New Music This Week: April 18

highlighting new music by Artificial Go, Fib, MIKE, caroline, Lana Del Rey, & MORE

Tony Seltzer and MIKE by Sugar M. Sylla

An overwhelming amount of music is released daily, and we're here to help you weed through it all. Every week, we share select releases we are all looking forward to and personalized picks from a few of our editors.

Welcome to our new releases guide featuring the most notable music released the week of April 18.

BLIGATORY Picks

Artificial Go - "Circles"

Art Punk, Post-Punk

via Feel It Records

write-up by Peter Doherty

No more than eight months removed from their debut, Artificial Go—the Cincinnati quirksters who burst onto the DIY scene with Hopscotch Fever in September of 2024—return with the first single from their upcoming sophomore album, Musical Chairs.

"Circles" will have you shaking in your boots like a chihuahua, but not out of fear. The feel-good factor of the track comes through in the infectious, carefree essence that bolsters its being. Artificial Go make music for your soul; it will have your insides smiling and your ears needing more.

Musical Chairs is out May 16 on Feel It Records.

Fib - "You Ruined Everything"

Indie Rock, Post-Punk

via Julia's War Recordings

write-up by Dominick Baglivo

In advance of their debut album, Heavy Lifting, Fib has already shared two singles in “Mutuals” and “PS.” This week, the Philly four-piece is back with “You Ruined Everything.”

It is, of course, absolutely bonkers.

Heavy Lifting is out April 25 on Julia’s War Recordings.

MIKE & Tony Seltzer - "Prezzy"

Trap, Cloud Rap

via 10k Global

write-up by Atticus Deeny

The work ethic of MIKE is on another level. Only three months after dropping his latest solo album, Showbiz!, which earned the rapper heavy critical acclaim and attention, he has announced the sequel to last year’s Pinball with Brooklyn-based producer Tony Seltzer. Pinball II will be out May 7 via MIKE’s label 10k, with features from Lunchbox, Sideshow, Niontay, and Earl Sweatshirt.

The duo’s new track, “Prezzy,” begins with the chaotic energy commonly found in today’s underground hip-hop—glass breaking sounds, sirens, sped-up rapping, DJ drops—creating a short intro before the actual rapping begins. MIKE’s effortless flow meshes well with the trap bounce and ethereal synths during a single short verse, leaving much to be anticipated from the incoming 17-track album.

MIKE is currently on his massive #AOTC Tour, which will be far from over come May 7 and the release of Pinball II. Pre-order the album now here.

Atticus' Picks

Shamir - "Recording 291"

Lo-Fi Indie Rock, Bedroom Pop

via Kill Rock Stars

It has been stated that the upcoming Ten will be Shamir’s last solo album. A claim like this is difficult to believe, but assuming that it is true, Shamir has delivered a diverse collection of music over the past decade that will inspire and speak for years to come.

The second single off of Ten is “Recording 291,” a lyrically simple yet emotionally gripping song that utilizes a rough, lo-fi instrumental texture to match Shamir’s raw vocal delivery. Shamir is in pain as he longs for the feelings of a past relationship to either go away or come back. “Recording 291” provides a contrasting sound for the upcoming album, since the leadoff single “Neverwannago” featured much cleaner production.

Famed record label Kill Rock Stars will release Ten on May 19; exactly one decade after Shamir’s debut album, Ratchet, was released in 2015 via XL Recordings.

Lana Del Rey - "Bluebird"

Singer-Songwriter, Americana, Contemporary Folk

via Polydor / Interscope

Stella Stella - "Lagrange"

Shoegaze, Art Rock

via counting sheep recs

Dominick's Picks

Brainwash Epiphany Center - EP-1

Hypnagogic Pop, Minimal Synth

via OPF

Recommended if you like: Solid Space, Suicide, Automatic

Perverts Again - The New Man

Post-Punk, Egg Punk

via Saalepower 2 Records

Recommended if you like: Cruelster, Urochromes, Citric Dummies

Spikepit - Peacewalker (EP)

Hardcore Punk

via Pipeline Records

Recommended if you like: Gumm, Paint It Black, Show Me the Body

Why Bother? - You Are Part of the Experiment (EP)

Garage Punk, Garage Rock

via Feel It Records

Recommended if you like: Red Krayola, R.M.F.C., Powerplant

GMO - "Double Headed Gemini"

Trip-Hop

Self-Released

Last year, Los Angeles’s GMO released their debut EP, repeat/rewind. year. This week, the trio of Jess Hutchison, Brendon Avalos, and Sam Horn share their first single of 2025 (not counting their recent remix of Dummy’s “Unshaped Road”) with the smooth and subdued psychedelia of “Double Headed Gemini.”

The track is accompanied by two remixes, one from Brooklyn-based producer Oscar Huang, and the other from LA’s Adam O.

Kilynn Lunsford - "Nice Quiet Horror Show"

Art Punk

via Feel It Records

Philly experimentalist and former Taiwan Housing Project frontwoman, Kilynn Lunsford, announces her second solo album, Promiscuous Genes. Announced alongside the dark and bouncy bizarro pop of lead single “Nice Quiet Horror Show,” it follows Lunsford’s 2022 release, Custodians of Human Succession.

Poised to be a versatile display of weird punk, Lunsford’s Promiscuous Genes is out May 16 on Feel It Records.

Lightheaded - "Same Drop"

Jangle Pop

via Slumberland Records

Last year, New Jersey’s Lightheaded shared their jangly debut LP Combustible Gems. This week, they present their first single of 2025 and announce a new record.

“Same Drop” is the super sweet and sentimental lead single to Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming!, which is out June 27 on Slumberland Records/Skep Wax.

Peter's Picks

Punxsutawney - Untitled (EP)

Post-Rock, Slowcore

via Self Versed Records

The Los Angeles post-rock, post-hardcore, post-whatever-you-like five-piece of Sage, Albert, Sam, Michael, and Caleb—known collectively as Punxsutawney, the band, not the Pennsylvanian town known for groundhogs and the movie with Bill Murray—release their self-titled debut EP.

The EP is comprised of four instrumentals tallying a total of 27-minutes. It features two tracks of more regular length, "Jade's Song" and "This is Not the Way Home," and two of a more extended timeframe—opener "Rin," and closer, "Landing System."

There is a lot on show over the course of the project’s 27-minute runtime. An understanding of song structure is apparent. Tracks flow with purpose, as we get from point A to B through well-thought-out and well-mapped out musicality.

Often traversing an angular, math-y path, Punxsutawney blaze trails which some of the best bands only wish they could follow.

These guys are ones to look out for.

caroline - "Tell me I never knew that" (ft. Caroline Polachek)

Post-Rock, Progressive Folk, Art Rock

via Rough Trade Records

Two Carolines collide as the South-London eight-piece meet Caroline Polachek on the second single in the run-up to album number two, aptly titled caroline 2.

The avant-folk-post-rockers lay down a sweeping instrumental for Polachek to sprinkle her pop-inclined characteristics on.

Speaking on the Polachek collab, the band had this to say:

“We wrote the opening top line together and straight away we thought ‘this sounds like a melody that Caroline Polachek might sing’ in its hooky-ness. We sort of joked that we'd ask her to sing it but didn't think it'd actually be on the cards, until about a year later when we sent her the half-finished song and she was up for it!”

caroline's sophomore album, caroline 2, is out May 30 via Rough Trade.

caroline head on an eight-date UK tour beginning on May 30 at Rough Trade East in London. On September 3, the band play for the first time in Japan at WWWX, before heading to Europe on September 9.