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.)
Backxwash - "Dissociation" (Feat. Chloe Hotline)
Backxwash snapped on this one. "Dissociation" is an all-consuming tidal wave of a song, a majestic post-rock behemoth that makes for some of history's finest rap-rock when its architect jumps on the mic. Turned loose over this grandiose guitar-drums-keyboards beat of her own creation, the Montreal rapper-producer gets personal and intense. With a delivery that reminds me of El-P, Eminem, and Danny Brown's lightning-struck yammer, Backxwash drops bars about sobriety, depression, and clinging to your loved ones as a way to make it through the tumult. "I don't think I'm an addict, I'm just really unhappy," she raps. "Everything on the planet is just speeding right past me." Chloe Hotline's hook adds further layers of harmony to a dense, sweeping masterpiece of a track. —Chris
Djo - "Potion"
Joe Keery explores a bunch of different sounds on the new Djo album out today. On "Potion," he does a masterful job channeling '70s Laurel Canyon vibes. It's a sleek folk-pop track that Keery has compared to both "your favorite pair of blue jeans" and "kind of like if Harry Nilsson and Lindsey Buckingham had a baby." Between the propulsive acoustic finger-picking, the jaunty falsetto vocal, and the lush arrangement that kicks into action between stretches of minimalism, the comparisons make perfect sense — and they make for a perfect song. —Chris
Common Holly - "Aegean blue"
Delicacy has always worked to Common Holly's advantage, and that's especially true on her hymn-like new song "Aegean blue," whose abundance of empty space only enhances the beautiful experience. The sprawling Anything glass lead single flutters forward with dreamlike flutes and soft guitars, but Common Holly's voice, which gradually strikes from all angles, serves as the captivating centerpiece as she sings of rivers. "Aegean blue" sounds peacefully underwater, away from the cacophony happening on land. —Danielle
Graham Hunt - "East Side Screamer"
Many of the most perturbing fictional stories are the ones whose seemingly mundane setting becomes something like a villain itself — Twin Peaks, Psycho, most Shirley Jackson stories, the first season of True Detective. Wisconsin indie rocker Graham Hunt applies this gothic philosophy to his upcoming album Timeless World Forever, specifically on the most recent single "East Side Screamer." Hunt described the brooding guitar jam as "a true story about an encounter with a supernatural entity" he experienced in his Madison hometown: "Past the window where I used to see Paul/ Hope he’s still got four walls," he shouts in the opening lines, with a touch of nervous intensity as if he's trying to ward off the evil spirits. As the gnarled, power-pop guitars and drum machine beat kick in, so do Hunt's visions of the song's titular phantom: "Now he’s screaming maybe one inch from my face/ Then he turns around and runs off without a trace." The existence of paranormal activity is debatable, but Hunt's knack for offbeat bangers? Not so much. --Abby
Wet Leg - "catch these fists"
Look, this doesn't have to be complicated. Give the people what they want. Come up with a flinty, mechanical guitar riff. Get the rhythm section to play with gleaming precision, like they're in Franz Ferdinand. Sleepily murmur lyrics about limousines and ketamine and beating up the chumps who won't stop hitting on you when you're out partying. On their first album, Wet Leg figured out the blueprint for the kind of giddy, silly rock 'n' roll earworms that nobody makes anymore. That approach isn't broken, and they don't fix it. Instead, they come back ripping with another singalong slammer, and that's exactly what they should do. —Tom
