Friday Dance Music Guide: The Week’s Best New Tracks From HoneyLuv, Walker & Royce, Jauz & More

This week in dance music: Charli XCX announced dates for the tour behind her forthcoming album, BRAT, we shared exclusive sets from the spring edition of CRSSD and ran down the best moments of Ultra Music Festival 2024. Meanwhile, Ultra headliner Calvin Harris had some sharp words for critics of his festival set, and IMS Ibiza announced the speaker lineup for its conference next month.

And, here are the best new dance tracks of the week.

HoneyLuv, “Right Spot”

Cleveland-born, London-based house producer HoneyLuv makes her debut of Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels label with “Right Spot.” Built from pulsing synth and scintillating percussion, the track is HoneyLuv’s first solo release of the year and comes in tandem with remixes from Dennis Ferrer and Byron The Aquarius. “I was inspired to make this track after listening to some old school deep Chicago tracks and wanted to make something of my own,” she says. “I wanted to experiment with this track to create something different and simple. The lyrics flowed to me, and the rest is history.”

Purple Disco Machine feat. Roosevelt, “Higher Ground”

After repeatedly running into each other at festivals around the world, German favs Purple Disco Machine and Roosevelt decided to make something together, with the resulting “Higher Ground” fusing PDM’s signature ’80s synth aesthetic and Roosevelt’s indie electronic style. Out via Sony Music Germany/RCA Records, the song oscillates between dark and light, thumping along on a heavy bassline and building to moments of brightness rendered from Roosevelt’s melodies. “I loved the process of sending Tino a vocal and him tailoring the whole track around it,” Roosevelt says of the process. “I was able to take a step back from production duties and focus on my vocal performance, which was challenging but a lot of fun.”

Walker & Royce, No Big Deal

The New York City duo release the second album of their 13 year history with No Big Deal, out via Dirtybird Records. The 10-track project is sophisticated yet unpretentious house music, pure party starting fare that finds the pair — Sam Walker and Gavin Royce — letting their club-focused heaters prevail over TikToks and marketing plans. “Good music isn’t enough anymore; today it seems like you need to release music with something attached to it in order for it to make any kind of forward motion,” the pair tell Billboard in a joint statement. “No Big Deal is poised to be the opposite of that. With limited announce to release timelines, the goal for this rollout was music first, gimmick last. Make something memorable that sticks, and you won’t have anything to worry about.” 

Gesaffelstein, GAMMA

Clocking in at a tight 27 minutes, Gesaffelstein’s 11-track album GAMMA finds the French producer in a characteristically dark and heavy state of play, with these songs taking that aesthetic and pushing it further into post-punk, distorted experimental electronic, industrial and even, in more than one moment, doo wop. Consider our interest piqued in regard to how the producer will present this music next month at Coachella, which are currently the only shows on his tour schedule.

Jauz, “Teardrops”

Bay Area-born, Los Angeles-based mainstay Jauz returns with “Teardrops,” a slinky, sophisticated house track centered around stuttering synth. (Early cosigns have come from fellow artists including Illenium, who simply commented “Fire” on an Instagram post previewing the song.) Out via the producer’s own Bite This! label, “Teardrops” comes ahead of Jauz’s Wise vs. Wicked 2024 tour behind his 2023 albums Rise of the Wise and Wrath of the Wicked. Launching next month, each tour stop will feature a pair of shows, with fans able to buy tickets for a progressive house-focused “Wise” set, a bass-heavy “Wicked” show, or both.

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