Every week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with several tracks that catch our attention, then round up the best songs of each month in this segment. Here, in alphabetical order, are the best songs of April 2026.
Brutalismus 3000, ‘I Bring My Gun to the Function’ [feat. Boys Noize]
In what is becoming an increasingly overcrowded electroclash revival, Brutalismus 3000 could have stuck in their lane. If you know anything about the German electronic duo’s music, you’d probably categorize it as techno, but when their new single ‘I Bring My Gun to the Function’ got posted on the genre’s subreddit, two separate people went out of their way to point out it belongs somewhere else. German producer Boys Noize, who’s been busy stirring Nine Inch Nails’ industrial live show in a dancier direction, has often skirted between these stylistic boundaries, making him the ideal collaborator for the lead single off Brutalismus 3000’s new album Harmony, which also features 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady and (checks notes) Anya Taylor-Joy. It’s an obviously rambunctious banger that suggests they’re aiming for bigger stages; if nothing else, it proves they’re not the only ones keeping their fingers on the trigger.
Chanel Beads, ‘Song for the Messenger’
It’s only been a couple of days since Chanel Beads released ‘Song for the Messenger’, and I haven’t had the chance to listen to it in the corner store, where the Brooklyn project’s Shane Lavers suggests that time is always moving slower. “This song is laughing at me,” he’s said of the track, which leads to the follow-up to Your Day Will Come, also called Your Day Will Come. (The album title seems to be laughing a little at all of us.) Laughing at the person trying to get any message across, perhaps, a mind addled with intrusive thoughts that refuse to find an outlet, too distracted by the sheer beauty of the song itself. Adorned by bleary textures (including violin by Zachary Paul and pedal steel by more eaze), it can barely shroud its own tunefulness, a means of soaking the world up in slow motion, and maybe laughing back at it.
Kelela, ‘idea 1’
It’s so easy to wade back into Kelela’s intimate world. The melody that opens ‘idea 1’ is liquidy smooth, her falsetto instantly inviting, sounding way more like a proper introduction to a new project than a dusty old demo. But it doesn’t take long to realize this is uncharted territory for Kelela. In spiraling into the despondent minefield of an avoidant relationship, she dips into shoegaze, offsetting the mellifluous harmonies of the chorus with guitars that grow all the more gritty and overwhelming. It’s essentially a Midwife song sung by a delicate, distant voice that’s watching the walls closing without quite becoming one with them. Though it recalls the ambient moments of her last album Raven, it sprinkles rock and roll all over them, a loudness that’s likely to spring further up to the surface.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw, ‘Nosedive’
When I interviewed Man/Woman/Chainsaw at the end of 2024, I got the sense they were cooking up something way bigger than the excellent EP they were promoting at the time, Eazy Peazy. If anything, I expected the dynamic London band to sound even more chaotic, though I’m not totally surprised that ‘Nosedive’, the lead single from their debut album, actually finds them swinging in the other direction. It’s a massive singalong that creeps up on you, like a lingering thought stirred awake by the sound of a bird hitting the glass. Before it’s repeated a euphoric number of times by the whole group, the line “Baby get me back up over you” appears inconspicuously in the second verse, which is when I got the sense the song might exceed my expectations. Some bands strike gold without even realizing it, letting a great hook fizzle out. Man/Woman/Chainsaw are ready to go all in.
Olivia Rodrigo, ‘drop dead’
Olivia Rodrigo may not be sticking to the all-caps title format for you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, but ‘drop dead’ finds her beaming back out at the world. If anything, the lead single itself could have been properly capitalized; a giddy, full-blown response to a lowercase comment someone might leave underneath a romantic photo soundtracked by ‘Lovesong’. Rodrigo, of course, namedrops a different kind of Cure song: “You know all the words to ‘Just Like Heaven’/ And I know why he wrote them” is a flex this kind of head-over-heels infatuation leaves plenty of room for. Ironically, ‘drop dead’ isn’t as immediate as Rodrigo’s earlier singles; I’ve heard people describe it as more of a grower, which of course didn’t stop it from debuting at No. 1. As maximalist as Dan Nigro’s production is, it sounded almost too tame at first, relaxing instead of actually blowing itself to pieces. But it’s a delicate balance: as much as the incandescent strings, dizzy harmonies, and synths bring the fantasy to life, at the end of the night (11pm, to be exact), they’re also the safe space before the rupture.
