Add to playlist: Haute & Freddy’s 80s-style synth-pop revival and the best new tracks of the week | music

from Los Angeles
Recommend if you like Erase, chapel roan, jade
the next Their debut album, Big Disgrace, will be released on March 13

Just when you think pop music is finally starting to move away from the heavy ’80s, an exciting new chapter comes along to say, “Nope!” With shades of Erasure and a healthy dose of theater kid energy, Haute & Freddy are the Regency-style nerds sending a jolt through TikTok. Their latest single “Dance the Pain Away” is the first real hit of the year, a dazzling melancholic pop production that blasts through the January blues, puts a drink in your hand and drags you to the dance floor.

Los Angeles-based duo Michelle Paz and Lance Shipp know their way around classic pop style. Between them they’ve co-written for Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears and Calvin Harris, but writing for established vanilla acts has pushed their work to the other end of the spectrum. They prefer extremes: orchestras playing, stadium drums thundering, lyrics blaring wildly in every direction.

It may sound like they’ve been thrifting every era since the 1700s, but their sound is unmistakably mid-’80s Britain, full of the ghosts of the West End Girls’ wavy synths, Smalltown Boy’s jagged bass, and Erasure’s knack for soaring crescendos. However, none of their seven singles so far sound like a rip-off: rather a series of love letters. You have to give them up He could Be the brand team’s meticulously crafted answer to Chappell Roan, right down to Elizabeth I’s eyebrows. But there are some things you can’t fake: Hearing these songs is just as sexy as the raunchy visuals you can see. Kate Solomon

The best new songs of the week

Wendy Eisenberg – The Meaning of Business
Curious, precise and compassionate, the New York experimental guitarist strikes new territory: upright country beauty, where jubilant violin meets Jason Molina-ish flashes of darkness as they contemplate the impermanence of identity. L.S

Remember sports – it doesn’t matter
For anyone who misses the grittier side of Waxahatchee—or wants more of what they did with the Snocaps—this Philly band crafts melancholic, utterly joyful burners designed to tickle your indie rock pleasure centers. L.S

Asaki x Wizkid – Escolodo
Two of the biggest stars in African pop have reunited on a new EP, and Iskolodo is one of the standouts: a subtle blend of classic Afrobeat, jazzy piano, amapiano bass, ghostly salsa samples and gentle melodic chatter from the duo. BPT

Charlotte Blanc – Crepe Blue
Blank is one of the best singers in British dance. Her Chemical Fashions were an underrated gem in 2025. Her debut single of the year was another winner, countering emotional blackmail with blistering garage speed. BPT

James Welsh – frets
Producer FKA Ocelot — a remixer of everyone from Rob Zombie to Britney — turns to his name for a sharp, unusual electronic record about grief: searing, tingling, and unexpectedly seething. L.S

Durand Jones and Indicators – Let’s take our time
As always, Jones and his bandmates sound as if they’ve entered through a portal of ’70s wood-paneled symphonic soul, and in their new portal Aaron Fraser sings of similar old-school courtship rituals in a sweet, delicate voice. BPT

Joshua Chikwemiya Crampton – Chowanchanya ~Golby Final~
Mixing staccato distortion and scratchy distortion, Crampton’s guitar tone – last heard in his popular brother duo Los Thuthanaka – is so distinctive you can tune it out to him playing in the first seconds. (Only available on Bandcamp.) BPT

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