Weekend Playlist: Snail Mail returns to form, Arca releases two exhilarating new tracks, plus more music you need to hear

Keeping up with new music releases can be tough. Your Weekend Playlist offers a brief introduction to a broad range of the most interesting new tracks and emerging artists.

This week’s playlist features new music from Snail Mail, Arca, Terrace Martin, Megan Thee Stallion, Connan Mockasin and Charli XCX.

Click here for the Spotify playlist.

Snail Mail: Ben Franklin

In the music video for “Ben Franklin,” Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan slinks around a suburban house, confined but bursting with infectious energy and palpable angst. “I’ve got the devil in me,” the 22-year-old rasps, making casual reference to a recent stint in rehab as she surveys the damage caused by the latest heartbreak.

Arriving three years after her beloved debut project, “Lush,” Snail Mail’s highly-anticipated sophomore album, “Valentine,” does not disappoint: the 32-minute project brims with stark, confessional lyrics, big guitar hooks, and Jordan’s understated charisma.

“(I’m exposing) a lot of my inner feelings in a public way, which is pretty gnarly,” she told Exclaim’s Kaelen Bell. “Like, it does have negative effects. But at the same time, I do think it’s worth it for the integrity of the work.”

Arca: Prada/ Rakata

Warning: Some readers may find the following video disturbing.

Make sure you hold onto something when you press play on the new Arca.

The boundary-shattering Venezuelan producer and electronic deconstructionalist has released two exhilarating new tracks from her upcoming album, a sequel to last year’s “Kick.” On “Prada” and “Rakata,” Arca fuses colossal synths with hulking, reggaeton beats and digitally mangled vocals, resulting in an alchemy that sounds both otherworldly and profoundly human.

Like her fellow pop-futurist, the late SOPHIE, Arca’s music feels like a rejection of a world in which technology exists for the service of spacefaring billionaires and corporate “metaverse” overlords —instead, it exists as a means to interrogate modes of being and transcend the limits of art. In her words, the songs are about “transness and non-binary modes of relating,” and “about the futurity of desire and love.”

Terrace Martin: Leave Us Be

You may not be familiar with the name Terrace Martin, but his presence looms large within the world of modern hip hop. Over the past couple of decades, as a producer and multi-instrumentalist, he’s worked with heavy hitters like Snoop Dogg, The Game, Busta Rhymes and YG. But perhaps most significantly, Martin played a key role in shaping the sound of Kendrick Lamar’s masterful opus, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” laying down the avant-garde saxophone and keyboard parts that in many ways defined the album.

On Friday, Martin released “Drones,” a new solo LP featuring collaborations with Kendrick Lamar, Snoop and many others. On the soulful lead single, “Leave Us Be,” Martin’s pared down vocals are wrapped in warm guitars, bouncy horns, and a funky rhythm section. It’s a simple but tasteful track, one that suggests Martin is ready to take centre stage.

Megan Thee Stallion: Tuned In Freestyle

Warning: Explicit content

It takes Megan Thee Stallion just over two minutes to reaffirm her dominance as an MC and her position at the top of the hip hop world on“Tuned In Freestyle,” the opening track on “Something for Thee Hotties,” a new compilation of YouTube freestyles and previously unreleased loosies.

Co-produced by Southern hip hop legend Juicy J, the track’s old-school 808s and frantic pace sets the tone for the rest of the mixtape — a playful but pristine tour de force.

Connan Mockasin: Flipping Poles

The lead single from Connan Mockasin’s new album, “Jassbusters Two,” sounds like a song you might hear at the sputtering end of a house party — a hazy and languid comedown of bleary vocals and meandering guitar parts.

Of course, this rough-around-the-edges approach to songwriting and recording is a big part of the Mockasin’s appeal. Located somewhere between the softer iterations of Velvet Underground and Mac DeMarco, “Flipping Poles” is as seductive as drifting off to sleep on a well-worn couch in the wee hours of the night.

Bonus Track

Charli XCX feat. Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek: New Shapes

“New Shapes” is the newest power-pop single off of Charli’s upcoming album, “Crash,” which drops March 18, 2022. Warning: This song may entice you to dance through a wall.