New Music Friday: 8 releases for a May weekend (08 May 2026)

There are a lot of big names on this week’s New Music Friday list. I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize them.

Singles

1. Mike D, Switch Up (Grand Royal)

Wait. The Mike Di from The Beastie Boys. You bet. After being on the sidelines for years, he’s back with something that began with “a low-pressure experiment at Mike’s home studio” featuring his sons Davis and Skyler, who have a band called Very Nice Person. This is interesting. Where’s it going?

2. The Rolling Stones, In the Stars (Polydor/Universal)

After a long tease about some band called The Cockroaches (the pseudonym used by The Stones for two gigs at the El Mocambo in Toronto back in 1977), the group announced Foreign Tongues, a new album coming on July 12. The big question: Will this be the last Stones album? Mick (supernaturally fit at 82), Keef (supernaturally decrepit at 82, but probably immortal), and the forever New Guy, Ronnie (joined 1975) at 78 (with significant health challenges, including cancer. We’ll see, I suppose.

3. Three Days Grace, Don’t Wanna Go Home Tonight (RCA Records)

The latest version of 3DG (the one featuring dual lead vocalists) has been doing great over the last year, no matter how you want to measure things: streams, sales, downloads, and concert tickets sold. This is the latest single to come from the Alienation album.

4. Weird Nightmare, Forever Elsewhere (Dine Alone)

Whenever I see a new name on the Dine Alone label, I tend to pay attention. Weird Nightmare is an interesting amalgamation of experienced Canadian musicians: Alex Edwins (frontman for METZ; this is his project), along with drummer Loel Campbell (Wintersleep) and bass player Roddy Kuester (Sadies). There’s everything from power pop to British glam to anthem rock to bits of Dinosaur Jr. and Teenage Fanclub here. Weird Nightmare is about to go on a North American tour.

Albums

1. Broken Social Scene, Remember the Humans (Arts & Crafts)

It’s been nearly a decade since I was able to talk about a new BSS album. This time, the group (under the guidance of co-founder Kevin Drew), is looking back a little. The songs evocate feelings of teenage times with all the sensations of love, loss, discovery, and new possibilities. For Kevin, this would have been the 90s in the era before the internet changed everything. I’ll be listening closely to this one. Sounds like my kind of record.

2. The Flatliners, Cold World (Equal Vision)

More essential CanCon. The Flats (est. 2002 in Richmond Hill ON), have released a ton of stuff over the years on both sides of the border. Their latest (their first away from Fat Mike’s Fat Wreck Records) is their first in four years. Frontman Chris Cresswell says this release is all about “dealing with the BS of the world around you.” Such is the punk spirit, right?

3. Lykke Li, The Afterparty (Neon Gold)

Lykke (full name: Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson) has been making music since 2007 and is now apparently done with it all. Her sixth album is being described as her last. It’s not long–the nine tracks are over in a shade under 25 minutes–but it is a stylistic departure from previous album. For one thing, it features a 17-piece orchestra to help express some pretty dark and existential stuff.

4. Social Distortion, Born to Kill (Epitaph)

At last! Mike Ness is healthy again (he had a tonsil cancer scare) and all the delays that have plagued this record since about 2011 have been overcome. The result is the first new Social Distortion album in fifteen years. I feel better now.