We’ve got these terrible plans
2025 Mix 26: A shallow dive on 1975, then various outsiders try their hand at making amapiano, gqom, funk, phonk, and batida go cosmo-pop
I’m coming back after a few weeks off (I scheduled several posts in a row), so now I have about 8,000 songs to fly through and very little to say this week. Instead, I’ll just stump for my nominations for the People’s Pop poll of 1975. I did a fairly exhaustive 1974 survey last year, and ended up writing a two-part series on Japanese rock in 1974. But my research for this poll was extremely shallow and intuitive, even by my standards. Still, it only took me about five minutes to determine that there was a ton of ferment in highlife and Afrofunk, which was not as obvious to me when I was researching 1974.
Here are the three songs I ended up nominating—all three made it in, too.1
Yta Jourias: Pesse Mi Buntare
A Togolese singer more frequently credited as Germaine Jourias. There seems to be very little good information about her online, but I haven’t really explored the rest of her discography for more leads. She appears on several compilations, which is how I discovered she has a misspelled artist profile on Spotify where you can stream this song. This was categorized as highlife on Discogs but bears little resemblance to it—is a hodgepodge of soft styles in a bossa-pop shell, but I find Jourias’s vocal hypnotic, striking with a tendency toward uneasy warble/wobble.
Las Grecas: Yo No Quiero Pensar
Spanish hard rock flamenco by Romani sister duo Las Grecas. I really liked this single, but overall liked their previous album, Gipsy Rock from 1974, better. Spanish rock history is a blindspot for me — Dan Bright Amaya, who is much more informed on this topic than I am, nominated a shaggy take on “Tequila” by Los Amaya.
The Green Arrows: Towering Inferno
An archival rerelease from Analog Africa last year tipped me to several Zimbabwean bands, including the Green Arrows, the inaugural Analog Africa release. Here they’re doing roots/reggae storytelling based on 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno.
OK — on to the present!
1. Amaarae: S.M.O.
US
A patron saint of fairy trap is back and sounds more…generally South African? But it’s sort of impossible to tell where Afrobeats ends and ama-pop begins these days, so let’s just lazily call it “a vibe” and note that the really exciting thing about this particular song is that it qualifies as part of the NLE Choppaverse (S.M.O. = “Slut Me Out”). Maybe we’ll get some gqom in SMO 4—stranger things have happened (e.g., “Slut Me Out 3”).
2. xiangyu, Gimgigam: はっちゃKO
Japan
And speaking of “generally South African” and gqom, here is a choice cut from Japanese rapper xiangyu, who has been experimenting with gqom and South African dance music for a few years now. This is on her latest EP, a single originally released last year. The production is by Gimgigam, whose also works in rock and pop.
3. hanhee: BBI
South Korea
Another K-pop C-lister. I really am wired to like the sound of unpopular strivers in the trenches. What’s up with that?
4. SILVY, BADMIXY: Pink.
Thailand
Thai rap provocateur seems to make many plays for audacity, but nothing was more audacious to me than modulating down a key on the first line. I can’t immediately think of any other songs that do that?
5. Treesha: Run It
Kenya
My inability to find a common thread in Kenyan pop music while still consistently finding great songs there continues. (Whenever this happens, you should assume it is a skill issue on my part.) Crisply produced pop reggae that I don’t hear much on my lists, was such a breath of fresh air, in fact, that I immediately checked the date to make sure an old song hadn’t made it on by mistake.
6. TERRA f. Juana Rozas: Nitro
Argentina
My guess is that when the dust settles, Juana Rozas and ALT BLK ERA will edge back ahead of Lil Wayne and Addison Rae on my albums of the year list, the latter two of whom I like to talk about more than I like to listen to. (Well, not strictly true—I have no idea how many times I’ve listened to Addison because I have on at least two occasions lost track of how many times I’d listened to it. I still have no idea why this is complimentary.) Anyway, here’s more Argentine pop featuring everyone’s (read: my) fave.
7. Kaysha, R3bola: Ela nao para
DRC/Brazil
As Brazilian funk downshifts out of formal ferment (maybe?), the sounds are starting to click in softer cosmo-pop ways, which suggests that in the next few years global pop outside of Latin America will start getting more comfortable with it. If this song is any indication, making it work outside of ferment isn’t as seamless as the incorporation of South African house has been, though—funk turns to mush too easily in the wrong hands (though they avoid that here).
8. Sidhu Moose Wala f. Jenny Johal, The Kidd: 0008
India
I guess Sidhu Moose Wala is the Juice WRLD of Punjabi rap? Yet another solid posthumous release, though on this one I’m more drawn to Jenny Johal’s part.
