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.)
Ben Kweller - "Oh Dorian" (Feat. MJ Lenderman)
Cover The Mirrors is Ben Kweller’s first album since the loss of his 16-year-old son Dorian, who passed in a car accident in 2023. “Oh Dorian” chooses to celebrate life with sweet memories and jovial guitars instead of falling down a rabbit hole of grief. The singer-songwriter’s portrait of Dorian is moving and full of light: “We’d drive all night, hopping place to place/ Connecting everyone/ And since he left, you can see it on everybody’s face.” “Oh Dorian” is as beautiful as an elegy can get. —Danielle
MAVI - "Landgrab" (Feat. Earl Sweatshirt)
John Henry is a classic folklore character who, by hammering a steel drill into the ground, would help create explosion sites for constructing railroad tunnels. On his new single "Landgrab," MAVI likens himself to the legend in the very first line, as if to say that there's something explosive about his rise to underground rap fame. He drives that point home by bringing in a collaborator for the very first time, Earl Sweatshirt, who alternates bars with MAVI in an off-kilter cadence. "Pull extortion moves just like my grandad/ Then we portion it up on a land grab," MAVI raps in the final lines, a warning that he might just be unstoppable. —Abby
Holy Fawn - "Beneath A Lightless Star"
It shouldn't be this easy. Holy Fawn haven't released any music in a couple of years, and here they come roaring back out of nowhere with an absolutely massive slab of darkness. "Beneath A Lightless Sky" opens with a moody haze. Guitars swirl. Synths lull. Drums crash softly in the distance. Then a scream punctures the reverie and a monster guitar riff comes in and rips the world apart. From then on, the track is one long climax, a raging gale of metallic majesty that doesn't lose any of its fire even when it gets quiet again. It's the sort of song that could work as an album's climactic moment, and here they are tossing it away as a one-off. It's not fair. —Tom
Shaki Tavi - "Breaker"
While getting ready to make the sophomore Shaki Tavi album, Leon Manson “started just sitting down with some minimal effects and gear, playing riffs, and asking myself, ‘What if it could be fun? What if it could be for me?’” This can be heard on the Minor Slip lead single “Breaker,” which introduces elements of surprise into the band's hazy shoegaze sound. A spunky mid-tempo breakbeat gives the song momentum before charged guitars come crashing in. Distortion gives life to not just the riffs but also the vocals. “Breaker” is as fun for the listener as it was for Manson. —Danielle
Alex G - "Afterlife"
Alex Giannascoli's music has often humanized fauna. On his 2014 song "Harvey," he envisioned himself through the eyes of his pet dog, a theme he took with him all the way to 2022's expansive God Save The Animals. On his new song "Afterlife," the lead single to that album's follow-up Headlights, Alex G still looks to critters for moral guidance: He likens his life to that of a mockingbird, he gets kicked by a horse, and he sings about the concept of prayer like faith is a baited hook and we're all just fish. But where God Save The Animals was concerned with the near-future of Alex's personal life, the deceptively simple-sounding "Afterlife" looks beyond. "Let me run on afterlife/ Filling up the tank with it," he sings over a rich mandolin strum, as if the sheer fact that he'll die one day is enough motivation to keep his engine going. As his first proper release since signing to a major label, "Afterlife" also goes bigger and broader, shedding Alex's lo-fi roots for a crystal-clear Americana sound that indicates an increase in technical quality, not a curtailing of his artistry. It's not selling out -- it's a natural level up. —Abby
