Every week, Consequence staffers spotlight their favorite new songs for our Songs of the Week column. This week, we’re excited about new tunes from Aldous Harding, Deante’ Hitchcock, ear, Vundabar, RIP Magic, and more.
Aldous Harding — “Coats”
Days before the release of her fifth studio album, Train on the Island, Aldous Harding dropped the album’s closer as her final single, “Coats.” The indie-folk track shows the fingerprints of John Parish, her longtime co-producer, its intimate and bare arrangement leaving space for the tense, almost menacing harmonies between Harding and H. Hawkline. Harding’s voice, even as it shifts into a huskier alto, is fragile and almost straining; yet it doesn’t waver as she sings eccentric lyrics like “Big thick coats on the dogs of people just trying to help.” It’s cinematic in its progression, examining how people can both protect and conceal. — Kelly Darroch
Stream “Coats” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Chaka Khan — “Chakzilla”
Related Video
Chaka Khan is an established legend, but sometimes icons have to shout their achievements from the rooftops. With her latest single “Chakzilla,” the funk pioneer is underscoring her status as one of the greatest to ever do it. The song title and music video are based on the Godzilla franchise, and it makes for an incredibly entertaining, cheesy time. Over production that manages to sound both refreshingly relevant and true to Chaka’s era, the singer wields her renowned vocals, as unabashed and free as she ever was. “I know that I am great,” Chaka belts brightly. “I’m a giant.” — Kiana Fitzgerald
Stream “Chakzilla” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Deante’ Hitchcock — “Smile You’re on Camera”
Deante’ Hitchcock released his latest album, Junkie in the Sun, on May 6th. The project sees the Atlanta rapper and songwriter astutely dissecting the calamities of life, and how we’re moving through it collectively and individually. “Smile You’re on Camera” is a sobering look at the relationship between humans and the optics of social media: “Through cancer diagnosis, psychosis, glitz and the glamour/ Dinner with grandma, war and famine, baby, smile for the camera.” Hitchcock uncomfortably lifts the veil on the emotions that sit just behind the screen, barely hiding his disgust for the whole process, while acknowledging a flawed system that we opted into. — K. Fitzgerald
Stream “Smile You’re on Camera” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
ear — “Ne Plus Ultra”
Buzzy indietronic duo ear have finally dropped their first new music of 2026, “Ne Plus Ultra.” Following their wonderful 2025 project, The Most Dear and the Future, the new tune picks up where the pair left off, with buzzy synth tones, plunderphonic sampling, and hushed, earnest as hell vocals. Depending on what mood you’re in when you hit play, you can either dance to it, reflect nostalgicallyt, or stare curiously into the future.– Jonah Krueger
Stream “Ne Plus Ultra” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Little Simz — “Game On” Feat. JT
Less than a year after dropping her sixth album, Lotus, Little Simz has released her latest EP Sugar Girl. The North London rapper has been in the game for over 15 years at this point, and she’s still finding news ways to challenge herself. With Sugar Girl, the vibe is all after hours everything. “Game On” featuring alternative rap girlie JT sounds like Miami bass specifically created for twerking at haunted houses. While Little Simz uses her verse to flex through intentionally-reserved bars, JT steals the scene here, with high energy and a pointed delivery: “Game on bitch, let’s take a stand/ Do Black lives still matter to these brands?” — K. Fitzgerald
Stream “Game On” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Rip Magic — “Screwdark”
London quartet RIP Magic are back with a strangely satisfying earworm, “Screwdark.” With echoes of trip-hop, muffled vocals, and additional production courtesy of Buddy Ross, “Screwdark” is a great crash course in the band’s off-kilter, dance-forward sound. It starts off enjoyable, but around the 2-minute mark, the song fades out before igniting once again; all of a sudden, just when you think the song couldn’t be any more vibrant, the track’s groove is emboldened by thicker drums, heavier guitar, record scratches, and a wall of sound to get lost in. — Paolo Ragusa
Stream “Screwdark” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
sadie — “Hit & Run”
“Hit & Run” is a standout track on the electronic and bedroom-pop artist sadie’s album, Better Angels. Between the ethereal production, trap-beats, autotune vocals, and repetitive lyrics, “Hit & Run” is a low-key track that feels like you’re gliding (or even bouncing) through the air. As she sings, “Now you got me like out of sight, out of sight, out of mind,” sadie pushes this impression of escapism and autonomy in avoiding the standstill of life and relationships, with an underlying confidence in her delivery. The “no strings attached” tone of the lyrics is the uninhibited cherry on top of the song’s arrangement. — K. Darroch
Stream “Hit & Run” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Slow Fiction — “junior year”
New York band and former Artists to Watch Slow Fiction have returned with a fuzzy new track, “junior year.” It’s their first release on the brand new Tight Knit label, and the launch of a new era for the quintet, but it retains the band’s signature poignant hues and expressive instrumentation. The guitars are so warm and sweet that they mask some of the frustration that vocalist Julia Vassallo describes; still the track’s energetic rhythm section and Vassallo’s low-range melodies are as infectious as Slow Fiction get. There’s more to come from the Brooklyn group, and “junior year” is a great offering in the meantime. — P. Ragusa
Stream “junior year” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Trap Dickey — “LA Nights”
Remember when Lil Wayne dropped Tha Carter VI and sampled Weezer’s “Island in the Sun”? Awful times. It was an ambitious attempt that mostly failed because Wayne can’t sing and he was doing too much, in general. Enter: Trap Dickey. Less than a year after Lil Wayne’s laughable version, the South Carolina rapper is re-appropriating the sample, and it’s executed way better. The production, handled by Loko La’Flare, relies heavily on the original music, but unlike Wayne’s iteration, it’s masterfully re-worked into a dogged street anthem. Another important point: Trap Dickey is not singing (terribly) here. Instead, he expertly threads aspirational bars through Weezer’s buoyant foundation. — K. Fitzgerald
Stream “LA Nights” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Vundabar — “I Need U”
Last year, Vundabar dropped the very good Surgery and Pleasure, which featured one of our favorite songs of the year. Now, the indie rock outfit returns with an alternate take of one of that record’s strongest highlights, “I Need You.” Now with a couple fewer vowels in the title, the new version features new performances and production, which they recorded to tape at Mystic Valley Studio. Not to be the “warmth of analog” guy, but I might like the sound of this version even better than the album version. Take a listen and compare for yourself. — J. Krueger
Stream “I Need U” on Apple Music | Amazon Music | Qobuz
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the producer of RIP Magic’s “Screwdark.” It is Buddy Ross, not James Murphy.