What's Good (Week of 5/4)
It's the end of the week, so it's time to wind down from the grind with What's Good. As is standard, I give you all the dope music that I'm rocking with this week (Playlists section if you wanna dive right in, Music section for detailed info and purchase links), along with interesting news, writing, and live performances as Bonus Beats. This week we've got:
New Albums
- billy woods
- Deradoorian
- Erika de Casier
- Kali Uchis
- MIKE & Tony Seltzer
- Men I Trust
New Singles
- Archibald SLIM
- Black Milk & Fat Ray
- Defcee & Parallel Thought
- Leikeli47
- Soccer Mommy
- Teethe
And a ton more. As noted, Playlists are just below. After that, we get into the Bonus Beats, and then the Music main event. Let's get started.
Playlists
TIDAL
TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 5/4/25
BNDCMPR
BNCMPR: What's Good Playlist - Week of 5/4/25
YouTube
Bonus Beats
SeasideFM on FM radio!
The homey SeasideFM—purveyor of Twitch's ONLY all-vinyl Japanese City Pop DJ stream—is going to be on the radio! Every Friday in May starting today, SeasideFM will be on XRAY.fm from 4PM to 6PM PT, at KXRY 107.1 or 91.1 FM on the dial if you're in Portland, or streaming on the web! Tune in (probably right this second, depending on when this blog goes live) for Japanese City Pop and Jazz Fusion, boogie, and lots of dope shit from one of the coolest and sweetest DJs around.
I was wondering how Gelli Haha's music (I featured Bounce House on an earlier edition of the blog) would transfer to a live show, and I wasn't disappointed after stumbling across this clip (via the All Gas, No Trash podcast) of them at L.A.'s Silverlake Lounge.
Kiefer has been letting "bootlegs" of live performances with his trio go on YouTube, and this Sade cover with Cam Thistle on bass and Luke Titus on Drums is lovely.
Sit in with Jansport J while he flips some Montell Jordan to make a Three 6 remix.
Elmattic
Man like Elmattic wrote a few words to celebrate Roc Marciano's pioneering album Marcberg on its 15th Anniversary.
Marci talked about his relationship to his beats way back in 2008 to Robbie at Unkut: “I try to just follow the beat, man. I don’t wanna be at war with the beat! Sometimes, I’m warring with the beat, but sometimes I just wanna lay in the cut on it.”
Ka took out the drums so you’d better hear what he was saying, to bring you close; in the same way Roc maintains the same unmodulated monotone, the butter purr and side-of-the-mouth drawl. They are two sides of a dulled coin: where Ka looks down into the gutter and up into heaven, for Marciano there’s only an eternal extravagance and a steely-eyed menace.
Son Raw
Also on PoW, Son Raw delivered flowers to the progenitor of albums like Marcberg, writing about Mobb Deep's classic sophmore effort The Infamous on its 30th anniversary.
Their beats zoomed in on awkward moments nestled between the funk of the records they sampled, identifying tiny moments of melancholy and placing them under percussion straight from the depths of hell. The sons of NWA may have been effortlessly cool over the pneumatic bounce they jacked from Brother George, but Queensbridge now announced itself as downright frozen, a Tartarus where feral youths emerged from the shadows to stab unwary passersby in the face with their own nose bones. Forget street life, record buyers were taken on a guided tour through the depths of Hades, AKA the 41st Side, with Hav and P as their boatmen across the river Styx.
Impeccably structured, the album works by guiding the listener on a tour of this hellscape. The Infamous’ first third holds some of the album’s most downright haunting moments. Compared to every other crew, The Mobb announced itself as harder, deadlier, and completely unconcerned with showbiz theatrics. Even when sparring with Nas and Rae, the effect is more seance than cypher, as Prodigy makes blood oaths for as long as the sun shines and his QB compatriot invokes the apocalypse. It’s a flawless opening sequence; you can practically see the structure of a thousand NYC mixtapes being born in real time.
The Jeff Parker ETA IVtet treated the NPR Tiny Desk to 22 minutes of improvised vibes.
Fly Anakin tapped in with The Rap Music Plug Podcast to give a track-by-track break down of his excellent, Quelle Chris executive produced album (The) Forever Dream.
