Mura Masa, Sofi Tukker, Yaeji, Mau P & More

This week in dance music: Chase & Status scored their first UK No. 1 with their recently released Stormzy collaboration “Backbone”, the Tim Bergling Foundation announced an auction of clothing, music equipment and other memorabilia belonging to the late producer Avicii, the team behind Ibiza’s Hï and Ushuaïa pulled off a pretty outlandish PR stunt to reveal that their new club is coming next year, we spoke to Sofi Tukker about croissants at the release of their new album, DJ Snake distanced himself from Lil Jon’s critically acclaimed performance of “Turn Down For What” at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the video for Swedish House Mafia’s “Don’t You Worry Child” has hit a billion views on Spotify, Chris Lake and Vintage Culture have been announced as headliners for Costa Rica’s Ocasa Festival early next year, we delve deep into the business of touring travel logistics (and why DJs always want to stay in the quietest hotels), and Outkast sued electronic act ATLiens over they gave themselves the same name as the classic 1996 album from hip-hop legends.

And as always, it all comes back to the music. Here are the best new dance tracks of the week.

Wall Masa, Turn 1

English producer Mura Masa is back with his fourth studio album Turn 1which — with its club focus, no-f–ks attitude and orange-and-red take on Charli XCX’s season-defining chartreuse — could be seen as a counterpoint to Little Brother. Songs about drug use (“I don’t do drugs, but with you I do,” Daniela Lalita proclaims, guesting on the previously released single “Drugs”), sex (with a female voice purring in French on the otherwise sharp “SXC”) and good old make-out (“We Are Making Out”) lend the project a cheerfully messy YA vibe, though the production is adult throughout, often lush, occasionally soaring and just plain cool. The project marks the first release on Mura Masa’s own Pond Recordings.

“It feels very different releasing a record this time around, being independent gives so much more control and connection to the work,” the artist born Alexander Crossan wrote on Instagram. “I wanted to make something without any fuss, no cynical music industry narrative, no manipulative backstory. Just music that I think is truly amazing and that people can rally around. I can’t wait for you to hear it. My love to everyone who worked with me on this, and especially my love to everyone who listens and connects with it.”

Sofi Tukker, Bread

Sophie Hawley Weld and Tucker Halpern recently told us that the concept of their new album, Breadis both simple — the title is an acronym for “be really energetic and dance” — and profound, with the title representing ideas about indulging in pleasure with abandon and experiencing nourishing abundance. The visual aesthetic the pair have created around the world reflects these themes, most notably in the video for “Woof,” which sees the duo and special guest Kah-Lo (who eats up her guest verse) ride around New York City on a double-decker bus while partaking in many forms of pleasure, from massages to dancing to kissing a puppy. The entire 10-track album, out on Ultra Records, contains the same kind of exuberance and style, making Bread highly recommended to devour.

Yaeji, “booboo”

Yaeji says she created her latest track after a period of deep introspection, during which the producer discovered — like so many of us — that after a lot of soul-searching, it actually feels good to just dance hard. Debuted during her recent Boiler Room set in New York, “Booboo” is spare, tough and funky, finding the producer slowly turning up the dial on a buzzsaw bassline, adding kick drum stabs, then switching it all off to sample her own 2017 hit “raingurl” before encouraging everyone to “shake your billy from the left to the right.” The track is out now on XL Recordings.

Swedish House Mafia, “Lioness” (Francis Mercier Remix)

Francis Mercier works his considerable magic on Swedish House Mafia’s latest release, with the Haitian producer stripping down the flutes, relaxing the BPM and dropping the percussion a few notches, transforming “Lioness” into a steamy, dreamy, hard-hitting Afrobeats affair in its entirety. “This one hits me extra hard,” Mercier writes of the remix, “because I remember buying tickets to all their shows in NY. Nothing is impossible.” Mercier has been touring extensively this summer, with dates in the coming weeks including Burning Man, New York Fashion Week and shows in Ibiza.

Mau P & Diplo with Gunna, “Receipts”

Mau P further cements himself as an absolute star of the new generation of producers with “Receipts,” a mesmerizing club-centric collaboration with Diplo and Gunna that debuted during the two producers’ four-hour b2b at Coachella this past April. “‘Receipts’ came to life as Wes and I were prepping for our b2b Coachella set, which also happened to be my debut performance at the festival,” says Mau P. “We’d been talking for hours about music and our different influences, and Wes asked me the obvious question: ‘Should we try to make a song together that we can play at Coachella?’ He’d recently done a session with Gunna and gave me an acapella to play along to. One night during Miami Music Week, I came home from a show feeling pretty pumped, opened up my laptop, and landed on the first draft of this song. From there, Wes and I went back and forth trying to nail it, and eventually ‘Receipts’ premiered at Coachella.”

Seven Lions & Subtronics featuring Skylar Grey, “I’ll Wait For You”

Seven Lions and Subtronics join forces (as “Seventronics,” of course), with a track that’s every bit as big and hard as you’d expect from the duo. But while both producers specialize in bass, they’re also masters of layering on glittering embellishments that give their work a deep sense of space even as it hits you over the head. Skyler Grey’s vocals lend “I’ll Wait For You” an extra softness and heft. The single is out on Seven Lions’ own Ophelia Records.