You got a new jean
2026 Mix 03: Applecore, new routes for Naija pop, old routes for South African house, plus new music from Imarhan of "Imarhan" from *Imarhan*.
Still not much movement in the charts, discourse, or music news. Maybe the news-news is happening too quickly? Maybe this is just what January always feels like and I just forget?
That gives me a chance to spotlight a few different things this week.
Chuck Eddy has several posts I wanted to highlight (go subscribe!). There are two really lovely posts about his son who recently passed, a memorial remembrance and a piece from 1990: “We went to the zoo and tried to figure out what a ‘buffalo stance’ might be, but the buffalo just sat there.” Also be sure to check out his 2025 year in review. These year-end features always manage to dismantle conventional wisdom with a surprising amount of warmth and good faith.
Natalie Weiner suggests the term “third stream country,” after “third stream jazz,” to describe how “the growth of country/Americana/roots/folk in recent years has created more room for artists operating in the in-between,” something between country radio and festival Americana. I find the idea fascinating, and I like as many ways as possible to think about the in-betweeners. There’s a lot of in-between these days, and it’s good for critics to figure out how to talk about some of it coherently. (I usually go for an annoying neologism that no one will ever use.)
Plenty of people have already shared Eric Harvey’s comprehensive review of Bob Marley’s Legend; here’s one more. (I guess you can make this one of your four monthly reviews in Pitchfork’s farkakte new paywall system.)
The People’s Pop 2025 poll is in full swing and a lot of the songs that I surfaced early or nominated are doing well with the pollectorate. It gives me renewed energy going into a new year that the way I’ve been going about finding stuff has had some traction with others. (This may also extend to k.’s New Problems from 2001, which I championed after a Discogs dive for the upcoming 2001 album tournament, if enough people nominate it.) I’m pretty restless and flighty with my discovery, so I always really appreciate it when I either connect with people who have long championed things I’ve just stumbled on or when new people take to something I’ve shared with them.
Perhaps there will be a song like that this week! If so…wow.
1. Yael Naim: Wow
France-Israel
The name was familiar and I was surprised to read in Naim’s bio that she had a top ten hit in the American charts—in artist-bio-speak that usually means some niche chart than the Hot 100. So you can imagine my surprise when I checked and was whiplash timewarped back to 2008 with maybe thee Apple commercial smash hit (Applecore?) of the era, “New Soul,” which I don’t think I’ve knowingly heard since. This new one is annoyingly catchy in a way that I find more palatable (…wow!). Feels like it could have been another Apple commercial smash hit. Maybe not today, exactly, but definitely ten years ago.
2. Danpapa GTA: Ikeja (No Go Thief)
Nigeria
When Lokpo identifies a new direction in Naija pop that steers clear of the Amabeats pipeline, you’ve gotta follow it. Would it be crass to suggest that it would absolutely destroy in the 2026 equivalent of an Apple commercial? Let’s get it in season two of the hockey show or something.
3 . DJ Skaytah: Mass 2 (Welcome to Guadeloupe)
Guadeloupe
I have lots of gaps in my playlists at the beginning of the year—by March I’m usually running at least two and sometimes three mixes ahead— which means that I get to scramble productively for new music using charts, recommendations, lists of viral songs, and the still-functional (if eroding) Spotify genre-tracker that Glenn McDonald built, which I talked about more here. This is especially useful to find recent songs in the places in the world where everything is not currently frozen over. This one came from a shatta scan—DJ Skaytah transforms a literal Carnival street party into a figurative one, too.
4. Wizkid, Asake: Jogodo
Nigeria
I write a lot about being tired of the South Africa/Nigeria Amabeats superhighway but I have carved out an exception for one of its architects, Asake. This one sounds much more indebted to 3-step, despite not technically being 3-step formally. Hard to tell how close it is without the three beats spelled out, but it has the same soft build to the one.
5. Dj Smallz, ZinedinexSguche, 031CHOPPA f. Uncool MC: ZEP
South Africa
Had this in my amapiano holdover list until yet another gap in the mix appeared and I called it into service. For some reason I visualize this substrand of South African house/amapiano, at which 031CHOPPA excels, as a skeletal structure with added muscle, hard and spare but without any room for any other sound. It’s like the song is training for an action movie.
6. Muroki, Joe Kaptein: Popo
Kenya-New Zealand/New Zealand
7. Somadina: Fighting
Netherlands-Nigeria
Two cosmo-pop hybrids. The first is a lightly funky rocker, Kenya by way of New Zealand, and there is, appropriately, an untamed impala in the video. Not sure I’ve heard the exact combination of Somadina’s plain funk clave and frosted glass Afrobeats—sounds great.
8. Chinese American Bear: No No Yeah Yeah
China-US
Second lifetime mix appearance from a group I get recommended on streaming all the time but have never heard much chatter about in real life. Now this would sound good in an actual Apple commercial. (Ha, that’s how I described them the first time!)
