May tracks
New music from Charl XCX and Machine Gun Kelly and lots more
Let’s see. May was full of a lot of boring chores around my apartment that are great to talk about on a podcast but not so great in writing. I mean I’m tempted but I’m not gonna do it.
One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I still have a brutal case of “music writer brain,” solidified after decades of reading publicist emails and following release cycles. That means to me an album doesn’t really exist once it’s been released. Instead, I’m more interested in the singles leading up to it than the final product itself. (Until year-end season comes ‘round… *smirks in fluent music nerd*).
I don’t particularly like this about myself. I would love to listen to the new Kurt Vile and Iceage albums in particular, but it generally seems like the last few weeks have been packed with new albums that came out (and thus, by my horrible internal hype metric, are now meaningless to me). But for now, I’ll continue indulging in my worst impulses and discuss the singles and music videos that came out in May to point to future releases.
And that way maybe I can sell some ads, and get some frickin’ eyeballs on here, and go into festival season with a healthy budget. Just kidding I don’t want to do any of that. Okay that’s probably enough of an intro.
Charli XCX “Rock Music”
I really like this song. I think the production is beautiful, I don’t know why I hear it because it’s not really true, but the guitars are edited to almost sound like they’re from different rock songs (kinda like my forever northstar for my own music, Jason Forrest’s “My 36 Favorite Punk Songs”) albeit with a much more stock riff. I also think a lot of what makes this good is unintentional: Charli’s insecurity about her work, the lyrics still being about Brat from an opposite angle, the whole thing feeling like a marketing deck put to music, her seeming inability to go away and stop posting stuff for a sec (very relatable to me), her desperation to seem cool by calling the new album Music, Fashion, Film and putting John Cage and Marc Jacobs and Marty. She’s really on the absolute cutting edge of things you can buy at the mall. And I love the mall. This is pure millennial excellence. (Haven’t listened to the other songs because I don’t really care about them. I just like this one.)
Drake “Janice STFU”
The thing about Drake vs. Kendrick is that you guys really overestimated how much pedophile allegations could affect someone’s career. I don’t think it’s ever stopped anyone from doing anything if they have enough money or if their tunes are toe-tapping enough. It’s with that sober cynicism that I admit I do want to listen to all three Drake albums. But the day they came out, Sara immediately hipped me to “Janice STFU” which is probably the only song we needed from Drake. It sounds so good. The beat is fantastic. It kinda sounds like Ratatat. Are we going to have a Ratatat summer? Will it pay off to know who people like E*Rock are? Audio Dregs and chill??
Blood Orange “Essex_Honey.mp3”
As a 40-year-old man, you can bet your ass I used to FW Blood Orange heavy, soyfacing along to his solo music and Carly Rae Jepsen/Solange production. “Can you believe this guy used to be named Test Icicles?” we’d all say to one another simultaneously, no one replying just all of us repeating this catchphrase until a new one would come along. Seems like Dev has been plugging away ever since then, and I’ve dipped in and out, but it’s genuinely impressive that he’s kept up this level of relevance and respect for all these years. This song sounds great, I love the break. Probably would hit so hard if you were listening while walking around [insert hip area of London, not sure what’s the best one to say here. Peckham? Is that outdated?]. I’m also forever a sucker for the song title to be the file name. What if it was called “Essex_Honey (final (FINAL)) Bounce 2.mp3” instead. Maybe he bounces his tracks perfectly the first time. The man’s a pro. Lovely mournful piano outro.
ear “Ne Plus Ultra”
I love the band “ear.” My wife first showed me them, she immediately clocked that I’d be down. To this old-timer, I’m hearing tastes of the Notwist and Lali Puna instead of the IDM and hyperpop they’re so often lumped in with. And now they’ve signed with A24 Music? That’s almost too perfect I might have to stop stanning. Even knowing that or not, this song is weaker than their last album. But it also does sound almost exactly like the shit we were all listening to while hunting for a quote to put in our MakeOutClub profiles. Gonna peep the full album. Ahhhh as the song concludes it hits some really beautiful synth chords.
