New Music Friday: Stream projects from Charli XCX, GloRilla, Chat Pile, and more

Charli xcx extends Brat summer into the fall with an all-star remix album. As befitting the change in seasons, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat is a little darker and moodier than its lime green sister. “Apple” becomes a mid-tempo emo singalong with the help of The Japanese House, while Caroline Polachek amusingly takes space to complain about the shrieking foxes of London on “Everything Is Romantic.” There are big names (Ariana Grande turns up on “Sympathy Is A Knife”) and newer artists (Spanish rapper bb trickz’s whirling version of “Club classics”), but it’s the moments where Charli chooses to push her own vulnerabilities to the front that tie this remix album tightest to the original. “I think about it all the time,” now with additional vocals from Bon Iver, give her space to delve deeper into dreams of starting a family and how the huge success of Brat has made that harder. “You’re not supposed to stop when things start working,” she concedes with a sigh. A.G. Cook’s remix of “So I,” meanwhile, deepens the tribute to the late SOPHIE, with tender recollections of their first studio session together. Whether it’s with friends old or new, Charli keeps the Brat party going and ensures energy levels don’t even come close to flagging. See photos from the Storm King listening party here. — David Renshaw

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

When GloRilla broke out in the summer of 2022 with the bombastic “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” it was her effortless and genuine personality that captured the attention of rap’ inner and outer circle; here was a young rapper unconcerned with flexing or flashy posturing but spotlighting the exuberance of her friends and community, coining a memorable phrase in the process. Three years on, Glo has now made her official industry debut with GLORIOUS and those hallmarks of her music still haven’t changed. Her profile may be higher, but friendship still forms the core of her artistic identity — whether it’s trading roasts against “bitch-ass” boys with Latto, reveling in their individual successes with Sexyy Red, or teaming up with new bestie Megan Thee Stallion to address their never-ending circus of haters. It’s an exuberant, high-energy entrance from rap’s most exuberant new major league player. — Steffanee Wang

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

Raygun Busch is full of surprises. The Oklahoma City-based punk at the helm of the noise-rock outfit Chat Pile distilled society’s ills on a single track from the group’s debut album, God’s Country. “Why do people have to live outside / When there are buildings all around us / With heat on and no one inside?” he wonders on “Why,” growling and yelping as he pushes himself toward the edge of the band’s chainsaw instrumental. On Cool World, God’s Country’s follow-up, Chat Pile branch out thematically, exploring climate change and the inhumane systems of control that stop us from doing anything about it. They also mess with more varied sounds than on their last record; there’s obliterating sludge here, too, but it’s complemented by poppier and more shoegazing passages. Unfortunately, some of the focus and vitality of God’s Country gets lost in this expansion. But Cool World is still a towering feat of songcraft — a taut, explosive collection that seems ready to boil over at any moment, though it never quite explodes in the way its predecessor did. Standout tracks include the snarling opener “I Am Dog Now,” the grungy and self-effacing “Shame,” the cathartic and unhinged “Funny Man,” the jet-black post-punk cut “Tape,” and the melodramatic, almost pop-punk “Masc.” “No Way Out” finishes the album on a jaw-grinding pain note, but it doesn’t hit quite the same as “Grimace_Smoking_Weed.jpeg,” the nine-minute torture session where God’s Country met its bloody end. — Raphael Helfand

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Harmony is the persona that allows musician Harmony Tividad to pry behind the metaphorical white picket fences of suburbia and peek at what is going on behind closed doors: vanity, moral bankruptcy, rising levels of debt, and terminal apathy. “We exist in this world where we’re always framing ourselves as the victim,” she told The FADER in an interview. “But we’re not just the victim, sometimes we’re the villain. I think it’s beautiful how people can coexist as both things.” Her debut album, Gossip, finds nuance among the “hysterical glamor” of her music; a whirring and crunching throwback to 2010s EDM-adjacent pop largesse, where Lady Gaga emerged as a star similarly able to synthesize theatricality amid bottle-popping excess. It’s in this space that Harmony creates a portrait of people as both wounded and savages, while never losing sight of how both are creations of a time where technology warps self-image. — DR

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When the young teens of Los Angeles-based band The Linda Lindas broke out with their vibrant, punked out songs in 2021, it was crystal clear they knew their stuff. On No Obligation, the band’s new album, the members — several of whom are still in high school — show just how much their knowledge, experience, and mastery of the genre has expanded and deepened. The project is 12 songs of barrelling, cathartic screams, spiky and sticky guitar hooks, and believably written songs about the stress and anger of growing up as a young person in America. “All in My Head” is an intimate, glowing banger, “Resolution / Revolution” has the requisite teeth and bite for an urgent call-to-arms, while “Yo Me Estreso” is a colorful, Spanish-language moment with a cool cameo from Weird Al Yankovic. The Linda Lindas’ future continues to be very bright. — SW

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New York rapper-producer E L U C I D, best known for his work opposite billy woods as half of Armand Hammer, has also released a dozen-odd solo projects, each crackling with intense heat. On Revelator, he balances tracks built on his own spiky energy with high- and low-profile collaborations with featured rappers — woods, Creature, Sketch185 — and co-producers — Joe Nellen, August Fannon, Samiyam, Andrew Border, DJ Haram. For most of the project, he’s the sole MC, and when he’s not (as on “BAD POLLEN” and “INSTANT TRANSFER,” the two tracks featuring woods), he holds his own while highlighting his guests. Lyrically, woods is in a conversation with the best of all time, and his and E L U C I D’s mind meld always enhances both rappers’ verses exponentially. Other than those songs, blistering, breakbeat-driven opener “THE WORLD IS DOG”; landlord-hating anthem “SLUM OF DISREGARD”; and “RFID,” whose firework beat evokes The Alchemist’s gorgeous instrumental for “Stonefruit” — the closer of Armand Hammer’s 2021 album Haram — are my personal favorites. — RH

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When You Wake Up, the debut album of Danish-Chilean artist Molina, brings guitar to the front of her sound. In an interview with The FADER, she said she had to “get back in touch with her intentions” and picked up the instrument chiefly because she hadn’t played it very much, and therefore wasn’t hemmed into a corner while writing new songs. Combining that with digital production to create a warped take on the traditional fuzzy aesthetic, she crafted an album filled with the prospect of new life in multiple forms; in addition to feeling creatively reinvigorated, Molina was also pregnant during the writing and recording of the album. Lyrically, her words offer dewy and windswept observations on nature and the world her daughter was due to be born into. — DR

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp