@Xavi amir

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

R&B is one of the most dynamic, adventurous sounds in modern music, a place where art both personal and provocative meets the mainstream. From the alt vanguard to modern vets, straightforward to left-field, these tracks capture where R&B is now and point the way to where it’s going. This week, Leon Thomas’ “NOT FAIR,” off of his newly released project <i>MUTT Deluxe: HEEL</i>, is at the top of the playlist. The singer-songwriter is in love and in awe of his significant other to the point that he thinks it’s unfair that she can get away with things when they argue. We update this playlist regularly. If you like a track, add it to your library.

Everyone feels like they don’t belong at some point or another, and at some point or another, everyone’s right. The trick is finding a place where you can not-belong together. Channeling the spirit of ’90s emo and punk, these are artists who know what it’s like to feel different, but also how to turn that feeling into something positive and inclusive. Our editors update picks here regularly, so if you hear something you like, add it to your library. Then turn it up and let it out.

The Reading-based Slowdive released their debut album, Just for a Day, in 1991—just as the shoegaze scene was beginning to face a backlash from the press. So for 1993's follow up, Souvlaki, they veered away from the foundations of the genre and instead headed in an experimental direction in tandem with the producer Brian Eno. By the time of 1995's Pygmalion—the group's final album—they again decided to switch things up, this time moving into the realm of electronic post-rock workouts.

Mesmerizing and enigmatic, (Sandy) Alex G crafts lo-fi songs that often seem as though they're surfacing from murky, watery depths. The Pennsylvania-bred singer/songwriter (né Alexander Giannascoli) started recording music in his bedroom as a grade schooler in the early noughties, producing songs inflected by both the textural and rhythmic complexities of Radiohead and the shambolic jangle of late-'90s indie rock. Through that hazy, dreamy lens, he filters falsetto-led reveries (“Salt”), rangy character sketches (“Sarah”), and murmured confessions (“Thorns”).

In a single song, Mitski can assemble an entire exotic world from an array of emotions and sounds. Her self-released 2012 debut, <I>Lush</I>, revealed such nuanced playing on tracks like "Liquid Smooth," in which her provocative poetics and trills dance across classical piano—reminiscent of a young Fiona Apple. With each successive album she's pushed her tales of love, loneliness, and cultural clashes in multiple directions. In the process, she's proven to be just as enchanting in a buzz of cathartic indie rock with "Your Best American Girl" as she is sashaying through disco-flavored pop on "Nobody."

Multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and singer Alice Glass joined forces in 2004 with the intention of injecting synth-pop with the intensity of punk. While borrowing from bands like Adult. and Ladytron, their found their own sound in the combination of pillowy vocals and propulsive industrial rhythms. They modernize outdated sounds by turning synth-pop and Goth-rock into a swirling adventure.

Bea Kristi writes gentle, dreamy indie-pop songs riddled with sharp observations; they sound like a carefully drawn musical map of her inner world, sung in a welcoming whisper. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, she started recording songs in her late teens, inspired by the lo-fi charm of Kimya Dawson and the soundtrack to the film <I>Juno</I>. She released her beguiling calling card, the woozy “Coffee”—an immediate internet hit, thanks to a fan-uploaded video—in 2017. Her subsequent EPs introduced a more earthy indie-rock tone, with rowdy guitars (“She Plays Bass”) and girl-group harmonies.

L.A. indie-pop band The Marías make music so featherlight there are times when it feels like it’s going to peel off and dissolve into a sweet neon haze. Mixing downtempo club sounds with touches of jazz, psychedelia, and Latin pop, the tracks here aren’t just powerful mood-setters but—like, say, the music of The xx—barometers of how intermingled indie and mainstream pop have become, balancing casual and sophisticated with offhand poise. Think perfect bedhead, in sound. And for as smooth as the music can be, singer María has just enough grit in her voice to keep the sound grounded. Low-key but in high style, here’s the best of The Marías.

Cigarettes After Sex distill the art of seduction into velvety dream-pop fantasies that are as evocative as the band’s name. On early songs like 2012’s “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” and their 2015 breakout hit, “Affection,” Texas-born frontman Greg Gonzalez veils his hopeless romanticism in moody erotic storytelling, intoning sweet nothings through a cloud of reverb-soaked guitar that lingers long into the night. But for all the smooth come-ons, there’s the inevitable comedown, too, as detailed on the softly swaying “Sunsetz” and “Apocalypse,” both minimalist in sound yet cinematic in scope.

Ever since her time in '90s indie band Eric's Trip, Julie Doiron has been a Canadian music icon. Her solo career began with sparse, soul-searching songs exploring love and loss with her whisper-soft vocals, such as the haunting “Will You Still Love Me in December.” On later releases Doiron returned to her rock roots, as heard on 2007's “I Woke Myself Up” and 2009's “Spill Yer Lungs,” as she cooed over slashes of distorted guitars. Never one to stay still, Doiron adapted her old songs for a 2017 Spanish language album, bringing out an eerie stillness in “No Era Él.”