Meg Stalter “Prettiest Girl in America”
I was pretty grossed out by frontfacing camera alt comedy when that was the only thing out there, and you had to watch someone prompt themselves to do an impossibly long video on the premise “When your mom helps you move in but doesn’t like your throw cushions and also thinks you should befriend your neighbors.” But I’ve since softened to the genre, not only because it’s gotten better but also because it’s given us two of our best current comedic actors: Eric Rahill and Meg Stalter. Meg kept Hacks so funny, even when they had to do their Emmy-baiting crying scenes, and now she’s got this great lightly tongue-in-cheek pop song. I was worried it’d be comedy pop (worst genre), but instead it’s just a nice throwback noughties dancefloor anthem.
Katy Perry and Chief Keef “Legendary Lovers”
Dating Justin Trudeau? Collaborating with Chief Keef? Katy Perry is collecting unexpected friends like Infinity Stones! (Sorry, that’s an A.I.-ism that I can’t stop thinking about, even though I’ve never seen the Avengers movie I’m pretty sure it comes from). My boy Trudeau recently bought a house within walking distance of my apartment, so I’m already wishcasting us having double dates in Parc Outremont. Do you think Katy and JT like to picnic on a shitty blanket, or do they have a whole camping setup they lug around? Either way, Chief Keef is more than welcome to join us. I don’t remember this beef and I’ve never heard the original song that it’s apparently a remix of. But sans context, it sounds absolutely fucking insane. I had to pause it twice to make sure I didn’t have another tab open. It’s like vet office waiting room music with normal Katy Perry vocals and then Chief Keef comes in heavily autotuned and spits some insane nonsense that concludes with the phrase “yabba dabba doo” before an awkward transition back to Katy’s litely Christian lyrics. Listen from like 1:48 to 1:57. This is a special moment of pop culture collapsing in on itself.
Lola Young “From Down Here”
Whenever I think of that one Lola Young song “Messy” it gets stuck in my head for like three days. I’m tempted to call it a one-of-a-kind tune, but thinking about it more it feels like a chav cousin to Twenty One Pilots’ “Stressed Out.” Just some great moody music for people who do all-cash jobs in mid-sized cities (hairdresser, barback, tattooer, etc.) to put on while they’re shooting the shit and posting photos that say “Afternoon drinks with these dumdums.” I clicked this other Lola Young song “From Down Here” because it was produced by James Blake and his wife, the really woke lady from the show where they say “fork this!” or whatever. When I worked at Exclaim! I had to churn out so many mp3 posts every single day, and sometimes I wouldn’t even listen to the songs just riff on what the press release said. (I listen to all songs in full now, because I’m choosing them and doing it for fun.) I’ve actually never knowingly heard a full James Blake song, but I’d post them when they came out, and it became an inside joke with myself to describe his soft boyish features as though he was a “porcelain prince.”
I just spent like 5 minutes typing all of that and forgot to hit play on this song. The synths kinda sound like that one Mario 64 level with the water spiders. Maybe I’m being tricked by the tracky jackets, but I view Lola as a kind of half-Adele/half-MC Grindah, and this song kinda hits that spot. It’s pretty boring and honestly I regret saying I would listen to the whole thing but I will. I’ll just watch the text cursor blink until the song ends. Actually I just went down a Google rabbit hole to see what that’s called. I almost said “caret” but that’s a different thing.
IAN SWEET “Jilian”
In a vacuum, “Ian Sweet” is a great stage name for Jilian Medford. And when I look it up, Ian is her childhood nickname and she added the “Sweet” when she formed a full band. But to me, Ian Sweet seems like the name of like, an arrogant arts funding Gen X guy who ran a shitty record label or alt weekly who was once king of the scene in Red Deer, Alberta. I’m not talking about a specific guy, but a specific kind of guy. Anyway, this is why I’ve never checked out IAN SWEET until now, and I think I’ve been missing out. This is really nice coming-of-age-movie-closing-credits indie pop, and I love that she’s clearly addressing herself directly on the song. The production is maybe slightly hi-fi for where I’m at in my life right now, but this is still a very nice and lush heartstring-puller.
