10 Best Songs of the Week: The Cure, Bartees Strange, Tunde Adebimpe, Lauren Mayberry, and More

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10 Best Songs of the Week: The Cure, Bartees Strange, Tunde Adebimpe, Lauren Mayberry, and More 

Plus King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Ethel Cain, The Horrors, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks

Nov 01, 2024 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 36th Songs of the Week of 2024. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Marc Abbott, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humpries helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 25 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 10. 

Issue 73 is out now. It features Maya Hawke and Nilüfer Yanya on the two covers and can be bought from us directly here.

In recent weeks we posted interviews with Nada Surf, Ekko Astral, Miki Berenyi of Lush, Sophie Thatcher, and more. We also posted an article on the creation of Elliott Smith’s From a Basement on the Hill in honor of its 20th anniversary.

In the last week we reviewed some albums.

To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last week, we have picked the 10 best the last seven days had to offer, followed by some honorable mentions. Check out the full list below.

1. The Cure: “Endsong”

The Cure released a long-awaited new album, Songs of a Lost World, today on Fiction/Capitol. It’s the iconic band’s first studio album in 16 years. Only two pre-release singles preceded the album, so it was a no-brainer to include the album’s epic 10-minute album closer, the appropriately titled “Endsong,” on this week’s list.

Stream the album here and read our rave 9/10 review by Dom Gourlay, which we posted this morning, here.

Previously the band shared the album’s first single, “Alone,” which is was #1 on our Songs of the Week. Then they shared the album’s second single, “A Fragile Thing,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week.

The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith wrote and arranged all the songs on Songs of a Lost World. He produced and mixed the album with Paul Corkett. The Cure’s current lineup on the album is: Robert Smith (voice/guitar/6 string bass/keyboard), Simon Gallup (bass), Jason Cooper (drums/percussion), Roger O’Donnell (keyboard), and Reeves Gabrels (guitar). Songs of a Lost World was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales.

The album cover features “Bagatelle,” a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat, and was designed by longtime Cure collaborator Andy Vella (from a concept by Smith).

The Cure’s last studio album was 2008’s 4:13 Dream and Songs of a Lost World has long been in the works and teased for release several times over the years. In recent weeks the band have sent out postcards to fans to tease album, as well as updating their social media channels, launching a mysterious new website (www.songsofalost.world), and even putting up a flyer promoting the album in a pub in Crawley, the town where The Cure formed in 1978.

Since 4:13 Dream, the band have continued to tour. In 2021 Smith collaborated with the Scottish band CHVRCHES on their song “How Not to Drown.” In 2020 he collaborated with Gorillaz on the song “Strange Timez.” In 2019 The Cure were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Read our 40th anniversary appreciation article on The Cure’s 1982 album Pornography.

2. Bartees Strange: “Too Much”

Bartees Strange is releasing a new album, Horror, on February 14 via 4AD. On Halloween he shared its third single, “Too Much,” via a music video. Caity Arthur directed the video, which was filmed at a haunted house in Baltimore.

Strange had this to say about the song in a press release: “This is the sonic thesis of the album. I feel like if you like this you’ll love everything else. This record is about things that scare me. And this song is about that feeling of being overwhelmed by life. This song is about those feelings. Too much to hold, Heaven to touch.”

Strange first worked on the album with Yves Rothman and Lawrence Rothman, before finishing it with Jack Antonoff after he worked with Antonoff’s band Bleachers.

A press release says the album is about “facing your fears and becoming feared.”

The press release adds: “Strange was raised on fear. His family told scary stories to teach life lessons, and at an early age, he started watching scary movies to practice being strong. The world can be a terrifying place, and for a young, queer, Black person in rural America, that terror can be visceral. Horror is an album about facing those fears and growing to become someone to be feared.”

Strange further elaborates: “In a way I think I made this record to reach out to people who may feel afraid of things in their lives too. For me it’s love, locations, cosmic bad luck, or that feeling of doom that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember. I think that it’s easier to navigate the horrors and strangeness of life once you realize that everyone around you feels the same. This album is just me trying to connect. I’m trying to shrink the size of the world. I’m trying to feel close—so I’m less afraid.”

Horror includes “Lie 95,” a new song that Strange released in July. When the album was announced he shared its second single, “Sober,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

Horror is Strange’s third album and the follow-up to 2022’s Farm to Table and 2020’s Live Forever.

Strange first garnered attention for covering a string of The National tracks, including on Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, his EP of National covers released in 2020 on Brassland, a label run by members of the band. He was born in Ipswich, England, but grew up in Mustang, a largely the white and conservative rural town outside Oklahoma City, before launching his music career in Washington, D.C. In between he also worked in the Obama administration.

Read our interview with Strange on Live Forever.

3. Tunde Adebimpe: “Magnetic”

Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio has signed to Sub Pop and this week shared a new solo single, “Magnetic,” via a self-directed music video. He is also prepping his debut solo album for release in 2025.