9. Kwaku DMC, Hkmk, DRILL SZN: Done
Ghana
Ghanaian new music recommendations on Spotify seem pretty random. Artists that regularly get tens of thousands of views on their more popular videos wind up represented by songs that no one is actually listening to. Suits me fine—turns out I like this UK drill-inspired track more than a lot of other things on Kwaku DMC’s page—but I should probably click through to hear the rest of their work more often.
10. ano: ピカレスクヒーロー [Picaresque Hero]
Japan
Didn’t know whether to credit Jel or Ryo for this one but it turns out I also picked it out in my blindfold taste test this week. I’m not exactly light on ano recommendations! This is not metal as fuck, more like metal as felt (as in the fabric), given the puppets and bunny ears.
11. 單依純: 纯寐寐 [Shan Yichun: Chún mèi mèi]
China
Have featured Shan Yichun before, one of the few Chinese pop stars I seem not only to like but who is actually somewhat properly popular. This is a different version of one of her big songs from last year, but I might prefer this version, which tones down the post-hyper-pop with indie-anthem drums and, dare I say, would sound great in an Apple commercial.
12. WOKEUP, Orange: Cháy Máy
Vietnam
Vietnamese pop is firing on all cylinders—this isn’t even that good and I love it—but the videos still need a bit of work. Concept is good but I feel like they could have done more with dancing on a giant Xerox.
13. 桃子A1J, Diiton: 4to9
Vietnam-Taiwan/Taiwan
Wait, the visualizer for this one has a copier and office space imagery in it, too…huh.
14. BRIZZA, Mazzarri: 808’s & Gaitas
Mexico/Venezuela
At first thought this might be Latin American post-hyper-something from some slight warbles in the vocal, but it settles into something closer to flamenco-pop.
15. Imarhan: Ahitmanin
Algeria
Tom Ewing informs me in his 2026 rolling albums thread about a new album from Tuareg group Imarhan, who did well in the Name Is the Artist poll. “Imarhan” by Imarhan from the album Imarhan was a favorite song and the phrase had legs as an enduring poll meme. Their new album, which contains no self-titled material whatsoever, is fantastic, warm desert blues heavy on catchy group choruses.
16. Pitou: To Do What
Netherlands
How many times am I going to suggest something would sound good in an Apple commercial this week? This is the fifth one, right? This would need somewhat trippier visuals than your average Macbook spot, not unlike the charming cut and paste collage they put together for the video.
17. Mandy, Indiana: Cursive
France/UK
A band that I first heard via Ian Mathers, who nominated “Pinking Shears” for The Singles Jukebox amnesty week in 2023. They remain noisy and hard to pin down if you are reluctant to default to overused post-punk adjectives.
18. Parlor Greens: Eat Your Greens
US
God, I am a sucker for solid organ-driven rock music. Deceptively hard to do it well without sounding like background music, and maybe this will not overcome that hurdle for you, but it worked on me.
19. Sofia Manousaki: Ektos Topou Ke Hronou [2025]
Greece
Have still been skimming some country qualifiers for Eurovision and didn’t hear much that was too promising from Greece, but I’m comparing everything to Marina Satti, which is not fair to anyone else. This chanteuse-ish waltz, which was not in competition last year but is still a little Eurovision-y, blew everything I actually heard out of the water.
20. Flea f. Thom Yorke: Traffic Lights
US/UK
There is a forthcoming Flea jazz-pop album on Nonesuch, which made me wonder if he’s done anything like this before. It’s his debut solo album, mostly covers but a few originals, including this song that Thom Yorke features on and co-wrote. I would have been very excited about it as a teenager, like seeing that U.N.K.L.E. video for the first time, even though Yorke and the Radiohead Extended Universe has lost a lot of its luster and not only for political reasons.
My youngest has recently decided that they are really into Radiohead after hearing “No Surprises” in drum class, and now says things to me like “are you ready for some bonding?” when it’s time for us to listen for anything from Kid A that will hit like “No Surprises” did. (Nope. …More claret?) Parenting tip: maybe skip “Fitter Happier” on a mix for your eight-year-old.
21. Filippo Ansaldi, Simone Sims Longo: +1
Italy
And as long as we’re making jazz noises, let’s let the Italian professionals do some third-streaming(?) with minimalist horn figures staggering around until a buzzing groove (groovy buzz?) descends.
That’s it! Until next time, feel free to let me know what new songs should be finding their full potential in an Apple commercial.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from Yael Naim: Wow
Well I don't know about Apple unless it's the ones the snake's selling but Robyn's Sexistential sounds like a victory lap for a whole genre, and I've never particularly liked anything she's done before.
There's quite a bit on my playlist due to your diligence. And you're right that V-pop is just generically good right now. Maybe there's an economic difference, like protectionism in 1970's New Zealand (Vietnam only opened up in 1995).