Laura Veirs “Flying Into Darkness”
I feel like as long as I’ve been indie-adjacent, I’ve been hearing Laura Veirs. One of her albums in probably 2007 or so had heavy rotation in the Hughes household. Another artist that I really should be paying more attention to holistically, because I’m never mad when Laura Veirs is on. This is a wonderful twinkly little tune built on a nylon-stringed guitar and Veirs’ doubled up vocal track. It builds lovely layers without ever getting “big,” in the best most tasteful way. And I love the music video with a sort of amateur and literal set up. She’s singing “When can we rest?” while napping on the train, then she’s strumming her guitar with a greenscreen so she’s floating in the air. It’s a little bit Mark Gormley and a lot Lil B, but with an absolutely lovely and timeless indie folk tune.
Babehoven “Blue Around You”
I love the idea of an indie band being from Hudson, New York, which is a small town where every store only sells Fish Wife and BonBon and Momofuku chili crisp and Sea NY lounge dresses. It kind of looks like a quaint movie set of a small town but it’s the most deliciously bougie place I’ve ever been, and at any given moment I’d drop everything to drive there and browse thousands-of-dollar antiques and the multiple stores that sell Engineered Garments. Anyway, Babehoven sure do sound down-to-earth. They were so nice when they were on my old podcast to talk about Fugazi. I like their tunes too, this is a nice little alt-country song. The word “liminal” is standing out a little bit in this post-Backrooms world, but otherwise this just hits nicely as a timeless country rock anthem. It would sound so good on a cheeky trip to Woodstock or even The Phoenicia Diner. Kind of music that makes you wanna get one of those old-timey hotel keychains on your keys.
Mike D “What We Got”
The Beastie Boys were, obviously, an incredibly pivotal group in my life and the lives of so many like me (white 40+ men). The loss of MCA is immeasurably sad, and it’s kind of hard to believe it took this long for one of them to go solo. There was another Mike D song I was going to write about that was way too depressing to get into, but this one at least kinda sounds like Hello Nasty with its psych rock samples and big wet drums and layers of reverb. It’s so charmingly dated and it works half the time. Like when you see an oldhead skater and he’s wearing really cool oversized corduroys, and you’re stoked, but then you see his annoying Kyle Mooney chinstrap goatee. Anyway respect to Mike D. One time Sara and I were driving around downtown Vancouver and we saw Mike D walking around on Robson and we were at a red light, and Sara opened her window and was like “Mike D?” and he looked up and smiled, and she was like “WHAT?” (like expressing shock that we saw him) and then we immediately had to drive because the light turned green. I wonder if he remembers that.
Westside Cowboy “Kick Stones (The Boys)”
I’m straight edge but I did recently have a stoner-type thought that bands are totally fake. Like it’s all make believe man. You just put a name on something. I don’t even know how to expand on the thought because it’s so stupid, but a Mancunian band called Westside Cowboy certainly supports my theory. I first heard this band while listening to Sirius XMU (a radio station that regularly makes me want to wrap my Chevy Spark around a pole), and then heard them again when I was researching artists who’ve covered “Young Folks.” And here we are with a single from their debut album, arriving via Island Records on August 21 (my birthday). Looks like it’s a footie anthem, the video has them down the FC United of Manchester. Plenty of shots of scran and lads in their gear. I dunno I’m running out of footie terms to say. The song sounds okay, I don’t really know how to describe it. Is every rock band now just like, super verbose and somewhat clever lyrics over a build-up of quiet-yet-peppy guitar chords? Are bands just fake? I think so. They just did some kinda Modest Mouse whirly guitar bending. But there’s not much going on here otherwise. Sorry lads. Cheers innit.
Eddy Current Suppression Ring “Hard to Be Moved”
There was a time, not too long ago, where you had to pay attention to a particular subgenre of garage rock. In this particular subgenre, instead of Rat Fink and misogynist Coop drawings and mutton chop sideburns and songs about “doing the boogie-woogie” or whatever, the art was art gallery-esque, all sans serif fonts and photos of architecture and Taschen-esque iconography. And one of the stars of this subgenre (I dunno if it has a name? They probably called it “art-damaged” whatever that means) was Australia’s Eddy Current Suppression Ring. They just dropped a new album, so I’m breaking my own rules and watching a video from late last year that accompanied it. When I close my eyes, I hear the things I used to like: staticky vocals, repetitive guitar stabs, sneering vocals, music that is more Angry Samoans than The Mummies. But then when I watch the vid, I see the bass player is wearing one of those cab-driver newsie caps, and I realize I’m sitting here listening to garage rock again. The illusion is shattered.
