What's Good (Week of 7/20)
Your reward for making it to the end of the week: Lots of great new music on What's Good. And there's a bunch of dope shit, including:
New Albums
- Cool Calm Pete
- Estee Nack & V Don
- Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
- FOHDH Matthew X Wino Willy
- Paul Wall & DJ.Fresh
- Tyler, The Creator
New Singles
- Automatic
- The Cool Kids
- Evidence
- Wednesday
- Peyton
- Patrick Shiroishi
But before we get into the music, unfortunately as usual there's been fresh hell to contend with this week, this time in the form of payment processors pushing Itch.io and Steam to delist and remove "adult content" after coordinated actions from conservative groups like Collective Shout. As an indie TTRPG enthusiast and creator, I'm a frequent Itch user. Itch has long-benefited from its reputation as a space for queer art and expression in games, so while anyone who's been paying attention for the past few years knew this was almost certainly on the horizon, it's not hard for the userbase to view Itch's actions as a betrayal.
Rather than getting into a round of discourse about who to be mad at (which the indie TTRPG set tends to love), it would behoove us to mobilize in the same way groups like Collective Shout have. As part of their overnight report for the Transfeminine Review, Bethany Karsten provided a small guide of what creators can do, including calling payment processors to balance out the pressure from conservative scolds:
Call the Payment Processors and Demand an End to Censorship
It’s being reported that Collective Shout filed roughly 1000 phone calls to lobby Mastercard and Visa to make this change in their policy. We need to blow up their phone lines and even out the noise.
- Mastercard (US): 1-800-627-8372
- Mastercard (Global): 1-636-722-7111
- Visa (US + Canada): 1-800-847-2911
- Paypal: 44-0203-901-7000
Stop Payment Processors from censorship! is a guide with several phone numbers, email forms, and resources for contacting Payment Processors along with a sample script. This one's particularly noteworthy because it includes Stripe, which is of particular importance to Itch.io's future viability.
Sango over on Bluesky actually put together a more detailed guide on talking to Visa and Mastercard, with special information on talking with Investor Relations if you have money in any kind of retirement or exchange-traded fund, as it's likely some of that is touching Visa or Mastercard stock.
Ana Valens, whose articles exposing Collective Shout were pulled by their publisher recently streamed about the situation, providing a primer on contacting the ACLU and tips on how to talk to payment processors:
I'd also suggest, especially if you're a creator on Itch whose work wasn't affected, writing to them directly to express your concerns. It's true that they're a small team, and given the power that payment processors are able to wield their options in the moment weren't great, but you can let them know that their timing, transparency, and communication with their userbase was utterly disappointing. Not only that, but knowing that their rush to comply in advance to these bad faith actions without informing their community ahead of time has damaged your trust in them as a platform.
This isn't just about games. This all part of an effort by right wing bullies to make anything that doesn't fit their worldview disappear. Itch as a platform is the perfect stage for them to attack the queer community and try to shove them into the shadows. We need to come together protect them and assert their right to not only exist, but express themselves freely.
Now with that out of the way, let's get into the music.
Playlists
TIDAL
TIDAL: What's Good Playlist - Week of 7/20/25
YouTube
Bonus Beats
Open Mike Eagle got together with Professor Skye of Professor Skye's Record Review to unpack Mike's latest album Neighborhood Gods Unlimited and Skye's review of it.
Son Raw
Friend of the blog and What's Good alum Son Raw wrote about not only Future's DS2 on its 10th anniversary, but on his staggering run during 2015 and DS2's place in it:
The rap internet called it “the run”: a shockingly creative year of output beginning a few nights before Halloween 2014 with Monster and closing with a kinda-aiight Drake collab 11 months later. Clawing himself out of Honest’s commercial grave, Future turned to the 808 Mafia collective, whose most present figures Metro Boomin and Southside were quietly revolutionizing Atlanta’s sound. From 2009 to 2012, trap alternated between Lex Luger style bombast to candy-coated strip club futurism. Metro and South did neither: their synths were filtered and atmospheric, becoming some of the moodiest music in mainstream rap since boom bap’s ’90s peak. Through carefully programmed plugins and obsessively pitched hi-hat rolls, they peeled back trap’s surface–the stuff Miley Cyrus was biting–to reveal the drug abuse, poverty, murder, and sleepless nights that had originally inspired the sound in the first place.
Endlessly debated, every project in the run has its devotees and to this day, some fans argue that DS2 isn’t even Future’s best drop that year. Monster was more visceral, less a resurrection than trap’s undead king refusing to lay in his grave. Early 2015’s Beast Mode, a sonic outlier produced entirely by Gucci Mane associate Zaytoven, proved this new Future wasn’t limited in his sounds of choice. Then comes 56 Nights, home to the greatest song Future will ever write in “March Madness,” a delirious, melodic stream of consciousness where frustration over police killings, sexual desire, drug addiction and wealth accumulation merge into a flow state of firing neurons and dying synapses.
