the original’s lullaby melody and reassuring lyrics — “I love you always forever, near or far, close or together” — and delivers them in her always exquisite voice, layering these vocals over a warm, glowing production that turns the dial all the way up on the spirit of uplift. Romy’s own lyrics — “it’s okay to be sad, there’s a lot going on I know, did you figure it out, it’s alright if you don’t know” — foster a wise, older-sister vibe, with the song getting an added flourish via an inventive, gorgeously shot modern dance video directed by Charlotte Wells.
Channel Tres, “Cactus Water”
“Show me how they do it in your town,” Channel Tres purrs on his latest, “Cactus Water,” an ode to peyote, new places and sexual chemistry. Deeply funky and in possession of the relaxed but commanding cool that is the Los Angeles-based artist’s signature, the song is the second single from his debut album Head Rush, coming June 14 via RCA Records. Tres will show them how they do it in his town when he performs at WeHo Pride in Los Angeles this weekend on a lineup that also includes Kylie Minogue, Hot Chip, Yaeji and Janelle Monae.
Kygo & Hayla, “Without You”
Since the release of her 2023 Kx5 collaboration “Escape”, Hayla has become one of the most in-demand and instantly recognizable voices of the current dance music moment. The British singer’s run, which also includes “Shiver” and “Where You Are” with John Summit, continues today, as Kygo brings her into his orbit. Together the pair deliver “Without You,” which trades the Norwegian producer’s typical sun-soaked house productions for a bigger, darker, more dramatic and more mainstage focused song built from increasingly urgent piano stabs and a satisfying, oversized build and release. The track comes from Kygo’s self-titled album come on June 21.
