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

Racing Mount Pleasant - "Racing Mount Pleasant"

The band formerly known as Kingfisher is out here making a name for themselves as Racing Mount Pleasant now — and this eponymous track is bringing some serious honor and repute to that name. “Racing Mount Pleasant” finds the Michigan septet carving out space as a sort of Midwest emo Black Country, New Road. There are gang vocals aplenty, compositional twists and turns abound, and the surging rock instrumentals are bolstered by orchestral grandeur that manages to sound like the work of plucky underdogs reaching for the heavens. “I don’t know the reason why/ I can’t meet your eyes!” they shout, as if buoyed by mutual anxiety and introversion. “It’s all coming down on me/ Can’t we stay inside?” they continue, except the music makes me envision vast horizons spreading out before us. I am the kind of annoying Ohio State football fan who is reluctant to praise anything out of Ann Arbor on principle, but damn: What a song. What a band. —Chris

04

No Joy - "Bugland"

Maybe you, too, have been lucky enough to witness the spectacle that is SZA during her co-headlining Grand National tour with Kendrick Lamar. This woman sits on a giant, animatronic ant named Anthony. Dancers on stilts in praying mantis costumes fill out the stage. It’s really an incredible sight to behold for the insect appreciators. When I found out that No Joy’s new album was called Bugland, I concluded that this can’t be a coincidence. Bug Girl Summer is upon us.

Bugland’s title track isn’t as gentle as most SZA songs. It’s immediate and gripping, industrial breakbeats playing alongside noisy, discordant guitars. All that intensity is paired with No Joy bandleader Jasamine White-Gluz’s sweet vocals, embellishments of psychedelic, harp-like strings abound. It’s simultaneously gritty and beautiful, like tending to a garden that’s just about to bloom. —Abby

03

Liquid Mike - "Groucho Marx"

“Groucho Marx” lasts less than two minutes, and Liquid Mike make every second count. Within that timeframe, the Marquette rockers manage to fit in a squeaky, scratchy acoustic introduction before opening the floodgates on those power chords and tack on an extended lead guitar outro to carry us home. In between, we’re treated to yet another Mike Maple power-pop masterclass. Somehow, one of the best bands in the underground keeps getting better. —Chris

02

Jane Paknia - "The Dream Is This"

Jane Paknia’s Millions Of Years Of Longing is sure to be a surreal experience. The singles from the album have been otherworldly, but the newest, “The Dream Is This,” moves with a sense of familiarity through traditional-sounding piano and melodies. Still, the song buzzes with skittish synths and an exhilarating rhythm that goes places you’d never expect, building into a swirling dance anthem for just a brief moment, before retreating into a small, mysterious place, where it sounds as if church bells are ringing in the distance — an apt conclusion to a cosmic excursion. —Danielle

01

Golomb - "Real Power"

It sounds like Yo La Tengo covering the Stooges. Columbus trio Golomb walk a tricky line on “Real Power,” rubbing the pretty up against the ugly in ways that make both of them sound cooler. The guitars chug and gurgle, riffing into scuzzy infinity with a bored aggression that seems tapped into the surly heart of Midwestern rock ‘n’ roll. But the vocals — from a married couple, no less — are whisper-sung harmonies so intimate that listening almost feels like eavesdropping. The frisson of those seemingly incompatible elements pushes “Real Power” toward valhalla, and it makes me wonder what else Golomb can do. When those horns come in at the end, it sounds like a band’s future opening up right in front of us. —Tom