Charli XCX is preparing to release her new album Brat next month. The pop star held a surprise event in Brooklyn last week, and she was on last night’s episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. On her late-night television appearance, she fangirled over The Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City’s Whitney Rose.

Last month, Other Half announced Dark Ageism, the follow-up to 2022’s Soft Action, which was our Album Of The Week. They shared the lead single “Lifted Fingers” featuring Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws, and now the Norwich indie rock trio is back with “Farm Games.”

The Melbourne alt-rock quartet Quivers gained some attention in 2021 when fellow Melbourne indie artist Courtney Barnett admitted her music video was a lot like theirs. Now they’ve signed to Merge for the release of new album Oyster Cuts, and lead single “Apparition” is quite nice. The slightly twangy, lackadaisical vibe puts them squarely in the Pavement...

Fcukers, a trio from NYC making headblown electronic party music, recently signed to the Ninja Tune imprint Technicolor. Shanny Wise (vocals), Ben Scharf (drums), and Jackson Walker Lewis (bass, keys, production) are back today with “Bon Bon,” a wild new track that reminds me of Basement Jaxx or — I hate to say it about a song I’m enjoying — Die Antwoord....

Like the subject of its lead single, Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism comes and it goes, a quick pop workout that immediately does a Houdini-like escape act from staying power. The record is a frustrating listen: an album that it’s hard to find anything really wrong with, that’s packed to capacity with inarguable bangers, but that feels so, so inessential.

A couple months ago, the Akron band Annabel announced Worldviews, their first new album in nine years, and shared its lead single “Defense Mechanism.” They’ve since shared another song from it, the title track, and today they’re back with a third, “Dog.”