Welcome to the June edition of Beats Per Minute’s monthly playlist BPM Curates.
And just like that, 2025 was half way done. It’s not been an easy year to date on the global perspective, but our favourite musicians keep gifting us new tunes to help us make headway through it. We’ve picked a bunch of our favourites from June, which should see you through at least this next few weeks until we’re back with the next bunch.
Below is the track list and some notes from our team about why they’ve selected them for this month’s playlist.
15 15 – “āfa”
The French/Tahitian collective 15 15 (formerly spelled out as “Quinze Quinze”) has begun to specialise in liquid recordings of late, though it also sports a fiercely experimental/abrasive side. The new “āfa” represents the former: a combination of what it sounds like when your head is submerged as well as when you have come back up and the water drips off. 15 15’s mixed ancestry constantly plays a part in the music, like a tourist among the locals and vice versa. References to the beach abound in the lyrics, and cool detachment envelops the rest of it. – Steve Forstneger
Africa Express – “Hacernos Así” (feat. Luisa Almaguer)
Africa Express debuted during 2006 in Mali with founders Amadou & Mariam and Toumani Diabaté. The latest incarnation features an ensemble collection where dozens of artists from four continents (including on this track Damon Albarn, Seye Adelekan, Nick Zinner and Joan As Policewoman) collaborated during a five-hour concert at the Bahidorá festival site in the mountains south of Mexico City and Cuernavaca. Vocalist Luisa Almaguer leads the madly-in-love “Hacernos Así”, a soliloquy-style ballad in the realm of Anohni & The Johnsons. The cathedral-like ambience enhances a supernatural crescendo that began the song like a candle threatened by the breeze. – Steve Forstneger
Clipse – “So Be It”
As overzealous as the “no one has been rappin’ like this in a minute” reactions may be, there is still something so. damn. exciting about seeing Clipse properly back at it. Arriving via a gothic, chromed-up music video as ominous as the bars the song sports – shit, last I checked, they still haven’t bothered throwing this thing on streamers, pure word of mouth shit – it was a shot of straight adrenaline for any of rap heads still chomping at the bit for the return of an era in which MCs had to show and prove. In a post-anyone-alive-respecting-Drake world, it seems within reach. Sure, poor lil’ Travis isn’t capable of a real response, but that’s kind of their whole point: if you can’t swim, get the fuck out of the ocean. The shark fins are on the horizon, and God is gonna sort ‘em out. So be it. – Chase McMullen
Emma Swift – “Nothing and Forever”
Sometimes you just need those slow and swaying tracks to help you get through the day. The songs that seem to be in tune with your slower approach to the things on your to-do list. Emma Swift’s “Nothing and Forever” is just that, a dollish number recorded in a 16th Century Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Dressed in gilded strings, soft pedal soft steel, and shimmering keys, it’s a track to sink all the way into. It gently hypnotizes you to it’s slow tempo, but when everything’s this pretty, why not let it? – Ray Finlayson
Fade 3 – “Not Okay”
Fade 3 are a US-based collective comprising three music producers. The lead singer, Johnel, is in his element on “Not Okay”, a folksy, acoustic-driven pop song that has the ideal mid-tempo flow that works for his relatable storytelling following the featured Ajeh Jaja’s sad Afro flow. The track tackles themes of heartbreak, loss, and the search for comfort and connection. The song starts off with muffled melodic mumbles and repetitive acoustic guitar and synths that slowly transition into stereo. With no chorus, the instruments continue to build into an orderly, rich rhythmic instrumentation supported with riffs.
