The 5 Best Songs Of The Week

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 subscribers on Spotify and Apple Music, updated throughout the week.)5Rachel Chinouriri - "One song away from crying"If you're going to write a pop song about the inherently charged subject of crying in the club, you're going to have to figure out how to escape the shadow of Robyn's "Dancing On My Own," the Sistine Chapel ceiling of the form. Camila Cabello, for one, couldn't do it on a song that was literally called "Crying In The Club." But Rachel Chinouriri pulls off that magical feat by hitting it from a completely different angle. The song bubbles along, all tasteful disco squelches and tasteful insinuation. Chinouriri's voice floats over the track with effortless grace, as if she doesn't even want to confront the heavy emotions that her lyrics describe. Chinouriri doesn't want to cry in the club. It's nobody else's business. She knows she should've stayed in, but she's here now. She's never felt better, and she's never felt worse, but she's not going to let the second thing overshadow the first. Instead, she's got this feeling baby, that it's time to work it out on the floor. She's feeling sensitive, and she doesn't wanna talk anymore. So don't talk. When you're crying in the club, the dancing is just as important as the crying. —Tom4Judiciary - "Wall Of Skulls"“Wall of Skulls” goes hard. There’s a ton of thrashing and gnarly drum collisions that make me want to throw my body forward. I probably look like an idiot typing this blurb at my desk, but I feel electric. “Beneath your feet/ I’ve built a world of my own/ Devoid of light/ Floor scattered with their bones,” I scream along. The monstrous aggression isn’t the track’s only captivating element. It takes a sharp left turn into some spooky goth shit by the end. Ominous drones creep in, the guitars turn wiry and drenched in reverb, and suddenly I feel like I’ve stumbled into a black mass. I’m so not mad about it! —Margaret3Just Penelope - "After"Even though we’re far from facing a shoegaze shortage, that doesn’t make the new music coming through Fire Talk’s Angel Tapes any less magnetic. Drew Goforth’s ironclad bass melodies are a powerful force that keeps me coming back to Just Penelope's “After.” The song’s sharper edges — Theo Erz’s thorny guitars and Ethan Cantrell’s crystalline synth details — are softened by Goforth’s grounding performance and Ella Curiel’s subdued vocals, giving the track a surprisingly inviting warmth. I could make a Meghan Trainer joke, but today I practice some self-control. —Margaret2Coco & Clair Clair - "Coldplay"In 2017, Texas Longhorns football coach Tom Herman went viral for a chart posted in the team's locker room explaining what your urine color indicates about your water intake. Clear pee represents a "championship hydration level," whereas darker hues reveal a "selfish teammate" or even "blatant disregard for your teammates" (which for some reason means you're "headed to Area 51"). If your piss resembles the bottom line, a disconcerting shade of brownish orange, "YOU ARE A BAD GUY!!!"So on "Coldplay," when Coco & Clair Clair declare, "Your man's pee probably ain't very clear/ Some would say it was all yellow," it's not just a cheeky reference to the titular band's breakthrough hit. It's a savage burn, a maligning of character. I love that the duo slotted this diss into the chorus of a twee cloud-rap song. "Coldplay" is ridiculously catchy, full of quotable lines and mesmerizing sounds. Musically, it's a perfect match for the dazed reverie they keep returning to: "Blacked out in your front yard/ Playing Coldplay, looking at the stars/ Call a Black Car to another bar/ Life is so good when you're going hard." —Chris1Billboard Style - "Billboard Style"“This song is about desire and wanting someone so bad it’s like a little parasite that nestles in your brain and rewires your thoughts.” Now that is a good description of a song. If you describe a song in any other way, I’m not listening. The words in question are Ben Guterl’s explanation for “Billboard Style,” the eponymous debut song from his new band with Victoryland’s Dan Howard. Guterl is known for playing in the awesome band Forth Wanderers, but he also makes great, idiosyncratic solo tunes as Ben Special (2019’s “Wake Up” is a banger). Therefore, the expectations for Billboard Style are high, but “Billboard Style” still exceeds them. In his commanding baritone, Guterl deadpans about an infection that’s spreading, about gasoline pumping through his arteries. Guitars are loud as hell and distorted into oblivion, as they should be. The finale finds him shouting, surrendering words altogether and succumbing to noise. It’s cathartic, eccentric, and catchy — the best kind of indie rock. —Danielle