House Playlist: Grass Widow, Clark f/ Martina Topley-Bird, & Howse

Grass Widow, “Goldilocks Zone.” Whimsical San Francisco post-punk outfit Grass Widow’s specialty, and what sets them apart from other grrrl acts like Dum Dum Girls and genre supergroup Wild Flag, is allowing their dynamic, fanciful vocals to seamlessly mingle and harmonize with the trickiest—and, ultimately, catchiest—of melodies. Using the immortal Southey fairy tale as a jumping-off point, “Goldilocks Zone,” with its creepy, chugging intro of echoing voices and skittish strings, provides compelling atmosphere for a track that’s focused not so much on trespassing, binging on porridge, and dozing off as it is on briskly trashing the bears’ residence and watching their reactions from afar. Mike LeChevallier

Clark featuring Martina Topley-Bird, “Secret.” If the Swingle Singers ever thought to dip their toes into dubstep (perhaps in the form of a tribute album to Tricky’s Maxinquaye), it would probably sound a little bit like this single from Clark’s forthcoming album Iradelphic. With a familiar, lurching pace, hard-edged acoustic guitar interjections, a bassline that seems more like morse code delivered under the influence, and a disaffected, perilously swaying vocal performance from Martina Topley-Bird, “Secret” is a grinding tropicalia-tinged cocktail made from jet-black rum. Eric Henderson

Howse, “VBS.” There’s a reason the comments section of Howse’s “VBS” is littered with words like “boner” and “orgasm.” The Rhode Island producer’s debut cut—which has been making the blog rounds for a while now, but is finally getting a proper release in May—is a spooky/sexy slice of booty house composed of “female” grunts and groans that collide into one another over a bed of 808s, tom toms, and vibrating synths. If Prince were a 22-year-old producer in 2012 making beats in his bedroom, this is what it might sound like. Sal Cinquemani

This article was originally published on The House Next Door.