On her new single \u201cOnto the Ground,\u201d Adelyn Strei sings, \u201cThat\u2019s where I find my freedom, where my hands fall through the air.\u201d It\u2019s a track that builds on the idiosyncrasies that made her last record, Original Spring<\/em>, so special: simple, sincere lyrics paired with vast accompaniment. Strei often blends meditative orchestral pieces into more traditional singer-songwriter structures, with \u201cOnto the Ground\u201d standing right between these two styles. Strei\u2019s voice moves like a gust of wind, grazing the top of her falsetto range and moving in spirals, filling the background with an eerie calm. \u201cThere is nowhere to wonder in all this violent wind,\u201d she beckons. Whether standing in a squall or sitting in silence, \u201cOn the Ground\u201d takes a slow waltz toward winter. \u2014Caroline Nieto<\/em><\/p>\nDirt Buyer: \u201cGet to Choose\u201d<\/h2>\n
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So, like, this is one of the best rock songs of the year, right? Hot damn. Good on Dirt Buyer for getting one up before the buzzer puts 2025 on ice. \u201cGet to Choose\u201d is so awesome that, while its riff was burrowing into me for the first time, I started to think, \u201cWait, maybe I do<\/em> like New York City???\u201d Joe Sutkowski is a madman and so is his new single, the second from the forthcoming, well-titled third Dirt Buyer album, Dirt Buyer III<\/em>. Actually, \u201cGet to Choose\u201d is so catchy that I heard Billboard is now retroactively inserting it into the Top 40 of the Alternative Airplay chart for the week of December 16, 1995. Sutkowski says the song is about \u201cbeing really, really tiny and screaming, but you\u2019re too small and nobody can hear you.\u201d Now I know why Dirt Buyer made the guitar lick on \u201cGet to Choose\u201d a skyscraper. \u2014Matt Mitchell<\/em><\/p>\nFKA twigs: \u201cStereo Boy\u201d<\/h2>\n
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It\u2019s easy to plot out a night out in grand, detailed set pieces\u2014writing yourself into surrendering to the music, meeting someone, moving where the darkness takes you. If FKA twigs\u2019 initial vision of EUSEXUA<\/a><\/em> charted out these acts of transcendent movement from above, with some (perhaps unintentional) remove, EUSEXUA Afterglow<\/em> shoves you headfirst into the flow state sweeping up past midnight, near-delirious in its insistence. As standout tracks like \u201cHard\u201d and \u201cSushi,\u201d both of which call back to the artist\u2019s known affection for a ballroom catwalk and the four-on-the-floor pulse of UK Garage of decades past, have gotten their shine amongst fans since Afterglow<\/em> first emerged, closer \u201cStereo Boy\u201d has flown under the radar. If the aforementioned tracks depict the hazy grind of the morning\u2019s wee small hours, \u201cStereo Boy\u201d is the sound of city lights streaking in loud, obtrusive colors outside a rideshare window on the way home\u2014the drowse over a failed connection once the night comes to a close, rendered in a synth-drenched art-pop exercise. Spectral, glitchy drums crush the chorus underfoot as desperate layered vocals cry out from the void, compacting hours of midnight desperation into a gorgeous five minutes of sound. The attempt depicted might be futile, but it makes for an evocative snapshot of the sun coming up after the damage is done\u2014emerging as one of the most striking things twigs (an artist who has consistently gifted us striking work) has ever done. \u2014Elise Soutar<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Gladie: \u201cCar Alarm\u201d<\/h2>\n
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From Cayetana to Gladie, frontwoman Augusta Koch has always excelled at turning blunt self-awareness into something sharp enough to penetrate the static, and \u201cCar Alarm\u201d is no exception. With bright guitars that sound like they\u2019re smiling through their teeth and drums snapping hard enough to pass for impatience, the Jeff Rosenstock-produced track hits like a jolt of bad adrenaline. Koch\u2019s voice comes in scraped and fraying at the edges, pushing against the bright, restless guitars as if volume alone could clear the fog. She\u2019s not hiding the exhaustion, either: \u201cComplaining about the traffic when I\u2019m part of it \/ looking for the problem when I\u2019m the one who started it,\u201d she rasps, hitting each syllable like she\u2019s finally lost patience with her own evasions. \u201cEvery day I wake up the same.\u201d Rosenstock\u2019s production adds pressure without clutter, letting the emotion carry the weight, allowing the song to spark with the kind of cracked clarity that feels less like catharsis than a long-overdue alarm finally going off\u2014persistent, grating, impossible to ignore, and absolutely coming from inside the house. \u2014Casey Epstein-Gross<\/em><\/p>\nLifeguard: \u201cUltra Violence\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Lifeguard<\/a> have never been shy about speed, but \u201cUltra Violence\u201d feels like they\u2019ve stripped the brakes off entirely. The Chicago trio recorded their upcoming maxi-single straight to 8-track in their practice space, and you can hear the immediacy of it in every beat: guitar scrambling forward, bass and drums lunging after it, everything slightly overcranked but never sloppy. It\u2019s not \u201craw\u201d in the romantic DIY sense so much as genuinely combustible; every part sounds a little too hot, a little too close to short-circuiting. What keeps it from collapsing is the band\u2019s instinct for structure inside the chaos. Kai Slater\u2019s voice cuts through in clipped, urgent bursts, while the rhythm section is littered with pockets of negative space that make the next hit feel harder. The track hits fast, burns bright, and leaves behind the kind of afterimage that feels closer to impact than memory. \u2014Casey Epstein-Gross<\/em><\/p>\nMan\/Woman\/Chainsaw: \u201cOnly Girl\u201d<\/h2>\n
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I like every song I write about for this column, and I\u2019ve never felt pressured to say something nice about a band or anything like that. But, I do hold dear each time a publicist emails me personally and says, \u201cI think this is something you\u2019ll<\/em> dig.\u201d That happened in 2024 with Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw, a band I didn\u2019t think twice about naming them the Best of What\u2019s Next<\/a> a year ago last week. What do I like most about this band? I especially enjoy feeling washed-up every time they release a new song. They played Paste<\/em>\u2019s SXSW party in March and, once the first note hit, I found muttered, \u201cAre you fucking kidding me?\u201d under my breath. It\u2019s five Brits\u2014all of them on the cusp of turning 20, mind you\u2014with more talent than any one stage is built to sustain. Their Eazy Peazy<\/em> EP rocked, but \u201cOnly Girl\u201d is the best thing they\u2019ve ever done. Every piece of it is worth highlighting: Vera Lepp\u00e4nen\u2019s towering vocals feathered into Emmie Mae-Avery\u2019s slight and trilling piano; Bill Ward and William Doyle\u2019s twin guitars circling each other until they blend into a gargantuan hook; the little earthquakes falling out of Lola Waterworth\u2019s drum kit; and Clio Harwood\u2019s stormy violin, which lends a saga of drama to the afterglow of Lepp\u00e4nen\u2019s playful but provocative enunciation of \u201cI want you undone.\u201d In this catchy, eruptive declaration of love, Man\/Woman\/Chainsaw blow the pocket to kingdom come. \u2014Matt Mitchell<\/em><\/p>\nRobber Robber: \u201cTalkback\u201d<\/h2>\n
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