“Have you been okay (you) / Cos I’ve been in pains”
“You’ve been away / Oh I need a place”
“Somewhere to ease my pain / I’m not okay”
— Johnel and Ajeh Jaja express concern, searching for comfort and peace in through this record. – Mary Chiney
Flowers for the Dead – “First Place”
The title track to the DC trio’s upcoming EP, “First Place” goes for a deliberately “no frills” attitude. Woozy guitar riffs and a drumbeat like your heart in your mouth, Flowers for the Dead keep on a simple but effective path, building up blocks and taking them away for contrast – all while teetering away from creating a wall of sound their fans might be used to. “I question if I should be here in there in the first place” guitarist/vocalist Jessie Szegö sings with fixated deadpan. Here, even in what feels like a new setting, she sounds like she very much belongs. – Ray Finlayson
Gelli Haha – “Bounce House”
I feel like Gelli Haha – or her latest album, at least – is kinda what you’d get chucking Sophia Kennedy, Decisive Pink, and, uh, Man Man in a cosmic blender. This does disservice to how dang fresh what she’s doing sounds, but the point remains: she jams. It’s fun. It’s delightfully weird. It’s like frolicking in a bright field, tripping more than a tad off a tab or two. Or maybe just on a blissful wine drunk. I dunno. Fielding no more questions, just go enjoy yourself in her bizarre lil’ netherworld, already. – Chase McMullen
Grete – “see u more”
It’s rare to find a singer who’s equally adept at ballads and uptempo songs, but Manchester-based Grete handles both with ease. “see u more” is a heartfelt ballad from a singer who can also sound like Tove Lo and The Weeknd. – Larry McClain
Kilamity, Naira Marley & Peekay – “BUNDA”
Nigerian, controversial, enjoying alleged excesses, and now a 20-minute jam: these are some of the things that Fela Kuti and Naira Marley have in common. After that, well… While Kuti raged against underemployment and oppression in the 70s, Marley and many of his “Marlian” disciples use the same subjects as an excuse for nihilism or hedonism. Sometimes both.
The title is an old, old word for a big butt (it allegedly arrived in Brazil during the slave trade) and for the better part of a half-hour we’re meant to imagine someone shaking theirs on the floor. Typically, Marley’s suppliers hand him conventional Afropop beats for his trap-influenced flow. For “BUNDA”, Kilamity gives him something that comes close to an earlier hit, “Soapy”, and highlights the clanking of traditional instruments. Marley hits upon a Marlian thesis early – “Everybody is a motherfucker” – though he and Peekay are ultimately passengers. Kilamity’s imbalanced production creates something increasingly paranoid and claustrophobic despite never changing tempo or inserting anything dynamic. It’s the parallel sound of Marley’s version of Lagos and the chaos that comes with it. – Steve Forstneger
Little Simz – “Lotus” (feat. Michael Kiwanuka & Yussef Dayes)
Little Simz raps with persuasive intensity on top of superfluous and elaborate percussions with lingering elements of her signifying musical style production underneath it all. Sprinkled with distant ringing bells, gentle piano chords, and the sweetness of Michael Kiwanuka’s voice, the song finishes by flowing into an extending generous instrumental. – Sydney Peterson
Lorde – “David”
“I made you god cause it was all that I knew how to do / but I don’t belong to anyone”.
One of the more mellow and melancholy songs on Lorde’s new album Virgin, this song floats belly up in its vulnerability and exposure, expressed in beautiful melodies and hard-hitting lyricism. The song ends in Low-style chopping distortion, which shatters and disintegrates into the clunky keyboard-instrumental end of the song (and also the album). – Sydney Peterson
Lyves – “For Eden”
Lyves is the artist persona of London-based Francesca Bergami, whose vocals rank with the very best of Lorde and Caroline Polachek. “For Eden” is a beautiful, nuanced look at mental health issues – and it signals a career renaissance for this talented, globe-hopping artist. – Larry McClain
MARV – “UNLIMITED SUPPLY”
Rising from the depths of Spotify’s Release Radar, MARV’s emotional single “Unlimited Supply” emerges as a soul-stirring fusion of soulful R&B and gospel. The Chicago-based artist breathes new life into these timeless genres, binding them seamlessly with heartfelt lyrics and vocals that resonate long after the track has ended. With a firm grounding in biblical truths, MARV creates a connection between the listener and the divine, challenging the conventional boundaries of R&B and soul music. This song delivers a sensational experience that uplifts and inspires. – Mary Chiney
