This week in dance music: Alesso was announced the performer for the L.A. Galaxy’s 2024 season home opener against Inter Miami this Sunday (Feb.25), and Daft Punk took us back two decades with a one-time only livestream of their 2003 film Interstella 5555, in honor of Daft Punk Day.
And, of course, we’ve got new music too. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
Ariana Grande, “yes, and?” (The Blessed Madonna’s Godsquad Remix)
The Blessed Madonna has an esteemed pedigree when it comes to remixing our apex pop queens, with her 2020 Club Future Nostalgia megamix of Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia album existing in a rare and rave-y Venn diagram of prestige underground, pop perfection and absolute fun. So the producer is a perfect fit to edit Ariana’s Grande’s “yes, and?” — itself frothy dance fare that’s now in its fifth week on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. The Blessed Madonna initially simplifies the production before turning the dial up on the track’s string section, ramping up into all-out disco bliss (and giving us more of a good thing, by extending the track by a full minute and a half).
Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, “Skip”
Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello — two thirds of the holy trinity Swedish House Mafia — take us straight to the ’90s rave of our minds with “Skip,” their tight, urgent take on tech house with an acid-edge that gives serious “Hey Boy Hey Girl”-era Chemical Brothers. The track is the latest from the pair, who released “O OK?” with PARISI last spring, and comes ahead of Angello’s solo headlining U.S. tour that launches on Mar. 29 in Boston and will itself then skip across the country for Coachella. Swedish House Mafia is also playing summer festivals including Tomorrowland and a residency at Ushuaïa Ibiza.
2hollis, “light”
Cakes Da Kill & Dawn Richard, “Do Dat Baby”
New York star Cakes da Killa links with the ever-sublime Dawn Richard for the simmering “Do Dat Baby.” The track layers up loads of hand percussion with R&B-oriented keys, Cakes’ rapid-fire flow and Richard’s velvet voice for an effortlessly cool dancefloor jam with sex appeal. The song comes from Cakes’ forthcoming album Black Sheep, out Mar. 22 via Tokimonsta’s Young Art label.
Omar Souleyman, “Rahat Al Chant Ymme”
Long specializing in dabke — the music that accompanies the traditional folk dance of the same name rooted in the Levant region — Omar Souleyman again crosses that sound with rave-ier impulses on the joyfully high-octane dance jam “Rahat Al Chant Ymme.” Out via Mad Decent, the track is the lead single from Souleyman’s forthcoming album Erbil, coming Mar. 29. The project is the wedding singer turned international star’s tenth studio LP and is all about Erbil, Iraq, the city the Syrian artist now dwells in and which, a press release says, “offered solace and embraced Souleyman during recent uneasy times.”
