Week of May 2, 2025 (Bandcamp Friday Edition)

Keeping track of all the new music that drops every week is a nightmare. I’m here to do it so you don’t have to! Welcome to Nu Musique Friday. Pull up some headphones and stay awhile. Several albums on this list are available on Bandcamp. Today only, 100% of the money spent on music on Bandcamp goes directly to the artists, so consider supporting them by buying any relevant albums today!

My latest piece for Hearing Things is an essay about how I saw Ryan Coogler's Sinners and attended the memorial show for Chelsea Reject in the same weekend and how both embody the power of Black cultural memory. If you like what my co-founders and I are up to, consider subscribing to the site (and paying for it, if you can). We don't bite, promise.

Check out the Reel Notes podcast, dedicated to exploring the relationship between rap and film. The 13th episode of season 5, featuring New Jersey rapper Sol ChYld, is available now. New episodes drop every Monday on my Patreon for paying members and every Wednesday wherever podcasts are sold, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more via Buzzsprout. Reel Notes is also available via my personal YouTube channel, and Podcasts on Vevo.

If you really wanna be tapped in, join the Reel Notes Patreon! For as little as $5/month, you'll gain access to video of every forthcoming Reel Notes interview, our Discord server, exclusive interviews and reviews, early access to new episodes, & more.

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is out right now! Purchase your digital copy on Amazon and read it on the Kindle app (You don't need a Kindle to read it. Buy the book and download the app or read it on your desktop via Amazon).

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, the Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. Please also consider donating to The Okra Project, an organization dedicated to helping feed Black trans youth.

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Flume x JPEGMAFIA - We Live In A Society

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Key Glock - Glockaveli

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Benny the Butcher - Excelsior

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Boldy James x Real Bad Man - Conversational Pieces

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Yung Lean - Jonatan

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Grimm Doza - Tokyo Transit

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal

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Anysia Kym x Loraine James - Clandestine

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal / Bandcamp (support this release for Bandcamp Friday)

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JUNE - SHIT AIN'T SWEET

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal / Bandcamp (support this release for Bandcamp Friday)

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Fielded - Chuckles Deluxe

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal / Bandcamp (support this release for Bandcamp Friday)

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Shemar - emerge "n" see

Listen: Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal / Bandcamp (support this release for Bandcamp Friday)

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Asterisk - No School

Listen: Apple Music / Bandcamp (support this release for Bandcamp Friday)