Razz Dazz Weekly is a playlist series featuring a selection of newly released standouts, recent discoveries, and old favorites.
- Nyron Higor "Som 24"
• "Som 24" is from Nyron Higor's self-titled January 2025 album, released by Far Out Recordings. (via Bandcamp Daily) - N NAO "Corps"
• "Corps" is taken from the album Nouveau Langage, released in January 2025 by Mothland. (via Bandcamp Daily) - Art d'Ecco "Serene Demon"
• "Serene Demon" is the title track from Art d'Ecco's February 2025 album, released by Paper Bag Records. (via Exclaim!) - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory "Afterlife"
• "Afterlife" is from Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory's self-titled February 2025 album, released by Jagjaguwar. - Frog Eyes "Television, a Ghost in My Head"
• "Television, a Ghost in My Head" is set to appear on Frog Eyes' forthcoming album, The Open Up, scheduled for release in March 2025 by Paper Bag Records. (via Exclaim!) - Ribbon Skirt "Wrong Planet"
• "Wrong Planet" is from Ribbon Skirt's upcoming album titled Bite Down, set for release in April 2025 via Mint Records. (via Exclaim!) - Skunk Motel "Sludge"
• "Sludge" was self-released as a single by Skunk Motel in February 2025. (via PunkNews.org) - Sex Mex "Slipping Away"
• "Slipping Away" was self-released on Sex Mex's February 2025 Whiny Crappy People EP. (via Henry Rollins) - Ghoulies "Shafted"
• "Shafted" is from Shafted By The Algorithm by Ghoulies, released in January 2025 by Erste Theke Tontraeger. (via Henry Rollins) - Fat White Family "Polygamy is Only for the Chief"
• "Work" is from Fat White Family's April 2024 album, Forgiveness is Yours, released via Domino Recording Company. - Buckley "Bass, Mids, Tops"
• "Bass, Mids, Tops" was released as a single in January 2025 by SPE:C Records. (via Bandcamp Daily) - Darama & Kush Arora "Rattle"
• "Rattle" is the title track from the three song collaborative EP of the same name, released in January 2025 by Darama & Kush Arora. (via Bandcamp Daily) - GnarlyJevy, 'Vante & That Honoroll KID "GWHF"
• "GWHF" was self-released by GnarlyJevy, 'Vante & That Honoroll KID in February 2025. - Noveliss & Hir-O "5 A.M. in Kyoto"
• "5 A.M. in Kyoto" is from Noveliss & Hir-O's self-released June 2024 album, Cyberpunk Rhapsody. - Kendrick Lamar feat. SZA "All the Stars"
• "All the Stars" was released in January 2018 via Top Dawg, Aftermath & Interscope as the lead single from the Black Panther soundtrack.
Crouched atop the hood of a GNX, with a spotlight raining down on him while a record 133.5 million people watched live across the world, Kendrick Lamar opened his Super Bowl Halftime performance with an introductory statement, closed by the words, "You picked the right time, but the wrong guy." I'll be honest, my eagerness to watch the performance largely revolved around not whether Kendrick would further escalate his shots at Drake, but how he'd do so.
Samuel L. Jackson's "Uncle Sam" appeared throughout the performance, attempting to bark orders and guide the set. A few cuts after commenting on its leanings as "too loud, too reckless, too ghetto," it was the song that followed (maybe presented to right the "ghetto" wrong and unite a crowd with its commercial appeal) which moved me the most.
"...Tell me what you gon' do to me
Confrontation ain't nothin' new to me
You can bring a bullet, bring a morgue, bring a sword
But you can't bring the truth to me
Punk you and all your expectations
I don't even want your congratulations
I recognize your false confidence, promises in your conversation
I hate those that feel entitled
Look at me crazy 'cause I ain't invite you
Oh, you important?
You the moral to the story, you endorsing?
I don't even like you
Corrupt a man's heart with a gift
That's how you find out who you dealin' with
A small percentage, who I'm building with I want the credit if I'm losing or I'm winning
On my mama..."
When hearing "All the Stars" ring loud and clear from the TV, and in this particular context, I was moved by the song in a way I had never been to this point. Could Kendrick have come out and said something blunt and politically motivated that would have captured the news cycle for a few days? Sure. But is that him? Is that what he does? As "All the Stars" peaked, Uncle Sam re-appeared, celebrating the song, "That's what America wants; nice and calm," showing as little care for any of its lyrical messaging as much of the audience likely did. The song sounds good. People want hits at these events and with over two billion Spotify streams, "All the Stars" is undoubtably just that. But what it said to me was more. Amid everything happening, Kendrick took to the mic to communicate that when standing in the face of corruption, character still matters no matter how little it matters to them. Undoubtably, the provocation of thoughtful reflection is unlikely to be the right weapon for the fight we’re currently in, but asking anything more than that is overlooking Kendrick's role as poet. Back to the performance where, then, just as things appeared to return to a copacetic balance, the set erupted into "Not Like Us," marking the point of "All the Stars" with an exclamation point. While, of course, this played to the Drake hater nation (sidebar: my favorite Bluesky post after the show said "Drake is the all-time biggest loser of a rap feud and that includes people who have gotten shot and died as a result of rap feuds"), it also spoke to the separation that was visually depicted earlier in the set by the divided flag. This performance wasn't for them. It never was and they were never meant to understand any of it, because they're constitutionally incapable of doing so in the first place. It was for us.