Sub Pop’s co-founder Jonathan Poneman had this to say in a press release: “We heartily welcome Tunde Adebimpe to Sub Pop’s roster of artists. His inclusion makes the whole lot better—and a whole lot classier! We’ve waited 20-plus years for Sub Pop to earn the chance to be Tunde Adebimpe’s label.”

Adebimpe is also an actor, having appeared in this year’s blockbuster Twisters, as well as in Rachel Getting Married and the upcoming Disney+ show Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. As a solo musician he’s also collaborated with Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Run the Jewels.

After several years of inactivity, in September TV on the Radio resurfaced with plans to put out a 20th anniversary reissue of their debut album, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, as well as the announcement of their first shows in five years. The reissue includes five bonus tracks and in September they shared one of them, “Final Fantasy.” Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes (20th Anniversary Edition) is due out November 15 via Touch & Go. The band’s last album, Seeds, came out a decade ago in 2014.

We first interviewed TV on the Radio in Issue 5 of Under the Radar in 2003, in honor of their debut EP, Young Liars. That article isn’t online, but you can revisit our 2008 interview with the band.

4. Lauren Mayberry: “Crocodile Tears”

Lauren Mayberry, singer with Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES, previously announced her debut solo album, Vicious Creature, without sharing too many details about it. This week she confirmed those details and also released a new song from the album, “Crocodile Tears,” as well as announcing a 2025 North American tour. Vicious Creature will be out December 6 via Island. Check out the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the tour dates, here.

Mayberry worked with various producers on the album, including Greg Kurstin, Matthew Korma, Tobias Jesso Jr., Ethan Gruska, and Dan McDougall.

“So much of this process has been an exercise in empowering myself to listen to my own intuition—something I really trained myself out of,” Mayberry says in a press release. “That’s ultimately why you start making things—because you felt a feeling, and you wanted to articulate that somehow. I think it was important for me to relearn that kind of independence, and recognize what I bring to any table I choose to sit at.”

“Crocodile Tears” was written with Koma and Gruska. Mayberry says she wanted to adopt “a sort of character where I could really let go of the idea that I need to be ‘nice,’ because I think that holds so many women back in their lives. If I didn’t have to be seen as ‘nice,’ I would feel comfortable telling certain people to fuck off when they treat me like shit—on this record, and in these songs, I gett to do that.”

Mayberry’s debut solo single, “Are You Awake?,” was released in September 2024 and was one of our Songs of the Week. Then in October 2024 she shared her second solo single, “Shame,” which also made an appearance on our Songs of the Week list. In March she released her third solo single, “Change Shapes.” When the album was first announced in October she shared its next single, “Something in the Air,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. All of those songs are featured on Vicious Creature.

CHVRCHES are signed to Island in America and EMI in England. The band’s last album was 2021’s Screen Violence, which came out via Glassnote.

Mayberry was one of the artists on the cover of our 20th Anniversary Issue in which she was interviewed about Screen Violence. Buy the issue from us directly here.

CHVRCHES were on the cover of one of our print issues in 2015 and you can read the in-depth 8-page 5,600-word cover story feature on the band here. You can also read our bonus digital magazine Q&A with them here.

5. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: “Phantom Island”

This week, Melbourne-based psych-rock group King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard shared a new orchestral single, “Phantom Island,” and announced a U.S. tour where they will be backed by a different 28-piece orchestra in each city. They also announced a three-day camping residency in Colorado. Check out the tour dates here.

“Phantom Island” follows Flight b741, a new album King Gizzard released in August via the band’s own p(doom) label.

The band’s Stu Mackenzie had this to say about the new song in a press release: “Hello world. So our last album was 10 songs. Except we recorded 20 in that session. Here’s a track from the other set of 10. It’s even more maxxed out than the last one. There’s a whole fuckin’ orchestra on there. Hahahahahah! But for real, what a joy to be alive. A privilege to be making music for a living and to be here still after all these years. If you’ve been listening to Gizz for a long time, thank you. We love you so much. If you’re just tuning in, welcome to the cult.”

Conductor and music director Sarah Hicks will lead each orchestra. The camping residency will be at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, CO. These shows will be the band’s only U.S. concerts of 2025.

Flight b741 is the prolific band’s 26th album. It was first announced on their social media channels. Then they shared the album’s first single, “Le Risque,” via a music video. “Le Risque” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its second single, “Hog Calling Contest,” as well as a making of the album video entitled Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…. “Hog Calling Contest” also landed on Songs of the Week. “Field of Vision” was the final pre-release single from the album.

Last year the band released a new album, The Silver Cord, via KGLW. There were two versions of The Silver Cord, an extended one and a version with shorter tracks. The Silver Cord followed the elaborately titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, which also came out last year.

Summing up Flight b741, Mackenzie says: “The record is like a really fun weekend with your mates, you know? Like, proper fun.”