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.)
Turnstile - "Birds"
It rocks. They still rock. There has been some cause for concern about Turnstile's creative direction during the leadup to Never Enough, their first album since 2021's world-conquering opus Glow On made them one of the most commercially successful hardcore bands ever. The floaty, synthy title track was kind of cool, but it did not rock. "Seein' Stars," the first song in the band's new two-song music video this week, also had some Sting-esque appeal but also definitively did not rock. Had Turnstile been fully subsumed into the world of lifestyle music for streaming, general interest festivals, and retail muzak? "Birds" answers: No, not fully. That two-song video's second song begins with an ominous keyboard drone and some scene-setting percussion, but after more than 40 seconds of buildup that ratchets up the tension (and maybe your genre-based anxiety) to unmanageable levels, Turnstile blast the fuck off. Power chords! D-beat drums! Brendan Yates yelling urgently with the faintest flickers of melody rather than singing angelically with the mildest aggro edge! By the time this shape-shifter settles into arena-scale knuckle-dragging beatdown music, the idea of an adventurous new Turnstile LP has become a lot more palatable because we now know that adventure is going to include some glimpses of the band at their hard-hitting best. Finally, we can see it. —Chris
Indigo de Souza - "Heartthrob"
Indigo De Souza doesn’t miss. The Asheville indie rocker has blessed us with three consistently expansive and evocative albums, and last year she unveiled the experimental WHOLESOME EVIL FANTASY EP, which had De Souza’s voice drenched in ecstatic Auto-Tune and playing with electronic elements. It was a fun foray, but she’s back to business on “Heartthrob.” Heartbreaking lyrics over beautiful, vivacious guitars is a method that never fails De Souza, especially when she sings, “Didn’t know the difference between loving and haunting.” Despite the heavy themes, she’s never sounded so free. —Danielle
PinkPantheress - "Stateside"
PinkPantheress mostly makes cute music, but there's nothing cute about "Stateside," The Dare might be a divisive figure on websites like this one, but he knows how to loopy a nasty synth-bloop riff and a sweaty, physical breakbeat. On "Stateside," PinkPantheress uses his classic club clatter to swipe the glamorous-hornball melody from Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and to proclaim her spinning-out stalker intentions. As the music mirrors her dizzy recklessness, she sings about tracking locations and flying across the Atlantic just so that she'll maybe run into one particular boy. The PinkPantheress of "Stateside" doesn't have the loopy, carefree quality that we've heard from her. Instead, she's all laser-focus rigor. That boy should be flattered, but he should also be afraid. She sounds serious. —Tom
Hotline TNT - "Candle"
"Candle" is the type of song that just falls right into place. No, literally, take it from Hotline TNT themselves, who say their new single "barely required even 1% of our power" to write. There's a difference between a song that feels effortless and a song that feels like it took no effort at all; "Candle" is an example of one that falls into the former category, another example of the New York shoegazers' knack for finding the sweet spot between melody and noise. Lyrically, it traces the early stages of a crush: "Never dare/ To tell you what to wear/ I’m not scared/ We’ll find new things to share," Will Anderson sings. "They don’t hold a candle to you/ Nothing more that I can prove." And shouldn't crushes feel this effortless, too? —Abby
MSPAINT - "Angel"
As the lead vocalist for MSPAINT, Deedee doesn't so much sing or scream as much as he just, well... shouts shit. The Mississippi band are delightfully tricky to pin down, floating somewhere between artsy synth-punk and raucous hardcore. "Angel" might be the best summary of MSPAINT so far, an amped-up banger that's undeniably catchy in spite of its unnerving edge. The band say they recorded the single in a "spooky studio," and you can tell: "I saw an angel last night doused in gasoline," go its opening lines, before closing with a reminder that "there’s no control, just controlling yourself." By all means, MSPAINT should be in control. —Abby
