Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From FKA twigs, Alice Glass, Daphni & More

Coming in hot with a jackin’ house beat blended with soft, crystalline vocals is FKA twigs. The emotional synth pads, vocals and piano on “Perfectly” juxtapose the aggressive drums in an almost jarring fashion at first, but as you ease into it, it’s easy to imagine yourself dancing to this in the later hours of the night.

The bouyant, bumping track is a welcome house release from twigs, who’s better known for her experimental alt-pop cuts like “Two Weeks” and “Cellophane.” However, with an Anyma remix on her 2024 track “Eusexua”, an undeniable club heater in and of itself, and the two-step-tinged “Perfect Stranger,” the British act is leaning into dance music more than ever.

“Perfectly” is out on Young Recordings. Listen to it here.

Dan Snaith, the mastermind behind Caribou, returns to his Daphni alias with a Chicago house-flavored banger, “Clap Your Hands.” This comes a month after Dahpni’s previous sadboi dance track, “Sad Piano House.” Both tracks center around thumping, gritty drums and short samples, but “Clap Your Hands” is clearly designed for a high-octane moment on the dancefloor, oozing attitude and tension with the titular mantra on repeat to lock dancers into the groove.

“Clap Your Hands” is out on Jialong. Listen to it here.

An edit of “Coast 2 Coast” has been floating around online since Griz announced his “indefinite hiatus” from music in 2023, with Flowdan’s vocal on the song culled from the Sammy Virji’s “Shellaverse.” But for the song’s official release, which marks the second third from Griz since he emerged from his hiatus earlier this year, the U.K. grime artist recorded a new version of the vocal, making the heady bass bomb wholly original.

“Coast 2 Coast” is out via Griz LLC. Listen to it here.

Anonymous duo Two Shell put a flourish on their lauded Glastonbury set by this week releasing a surprise 12-track collection, IIcons which features a dozen previously unreleased songs. The music is as experimental and satisfying as the rest of their oeuvre, with the pair seeming to use the release as a sort of era closer.

On Instagram, they wrote that “anonymity sometimes feels like a mistake. when people message us saying ‘we know it wasn’t you up there! classic!!’ it feels sad. the intention was never to troll. it was to question what we are, and whether it matters. the world is a hard place. there are so many horrible things going on, and from our perspectives, our recent music is an expression towards that. a lot of it has been difficult to play. though through making the darker music we are lucky to have realized that it is not what we are only here to make.”

Whether that means they might finally reveal their true identities remains to be seen, but what’s fact is that IIcons is out Young. Listen to it here.

Alice Glass releases her first new music of the year with the sharp, driving “Catch And Release.” The former Crystal Castles leader sounds both defiant and entirely in control, even as she sings about losing it over the darkly thumping, often distorted and absolutely undeniable production.

Listen to “Catch and Release” here.