There's not a lot of things I like about myself
2025 Mix 1: Nelly Furtado gets into Brazilian funk, Bb trickz gets in a funk, Senegal gets funky (synths), and Bandcampers get funky (smelling).
What sort of year will it be? A terminal bummer? Better than expected? Will we muddle through somehow? All of these questions and more will be addressed, obliquely, over the course of what I’d guess are 45+ mixes of new music and the writing contained in the general vicinity thereof.
The good news is my first dip into my playlists after a month off was auspicious — I easily put together two mixes of new music, with the slight cheat of allowing in anything I missed in December on year of impact grounds. First impressions: South Africa/Afrohouse (amapiano, gqom, 3step, etc.) and Brazil/funk show no signs of slowing down and already have their own holdover lists, as expected. I’m pleasantly surprised that they are joined by a Latin America/reggaeton holdover list, and unpleasantly surprised that I’ve had to downgrade dembow to an occasional genre dive on Every Noise or YouTube.
We’ll see what the year holds for ideas. I had a few good ones last year, I think. But generally I need to give myself over to the cosmic whatsit. I’ve gotten a tad woo-woo about the portentous significance of these mixes, especially after my sourly on-the-nose post-election mix, which was sequenced, written, and titled the weekend prior. So it may be time to just let the music divine the future for me without overthinking it. Beats tea leaves and tarot, anyway, not least because anyone else can read it, too, no mystical certifications necessary.
A bit of admin before getting started: There’s a new playlist, so subscribe if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ll update weekly with the newest tracks on top, so that if you play from the beginning you’ll hear the latest mix. I’m going to look into cross-posting to other streamers if it’s easy enough to do.1 For bands on Bandcamp whose only YouTube link is a “topic” or automatically generated video, I’ll defer to Bandcamp. And finally, I’m going to try to start listing countries of origin for every song. This will undoubtedly increase some factual errors in the email draft, but I’ll always go back and edit for accuracy and/or posterity.
OK, music!
Previous 2025 Mixes
1. Nelly Furtado: Corazón (DJ Arana Remix)
Canada/Brazil
Let’s drag Nelly Furtado’s underrated (including by me) album from last year into the new year, shall we? I did hear 7 last year and almost put the original “Corazón” on a mix, but I’m glad I waited until she dropped the canniest-to-date mainstream pop collaboration with a Brazilian funk star. Why there aren’t hundreds of sanctioned funk remixes like this is a bit of a mystery—my guess is the first impulse for non-Brazilian artists is to foolishly attempt to crack the funk formula themselves (so far this has never worked), and the second impulse is to collaborate with once-removed crossover stars who are too big to succeed (apologies to Anitta, whose Funk Generation had at least two things wrong with that title). But this is a perfect match, Nelly generously giving her vocals over to various unsavory mutations and DJ Arana treating the sample like it’s hot.
2. Bb trickz: I Wonder
Spain
In which Bb trickz reveals herself to be a void-inside type; she seems to be another one of our lucky (for art) but gloomy (for vibes) era’s geniuses with low self-esteem. She mumbles dejectedly against a desolate twang & clatter with a faint Latin dance pulse, reminding you that she’s better than you, and she doesn’t even like herself, so what does that make you?
3. Dialébène: K.D.S
Senegal
Mbalax heatseeker via LokpoLokpo, a firework to get out of the funk (Brazilian genre) and the funk (mood). Speaking of funk (no, the other other one), I love how those Commodores synths crawl around in the bass while the rhythms rocket past “poly-” and hit “fractal” in this hit from a comedian turned musician, or something. I’m much more likely to sort out the backstory in TikTok snippets than to successfully work out what’s going on in the percussion, that’s for sure.
4. Emkal f. GIMS, Lola Indigo: Ego
France, Spain
French producer + French singer + Spanish pop star Lola Indigo, last seen in 2023 in novelty song “Tiki Tiki”, which basically predicted the Spanish-language pop I’d fall for the following year (though very little of that was from Spain, unless Bb trickz was involved). Although no non-Brazilians have cracked the Brazilian funk code, it seems like plenty of people have figured out Afrobeats. It just travels better, I guess.
5. ENILA: Focus on Me
UK
Quaintly futurist R&B from a London artist who lucked into a satisfyingly crunchy mecha-beat that’s a little too brittle to code as millennial nostalgia-mining.
6. Eek-A-Mouse: Buju Banton
Jamaica
Some sorta dnb track with Eek-A-Mouse on top—on a quick search, I can’t figure out the nature of his collaboration here (a new song? a remix of an older vocal?). But it sounds good!
7. Gleb: -10,000 Aura
Slovakia
Goofy Slovakian rap that charmed its way through my unforgiving European/Eastern European hip-hop filter. I have the filter set to “boom bap,” so novelty electrofunk has a better chance of reaching me.
8. El Malilla, Yeyo, Ezya: Prédente
Mexico
Maybe it’s just me and I needed a few years to acclimate back into reggaeton after finding it oppressively samey in the back half of the ‘10s, but I dunno, there seems to be a lot more stylistic variation and silliness in the stuff that’s breaking through to me from my playlists. Don’t take my word for it— I live a stubbornly dilettantish existence—but it seems like it’s getting better.
