New Music This Week: May 30
- BLIGATORY
- Jun 4
- 6 min read
recapping the last week of music, with new releases from Alex G, Safe Mind, caroline, Find My Friends, MAVI, Swans, Worlds Worst & MORE
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 recommend and personalized picks from a few of our editors.
Welcome to our new releases guide featuring the most notable music released the week of May 30.
BLIGATORY Picks
Alex G - "Afterlife"
Folk Rock, Indie Folk
via RCA Records
write-up by Peter Doherty
A man and his mandolin, Alex G's latest offering in "Afterlife" opens the doors to the world of Alex G once more. Album number ten, Headlights, lurks in the not-too-distant future—July 18 to be exact.
G and co. will embark on a North American tour across September and October with support from Nilüfer Yanya beginning in Boston, MA on September 11.
Safe Mind - "Standing on Air"
Synthpop, Dance-Pop
via NUDE CLUB
write-up by Dominick Baglivo
Last September, Augustus Muller—one half of Boy Harsher—and Cooper B. Handy (aka LUCY) debuted a new project named Safe Mind. The bouncy and playful “6’ Pole” marked the first song from the duo, and this week brings news of Safe Mind’s debut album, Cutting The Stone, and a new single in “Standing on Air.”
Safe Mind’s origins take root in an earlier collaboration, when Handy featured on “Autonomy,” taken from Boy Harsher’s The Runner, an original soundtrack for a short horror film of the same name, in 2022. Since then, Muller and Handy have dialed in for what has already been a very fruitful partnership just two songs in. Similarly to “6’ Pole,” the dreamy and club-ready “Standing on Air” boasts a vibrant buoyancy that delivers an immediate pick-me-up.
Safe Mind’s debut album, Cutting The Stone, is out July 25 on the Boy Harsher-owned Nude Club. The duo has also announced a US tour—starting the same day the album drops—including some dates opening for Nation of Language. Find the full list of dates here.
Atticus' Picks
MAVI - "Landgrab" (ft. Earl Sweatshirt)
Abstract Hip-Hop
via Noble Music
Cam's Picks
Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette
Abstract Hip-Hop, Conscious Hip-Hop
via Rhymesayers Entertainment
Bruiser Wolf - POTLUCK
Gangsta Rap
via Fake Shore Drive / Bruiser House
illuminati hotties - Nickel On The Fountain Floor
Indie Rock, Indie Pop
via Snack Shack Tracks / Hopeless Records
Obongjayar - Paradise Now
Alternative R&B, Alté
via September Recordings
yeule - Evangelic Girl Is A Gun
Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Indietronica
via Ninja Tune
Dominick's Picks
Billiam & Busted Head Racket - Kidnapped!
Egg Punk, Synth Punk
via Goodbye Boozy Records
RIYL: Snõõper, Cherry Cheeks, Prison Affair
EYE BALL - GULL SONGS
Garage Punk, Power Pop, Hardcore Punk
via Noise Merchant Records / Knuckles On Stun
RIYL: Alien Nosejob, R.M.F.C., Why Bother?
Find My Friends - find my friends
Slacker Rock, Noise Pop, Indietronica
via bloody knuckles / Many Hats Distribution
RIYL: feeble little horse, Kassie Krut, Bleary Eyed
Hubble - 1000 Heads
Shoegaze, Post-Hardcore
via Rope Bridge
RIYL: Stab, A Country Western, Nothing
Drugdealer & Weyes Blood - "Real Thing"
Soft Rock, Baroque Pop
via Mexican Summer
Drugdealer, the soft rock/baroque pop project of Michael Collins, connects with Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) for a new collaborative single on “Real Thing.” The pair have previously worked together a few times—twice on Collins’ 2016 record, The End of Comedy, and on “Honey” from Raw Honey in 2019.
The single is a beautiful ode to love and the comfort that comes along with finding the “Real Thing.” Atop a luxurious, classy homage to 70s’ pop—familiar territory for both artists—Mering sings, “Think I found someone who loves me / Somebody that’s so proud that they found me / Someone who loves me in every way / Finally found a love who sees me.”
