New Music Friday: Stream projects from Nicki Minaj, Vayda, Car Seat Headrest, and more

The Barbz have really been put through their paces this year. Not only did a promised Nicki Minaj feature fail to appear on Drake's For All The Dogs, but Minaj's own blockbuster album has been pushed back not once but twice. Part of the delay on her first album since 2018's Queen was writer's block suffered during pregnancy. That's not to say Minaj has been quiet. She appeared alongside Ice Spice on the Barbie soundtrack collaboration, “Barbie World” and jumped on the remix of Sexyy Red's "Pound Town." That versatility is demonstrated on Pink Friday 2, which features Drake on a dancehall beat ("Needle") plus features from J. Cole, Future, and Lil Wayne. "Everybody," built around a sample of Junior Senior's "Move Your Feet," meanwhile, is purpose-built to take over TikTok but has a relentless energy that is hard to resist. — David Renshaw

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Like all the best HEALTH records, Rat Wars is a volatile stew of sounds — 42 minutes of barely controlled chaos across 12 tracks. A passive listen to the new album gives the impression of a spontaneous explosion of industrial rock. But examining the blast site further reveals other trace elements: Along with the project’s most obvious inspirations — Nine Inch Nails, A Place to Bury Strangers — there are layers of System Of A Down and John Carpenter here that produce striking textures. The result is a record that’s alternately terrifying and sublime, a white-knuckled tour through the best 24-hour night club in purgatory. — Raphael Helfand

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“I barely have any songs that reach two minutes,” Vayda acknowledged back in August. “And then I speed them up because I personally don’t have the attention span to listen to my song.” But like the rest of her discography, Forrest Gump suggests that great music can be measured in milliseconds. The scoffing deluge of “bait,” the shimmering delirium of “vogue,” the slipstream dash of “tweaker;” Vayda saunters and somersaults through tracks with imperturbable ease. Her fluttering flows pop off the tamped-down backdrop of self-produced slow jam “adele” and the BrentRambo-assisted spiral of “rash” with equal aplomb. You’ll be ready to hit replay even before Forrest Gump winds down. — Vivian Medithi

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The sound and aesthetic of Haunted Mound, a rap crew based in California, channel different strains of violent rap and repackages them for an audience raised on memes. Decked out in True Religions a la Chief Keef, the group's members are disciples of horrorcore's winking absurd tendencies, the noise-focused spinoff of Atlanta trap and Texas screw known as witchhouse, and of course, early Chicago drill. Out of all the Haunted Mound members, Hackle seems like the one most in on the joke: The cover of his 2022 mixtape Gunsmith is a deep-fried photo of the rapper hammering a rifle on an anvil. In the music he rapped incessantly about his "big ass guns," leaning into rap caricature without compromising the art as Lil B demonstrated was possible. Haunted Nation, Hackle's new project, sees him mostly in his blown-out comfort zone with grimdark beats and venomous threats hosted by the clinically depressed DJ Sorrow ("Get Sum," an experiment with New Orleans bounce, is exciting new territory). It won't win any new converts, but Haunted Nation is nothing if not committed to the bit. — Jordan Darville

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Jerskin Fendrix’s score for Poor Things, out in theaters today, is as wonderfully fresh and bizarre as the film itself. Inspired by the film’s naive but bold protagonist, Bella Baxter, Fendrix’s first score is equal parts endearing and demented, with a detuned core that makes it all the more playfully unnerving. Fendrix experiments with pipe organs, breath samples in synthesizers, and sparring moments of lusher strings. As Director Yorgos Lanthimos put it: “Music needs to be something different, it needs to add a layer, even if it’s contradicting – to enhance it in a way that's not really expected. Jerskin is extremely talented, and he did that wonderfully.”

This collaboration with The Favourite and The Lobster director is rendered only more impressive by the fact that the entire score was written before seeing any footage from the film, Fendrix building his sound on script and pre-production material alone. After shooting, Lanthimos preserved his vision completely and edited the film to match the music. It’s an almost unheard-of reversal of composer-director relations, but one that reflects the fearless creativity of both men, leaning into an unfamiliar but highly effective sonic disjunction that in this case, just feels like sweet (albeit mildly unsettling) serendipity. — Lila Dubois

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The best shows that I have ever seen at Brooklyn Steel have all been Car Seat Headrest shows. The first time, in 2018, during their "Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)" tour, I attended the first of two nights; I was so awed that I immediately bought tickets for the next evening. I only managed to catch one of their three-night Brooklyn residency shows at the same venue in March 2022, but they'd packed so much of the spectacle into the one night that I left feeling more than satisfied, buzzing with the afterglow of the performance. Faces From The Masquerade, a fresh release from the band that documents this string of shows in a collection of 13 live tracks, does well to capture their on-stage charisma and musicianship. Songs from 2020's Making a Door Less Open, a more experimental effort that saw the band stray away from the indie rock they are so beloved for, get a subtle overhaul and refresh for the live stage; perhaps public opinion would have been more favorable had the band been able to tour this album. Fan favorites and deep cuts are given the live performance love as well, with the strongest songs from CSH's back catalog, "Bodys," "1937 Skate Park," and "Fill In the Blank" cementing themselves as timeless classics. — Cady Siregar

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Back when the idea of a “female producer” was still considered a novel concept (ugh), Suzi Analogue and TOKiMONSTA decided to join forces as Analogue Monsta with their 2012 collaboration, Analogue Monsta: BOOM. Never formally released aside from a free download and a batch of limited-edition vinyl, the eclectic album should’ve been a hit amongst crate-diggers and IDM lovers. However, Young Art Records’ new re-release of this hypnotic melting pot of psychedelic soul, electro-R&B, and experimental hip-hop is finally giving it a well-deserved second chance. While BOOM isn’t unique in its lo-fi production or heavy sampling of ‘90s deep cuts; the record shines with its creation of lush, nostalgia-laden soundscapes, while simultaneously using lots of glitch and contemporary arrangements to prevent a revivalist copycat record. So while BOOM may be rooted in the past, it’s also an album that ultimately returns us to a much-brighter present, where Analogue and TOKiMONSTA have both finally been given their flowers as two trailblazing producers. — Sandra Song

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