Chelsea Wolfe pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne with a cover of Black Sabbath's "Changes".
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory came through KEXP with a set from their self-titled album.
Music
Kurious - BX G Funk (From The Mystery Mixtape, out now. Purchase: Vinyl with digital download via Nature Sounds)
AJ Suede - Arrow To The Knee (From Throne Away, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
eu-IV - shacks (From 2020was... crazzyyyy, beat-tape, out now. Purchase/Stream: Bandcamp)
Tyler, the Creator - Stop Playing With Me (From Don't Tap The Glass, out now. Purchase: Merch and CD bundles via Golfwang | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
El Michels Affair - Indifference feat. Shintaro Sakamoto (From 24 Hr Sports, out on 9/5. Preorder: Big Crown Records | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
YGTUT - HOLD YOU UP (From I NEED $, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Lady Wray - My Best Step (From Cover Girl, out on 9/26. Preorder: Big Crown Records | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Evidence - Rain Every Season feat. Alchemist (From Unlearning Vol. 2, out on 8/15. Preorder: Physicals, Digital, and Merch via Rhymesayers | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Automatic - Mercury (From Is It Now?, out on 9/26. Preorder: Physicals and merch bundles via ThreeFour, Inc. | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
MAVI & Niontay - Jammers Anonymous (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Case Oats - Nora (From Last Missouri Exit, out on 8/22. Preorder: Merge Records | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek - Direne Direne (From Yarın Yoksa, out now. Purchase: Big Crown Records | Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Maxo - Mars Is Electric (From Mars Is Electric, out now. Purchase: Vinyl via Maxo's Site | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Afternoon Bike Ride - Abigail (From Running With Scissors, out on 9/19. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Papo2oo4 & Subjxct 5 - Late Registration (YouTube loosie.)
Wednesday - Pick Up That Knife (From Bleeds, out on 9/19. Preorder: Physicals and merch via Wednesday's Store | Secretely Store | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Ovrkast. - MAVKAST! (From While The Iron Is Hot, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Jorja Smith - With You (Out now. Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Sankofa - Wolf Ticket feat. Defcee (From Masters of the In Between, out on 8/1. Preorder: Bandcamp | RSVP for the Bandcamp Listening Party tomorrow @ 6PM PT, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Jamie xx - Dream Night (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Estee Nack & V Don - ELEGANTDELIQUENT feat. Al.Divino (From BRAP 2, out on date. Purchase: Vinyl via FXCK RXP | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Nobukazu Takemura - ladder of meaning (From knot of meaning, out on 9/26. Preorder: Physicals and Digital via Thrill Jockey | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Peyton - Not Your Girl (From Au, out on 9/5. Preorder: Vinyl via Stones Throw | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Patrick Shiroishi - There is no moment in my life in which this is not happening (From Forgetting Is Violent, out on 9/19. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 28, 2014
Grace Vonderkuhn - Forever Loved (From Into The Morning, out on 8/29. Purchase the single: Bandcamp)
Paul Wall & DJ.Fresh - Get That Paper (From The Tonite Show, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Braxton Cook - Josh's Tune (From Not Everyone Can Go, out on 8/29. Preorder: Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Bugseed - People (From Cheeba Cheeba Records' Wake 'N Bake Vol. 3 compilation, out now. Purchase: Qobuz | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
FOHDH Matthew X Wino Willy - Matthew Meets a Stepper, The Fall of 60thSt Wooz (From Wino Willy presents FOHDH MAtthew "Matthew gets sick off cheap wine & prefers Gruaud Larose 1945", out now. Purchase: "Pinkie's Brain" vinyl variant via Backwoodz Studioz | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | YouTube Music)
Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 24, 2020
Count Bass D - Mastermind (Out now. Purchase: Bandcamp)
The Cool Kids - Banana In The Tailpipe feat. Seafood Sam (Out now. Purchase: Qobuz | Bandcamp, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
WATKK
Lt Headtrip - Quiet Puppies feat. Collsoul Structure & SKECH185 (From Glass Soda, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp)
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Gold Feet feat. JID (From Alfredo 2, out now. Purchase: Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | Youtube Music)
Cool Calm Pete - Seconds (From demolition, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
Apollo Brown & Bronze Nazareth - Banshee Walk (From Funeral For A Dream, out now. Purchase: Bandcamp | Qobuz, Stream: Tidal | Apple | YouTube Music)
That'll do it for this week. As always, if you enjoyed anything in the blog, be sure to subscribe or add me to your RSS feed so you get it every Friday as soon as it publishes. Take care of each other, and make good choices.
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