Miranda Lambert Stomps Back, and 11 More New Songs

Miranda Lambert, ‘It All Comes Out in the Wash’ and ‘Locomotive’

A pair of new songs from Miranda Lambert — her first new solo material since 2016 — show off the parts of her arsenal that have been absorbed by others and those that remain indelibly hers. Musically, “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” is genial verging on folksy. Lambert applies her curlicue twang while describing a variety of mishaps, some small and some just the other side of decent — dating a bridesmaid’s ex and bringing him to the wedding nonetheless, a dalliance with the boss. These are the small-town foibles that Kacey Musgraves has made her stock in trade. In a Nashville that has largely forsworn emotional complexity in favor of clunky earnestness, it stands out, but is not Lambert’s turf alone. “Locomotive,” however, captures something far more ineffable. Her voice is less melodic, more jagged at the rim, while the music is far rowdier, suggesting a bar band scrambling to finish up before closing time. And Lambert, unlike any of her peers, is just as elegant in this chaos — causing this chaos — as when she’s holding back.

— JON CARAMANICA

Sam Smith, ‘How Do You Sleep?’

In his earliest songs, Sam Smith was an oversinger, often a beautiful one. His voice was tightly controlled, full of a sinewy power, and when he allowed, lined with cracks of feeling. As he’s become more famous, though, his music has been streamlined, doing some of the heavy lifting. His new single “How Do You Sleep?” is breathable, deliberately paced, almost soothing, even if what he’s singing about is the sharp cut of betrayal. After using his voice to unleash anguish for years, Smith sounds untroubled now — maybe it’s restraint, maybe it’s fatigue.

— JON CARAMANICA

Residente, iLe and Bad Bunny, ‘Afilando Los Cuchillos’

“Afilando Los Cuchillos” — “Sharpening the Knives” — was rush-released to amplify this week’s demonstrations demanding the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo A. Roselló. It’s no surprise to hear political rage from Calle 13’s Residente, joined by his sister iLe singing a forthright chorus. But there’s also an equally furious rapped diatribe denouncing the governor — for incompetence, lies and corruption — from the Puerto Rican pop phenomenon Bad Bunny, who until now has presented himself as a lover, not a protester.

— JON PARELES

Ranky Tanky, ‘Good Time’

Hand-clapping, tambourine-shaking and call-and-response syncopations that reach back to West Africa via South Carolina’s Gullah culture drive “Good Time,” from the Charleston, South Carolina, band Ranky Tanky. The band aligns a jazz rhythm section with Gullah roots, and the momentum keeps building in this seven-minute track and its euphoric rent-party video — especially around the five-minute mark, when the soul shouter Quiana Parler takes over the vocals and carries the song toward primal jubilation.

— JON PARELES

Seratones, ‘Power’

A fast, urgent neo-1960s soul beat propels “Power,” a song about determination even against steep odds. “Brighter days coming but I can’t see where I’m going/In the dark morning I hit the ground running,” A.J. Haynes sings. “We take each step to lift us up higher.” Around her, minor chords and shivering, sliding strings suggest the high stakes and serious obstacles, but gospel voices join in to push ahead.

— JON PARELES

Wilco, ‘Love Is Everywhere (Beware)’

The chorus declares, “Right now, right now, love is everywhere,” but Jeff Tweedy’s hoarse whisper and the way the melody descends make clear that he’s not really so sure. There’s more self-doubt and ambivalence in the verses: “So many things I do, I can’t explain to you,” he notes. The song starts as a reassuring waltz, strummed on acoustic guitar, soon adding perpetual-motion lead-guitar triplets that are prettily ornamental, but nervous, too. “Love Is Everywhere (Beware)” is the first song from a Wilco album due in October: “Ode to Joy.”

— JON PARELES

Lafayette Gilchrist, ‘For the Go Go’

New Orleans barrelhouse piano, the impressionism of Ravel and Duke Ellington’s jaggy solo-piano sound form the bedrock of Lafayette Gilchrist’s style at the keyboard. But if there’s one big influence on the way he thinks about rhythm, it’s the deeply swinging “pocket” of a classic go-go beat. With its classic loping groove, built on heavy hand percussion and call-and-response flow, go-go is the unofficial musical idiom of Gilchrist’s native Washington. On “Dark Matter,” his newest release, Gilchrist is alone at the acoustic piano, playing his own roiling compositions. It’s a far cry from the setup of a go-go band, but the hypnosis of the pocket comes through.

— GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Prettymuch featuring Lil Tjay, ‘Lying’

On “Lying,” Prettymuch makes sweaty pop that lands somewhere between trap and new wave. It remains the most intriguing young American boy band, facile with pinpoint harmonies and consistently rich singing. “Lying” is full of vivid details, too, from a new California king bed bought in anguish to a phone call that was never meant to connect: “If it sound like my voice is shaking/it’s cause I’m way up in the hills, my signal’s breaking.”

— JON CARAMANICA

Oumar Konate, ‘Koima Djine’

Oumar Konate, from Mali, was the lead guitarist for Khaira Arby (1959-2018), a galvanizing Malian songwriter who spearheaded a band that brought a broad streak of San Francisco psychedelia to Malian rock. It turns out that Konate can sing, too — and whoop and ululate — as he proves on “I Love You Inna,” his album released Friday. “Koima Djine” is a plea for rain from local deities (or, per the song title, genies); it rides a tumultuous, constantly morphing six-beat Malian rhythm with raw vocal incantations and plenty of wah-wah.

— JON PARELES

avery r. young, ‘Lead in De Wattah [a Re-visit(id) Negro Spiritual] fo(r) Flint’

On “Tubman.,” his latest album, avery r. young comes on like a preacher from the Afrofuture. Moving between peroration, poetry and explosive singing — whether he’s backed by a thumping house beat or by a small choir — this Chicago-based poet and vocalist seems most focused on stirring the congregation to action. On “Lead in de Wattah,” he turns a familiar black spiritual into an airing of grievances today, condemning the powers responsible for the Flint water crisis. His voice starts quivery and delicate, reminiscent of Aaron Neville’s, but it turns gritty and growling as he leads the choir in an outraged refrain: “Charlie playing god with the water.”

— GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Iggy Pop, ‘Free’

Iggy Pop’s “Free” is brief, atmospheric and elusive. Amid sustained electronic tones from guitarist Noveller and ghostly overdubbed Miles Davis-tinged trumpet lines from Leron Thomas, Pop’s voice appears only a few times, intoning, “I wanna be free.” As the title song and opening track of an album due in September, it could lead anywhere.

— JON PARELES

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Miranda Lambert Stomps Back, and 11 More New Songs

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