Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
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The Alternative Weekly Roundup is a column where our staff plugs a variety of new releases in a concise, streamlined format: albums, singles, videos, live sets. Check back every other Monday to see what we were jamming the week prior.
underscores – “Innuendo (I Get U)”
While lowering the stakes from her 2023 behemoth concept album, underscores consolidated her note-perfect pop instincts into a lean nine-track record with 2026’s U. Album cut “Innuendo (I Get U)” combines her futuristic experimentation with an encyclopedic knowledge of pop classics past. The verses have the sinuous tension and descending melodies of Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?” combined with sample punch-ins reminiscent of PC Music, Vol. 1. “Innuendo” is an age-old tale of attraction to an unsuitable partner where underscores is self-aware that this person only wants one unspoken thing. If you still haven’t heard U, be sure to check out this nervy highlight.
E.L. Suarez-Thomas | @insomniblvck
Sweet Petunia – Foggy Mountain Mental Breakdown
Local Boston-area band Sweet Petunia recently released their debut album Foggy Mountain Mental Breakdown, combining the fierce emotion of DIY punk with the sweetness of folk and bluegrass. Singers Mairead Guy and Maddie Simpson combine into one unified force over banjo strums and intricate fingerpicked guitar, accompanied by some impressive full-band arrangements. More people need to know about Sweet P, especially as the weather gets warmer.
Connor Gilroy | @gilroymusic
Lip Critic – “Jackpot”
In their latest music video, noisemakers Lip Critic take a surreal trip to the beautiful casinos and heroin needle beaches of Atlantic City, New Jersey. “Jackpot,” the second single off the New York band’s upcoming album Theft World, explores addiction, combining pounding drum-n-bass with a weighted dreamy breakdown. The video, directly by frequent collaborator Colter Fellows, is Lip Critic’s signature weird worldview fully realized (with help from a squirrel, who gives the best supporting performance of the year).
Jules Kelly | @snaiImaiI
Gladie – No Need to Be Lonely
Gladie was one of the first bands I ever wrote about, so when I got their new album No Need to Be Lonely in my inbox, I pushed play immediately. The whole (Jeff Rosenstock-produced!) album is full of punchy anthems that will stick in your head, and “Brace Yourself” is a gut punch that reaches into your heart and pulls you back up with it.
Jami Fowler | @audiocurio
Jim Legxacy – “idk idk”
Following a commercial and critical peak with Black British Music (2025), Jim Legxacy’s comeback single “idk idk” is his most life-affirming and moving track to date. With background vocals from Natanya, Jim’s husky, melancholic tenor reminisces on his hardships over the past few years: homelessness, struggling as an up-and-coming artist, the death of his younger sister. While he’s covered these topics previously, the thudding jerk groove and bombastic synths provide “idk idk” with an opulent swell unlike anything else he’s released. The canon of “self-empowerment anthems” is currently oversaturated with artists attempting to manufacture hope without the precision necessary to be truly resonant. Legxacy sidesteps this by embracing uncertainty. He doesn’t have all the answers, he’s in mourning, and he still has many of his old vices (“I’ve got tobacco in my jaw right now”). But on “idk idk,” he’s still pushing through.
E.L. Suarez-Thomas | @insomniblvck
eight – Kuinka Löydän Luoksesi
eight hasn’t released an album in twelve years, so the Finnish atmospheric screamo crew knew that their comeback LP had to be worth the wait. Kuinka Löydän Luoksesi absolutely is, and it’s their best work to date. These songs routinely break seven minutes, and they sparkle and glitter like a waterfall—and they hit with the force of one, too.
Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
Widowspeak – “If You Change”
A new Widowspeak single came out this past Tuesday, and it sounds just as beautiful as everything they’ve put out in the past decade. “If You Change” is perfect for now: a melody that evokes the beginning of spring, which is especially appropriate as they have announced that their seventh album Roses is on the way. Wistful, dreamlike, and with just the right amount of hook, you can put this on when you’re driving around and be thankful that the snow has melted.
Connor Gilroy | @gilroymusic
Lowertown – “Big Thumb”
The “‘90s throwback chill indie rock” and “guy sounding absolutely miserable indie rock” sounds might be the most over-saturated genre in music at the moment but I promise you this one is really, really good. New York duo Lowertown’s latest single “Big Thumb” is the best song the band has written to date—and most simple, with the song only having five lines that continuously repeat over the track’s two and a half minute runtime. But “Big Thumb” is a masterclass in beautiful simplicity, with Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg constructing a lonely sound bigger than the two of them, perfected by their warm voices in harmony over a harmonica and acoustic guitar. Sometimes, that’s truly all you need.
Jules Kelly | @snaiImaiI
Ezcodylee – “STAR!”
L.A. singer-rapper Ezcodylee’s fourth installment in his Stunt and Die saga, STUNT 4 LIFE, thrills with its blend of rage music, trap metal, and punk aesthetics. On a record full of riotous hedonism and prescient leftist sloganeering, the penultimate song is the largest swerve on the record: a metatextual pop-punk love song about writing a pop-punk love song. Ezcodylee’s vibrant count-in, the infectious guitar riff, and the “la la” vocalizations are built for music videos at skate parks and grungy warehouse moshpits. The verses include earnest details about this song and the girl who inspired it. I love the homespun intimacy of Ezcodylee writing “STAR!” and not wanting it to blow up (“It’s not to be famous ’cause that would be dead wrong / Fuck the radio, I like you”). And even though she’s an “R&B and pop girl,” he hopes that she’ll still love this track and not turn it off to listen to yet another Drake single. Everything about “STAR!” is endlessly charming.
E.L. Suarez-Thomas | @insomniblvck
The Alternative’s ‘New Music Friday’ playlist
Each week we compile a playlist of songs our staff has been jamming. We post it on Fridays and then include it in each edition of the Weekly Roundup to make sure you don’t miss any of the great music we’re recommending.