Kiwi Jr. “Blowin’ Up”
Another band that feels like they’re flirting with “classy garage” (“garage start-up” [like Woz and Steve Jobs]? “Bike room”? What’s the best genre name for this garage rock I’m clocking?) Although I’m being unfair because this isn’t actually garage at all. I was just trying to do a clever bridge. But it does have the sort of aloof clever lyrics, post-Malkmus vibes. I really love the jangly prechorus of this song but it loses me a bit with the big heavy halftime part. That’s just me though. This is deliciously ornate. It’s so bizarre that a band like this (who are Canadian, by the way) wound up on K Records. Nothing against them at all it’s just so expensive sounding comparatively. They didn’t usually have “bands” like this on K did they? Dunno what’s going on over there but hope Calvin is paying the bills.
Daydream Plus “Speed Limit”
As a proud and open poseur, I was a fan of Tomb Mold’s bloggable death metal, and I was even on board when they made an all dungeon-synth album and dressed like normal I.T. guys on the front of a metal magazine. Trolling metal fans with accessible and very good music is necessary behaviour. But I feel like they might be even losing me with this new “math rock” side project. To be fair, “math rock” is always a genre I’m disappointed in. I always think it should sound like Hella Hold Your Horse Is, and instead it usually sounds like this. Which is to say, someone totally overplaying a surf rock song. And honestly, even despite what I’m saying, I’m enjoying listening to this. Because I’m a disgusting guitar player who secretly loves guitar solos and guitarmonies and even thinking about guitar tone. But they are also releasing a chiptune version of this album. Like, where does it end? Wait I just realized I bought a bootleg Columbo hat from this guy, he’s cool.
Show Me the Body “No God”
I gotta stop shit talking Toronto bands or someone’s gonna push me in front of a Via Rail next time I come to visit. Let me move on to “Show Me the Body,” a band that is seemingly associated with hardcore somehow. I’ve listened to this band before but I can never remember what they sound like, maybe Refused? Is there a banjo guy in this band? I just hit play and it kinda sounds like Transplants x Korn. It’s possibly the least heavy music I’ve ever heard in my entire life. And I was raised on Christian metalcore. So yeah, I also think the song title is inaccurate, bitch. Oh man the song just “came in” and it was so soft sounding it almost hurt. Don’t really have much of an opinion about the music video, other than they should make the car sounds even louder than they are now to add some grit.
Demonstrate Prove Me Wrong EP
I got into hardcore backwards, starting with the aforementioned Christian hardcore (Training for Utopia, Focal Point, Overcome, etc.) then discovering The Locust and slowly trickling down into my local straight-edge scene. Around that time, I was confused why everyone in normal jock hardcore bands was always so sad and woeful about the way things used to be, but I get it now. Sometimes, when you’ve just sat through the most painful Show Me the Body song, you just want to listen to music where you can instantly imagine someone jumping 5 feet in the air in front of their 5150, you can visualize the parts where a guy is two-stepping in his fresh pressed khakis, you can imagine the scene unity speeches between tracks where they’re clearly just addressing someone who shit-talked (shat talk?) them on a message board. This Demonstrate EP has been on repeat. I was barely involved, but I was there, and I want to go back. Bring back the Spirit of ‘05.
S.P.E.A.R. Jungle Rules Promo 2026
I really do appreciate having a coreman in my life to send me these things. Shouts out Christian. S.P.E.A.R. is less “Rivalry Records showcase of my dreams” that I was just imagining, but it’s still slick as fuck with awesome cookie monster vocals and sick guitar solos. I love that it’s too well-recorded to be called a “demo” so they called it Promo 2026. They should start following fashion trends and call their next release S.P.E.A.R. F/W ‘26 capsule. What if my next midlife crisis is getting really into hardcore again.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith “RUIN”
I think it’s actually good to be an “I’ve heard of it but I haven’t actually heard it” type of guy at this point. We should at least be trying to hear of things. Having said that, can someone tell me if I’ve listened to Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith before? Or have I just heard of it? I can’t remember. This song is awesome though — big brash breakbeats and cool synths and vocal edits. I was vibing with the eerie video too until it turned into a freestyle dance type thing. This guy also just jumped out a window to make it seem like he was gonna do parkour, but I think he was just leaving a room. I know it’s not fair for me to dismiss something like that but, it’s my page. I can dismiss anything for any reason. I’m basically just blabbing because I often lack the vocabulary to describe dance music other than that it’s good and I like it. There’s a lot going on with this track, it’s very busy. Blurb complete.
