What's Good (Week of 6/1)
New month, new Horrors™, same ol' What's Good. Every week I bring you new music to check out, along with whatever other cool stuff I think you should see from around the web, and this week is no different with:
New Albums
- Amanda Whiting
- Defcee & Parallel Thought
- Elaquent
- Grief Club (Esh & The Isolations and andrew)
- Ialive
New Singles
- Ain't
- Brian Brown
- DJ Haram
- El Michels Affair
- Evidence
- Open Mike Eagle
And a bunch more. Let's get into it.
Playlists
TIDAL
TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 6/1/25
BNDCMPR
BNCMPR: What's Good Playlist - Week of 6/1/25
YouTube
Bonus Beats
Patrick Clarke
Patrick Clarke inteviewed DJ Haram for The Quietus on her upcoming LP Beside Myself (whose next single you can check out in the Music section down below), the experience of DJing as multi-facetated (and exploitative) discipline, and the difference between actual acts of resistance vs. just being in proximity to a marginalized identity.
“I used to take a DJ gig and realise they booked me because they wanted some racialised, gendered representation and I had to be the person that gave that,” she says. “Those gigs aren’t paying well enough to do them anyway.” The gigs that do pay well often cost a little of an artist’s autonomy. She tells me a story of a big brand who tried to demand her setlist contain a certain percentage of a particular artist’s work. “Like a lot of my peers, I think capitalism is bad,” she says with a laugh. “But I need to put distance between me and my loved ones, and the poverty cycle.”
And then there’s the news cycle. One of the first DJ gigs she played after 7 October was opening for a house DJ. “Afterwards, they said I didn’t play much Middle Eastern music. I thought, why would I? Your crowd doesn’t want that. And then I thought, ‘oh, maybe everybody wants that now’. Normally, the only people who say things like ‘you didn’t play enough Arab music’ are people from the diaspora, who thought they would come and have this familiar experience. But what if this is now about showing that someone is pro-Palestine, without them having to say anything?”
NPR's taking Black Music Month to highlight artists with anniversaries for landmark albums, and we've got a double does this week. First up, 40 Water himself touches down for In A Major Way's 30th, starting off with "Da Bumble" and rolling through a sampling of his career catalog.
Then Ameriie came through to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Touch, backed up by DC's legendary Backyard Band, and a containment breaking performance of "1 Thing" to close it out.
Real Bad Man chatted with the Rap Music Plug Podcast about his multi-pronged creative project, the link between fashion design and music, his ongoing partnership with Boldy James, and more.
And speaking of Real Bad Man collaborators, the crew from Jeff Weiss' new podcast sat down with Zelooperz for a long convo on his Detroit roots, his time in the industry, moving to LA, his art, and much much more.
Music
El Michels Affair - Anticipate feat. Clairo (From 24 Hr Sports, out on 9/5/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Big Crown Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Lexa Gates - Uber Black (Out now. YouTube loosie for now.)
Brian Brown - OTB Freestyle (Out now. YouTube loosie for now.)
Sudan Archives - DEAD (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Open Mike Eagle - contraband (the plug has bags of me) (From Neighborhood Gods Unlimited, out on 7/11/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Nilüfer Yanya - Where To Look (From Dancing Shoes, out on 7/2/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Ninja Tune, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Teethe - Holy Water (From Magic Of The Sale, out on 8/8/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Physicals and merch via Winspear, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
DJ Haram - Distress Tolerance (From Beside Myself, out on 7/18/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Hyperdub, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Marissa Nadler - New Radiations (From New Radiations, out on 8/15/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Sacred Bones, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
al.divino - KASE2 & What's New (Out now. Cop all of al.divino's work: Jackpot Records)
Ethel Cain - Nettles (From Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You, out on 8/8/25. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Ain't - Jude (From Pirouette/Jude 7", out on 6/13/25. Preorder: Bandcamp | Digital and vinyl via Fear of Missing Out Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Bruiser Wolf - Write Or Wrong (From POTLUCK, out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Mndsgn - SIXUNDRGROUND (Sneaker Pimps cover) (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
HTOWNMVRDER’DOVT84’Z
Cise Greeny - Flag Runners feat. Lungs (From Upward Spiral, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp)
Delilah Holliday - Life's So Strange feat. They Hate Change (From the Eyes On You single, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
D2x - Light Up The Lake (From Boy In The Blue Hoodie, out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Ialive - Talk King feat. Curly Castro (From Quietism, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Mansur Brown - Alone (From Rihla, out on 8/1/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Radamiz & Fortes - Cleanse Freestyle (From LIGHTMAN, The Album, out on 7/18/25. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive! (From Magic, Alive!, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | City Slang, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
MIKE & Tony Seltzer - Dolemite feat. Lunchbox (From Pinball II, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | 10k Global, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Evidence - Nothing To See Here (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Rhymesayers Entertainment, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
PremRock - Doubt Mountain (From Did You Enjoy Your Time Here?, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Backwoodz Studioz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Recoechi - Giant Leaps feat. femdot. (From FLAVAZ, out 8/14/25. Purchase the single: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Grief Club - Intro (Official) (From Good Mourning, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Defcee & Parallel Thought - Sigils feat. Fatboi Sharif (From Other Blues, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - The Magic iZ Y.O.U. (From Vol. 2: The Y.O.Uprint, out on 7/11/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
eu-IV
eu-IV - GOLD CHAIN (From BEGIN, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp)
Crystal Sting - Splash Party (From their upcoming album Bubblegum Aquarium. Purchase the single: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Chè Noir - Blink Twice (From The Color Chocolate 2, out on 6/19/25. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Frak & Nef The Pharoah - Golf Clap (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Amanda Whiting - It Could Be (From Can You See Me Now?, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | First Word Records (via Kudos, UK), Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Rich Jones & Good Food - Look Ma, No Valleys (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Elaquent - Hero Of Your Own Story (From If Not Now, When?, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Harry The Nightgown - lines (From Ugh, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Leaving Records, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify | YouTube)
Milc & Spinitch - Jones Soda (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
Jared Evan - Battle Within (From The Art Form of Whatever III, out now. Purchase: Direct from Jared via PayPal, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Spotify)
That'll do us for this week. As usual, if you dig the blog be sure to share it with your friends, and either subscribe or add me to your RSS feed to make sure you get all this heat delivered right to you every week. Have a good weekend, and make good choices.
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