Music update, May 2018.

I went a little overboard this month and decided not to edit it down as much as I usually do, because of the time crunch with the draft coming up. So I give you 28 songs from the pop, alternative, hip hop, and metal worlds. You can also access the Spotify playlist here.

Lemaitre featuring Betty Who – Rocket Girl. An early candidate for song of the year, certainly my song of the year so far, powered by a soaring, anthemic vocal from Ms. Who.

Jungle – Happy Man. A welcome return from the British R&B collective behind 2014’s “Busy Earnin,” a top 20 song for me that year.

Childish Gambino – This Is America. I’ve never been much for Donald Glover’s music, which I thought showed his inexperience in that realm, but this song is truly catchy, makes a serious point in its sparse lyrics, and of course has come with a provocative video addressing gun violence in America.

Young Fathers – Toy. I linked to this song’s video a few weeks but had never put it on a playlist. This Mercury Prize-winning hip-hop trio has a unique sound that combines musical influences from two members’ African roots, American trap music, and more frenetic European EDM sounds.

Kid Astray – Can’t Stop. More pop goodness from this Norwegian quintet, although I was disappointed to learn that keyboardist and sometime vocalist Elizabeth Wu left the group at some point in the last two years.

Artificial Pleasure – I Need Something More. I could do without the 30-second intro, but after that there’s a droning, throwback new-wave sort of guitar riff that powers the rest of this song from their debut album The Bitter End.

Hinds – Tester. Maybe my favorite track yet from this Barcelona quartet, who always sound like they recorded their vocals in a tin can and as if they have never done anything so fun in their lives as recording music.

Black Honey – Bad Friends. I’m hoping this darker single presages a full-length release from Black Honey, who’ve dotted my top 100 lists the last two years.

Wye Oak – Join. A little Lord Huron, a little Cocteau Twins, maybe even a little Beach House (but with a stronger melody). This is from the duo’s new album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs.

Hatchie – Bad Guy. I think I’ve now put four of the five song’s from Hatchie’s EP Sugar and Spice on monthly or annual playlists, ebecause she’s fantastic.

bülow – Not A Love Song. Megan Bülow is a teenager from the Netherlands with a heck of a pop sensibility; this track comes from an EP she first released in Europe in late November. She doesn’t seem old enough to pack this many musical influences into one track.

Courtney Barnett – Charity. Barnett’s second solo album Tell Me How You Really Feel dropped two weeks ago and is very similar to her first album (and, fortunately, not at all similar to the record she made with Kurt Vile).

CLOVES – Wasted Time. I think it’s clear at this point that CLOVES could sing an instruction manual for a toaster oven and I’d put it on a playlist.

Cœur de Pirate – Malade. From the Quebecois singer-songwriter’s new album en cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé, which dropped today. The entire record is in French, unlike her previous full-length, and has a broad mix of more upbeat dance tracks like “Prémonition,” some ethereal piano ballads like “Somnambule,” and in-betweeners like this.

Okkervil River – Love Somebody. I didn’t care for most of OR’s new album, In the Rainbow Rain, in large part because Will Sheff just isn’t a very good singer, but goes beyond his range in the intros to so many tracks here. This is the best song on the record and builds very nicely to a second movement (starting around 1:40) that showcases the best of Sheff’s songwriting both in music and lyrics.

Mourn – Fun at the Geysers. The ‘other’ great young band from Barcelona also put out a new song this month, with better production value and a bit more punk rock to their vibe, as with

The Charlatans – Totally Eclipsing. The track is just fair, but the Charlatans (sometimes called Charlatans UK here) are one of my favorite bands from the 1990s, so anything they produce gets consideration for a playlist here.

Sea Girls – Too Much Fun. Radio 1 tabbed Sea Girls a band to watch for 2018, and this song, from their forthcoming EP Adored, has that potentially anthemic chorus offset by an understated vocal in the verses.

Drenge – This Dance. I loved their first album (my #4 album of 2013), didn’t like the sonic shift on their second record, and am glad to hear this song sounds much more like their debut record.

Great News – Sleep It Off. A Norwegian trio who call their music “daze-pop,” Great News were among the big hits at last month’s Great Escape music festival in London.

Vast – She Is Murder. I lost track of Vast (or V.A.S.T.) aeons ago; their song “Touched” was one of the songs I played repeatedly while I was in grad school, but I had no idea Jon Crosby was still recording under this name. Their eighth album is due this summer.

The Get Up Kids – Better This Way. Emo/indie artists the Get Up Kids, not to be confused with the geddup noise, are set to release their first album in seven years and just their second since their breakup in 2005.

Wooden Shjips – Eclipse. Wooden Shjips’ latest album, just titled V., dropped on May 25th, and it’s only seven songs long because six of the tracks clock in between five and eight minutes. There’s a lot of spacey guitar noodling here, but that’s kind of my cup of tea, innit?

Bilk – Spiked. These guys are very British, very post-punk in sound, and very, very young.

Winger – Dance Macabre. I’m shocked to hear these glam-metal stalwarts, who sort of became the poster child for the hairspray excesses of the era, come back with a … wait, this is Ghost? And the song isn’t 30 years old? Never mind.

Lucifer – California Son. Lucifer is the new project from Johanna Sadonis, who was the lead singer for the one-album project The Oath, who broke up before their record was even released. It’s a deep throwback to the kind of 1970s British metal that I absolutely adore.

Pallbearer – Dropout. The dominant doom metal band recording today, Pallbearer just released this one-off single as they headed out on tour to support last year’s Heartless.

Amorphis – The Bee. This Finnish progressive/melodic death metal band has been recording for 25 years now, and just released their 13th album, Queen of Time, two weeks ago.