Recounting working on the track with co-producer Max Baby, Collins says, “Immediately, I realized that it was the perfect thing to show Nat, who I had been wanting to collaborate with again for years. After that, we started working on it via multiple trips back and forth across the US, and it just became one of my favorite things we’ve ever done.”
Far Caspian - "An Outstretched Hand / Rain From Here To Kerry"
Indie Rock, Dream Pop
via Tiny Library Records / Dance To The Radio
In April, Far Caspian—the project of Irish musician Joel Johnston—announced his third album alongside “First Day.” It flew under my radar at the time, but I assure you, it’s good. This week, Johnston shares another one with "An Outstretched Hand / Rain From Here To Kerry." Autofiction is out July 25 via Tiny Library Records and Dance To The Radio. Find Far Caspian's upcoming tour dates here.
Worlds Worst - "Angus"
Indie Rock, Grunge
via Smoking Room / Julia's War Recordings
Requesting backup: we must reclaim the term post-grunge. Despite their self-deprecating name, Worlds Worst are one of the sickest up-and-coming bands. The Salt Lake City four-piece shared their self-titled debut in 2023, and they followed that up with a mainstay in my rotation (for all of 2024) with a one-off titled “Motor Mouth.”
This week, Worlds Worst have announced plans for their second record alongside lead single “Angus.” The fuzzed-out guitars are lovely and the drums hit just right, with snares and kicks that might have unlocked some unused parts of my brain.
American Muscle, the second LP from Worlds Worst, is out July 11 via Smoking Room (vinyl) and Julia’s War Recordings (cassette). In the same week, they will hit the road for a summer tour with Houston’s Shallowater. Worlds Worst will also be playing the upcoming Julia’s War Fest (7/18-7/20 in Philly), which was announced last week and will also see performances from MSPAINT, Fib, Bedridden, and more.
Peter's Picks
caroline - caroline 2
Post-Rock, Avant-Folk
via Rough Trade Records
London-based eight-piece caroline return for album number two. The avant-folk-post-rockers will push the more patient listener to the edge as the slow to unfurl worlds ebb and flow at a snail’s pace. With the opening track and lead single, "Total Euphoria," being maybe the most forward track on the album, caroline 2 can feel like a puzzle that's in the process of figuring itself out.
Awkward strands of musical creativity; paths ventured down in strange dreams; moments of fleeting splendor; windows into other worlds; caroline, and caroline 2, can be hard to grasp. Like sonic think pieces to which there may or may not be a payoff to the thought exercise, these tracks often exist out of time and space. The lyrics on closing track, "beautiful ending," to me, allude to this timeless, spaceless mindset: “not everything needs to even out.” Sometimes things exist, and that's enough. caroline 2 is a reminder that not everything has to make sense, not everything has to make ends meet.
Cut from an ethereal cloth, caroline 2 exhibits a boundless spirit.
caroline 2 is out now via Rough Trade.
Swans - Birthing
Post-Rock, Experimental Rock
via Young God Records / Mute Records
A farewell to the grueling state, as stated by figurehead Michael Gira, Birthing—Swans' seventeenth studio album—is set to be the last in the all-consuming sound worlds of Swans. Slow to build, and slow to break, Birthing is just under two hours of Swans' often meditative and animalistic material; the two intertwine and go hand-in-hand in the hands of Gira and co.
Swans' Bandcamp reads with regards to the future of Swans:
"This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it.
After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream.”
Will it end, does it end? Birthing is out now via Young God and Mute Records.
MORN - "Modern Man"
Post-Punk, Post-Hardcore
via Speedy Wunderground
Speedy Wunderground once again come up with the goods, this time through Monmouth-based band MORN and their debut single "Modern Man." The lucky so-and-so's sit at SW053 on the Speedy Wunder singles’ scales. Consisting of two sets of siblings, MORN are a Welsh four-piece that delve into the world of post-punk with an inclination for spirited dejection.
"Life is shit when you're all alone, but it's fine."
MORN are set to celebrate the release of their debut single on June 14 at The Windmill, Brixton. Magnolia, Star City, and Myer U Clark are also set to take to the stage on the day.
Comments