Not much to say here folks. Continue seeking out and listening to black and other POC artists, even when they’re not delivered to you from your favorite sources. I’m definitely going to be out on the hunt. In the meantime, please keep reading about how you can impact your community, root out racists in your life (and in your mind), read about how fucked our entire economic framework is, mass incarceration, the whole nine. I recommend it.

Read more to find my 10 favorite records from May 2020, including pop royalty, some fantastic hip hop, Middle Eastern disco jams, bleary funk and more.

Charli XCX – how i’m feeling now [Atlantic / Asylum]
Vision blurring after endlessly scrolling through your phone until 5am every night.

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo [ESGN / ALC / Empire]
A room in a mountainside mansion lined in wood, plush leather and luxury velvets dedicated to photo albums, important documents and a rare-groove stocked vinyl library.

India Jordan – For You [Local Action]
A dose of instant pick-me-up, an effervescent salve that stimulates nerve endings and encourages a dynamic range of movement.

Ka – Descendants of Cain [Iron Works]
The centuries-running meeting of the oldest book club in the big city, discussing the words of scholars of the past and the future and equating them to the perils of everyday life.

Medhane – Cold Water [TBHG]
A vintage car (nothing flashy, but clearly well-maintained) floats over the neighborhood thanks to a buoyant, lightweight smoke filtering out of its stereo, filling its insides, and being calmly watched by the community below.

Nick Hakim – WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD [ATO]
Primitive teleportation technology allows us to fleetingly capture unstable, flickering projections of those wishing to transport and record their messages before fading away.

Peaking Lights – E S C A P E [Dekmantel]
Futuristic wave gliders cut lazy arcs of light into balmy ocean waves off the island at dusk.

Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately [Matador]
A beautiful skating routine punctuated by a fireworks display that explodes into dazzling middle finger shapes.

Pure X – Pure X [Fire Talk]
Sitting around a campfire after a long day of mountain biking and listening to 70s rock.

TootArd – Migrant Birds [Glitterbeat Records]
A one-way ticket on a trans-dimensional time machine that transports you to a sparkling disco club in the Middle East, in a universe free of US foreign intervention, only dancing.

GR8 SONGS OF MAY::

• Buscabulla –  “NTE”
• Carly Rae Jepsen – “Summer Love”
• Charli XCX – “anthems”
• Charli XCX – “claws”
• Charli XCX – “pink diamond”
• Charli XCX – “visions”
• Chester Raj Anand – “Shibyua 5AM
• Choir Boy – “Complainer”
• Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – “Frank Lucas (feat. Benny The Butcher)”
• Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – “Scottie Beam”
• Holy Hive – “Embers To Ash”
• India Jordan – “For You”
• India Jordan – “I’m Waiting (Just 4 U)”
• India Jordan – “Westbourne Ave”
• Jayda G – “Both Of Us”
• Jeff Rosenstock – “Ohio Tpke”
• Jerry Paper – “Puppeteer”
• Ka – “Every Now And Then”
• Ka – “Old Justice”
• Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – “The Steady Heart”
• Konradsen – “The Year Is Over”
• Little Simz – “might bang, might not”
• Medhane – “TRS (feat. Navy Blue)”
• Medhane – “Watch My Step (feat. Jadasea)”
• Moses Sumney – “In Bloom”
• Nailah Hunter – “White Flower, Dark Hill”
• Nation of Language – “The Wall & I”
• Nick Hakim – “ALL THESE INSTRUMENTS”
• Nick Hakim – “BOUNCING”
• Nick Hakim – “QADIR”
• Pantayo – “Kaingin”
• Peaking Lights – “Innerterrestrial”
• Peaking Lights – “Silver Clouds”
• Perfume Genius – “On The Floor”
• Preservation – “Correspondence (feat. Your Old Droog & Mach-Hommy)”
• Psychic Markers – “Clouds”
• Public Practice – “Compromised”
• Pure X – “Angels Of Love”
• Pure X – “Stayed Too Long”
• TootArd – “Migrant Birds”
• Winter – “Here I Am Existing”