Chanel Beads “Dust in the Wind”
I know for a fact that I’ve listened to Chanel Beads before, but I couldn’t remember what I thought of it. Luckily, I have decided all music is good so I don’t need to worry about that. This song is really cool. The vocals sound very uncanny, the production is full of drama and mystique. It doesn’t instantly remind me of something else. It makes me want to dig in and listen more. That’s basically all you could really ask for at this point. Or for MGK to be on the track.
Skrillex “Thistle” (ft. Blawan, Randomer and MC Dricka)
If you had told me 15 years ago that I’d be this invested/interested in the music of Skrillex in 2026, I’d probably have felt a pang of disappointment that future-me was still wasting so much time reading music press. But alas, here we are. I dunno who any of these people are on the track. I think Ned went to see Blawan recently so that must be somewhat of a known entity. This one’s also not moving me as much as some of Skrillex’s other ADHD-addled material. But it’s still a nice vibey little tune. Am I forgetting how to write as I go on?
Trisha Paytas “사랑해 Saranghae (I Love You)”
I don’t think I mind that Trisha Paytas pops up everywhere despite her awful politics and evil past. What celebrity doesn’t have awful politics or evil pasts? I guess some of them. But do you really want to hear Mark Ruffalo’s K-pop song? I don’t know enough about K-pop to judge this for its merits, although I’m guessing it’s bad. But it’s interesting to think that just a few years ago she was releasing My Chemical Romance covers and making “emo” songs, and now here she is. The collective nightmare/daydream that was the emo “revival” might finally be over. And we’re all the better off for it.
Mod Sun “Mirror”
Even the Warped Tour lifer artists seem to be moving on. The latest track from Mod Sun is closer to a Turnstile song than anything he’s ever released. It still has signature Mod Sun trademarks, like inventing a phrase and then treating it like it’s something everyone’s always said (the song opens with a robo-operator voice saying “The lifestyle that you’ve ordered is currently unavailable,” whatever that means), before kicking into a giant mid-tempo rocker. “I can’t take care of myself / I can’t even keep my houseplant alive.” Look, I know I’ve listened to too much Mod Sun. I know that about myself. But I love this song. There’s a part when he belts out into the camera and the camera goes all the way into his mouth and shows his nasty wet vocal cords open up? It’s heinous. There’s a part when it’s just the bass and drums and him singing about his bipolar. And the chorus has a hook where he sings “Every night I talk to God but I know I’ll never meet her.” It’s like every faux-clever catchphrase on every item in a cheugy gift shop come to life in a rock song that is undeniably 10x harder than the Show Me the Body song. I can’t wait to hear what this guy does next.
mgk & Wiz Khalifa “everything tatted”
I made a promise. A promise to you. A promise to him. And most importantly a promise to myself. That promise? As long as I’m still indulging in the depraved act that is “music writing,” I will spend that time covering the output of one Colson “Machine Gun Kelly” Baker with the utmost commitment. And I’ll even decide that all of his music is good. As promised, I’ve closed out every one of these monthly track roundups with a new mgk song. But this month he teamed up with Wiz Khalifa for a new “mixtape” called Blog Era Boyz, and I fear the spell might be wearing off. Don’t get me wrong, when I see mgk with his liberty spikes and cool razorblade jewelry, my heart still skips a beat. But this song about tattoos, complete with a series of depressing cameos (why is Bam Margera there?) and the worst Wiz Khalifa verse I’ve ever heard… it’s too much even for me. And it’s not like Wiz Khalifa is known for having good verses. But his main bar that he like, winks into the camera about, is something like “I’m inked up / Let’s link up.” And it feels like it takes about 10 minutes to get it out. I’m just gonna say it, this song sucks. But I’m sure whatever mgk releases next month will be fantastic. And I can’t wait to listen to it with you.