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.)
A few years ago, the producers Ryan Hemsworth and Giraffage joined forces to form a knowingly silly dance duo called Bodysync. After releasing a bunch of stray bangers, including the Dazy collab “Back Of My Mind,” Bodysync dropped their full-length debut Nutty last year. Today, they follow that record with another stray banger. This one is called “Surf.” It’s a bright, sunny, sample-happy midtempo track that might be even more cartoonish than most of Bodysync’s other stuff. Check it out below.
For many years now, the Bay Area has had one of the biggest and busiest hardcore scenes on the planet. In 2021, just as pandemic restrictions were starting to lift, the Bay Area bands Gulch, Drain, Sunami, and Scowl played an outdoor show in San Jose, and thousands of people showed up. That gig, presented as Real Bay Shit, has become a part of hardcore lore, and the RBS banner has united bands from across the Bay Area’s hardcore, punk, and metal spectrum. Now, 17 different Bay Area bands have contributed unreleased tracks to a new benefit compilation that’s raising money for Crossthread, a nonprofit that aims to open an all-ages DIY space in San Jose.
A few weeks ago, the world was confronted with the ghoulish, ghastly image of the new Smurfs trailer. Rihanna, who produced the latest Smurfs cinematic reboot and who plays the voice of Smurfette, introduced the preview. It promises new music from Rihanna, and it features what sounded like Rihanna singing a version of Belinda Carlile’s “Heaven Is A Place On Earth.” At one point, you can hear DJ Khaled yelling his own name. Well, the good news is that Rihanna didn’t actually have anything to do with that “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” reboot. The bad news is that DJ Khaled did and that the song is out now.
Fontaines D.C. had a big 2024 with the release of Romance, one of the best albums of the year. Now, the Dublin band is already back with a new song called “It’s Amazing To Be Young.”
Next month, Blackpink’s JENNIE will unveil her stacked debut solo album Ruby. Guests include Dua Lipa, Childish Gambino, Kali Uchis, and more, but today she’s unleashing the Doechii collab “ExtraL.”
Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick has inspired a lot of art over the decades: Two examples are Mastodon’s 2004 heavy metal classic Leviathan and, more recently, composer Jake Heggie’s opera that’s also called Moby-Dick. Initially having premiered in Dallas in 2010, that opera is coming to New York City’s famed Metropolitan Opera this March, just following the 20th anniversary of Leviathan. To celebrate, the Met Opera is throwing an event where members of Mastodon and Heggie will be in conversation about Moby-Dick‘s influence.
Joe Keery, the Stranger Things star-turned-electro-pop artist Djo, will release his new album The Crux this spring. He just finished a tour leg in Australia, where he stopped by Triple J to cover Haim’s “Gasoline” for their Like A Version series.
Last week, Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco announced their collaborative album I Said I Love You First. Today, the couple are sharing the Gracie Abrams collab “Call Me When You Break Up.”
This year, Supergrass’ debut full-length I Should Coco turns 30. The British band is celebrating with a short tour, and they’ll be playing through the album live.