It just feels good. Baltimore’s End It play raw, fast, mean hardcore, and “Hatekeeper” gets all its intra-scene fury out in 61 seconds, going from all-out blitz to chug-stomp breakdown without losing its frothing headlong momentum. Akil Godsey can actually sing when he wants, but that’s not really what he does in End It. Instead, he screams, and his scream has real character and personality. The “Hatekeeper” video is a glorious piece of ridiculousness that puts that personality front-and-center, but the song crushes all on its own. —Tom

On their earliest albums, Liars were great at cranking out heavy grooves that felt danceable but also dangerous — the kind of violent rhythms that sounded right at home in the era of dance-punk and electroclash. Ganser lock into a vamp of that sort on “People Watching,” the first of two new songs produced by Liars’ Angus Andrew. It’s a heaving, scraping beast of a track, one that starts out tense and builds tension from there. But Nadia Garofalo brings a different kind of swagger to the beat than Andrew ever conjured. As she repeats various phrases like “No one is asking, everyone’s taking,” she pulls off the villain-as-hero vibe so crucial to a song like this one. It’s a special kind of cackling, maniacal charisma that, when paired with the song’s slick music video, might have made Ganser real-deal rock stars in a different era. Maybe it could make them stars in this era, too. —Chris

It’s hard to make a song be a joke and also be good. There’s definitely something tongue-in-cheek about “Blessing,” Alex G’s new single that basically sounds like a crispy alt-rock song. Alex Giannascoli whisper-sings the whole thing, delivering its central refrain like a sordid incantation: “Every day/ Is a blessing/ As I walk/ Through the mud.” But that’s a pretty positive sentiment, and there’s something oddly confidence-boosting about “Blessing” that pops out through its murky guitars. Those guitars are really the central hook of the song — spiraling and colliding and eventually breaking apart into some heavy-handed horror-movie synths. It’s odd, but it makes me smile, and I also haven’t been able to stop playing it all week. —James

There have been so many micro-emo revivals over the last decade, I’ve admittedly lost track of where we currently are as far as young emo bands go in 2022. What I know for sure, however, is that I’ve never heard emo interpreted quite like the way Tallahassee’s Pool Kids do it. Layering the genre’s angsty vocals against melodic guitar pop and taut math rock, Christine Goodwyne, Nicolette Alvarez, Andy Anya, Caden Clinton birth a fresh take on nostalgic ’90s tones while invoking early Minus The Bear nonchalance with the title “That’s Physics, Baby.” Against stop-start guitar noodles, the lyrics are completely sincere, with Goodwyne howling about hitting an emotional wall (“Can’t quite tell what you’ve ever been after/ Clockwork motor, you wind me up again”). Taken together, “That’s Physics, Baby” is an exciting look at where emo’s headed. —Rachel

Three years ago, there was an impossible weight when Sky Ferreira released “Downhill Lullaby,” six years after her beloved, classic debut album. Well, another three years doesn’t really help matters there. “Don’t Forget,” too, arrives to fervent fans with expectations pretty much no one could match. Thankfully, each small missive from Ferreira’s long-gestating sophomore effort has sounded pretty great. While the haunted drama of “Downhill Lullaby” suggested new sonic territory, “Don’t Forget” is right in Ferreira’s wheelhouse — a song that feels like a logical extension from her debut. This is Ferreira back in synth-pop mode — this time, with the help of Jorge Elbrecht and Tamaryn, going for a denser and less grunge-tinged iteration of it than on Night Time, My Time. Most importantly, “Don’t Forget” has the same catchiness of predecessors like “I Blame Myself” and “24 Hours.” It’s got layers of synths you can live in for a while (that weird little melody in the bridge is great), and a chorus melody that’s impossible to shake. If Masochism is really, finally arriving this year, this is a promising start. —Ryan