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.)
starbelliedbug - "crayola car"
Sometimes a shoegaze song launches into such a hazy, cathartic whirlwind that it almost seems to achieve pure transcendence. I get this feeling when listening to starbelliedbug's "crayola car," whose obfuscated spoken-word monologue over repetitive, distorted guitars brings to mind Drop Nineteens. I can't make out most of the words — and the lyrics are frustratingly not available on the San Francisco group's Bandcamp — but I do hear the line, "I just want to disappear," and it feels like the music itself is their attempt to erase themselves, to drown themselves in the fuzz until nothing's left. —Danielle
Chat Pile - "Same Rules"
Some of the most memorable Chat Pile songs are heavy and harrowing, but the band has always been sneaky-great at channeling their bleak ethos into softer, more beautiful sounds. The latest example of this phenomenon is "Same Rules," which reportedly emerged from a failed attempt to make a trip-hop song. The track eventually welcomes in gnarly power chords and gruesome vocals that will surely go off at your next Chat Pile concert experience, but it's at its most haunting when Ray B. is delivering bleary melodies under his breath and the guitars are shimmering like the sun reflecting off metal. —Chris
Grumpy - "OBL"
"She pulls a sword out of my throat and 15 dollars from my ass/ She's got a knack for making magic." Hearing Heaven Schmidt warble those words in a twangy wobble, backed by indie roots-rock instrumentation that bridges the gap between tasteful and tasty, it's hard not to think about Wednesday's Karly Hartzman. Resemblance aside, those lyrics make for one hell of an introduction. From there, "OBL" continues to not just hold my attention but delight me at every turn. It's a deeply impressive introduction to Grumpy's forthcoming Unfindable Ring and proof that Schmidt remains one of the most gifted songwriters in the game. —Chris
Ryan Hemsworth - "A Display Of Emotion"
Halifax-born beatmaker Ryan Hemsworth, no relation to Thor as far as I know, has been in the game since the early cloud-rap days. He's still finding new ways to push what he can do. "A Display Of Emotion" shows where Hemsworth can go when he combines things that don't make sense together. The instrumental track starts out as florid, ruminative post-rock guitars and pianos. Those sounds never disappear, but someone yells "Hey DJ!" as Hemsworth works in a neck-snap drum loop. He continues to fuck with the formula, adding more chopped-up samples to the mix. The mood never breaks; it just takes on different shapes and colors. —Tom
Tinashe - "Melatonin"
Upon the success of her TikTok viral hit "Nasty," it would be easy for Tinashe to succumb to traditional pop and pander to the people for her new album Popstar Instead, "Melatonin" is an awesome, unpredictable club cut. It's driven by a pulsing beat and anchored to her monotone vocals delivering the amusing hook: "Sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on me/ Bitch, you so melatonin." When a rap comes in one-third of the way through, her voice animated and slick, it feels like another song laced into the same atmosphere, seamlessly woven in yet still unexpected and wonderfully jarring. It's not just a song to play at a party — it's the whole party. —Danielle
