This Is Our Jam: Major Lazer, Kelela, & Beck Is Back

Welcome to another edition of This Is Our Jam, a midweek selection of our favorite recent tracks. We start things off with a fantastic Beck ballad from his upcoming LP, Morning Phase. Then, it's a new one from R&B up-and-comer Kelela, a song from Brighton, England-based indie-pop band Fear of Men, and a surprisingly awesome Pharrell/Major Lazer collaboration that very well could be the most genuinely fun track we've heard this year. Last, it's a sleepy piece of dream-pop bliss from L.A. duo Tashaki Miyaki. Have a listen!

Beck
"Waking Light"
Taken from his upcoming new album, Morning Phase, "Waking Light" is a beautiful ballad and the best new Beck song we've heard in ages. With a piano-driven melody, melancholic edge, and psychedelic guitar work, the song only grows deeper with repeated listens.




Kelela
"The High"
We've had one eye on L.A. singer Kelela since she released last fall's fantastic Cut 4 Me mixtape. Now, she has another new tune, this one taken from DJ Kitty Cash's Love the Free, which dropped a while back. The track gets some moody production treatment from Gifted & Blessed, making it one of the darkest songs we've heard from the artist. We've gotta say, it suits her well.




Fear of Men
"Alta"/"Waterfall"
U.K. indie-pop group Fear of Men is readying its full-length debut, and the one-two punch of "Alta" and "Waterfall" is the first preview. The two tracks, with their big guitars and sweetly sung melodies, deliver on the promise from last year's Early Fragments EP — and then some. It's truly great stuff.




Major Lazer
"Aerosol Can (feat. Pharrell Williams)"
Who'd have thought it would take a collaboration with Diplo's dance-hall project Major Lazer to get one of the best raps we've ever heard out of Pharrell? With a beat centered on, yes, an aerosol can, Williams waxes poetic about grade school, growing up, and partying hard. It may sound a little gimmicky, but the song winds up being boatloads of fun.




Tashaki Miyaki
"Cool Runnings"
The Los Angeles duo Tashaki Miyaki makes sleepy pop in the vein of everyone from Cocteau Twins to Codeine. "Cool Runnings" is a beautiful little lullaby that has us wanting to crawl back into bed.