9. Bizarrap, Luck Ra: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 61
Argentina
An important yearly rite of passage: the first Bzrp session of the year! These are sometimes prophetic: last year it was Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko’s modal rap moves pointing to the more turgid but also more popular FloyyMenor takeover. This year it’s Argentine rapper Luck Ra doing a speed-run through various trendy Latin American pop styles with a surprising Technicolor brightness.
10. Akriti Kakar, DAWgeek: Matthe Te Chamkan
India
Had a bit of an “oh my god he admit it” reaction to a producer calling themselves DAWgeek, but other than that, this is fun Indian pop with a catchy lopsided chorus (in 12 measures instead of 16).
11. Bamby, Maureen: Chic
France/Martinique
The first in a Francophone pop block. Effervescent, if filthy, dancehall from two previously featured artists, courtesy what will now be a regular genre scan of the scene to help keep up.
12. Lijay, Mafio House: Burn Up
Martinique/Guadeloupe
Haven’t yet heard anything in my Caribbean travels with this sort of heavy vocal processing, but I’m still relatively new to following along without being on a year-or-more lag.
13. Titi: Jëlël
Senegal
Another mbalax track with percussion skittering through in ways I find exhilarating and hard to hold on to. But on this one, the real draw is Titi’s vocal, which frequently veers into a sustained Shakira-esque honk.
14. Junior, DJ Saurier: Oui Chef!
France/Réunion
Infectious call and response French rap.
15. Aïcha Koné f. Ousemane Bongo: Nopalou Leen
Senegal
Final track in the Francophone pop suite — more mbalax, from Aicha Kone, who as far as I can tell has no relation to the ‘80s Ivorian star by the same name (the younger Kone goes by “Aicha Kone Music” on streaming to differentiate).
16. Magikid, Lagbaja, Poco Lee: Gbemidebe
Nigeria
17. Billion Solar, Dj Yk Mule: Jo
Nigeria
Two from Nigeria, both marked as cruise in the genre tags but color me skeptical: the first some driving and pleasingly low-rent, rough-around-the-edges Afrobeats, then a surprisingly smooth offering from cruise producer Dj Yk Mule.
18. Kamo_ww, Dj Awakening, DJY Potsow: YihYih (Thiba)
South Africa
Last year saw amapiano diva Zee Nxumalo commanding gqom beats (on “Drip Juluka”), and now here’s South African fashion influencer, Kamo_ww, on a hard-edged track that sounds more like gqom than amapiano to me, though I’ll need to do a more thorough perusal of South African subgenres, and maybe sub-subgenres, before making any bolder pronouncements. (More on that next week.)
19. DJ Joao da Inestan, Dj Leo Lg, MC Xangai: Ela me bloqueou em tudo
Brazil
20. DJ DYLANFK, WXCHSXN: Motagem Lunar Diamante - Slowed
Brazil
Two Brazilian funk selections for the week out of the 40(!) I shortlisted. It really is a fairly arbitrary process at this point, picking things for small details I like or a novelty that draws my attention. In the first one, I like the way the plaintive vocal line looping throughout interacts with the sung hook; it sounds like Menor Teteu (fka MC Teteu) and might be a sample of him that I’m not recognizing. In the second one, I’m impressed that they pulled off a TikTok speed-shifting (sped-up vs. slowed-down) trick that rarely works in funk. There are three versions, and the middle “slowed down version” is the Goldilocks compromise between the less interesting original and the too-cold “ultra slowed” version.
21. Ghoulies: Shafted
Australia
22. Girl Pusher: Music Bidness
US
Two bits of Bandcamp funk, “funk” here being used in the unwashed gym socks sense. Both qualify as my first two shortlisted albums from 2025—will try to link to Bandcamp whenever that happens. The first group, Ghoulies, is hyperactive Australian synth-squeal punk, and the second, GIRL PUSHER, is screamy bedroom pop from L.A.
23. Phùng Khán Linh f. Thành Luke: EM ĐAU
Vietnam
In a good sign of playlist calibration, the one Vietnamese song I pulled from my genre machine spot check showed up in the New Music Vietnam list, an expansive indie pop ballad.
24. AKKOGORILLA: Too Late
Japan
Japanese rap that’s equally noisy and lush, sounds like three different songs playing simultaneously on top of each other, one of which includes a saxophone.
25. Keep Shelly in Athens: My Way
Greece
Have been trying to find the right track to feature from Greek indie duo Keep Shelly in Athens for about a year now based on the name alone, never finding something that quite fit. This one finally clicked, though, some nice goth-pop to commence the mix wind-down.
26. Elodie Bounty, Renato Braz: Missal para Barrios Mangoré
Brazil
I’ll end things with the oldest track on the mix, Brazilian acoustic folk-pop that sounds like it could be much older than its release date (ancient times—November 29, 2024).
***
That’s it! Until next time, let me know what this mix is telling you about the future, especially if you can understand a language other than English.
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from Bb trickz: “I Wonder”
Not going to get into the weeds of streaming comparisons, except to say that I think that streaming in its current incarnation is bad for artists at a foundational level, not just at a comparative level between platforms. That is, there are no “good” streaming platforms, or even meaningfully better ones. You should either use it or you shouldn’t. Streaming is also incredible for music listeners, and is currently essential for global discovery. (By the definition I’m using—immediate, un-downloaded, frictionless access to as much music as possible— YouTube counts as a “streamer.”) My sense is that even the brute capitalist differences between the major platforms are minor even if some of the shitheads who run these companies are quieter than the other shitheads.