Mont Duamel – “Aalto”
Mathieu Jomphe-Lépine is a Montreal/L.A. artist who records under the name Mont Duamel. His single “Aalto” is melodically inventive and exudes something rare these days: optimism. – Larry McClain
Nourished By Time – “9 2 5”
Nourished By Time has always been something of an enigma, and his latest single once again wrong-foots. It reflects the newfound success he’s experienced since his breakthrough 2023 album Erotic Probiotic 2 and how much extra work that comes with it. Yet, while his soulful voice has a weary sigh, his production retains a buoyant and house-adjacent energy that simply makes you want to get up and shake it off. This is a song of finding strength to stay the course – and finding the satisfaction in doing so. – Rob Hakimian
Rebecca Schiffman – “The Mercenary”
If you want a very different take on the Jonathan Ames’s novella You Were Never Really Here (instead of the Joaquin Phoenix-starring film by Lynn Ramsey), then Rebecca Schiffman has got you covered. The outcome of an invitation to the Bushwick Book Club (a Brooklyn-based group where members not only read a book each month but write a song about it), we get a reggae-esque rhythm, nimble percussion and drum tracks interlacing as Schiffman’s light and welcoming voice ties it all together. Throw in a synth solo that sounds like the lost theme tune to a 80s sitcom, and you have a pleasant excursion that is certainly much less time consuming than reading the original novella or watching the movie! – Ray Finlayson
Sabrina Carpenter – “Manchild”
Surging past the contradictory reviews, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” has seized the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 singles chart; the bubblegum pop tune is an undeniable force vying for “song of the summer” recognition. Sabrina’s spirited skewering of a man’s incompetence in “Manchild” is both playful and pointed, but it also begs the question: Has she ever experienced a relationship with a partner who isn’t plagued by insecurity and immaturity? Visually, the music video is pure vintage nostalgia set against the sun-drenched backdrop of the American West; the film-noir-inspired visuals evoke the timeless charm of a weathered Polaroid, providing an escapist adventure that belies the singer’s lyrical jabs.
With lines like “Manchild, why you always come a-runnin’ to me / Fuck my life, won’t you let an innocent woman be,” and “I like my boys playing hard to get and I like my men all incompetent / And I swear, they choose me, I’m not choosing them”, Sabrina goes off on amateur and unskilled men on the field for a relationship. – Mary Chiney
Sudan Archives – “DEAD”
Sudan Archives dropped a veritable opus with 2022’s Natural Brown Prom Queen, but she was casual with it – you know, playing violin, singing and dancing at the same time like it’s nothing. She returned in June with her first new music since then in “DEAD”, which is just as immediately riveting as anything from that record and shows some interesting new wrinkles. Her voice and strings are present and correct but both modulated to suit a more dance-adjacent sound where propulsive beats couple with driving sytnhs and a deep vein of bass. “Hello, it’s me / did you miss me?” a robotic version of her voice asks in the song. Well, yes, but at the same time I’m not sure we ever knew this version of you – and we can’t to hear more. – Rob Hakimian
Turnstile – “NEVER ENOUGH”
Not at all overrated. So upbeat, ethereal, glowing, and radiant, this track holds you suspended in an echo in some sort of temporal, unearthly place, but the lyrics are so rooted and heartbreaking that they drag you right back down again. “At the right place / at the right time / still you sink into the floor”… The scary realisation of an ever-present dissatisfaction, even in moments of perfection. Then it just hurls you right back down into the ground for the breakdown. So grounding and disruptive. – Sydney Peterson
Wednesday – “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)”
Over the course of Wednesday’s discography to date, Karly Hartzman has proven herself to be the foremost chronicler of southern America’s characterful quotidian life – the good, the bad and for sure the ugly. “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” dives into dead the discovery of dead bodies and other hallmarks of a town that seems to be a dead end – including a literal freeway that remains incomplete. Wednesday add fangs to her already poisonous words with a maelstrom of guitar twangs and riffs. At the centre of it all Hartzman yelps on – she’s holding on to whatever life she has. – Rob Hakimian
Listen to our BPM Curates: June 2025 playlist here.
