Every week the Stereogum staff chooses the five best new songs of the week. The eligibility period begins and ends Thursdays right before midnight. You can hear this week’s picks below and on Stereogum’s Favorite New Music Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly. (An expanded playlist of our new music picks is available to members on Spotify and Apple Music, updated throughout the week.)
Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover - "Boars"
It’s a thrill getting lost in the hypnosis of "Boars." Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover remind us that there’s so much happening in this life. Flashes of this wild, gorgeous world hit us like gusts of wind: “Ricochet flash of a green bird fat feather/ Sweet singing under keratin hooves.” The instrumentation is sparse but unrelenting — pounding drums, the hypnotic shuffle of percussion, and the caress of wind chimes. It’s both soft and ruthless, which is why it feels effortless to get swept into the rhythm. Conover’s vocals come in like a freight train: fast, breathless, impossible to stop. He barrels forward, no time to linger, no room to breathe. Just momentum. —Margaret
Drop Nineteens - "Fools"
"More than writing it," Greg Ackell explained of Drop Nineteens' new single, "this song happened to us." Bassist Steve Zimmerman brought some "beautiful heavy chords" to the table, and all of the sudden a shoegaze slow-burn manifested. According to Ackell, the many glorious contours of "Fools" are amplified by a mixing job from Chris McLaughlin, a guy who's applied sonic sparkle for A-listers like Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé. I don't know if he's the one who made those guitars sound like the face of God — beautiful, ominous, awe-inspiring — but I want to high-five everyone involved. —Chris DeVille
Sharp Pins - "Queen Of Globes And Mirrors"
Whether it's with his best-known band Lifeguard or otherwise, it's hard to talk about Kai Slater's music without pointing out just how much it sounds like the past. A lot of newer artists tend to find inspiration in the '90s, and Slater is no exception — Radio DDR, his 2024 debut album as Sharp Pins, took a faithful approach to early college-radio slacker rock. On "Queen Of Globes And Mirrors," however, Slater dials the time machine back a few decades even earlier. Sharp Pins' latest single is slightly psychedelic, unabashedly romantic, and a little bit rough around the edges as Slater's wailing vocals pair effortlessly with a Byrds-like guitar jangle. It'd feel too cloying if Slater didn't have the songwriting chops of a rock 'n' roll star. —Abby
Militarie Gun - "God Owes Me Money"
Great news: Militarie Gun have picked up synths. Don't fret; they haven't put down their guitars, and I don't think they ever will. The post-hardcore crew's new album God Save The Gun is out today, and its final advance single "God Owes Me Money" (great title) has a beautiful synth melody to go along with the caustic riffs and Ian Shelton's raspy shouts. While lyrics in post-hardcore music are rarely the focus, Shelton's lines are strikingly evocative: "The things you’ll never remember, I’ll never forget." —Danielle
Sugar - "House Of Dead Memories"
Bob Mould can write a banger. We know this. We have always known it. He has never stopped. Mould is in his sixties now, and he knows exactly how to come up with a triumphant melody that fits his gruff, emotive voice perfectly. Every new Mould album has at least a few more entries for the man's growing pantheon. But there's a difference between a Bob Mould banger and a Sugar banger. Mould only led the power trio Sugar for a few years in the '90s, after the demise of Hüsker Dü and after his first stint as a solo artist fizzled out. In those few years, Sugar released a great many songs that will cause gen-X alt-rockers to punch the air, crank up the car stereo, and alarm the people around them. It's just what they did. Now, it's what they're doing again. For the past few years, Bob Mould has been working in another trio, with Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster, that seems built on the Sugar model. (It's definitely not built on the Hüsker Dü model.) Now, all three members of Sugar are back together, and it's clear that they still make up the best vehicle for Mould's songwriting. "House Of Dead Memories" is lean and mean and efficient, and it keeps layering on catchy new elements, like the shaker that comes in on the chorus, and there's something beautifully bittersweet about this band, reunited after 30 years, coming back with a new song about trying and failing to move on from old memories. If we're stuck, at least this is a good place to be stuck. —Tom
