Erykah Badu looks on during a news conference before performing at Lilith Fair in West Vancouver, B.C., on July 1, 2010.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
R&B
Somebody
Rochelle Jordan, from her self-released album P R E S S U R E; streaming here
Snatching the melancholy-futuristic-made-in-T-Dot R&B crown from Drake, Toronto's Rochelle Jordan coasts on a breezy stream of hi-hats from producer KLSH, layering harmonized vocal track upon harmonized vocal track until you're deliriously, happily dizzy.
INDIE
All Tangled Up
Woodsman, from their forthcoming unnamed album; streaming here
Brooklyn-by-way-of-Denver rockers Woodsman commemorated the start of their latest tour by releasing this beatific one-chord instrumental jam. It's like a train ride through bucolic countryside, with the engine chugging away almost imperceptibly somewhere down below.
DANCE
See Thru To U
Flying Lotus and Erykah Badu, from Flying Lotus's forthcoming Until the Quiet Comes (Warp Records); streaming here
Come for the air of wind-tossed mystery that accompanies Erykah Badu like a halo; stay for Flying Lotus's relentless stretching of electronic music's boundaries, as he borrows liberally from spiritual jazz and ambient music to make a 21st-century raga from Mars.
PUNK
Kill The DJ
Green Day, from their forthcoming ¡Uno! (Reprise); streaming here
Unlike Morrissey's misunderstood "hang the DJ" lyric, this time Billie Joe Armstrong's devilishly hummable call to arms really is rock's version of a political attack ad. He's got my vote; if you tolerate deadmau5, your children will be next.
VIDEO
The House That Heaven Built
Japandroids, from Celebration Rock; streaming here
Who doesn't love a tour diary video full of hair-whipping, Jameson-shooting, boat-driving shenanigans? Director Jim Larson's black-and-white clip turns the song's fun dial – which is already cranked beyond reasonable limits – up to 11 and busts the knob off.