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For the past few years, Fiona Apple's spent much of her time working as a courtwatcher for Courtwatch PG in Prince George’s County District Court, and as result she's become an outspoken advocate for ending cash bail and pretrial dentition. This week she released the song "Let Her Go Home" to bring attention to the cause. The song and video spell out what kind of damage pretrial detention does to communities and families, but to learn more and find out how you can help, visit Let Her Go Home and Free Black Mamas DMV.
Music
Raveena - Smile For Me (From Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain (Deluxe), out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Duncecap & steel tipped dove - Too Many feat. doseone & SKECH185 (From The Need To Know, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Vinyl via Fused Arrow Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
HEALTH & Chelsea Wolfe - Mean (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Jacob Mann Trio - Alhambra Park (From 32, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Roc Marciano - Period Blood (From 15th Anniversary Edition of Marcberg, out now digitally. Preorder: Vinyl and CD via Get On Down, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Soccer Mommy - She Is (stripped) (From Evergreen (stripped), out on 6/6/25. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Soft Palms - Radio (Out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)
Fashawn & Marc Spano - Ashtrays & Angels feat. Ras Kass (From Capital, out on 6/20/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Dos Monos - Pearl (From Dos Moons EP, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Maiya Blaney - Recognize Me (From A Room With A Door That Closes, out 6/13/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Lex Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Teethe - Magic Of The Sale (From Magic Of The Sale, out 8/8/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Winspear Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer - Mean Solar Time (From Different Rooms, out on 6/20/25. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Jason Griff & Alaska - Vanity Plates feat. Alex Ludovico (From Gerasco, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
U.S. Girls - Bookends (From Scratch It, out on 6/20/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | 4AD Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Leikeli47 - Soft Serve (From Lei Keli ft. 47 / For Promotional Use Only, out on 6/13/25. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Men I Trust - Hard To See (From Equus Caballus, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Kali Uchis - ILYSMIH (From Sincerely, out now. Purchase: Physicals and merch via Kali Uchis Official, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
God Body Bingo - Deeper Than Rap (From Last Name First, out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Joe Nora - Not Enough Lullabies feat. Sara Kawai (From Days Ago, out on 5/30/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Lucy Rose - Pink (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Boldy James & Real Bad Man - Burn In Hell (From Conversational Pieces, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Quadry & Tuamie - My Friend The Fugitive (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
yaya bey - wake up b*tch (From do it afraid, out on 6/20/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Phsyicals and digital via drinksumwtr, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
André 3000 - off rhythm laughter (From 7 piano sketches, out now. Purchase: Physicals and merch via André 3000's Official Shop, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
billy woods - Dislocated feat. E L U C I D (From GOLLIWOG, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Backwoodz Studioz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Age Of Apocalypse - Gilded Hatred feat. Demonstration Of Power (From In Oblivion, out on date. Preorder: Bandcamp | Closed Casket Activities, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Harms Way - Other World (From Other World EP, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Defcee & Parallel Thought - Casket Races (From Other Blues, out on 6/6/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Lord OLO & Televangel - Protected (From Demon Slayer 2, out on 5/30/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Amanda Whiting - What Is It We Need? feat. Alice Russell (From Can You See Me Now?, out on 6/6/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Archibald SLIM - Serenade (From the upcoming Playas Fuck Up Too. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Ovrkast. - I'M ON (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Asal Hazel - Technicolor (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
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Black Milk & Fat Ray - Brew (Director's Cut) (From The Recipe , out digitally now, vinyl out on 8/1/25. Preorder: Bandcamp)
Recoechi - Emperor of Sound (From A Taste, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Erika de Casier - Miss (From Lifetime, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Venna - My Way (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Estelle - New Direction feat. LaRussell & Keyon Harrold (From Stay Alta, out on 5/23/25. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Deradoorian - Golden Teachers (From Ready For Heaven, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Fire Records (UK), Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Jumanji feat. Earl Sweatshirt (From Pinball II, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | 10k Global, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Thibaut Devigne
Sacco & Vanzetti - Kobe With The Left (From Kill Your Own Snakes, out on 5/20/25. Preorder: Bandcamp)
That'll do us for this week. If you enjoyed the drop, be sure to share it with your friends, sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday, and drop a comment down below, or hit me up on Bluesky to let me know what you're feeling.
Take care of each other, and as always, make good choices.
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