It’s called Diamond Jubilee, and it’s a goldmine. The description feels especially apt, regardless of which precious substance you want to compare these songs to, because you have to go digging to find them. For now, Cindy Lee’s new double LP is available to stream only on YouTube, and the only way to buy it is via PayPal on a Geocities site. It’s well worth pressing play and immersing yourself in this project because Patrick Flegel is at the top of his game here. The album presents a haunting lo-fi interpretation of ’50s and ’60s pop, sparse and scratchy but overflowing with melodious falsetto. “All I Want Is You” jumped out on my first spin through and has remained rewarding. The spindly tangle of guitar is mesmerizing, and that climactic hook — “All I’ve got is the truth/ All I want is you” — feels like a fresh spin on a classic sentiment. —Chris

I wasn’t really on board with “Von Dutch” when it came out, and while it’s since grown on me a little it still sounds a bit too cloyingly brash and obvious. But “Club Classics” I can get fully behind. On the first few listens, the intro hit the hardest, as Charli shouts out all her friends as inspirations, but I’ve now fallen hard for the back half, after that squiggle breaks down into the kind of repetitive, all-encompassing euphoria that she’s yearning for herself. It’s easy to get lost in, the sort of sound it might be worth losing a couple decibels for, and of course Charli fills it out with a brag: “When I go to the club, I wanna dance to me.” —James

Why aren’t more rappers making jock jams in 2024? Doechii’s labelmate SZA described “Alter Ego” as “the craziest song I’ve heard all year,” and it lives up to the hype. Both rappers step up with top-notch grandstanding. Doechii’s lead verse slides across measures, toying with time while never feeling out of step, stacking up boasts until she declares, “Label’s quakin’, hoes is pissed/ They mistaken, I’m that bitch/ Wrist stay frozen, cue the Trojans/ Let’s go, I’ma get, get, get, get.” JT adds a jolt of humor to her own stunting: “If you ain’t gettin’ money, don’t type me, bitch/ Crocodile Birkin, might bite a bitch.” But what pushes this thing over the top are the ’90s tech house synths and that brash, chaotic chorus, where one guy stretches out the phrase “alter ego” into a rallying cry and a flock of pinches voices pumps the space between with cheerleader-chant helium. It’s truly, contagiously wild, and I never get sick of running it back. —Chris

Melkbelly’s second album PITH got steamrolled by the pandemic, landing in April 2020 when anxieties were running so high that there was little room for the Chicago band’s anxiety-first approach. (Those who did check it out would have been pleasantly surprised at how their jitters were tempered with a comforting melodicism.) Fast forward four years and the world is no less on-edge but it does feel like high time for a grand return for Melkbelly, whose songs really benefit from hearing the band smash them out live. “Precious Cargo,” with its ascendant verses and plea of “C’mon give me something desolate,” seems designed to light a room on fire, get the people jumping and that blood pumping. —James

It’s Inside You is a successfully terrifying album title, and Richmond metallic hardcore crew Candy are definitely deserving. “eXistenZ” is brief but packed with as much chaos as possible; deafening guitars and breakneck drumming are joined by gurgling electronics, all topped off by Zak Quiram’s guttural roars. It comes to a climax at the end in a blast of all-out anarchy before ending abruptly — the best way to do it, at under a minute and a half. —Danielle