In an era where music discovery has never been more accessible and people can become rock stars in their bedrooms, Venturing’s new single “Famous girl” yearns for something a bit more traditional. It’s a total thematic antithesis to the low-profile yet very-online Jane Remover, dreaming of delightfully trashy nights spent cruising the Hollywood Hills: “I smell like his cologne/ And how he treats his home,” vocalist “Melanie Dizzy” sings over guitars that float between lo-fi jangle and a Mk.gee-style groove. But “Famous girl” doesn’t try to argue that things were better off back then, nor does it posit that things are better now. The pursuit of stardom, however, is timeless. —Abby

Dazy’s new three-track EP is a bangers-only situation, and any of those three songs could’ve easily been the one to appear in this column. “Get Out My Mind” is my early favorite, partly because of its explosive energy and partly for the way that it shows how James Goodson’s project is developing. “Get Out My Mind” is a 97-second burst of fists-up power-pop intensity, with jagged programmed beats erupting all around Goodson’s voice and guitar. Goodson (who is, full disclosure, a bud) has talked about how he’s started to figure out all the things that he can do with a drum machine since he started making solo music under the Dazy name, and he makes good on that here with nerve-shattering breakbeats and what sounds like a DJ-scratch effect. As for the melodies, the man is entering “Steal My Sunshine” territory, and that is a beautiful place to be. —Tom

Pop punk is a gamble. The genre is easily hateable considering how cheesy and generic it can be (I’ve been to Warped Tour enough times to be entitled to say that), but sometimes we get bands like Anxious who are just here to put out ebullient, turbulent bangers. “Head & Spine” is one of them. Vocalist Grady Allen cited Blink-182 and Smashing Pumpkins as influences, and the track has Blink’s infectiousness and the Pumpkins’ sharp, raw edge. You can imagine a crowd losing their mind to it, crowdsurfing and shouting along to the exuberant refrain, “My head, my spine/ You take, take mine.” —Danielle

The memorable moments never stop coming. The introduction of that hyperactive beat. The announcement that “we ’bout to enter the shadowrealm!” The enthusiastic greeting, “Took her ass to Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles just to get some syrup!” The hook about how many different places “that bitch be suckin’ my meat.” Detroit trio HiTech and their hometown pal Zelooperz deliver nonstop madcap fun all throughout “SHADOWREALM,” a song that will have you scouring the internet for as much ghettotech music as you can find, once you finally stop playing this one back. —Chris

This. This is what I’m looking for from Sky Ferreira. For years, we’ve been seeking, well, any music at all from the beleaguered cult star, but “Leash” succeeds by striking the same pleasure centers as her classic debut album Night Time, My Time without sounding like a retread. The Babygirl soundtrack single delivers sleek late 20th century nostalgia haunted by darkness at every turn, like turn-of-the-’90s post-new wave bubblegum hit colliding with XTRMNTR by Ferreira’s collaborators Primal Scream. The guitars are ferocious, the beats crisp and clattering, the melodies demure. The lyrics are dejected yet defiant. The production is immaculate.

Ferreira fans are used to false starts. Over the years, as the wait for sophomore album Masochism has stretched on to infinity and frustrated updates have piled up, she has become something like a tragic figure — if she wasn’t already, based on some of the songs on her debut. “Leash” is a reminder of what she proved back then: She’s at her best when channeling personal and professional drama into effervescent blasts that hit like a stylish sledgehammer. —Chris