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 subscribers on Spotify and Apple Music, updated throughout the week.)
Heather The Jerk - "Write A Letter"
"Write A Letter" is a perfect song. In a flash, Heather The Jerk accomplishes everything she needs to, cramming a relatable concept, indelible hooks, and some zany cartoon fun into 78 seconds of giddy garage-punk fuzz. "I'll write a letter and tell you the truth/ How there's so many things that I'd like to do with you," she sings on the hook. "So I hope you feel the same way too." Even if writing letters and garage-punk both strike you as anachronistic, the sentiment is too universal, the song too lovable to deny. —Chris
Jawdropped - "Split Lip"
"Lay your cards on the table/ Sign your soul to a major label/ It doesn't always work out." It didn't work out for Jawbreaker or Jawbox when those two bands signed to major labels in the post-Nirvana '90s gold rush. But maybe it'll work out for young LA rockers Jawdropped, now part of the roster at Canvasback, which at least used to be an Atlantic imprint. Either way, we'll always have "Split Lip," which is exactly the kind of slack, shimmering power-pop jangle that would've got major label talent scouts fired up in the '90s. Even with those aesthetic signposts, the most '90s thing about "Split Lip" might be the self-effacing act of singing conflictedly about being on a major label while that very same label distributes the song. It's a great little time-warp of a song in all kinds of ways, right down to the first syllable of the band name. —Tom
L'Rain - "borderline"
L'Rain can do it all. Whereas "soulless cycle" exploded, "borderline" simmers, slowly building up from a woozy swoon to a percolating wall of sound. She explains that "it’s about the microsocieties we form in friendships and partnerships of all kinds, with their own rules, regulations, languages, battles, reconciliations, histories" — a richly complex subject befitting such richly complex sounds. —Chris
Blimp - "Awayward"
I’ve been sitting here for an hour, trying to figure out why Blimp’s latest single makes me feel like I’m nearly drowning in melancholic nostalgia. Sure, their disgruntled, emo-leaning sound reminds me of the early 2000s and teenagedom, when my ears were trying to find resolve in winding guitars and the rawness of a live basement performance. But it’s the pivotal revelation that arrives mid-track — when the serrated guitars begin to pulse like a strobe light and the drums pick up steam — that feels like someone throwing open the windows of a pitch-black room. It reminds me just how good it feels when shards of light scratch the surface of darkness. —Margaret
Starcleaner Reunion - "Never Odd Or Even"
A Starcleaner Reunion album is something I've wanted since I got hooked on the New York-based band's 2024 song "The Hand That I Put Down." Now it's finally coming, and "Never Odd Or Even" shows the group has only been honing their hypnotic, zany brand of dream-pop. Singer Jo Roman has the effortless chic lilts of Stereolab's Lætitia Sadier or Electrelane's Verity Susman; her voice floats beautifully over fluttering, psychedelic instrumentals that abide by no rules. She said the song is "about the anticipation of sharing secrets," and it successfully builds this mysterious, liminal realm that you never want to leave. —Danielle