9. Nina Las Vegas, Swick, Zanillya: Shot Caller
Australia
10. Hitty: CSWS
UK
Two bits of pop house, neither of which left a huge impression but stayed in as mix spackle. (Did I mention I’m about 8,000 songs behind?)
11. Cachirula, LOOJAN: Dedo
Mexico
Throwback reggaeton with a beat that you could have heard 20 years ago but vocals that you’d need the intervening few decades of metastasizing hypo/hyper vocal mannerisms to make any sense against it. Time, flat circle, etc.
12. Vanyfox, Ana Moura: Lento
Portugal
Another dependable semipop play from one of a batida fox I’ve already featured this year, a bit less wobbly than I’d like — merely tipsy when it could afford to get closer to sloshed — but with a strong vocal from Ana Moura.
13. Nadah El Shazly: Banit
Egypt
Cairo-born, Montreal-based producer goes alt and indie to make Arabic pop connect with the likes of a basic bench like me. I appreciate her service to populating my end-of-year regional song stats.
14. YUVI, BADWOR7H: Киця
Ukraine
More genre softening, this time from the phonk world that I am not particularly interested in but will probably learn more about soon, as my youngest heard inexplicable global juggernaut “Passo Bem Solto” on a Guitar Hero-like tablet game and is very interested in the genre. Luckily phonk is almost by definition replacement-level so this mostly consists of finding all the song with the fewest curse words and least creepy (to an eight-year-old) cover art. And maybe I’ll sneak on this one—love a literal “going to tell my kids this is” meme.
15. Auntie Flo: Esperanto
UK
Atmospheric IDM-ish fare from a British producer. Sometimes you just hear a little Mouse on Mars whistle hoot noise that scratches an itch, y’know?
16. Pyrex: The Brute
US
Pyrex comes up a lot in the curated playlists of dedicated rawk torch-bearers, and I keep confusing them with Pylon, which makes me listen more charitably than I would otherwise. Pyrex is not nearly as good as Pylon, but they are pretty good!
17. Beaks: Clueless
Austria
Affected disaffection on a post-punk-pop quickie that should probably end a minute earlier, like our good friends Pyrex, but does save time for a very stupid guitar solo that I enjoyed. Wouldn’t have said this was Austrian if you gave me twenty guesses, so that’s fun.
18. Nxdia: Body on Me
UK
Look, you knew you were going to hit sprechgesang-pop in this block eventually, but to Egyptian-British Nxdia’s (that’s “Nadia”) credit, they’ve got a decent sense of a tune in there, too.
19. Common Holly: Terrible Hands
Canada
An indie rec from idca on Bluesky, which I immediately sent over to Isabel on a hunch that she would find it pretty (I was correct). I also think it’s pretty! It’s nice when we all agree!
20. Noah Cyrus: I Saw the Mountains
US
I’ve avoided forming a take on Miley Cyrus’s album this year, which I think is awful, but not in the way I think the Lil Wayne album is awful. But then again it’s not not like that. I think I got to it last week with my “taste chaos” musings. Noah Cyrus, by contrast, is very obviously the Ashlee/Solange of the family. This thing is tasteful with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pretty. (You may be thinking to yourself—Dave, describing songs as “pretty” over and over again is not helpful. You are correct! Let that be the inspiration you need write your own review!)
21. Holy Fawn: Beneath a Lightless Star
US
Have had more success than I would have thought in a mostly-terrible “new rock” Spotify-curated playlist, which puts me in touch with many alt rock radio barnacles and independent-not-indie rock dead-enders that I would otherwise avoid, but occasionally produces something novel, like this meandering post-rock song with screamo vocals. Call it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯-rock.
***
That’s it! Until next time, I hope you find some redeeming novelty in your ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from Common Holly: “Terrible Hands”
I spent my fourth nomination on Shirley & Co.’s “Shame Shame Shame,” released in 1974 and my best song of 1974 but eligible on a technicality (it came out in December). It was previously polled, though.
Holy Fawn really scratched an itch by blasting doom metal chords into Lil Bo Weepish hauntings then screaming through it. 5 minutes was not too long. And maybe it's only Amaarae's fairy voice and tantric intent that brings her into the fairy trap realm, she's certainly not trap, but she so easily gets there (Rosalia can manage this trick too, over reggaeton, c.f. 'Candy').
DJ Traka's new ep and recent productions have been a highlight of recent baile funk for me: very rough vocals, minimal, nearly pretty instrumentation, and percussion like kids on the subway drumming on plastic buckets.