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.)
thistle. - "it's nice to see you, stranger"
One thing they don't tell you when you're growing up is how many of your adolescent friendships are formed only for convenience's sake; maybe you go to the same school or you party at the same houses, but fleeting circumstances don't necessarily breed lasting companionships. Northampton indie rock trio thistle. explore this social phenomenon on their new single "it’s nice to see you, stranger," a fuzzed-out guitar tune that mimics the odd feeling of letting someone you used to know become completely unfamiliar: "I want to miss you like we said/ I don’t know who I was back then," Cameron Godrey sings over a grungy instrumental. But "it's nice to see you, stranger" doesn't come from a place of resentment or heartbreak — just a mildly disconcerting realization that you've become a stranger, too. —Abby
Lifeguard - "It Will Get Worse"
Kai Slater is on a roll. His solo project Sharp Pins just had a glow-up via the deluxe reissue of last year's great Radio DDR. He produced the new solo album by Stranger Things guy Finn Wolfhard. And his main band, Lifeguard, announced their official debut album for Matador this week with this absolute heater of a lead single. The Lifeguard LP was produced by No Age's Randy Randall, and I can hear a lot of that band's noise-addled art-punk in the unhinged harmonic guitar spree that jolts "It Will Get Worse" to life. There are plenty of pre-Y2K influences to spot here, too — all the bands with the artful post-punk affect — so if you believe they don't make 'em like they used to, you'd better check these kids out. —Chris
Stereolab - "Aerial Troubles"
It's been 15 years since Stereolab's last album Not Music. Instant Holograms On Metal Film arrives next month, and the lead single "Aerial Troubles" is a refreshing dose of the Anglo-French group's quirky indie pop with a psych-rock edge. At under three and a half minutes, the song feels longer, more expansive and sprawling with celestial synths, a playful rhythm that comes and goes, and gorgeous harmonies. They've proven that, after 35 years of being a band, their idiosyncratic core will never change — there's no one else doing it like them. —Danielle
Hotline TNT - "Julia's War"
It's been about a year and a half since Hotline TNT unveiled Cartwheel, a fuzzy wonderland that served as one of the most memorable, evocative albums of 2023. The Brooklyn band is already getting ready for its follow-up, Raspberry Moon, and "Julia's War" is a promising preview. "Julia's War" has Hotline TNT's typical formula of raucous, distorted guitars and yearning vocals singing easy hooks, and they've got no reason to change it up because it works so well. They're mastered the art of scrappy sound that simultaneously sounds bigger than itself. —Danielle
Pulp - "Spike Island"
In 1990, the Stone Roses, the band of the moment, played a one-off gig in Cheshire, a grand-scale happening known as Spike Island. Tens of thousands of people showed up, and many of them crashed the fences. The sound was weak. The band was listless. And yet Spike Island still stands as one of the great moments of the indie dance revolution. Jarvis Cocker was not there. He just heard about it. In particular, he heard that one of the DJs on the bill -- the opening acts were all DJs -- kept shouting the phrase, "Spike Island, come alive!" In its way, the existence of Pulp's new song "Spike Island" is just as momentous a cultural event as Spike Island itself. Pulp have reunited twice since their early-'00s breakup, but they haven't released any new music. (Their 2013 James Murphy production "After You" is an absolute banger, but it's a re-recording of a We Love Life demo, not an altogether new song.) "Spike Island" isn't about Spike Island in the way that "Sorted For E's & Wizz" is. Instead, it's merely an invocation of some lost promise, some feeling that the future isn't what we wanted: "And by the way! Spike Island, come alive, by the way!" Perhaps it's Cocker's way of capturing the anxiety of the big return -- the way that expectations for a beloved band's return can never live up to reality. But "Spike Island" does a pretty fucking good job. The string flourishes, the disco pulsing, the insinuating conversational-aside verses, the hands-to-the-sky chorus -- this is a Pulp song. It's all that anyone could've expected. It's more than anyone could've expected. Come alive. —Tom
