The 5 Best Songs Of The Week

The 5 Best Songs Of The Week

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.)

05

Hannah Jadagu - "Lose"

The phrase “bedroom pop” is a little overused at this point, IMO — there are so many Snail Mail/indie-auteur hopefuls uploading snippets to TikTok from their actual sleeping quarters every day. Now and then, however, a fresh voice revitalizes that press-releasey genre descriptor. Enter: Hannah Jadagu. Newly signed to Sub Pop (and deservedly so), Jadagu has crafted a perfect indie-pop ballad with “Lose,” which effortlessly evokes DIY imagery with its clean, catchy construction. Jadagu’s feathery vocals sell the song’s vulnerability, as do its themes — about the delicate stages of a new relationship. Jadagu will be an indie auteur herself in no time. —Rachel

04

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - "Gila Monster"

Seems like the Gizzard boys are diving straight back into the rats’ nest on their awesomely named new album PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation. “Gila Monster” is King Gizz at both their heaviest and most playful, donning druid robes in the video as they offer up emphatic praise to their reptilian overlord. This sort of over-the-top dark pageantry is intrinsic to heavy metal, and Stu Mackenzie’s boys know exactly how to milk it, matching lyrics as ridiculous as “He didst gobble each hag he found/ Screams didst echo, a chilling sound” with music as crushing as a giant scaled foot plummeting at you from above. —Chris

03

Lande Hekt - "Pottery Class"

Locating “your people” can feel impossible when life, in many ways, never stops feeling like a high school cafeteria. Too many relationships involve wearing a metaphorical mask. I love the way Lande Hekt outlines this sensation on the jangling, joyfully melancholy “Pottery Class,” which is giving “I hate everyone but you” vibes. Missing someone far away — a mask-off person — Hekt tries to negotiate (“We could move to the country and walk across great open land?… We could move to the city, go to shows and join a pottery class?”) but fears neither will do. If this person would just return to her, maybe she could stop feeling so isolated. “When did you last make a new friend without alcohol?/ It’s so hard to keep a conversation going back and forth,” she opens “Pottery Class.” I feel for her — finding someone with whom to just exist is way easier said than done. —Rachel

02

Monaleo - "Ass Kickin'"

“Monaleo! Big bully! Takin’ names! Ass kickin’!” You really need more than that? Houston rapper Monaleo made her name with fired-up, shit-talking bangers like “Beating Down Yo Block” and “We Not Humpin’.” On “Ass Kickin’,” she spends all of two minutes ripping into enemies over a hard-ass beat: “You can’t ball in my court, ho, you can’t play from the bleachers/ Hoes do too much talkin’, you a motivational speaker.” In the video, Monaleo and friends storm a hospital, slapping nurses before checking in on their dancing CGI fetuses, and then restaging the Dolemite finale, waging kung-fu war against the cops who try to raid their nightclub. It’s fun as hell, and it doesn’t try to be anything more. —Tom

01

Chris Farren - "Cosmic Leash"

If you hit play on Chris Farren’s “Cosmic Leash,” you will be treated to a delightfully meta music video about making a music video about the grand unveiling of Farren’s new drummer Frankie Impastato. It’s filled with the sort of goofy, winking jokiness that the Florida-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter has become known for over the years. But the schtick wouldn’t land unless the music was, for the most part, deeply earnest and the songs, for the most part, extremely good. “Cosmic Leash” is one of Farren’s best, a compressed burst of energy that teeters right on the edge of a breakthrough. “Change your heart, wait your turn/ I need more time with you,” Farren sings, a desperate plea that pervades every inch of the song. It feels big, sparkling, urgent. And, hey, the drumming’s pretty sweet too. —James

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