Fresh cuts: the new releases you need to hear right now

BIG BOI ft. ADAM LEVINE
Mic Jack ★★★★
Epic
In Outkast, he was always the duo's underappreciated lesser half. And as a solo artist, his career has occasionally stuttered. But when rapper Big Boi is on his game – as he is here – there aren't many who do it better. Spitting fire over a Billy Jean-style groove, Mic Jack is one of the best things the Atlanta native has done since 2009's criminally ignored Shine Blockas single. His forthcoming Boomiverse album promises to be a star-studded affair with guest appearances by Gucci Mane, Janelle Monae, Cee Loo Green and Killer Mike.

DAITHI ft. SINEAD WHITE
Aeroplane ★★★ 
This new track from Daithi's Holiday Home EP was inspired by vintage Irish TV dramas. The video, featuring footage from a short film called It's Now or Never, shot in Ballyvaughan in 1996, packs in more 1990s nostalgia than a roll in the hay with Miley and Fidelma. And in "Like a burning cheese, you give life to my life", Sinead White may just have coined the most confusing pop lyric since the Black Eyed Peas' "Beats so big, I'm steppin' on leprechauns". Daithi's Holiday Home EP is out today. Daithi plays the Róisín Dubh in Galway tonight and The Opium Rooms in Dublin tomorrow night.

THE WAR ON DRUGS
Thinking of a Place ★★★★ 
Atlantic
The War on Drugs' first new track since 2014's breakthrough Lost in the Dream album is a soft-focus, 11-minute space out that evokes, more than anything, the experience of driving through the countryside at night. Not a lot happens for extended periods of time. But just about any image could flash by, momentarily, in the dark.

ELAINE MAI
The Colour of Night ★★★ 
The lead track from Elaine Mai's The Colour of Night EP is this evocative exploration of grief. She plays the Workman's Club in Dublin on May 5th.