It's a Long Way to the Top

This week's Freshly Spilt Milk playlist includes Prefuse 73, Aphex Twin, tUnE-yArDs' bassist, the Lonely Lonely Knights and an AC/DC cover.

This week's Freshly Spilt Milk playlist includes Prefuse 73, Aphex Twin, tUnE-yArDs' bassist, the Lonely Lonely Knights and an AC/DC cover. And two bonus mixtapes, one of Nigerian funk and one by Cut Copy.

1. “Prime Meridian Narcissism” - Prefuse 73: More beautifully spare, richly textured techno from his Every Color of Darkness, which dropped last week.

2. “Serge Fenix Rendered 2” - Apex Twin: The first Aphex Twin release in a decade. Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-2008 is due out August 21. 

3. “Cracks” - Cold Beat: San Francisco’s Cold Beat starts “Cracks” true to the band’s name, but once the song gets going, it picks up some convincingly hairy racket to test that cool, clear beat. The band’s new album, Into the Air, is due out September 4.

4. “Get Things Done” - Little Boots: The big, roaring bass keeps pushing this cool disco track moving, letting Little Boots coo the lyrics. The new album, Working Girl, is out now.

5. “Lady La De Da” - Jessie Jones: Droning psychedelic rock with Jones adding her own touch of twang through the verse before presiding over the neb-tribal bridge. From her self-titled album, due out July 24. 

6. “Love” - Joe Kile: A beautifully frail track that slow accumulates psychedelic detritus but thankfully, not assurance. From Miles of Smiles, the currently unreleased album by New Orleanian Joe Kile. 

7. “(I’ve Got the) Sanctioned Blues” - Ultimate Painting: Jack Cooper and James Hoare are Ultimate Painting, and this track from the upcoming Green Lanes (due out August 7) sounds like they’ve been listening to late Velvet Underground and early Yo La Tengo.

8. “Fool Fool Fool” - The Lonely Lonely Knights: A raw, rocking take on New Orleans R&B and blues from The Lonely Lonely Knights’ self-titled debut album, out now.

9. “Trudy” - Swirlies: Swirlies have never given up the shoegazing fuzz storm, that it shows up most clearly on the chorus of this track from the upcoming tiny reissue of the band’s 1993 album, Blondertongue Audiobaton. 

10. “The Curse” - Shelf Life: Shelf Life’s scruffy, lo-fi rock has enough emotional content that its seemingly casual quality never feels like an evasion. Everyone Make Happy will be out September 18.

11. “Hold Me Closer” - Yuck: This beautiful ball of grungy pop fuzz is the first track from Yuck’s third album—as of yet unnamed—due out next year.

12. “Why Wait?” - Shopping: The East London band’s sound recalls the aggressively angular, danceable, post-punk rock of all the bands that came out on Rough Trade Records in the late 1970s. This is the first release from Why Choose, their second album, due out October 2.

13. “It’s Time for Fun” - Goat: Scandinavian dance rock that will be released in the US on Sub Pop Records August 7.

14. “Mister Divine” - Naytronix: My favorite track on this week’s mix comes from Nate Brenner, who plays bass with tUnE-yArDs. It’s electronic dance pop that’s more pop than dance, but the title cut of Brenner’s new album, which will be out October 16.

15. “Minds Eye” - The Real DMT: Indie hip-hop from New York (the state not the city) with a classic, ’70s wah-wah funk vibe.

16. “Revolution” (Hardkiss Brothers Mix) - Hardkiss: Revolution is the last track producer Scott Hardkiss made before he died in 2014. On the new Revolution EP, his brothers each do a remix, but my favorite is the one they did together. 

17. “Departure” - BXTR: The electronic soundtrack to your slightly anxious walk home from public transit, when you imagine how you’d look if this was a movie, and wonder if you heard steps behind you a minute ago.

18. “Changes” - Synkro: The British producer drastically dials down the energy on this cool-as-in-chilly electronic track that slowly grows legs through stabs of sound that slowly coalesce into something like a groove. From his first album, Change, due out September 18.

19. “It’s a Long Way to the Top” - Susanna: A friend suggested it will be a very long way for the Norwegian singer Susanna, here covering AC/DC as if she has never heard the band or rock ’n’ roll. This track is from her 2005 album of covers by Kiss, Prince, Joy Division, and more, Melody Mountain, out July 24 on vinyl.

20. “Tracers” - Painted Palms: ’80s synth pop lives on this track from Horizons, Painted Palms’ second album, due out September 4.

21. “Hold Up” - BeazyTymes: This track sounds like it was made for festival nights in its relentlessness and constant introduction of new, cool sounds. And its basic throb won’t confuse anybody.

22. “Beast” - Kronic, Lil Jon & Señor Roar: There’s nothing to say. What happens when in your face meets in your face meets in your face?

Bonus Mixes

Teju Cole’s “One Night in Lasgidi,” mixed by Chief Boima: Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole selected the songs to recreate a night in the clubs in Lagos. Chief Boima did the mix.

“Forest Through the Trees” - Cut Copy: A cool, free mixtape released to coincide with Cut Copy’s current DJ set tour of America.