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plus the week's best from weyes blood, cerrone, and more!

Does “bring your whole self to work” include the part of you that wants to see a rat do blow off a big anime ass? For this guy – definitely.

I snapped this photo on the way into work on a crowded A train, and I want to know everything about his choice here: how do his coworkers feel about it? When did he put it on the helmet, or did he show up on his first day with this? Does everyone on his crew ALSO have sexual anime stickers on their helmets? Was this sticker part of their new union contract?

I have so many questions, but mostly I’m happy for this guy, if also a little concerned.

Be the rat who snorts THESE links:

• Check this Stereolab live set from Berkeley’s Mod Lang Records in 1993. Fun fact: my friend got hired at Mod Lang after passing their extremely difficult application essay about record collecting and punk/indie obscurities, and I thought it would be fun to also apply and take the test. They found me and my 18 year-old overconfidence so annoying and off-putting they fired my friend. Sorry Mike!

• No Unskippables mention SMH – Nicolas Quah wrote about the difficulty in getting press attention in the “New Media Circuit” of podcasts, web shows, and stunts

• “Yet Again,” Again – Grizzly Bear are back, playing their first shows since 2019, including three dates at Brooklyn Steel. You can buy tickets now via the BrooklynVegan presale return of the bear

• Love Takes Jools – Cameron Winter’s solo take on “Love Takes Miles” on Jools Holland is another proof point that he may be 2025’s most exciting new artists, if only because it seems like he just can’t help but knock out his tracks with a strange, alluring intensity, even solo on piano

And here’s the best of the week!! As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update (usually) every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!

Drugdealer ft. Weyes Blood – Real Thing

As much as I’m a huge fan of Weyes Blood’s albums, I’ve always thought “Suddenly,” her 2016 collaboration with Drugdealer, was the true gem in her catalog. So I was thrilled to see the two – our generation’s Captain and Tenille – drop another 70’s AM radio-ready jam today. “Real Thing” has the bone dry drums, the sax outro, and syrupy drums in spades – but it’s the unironic sunlight that Drugdealer lets in that gives Weyes Blood a different, and more soft-lit, hue that makes this track another winner.

Christine and the Queens & Cerrone – Catching Feelings

Yes, not only is 70’s Italo disco maestro Cerrone alive (news to me!), but he’s dropping an EP with Christine and the Queens! Christine/Rahim Redcar’s output has been hit or miss with me since the jaw-dropping pop physicality of 2018’s Chris, but their prowess in finding nuanced melodic pockets over a muscular bassline are at their peak on “Catching Feelings.”

Lindstrøm – Moo)n

I wrote about the debut single from Lindstrøm’s new EP a few weeks back, but I couldn’t help but drop one more of his chrome-laden balearic bangers from the record, just because it’s so wonderful hearing him do what he does best on an EP built for Summer Fridays.

throwback

Operating Theatre – Spring Is Coming With a Strawberry in the Mouth

I love the sound of early New Wave, when the synths barely align and everything is on the border of out of tune and the reverbs feel like walls slowly creeping in. “Spring Is Coming With a Strawberry in the Mouth” was released in 1986, and though Caroline Polachek covered it as a bonus track to her LP last year, the original has the shaky strangeness of a group just at the edge of their abilities – an unmistakeable sound that makes this version essential.