New Music Friday: Stream new projects from Wiki & Tony Seltzer, George Riley, King Louie Bankston, and more

Across two previous projects London-based vocalist George Riley has slowly transformed from a fixture on the underground electronic scene to an artist subverting traditional pop structures from an alternative mindset. The latest stage in her evolution is Un/limited Love, a new EP featuring her most robust and forward-facing music to date. Producers on the project include Hudson Mohawke (who handles the horny trance anthem "s e x") and Detroit's John FM, whose "Satisfy You" packs a knock out two-step punch. "Elixir," meanwhile shimmers with enough Balearic energy to brush off the chilliest of November breezes. Riley is yet to drop a debut album proper but releases as bracing and confident as this continue to stoke anticipation levels ever higher. — David Renshaw

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

Tony Seltzer’s beatscapes can feel like a haunted music box (“Numb”) or sci-fi lasers strafing the eardrum (“Golden Child”), sometimes even as contemplative as the up and down flow of the tides (“Bubba”). Across 14k Figaro’s 52-minute runtime Wiki sounds totally at ease, even as his spiky flows trace out metric subdivisions and switchbacks. Take the plaintively elongated vowels of “Lilypad,” suffuse with pathos as Wiki traces his own genealogy. Or the warmly analog “The Enterprise,” where Seltzer’s stuttering hi-hats seem to thread through the tiniest gaps in Wiki’s verbal onslaught. Collabs with Remy Banks, Wifigawd, and Zelooperz all shine, but no matter how tough their bars might be, 14K Figaro never feels like anything except the Wiki and Tony Seltzer show. — Vivian Medithi

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

King Louie Bankston recorded his second posthumous album in the four years leading up to his untimely death in February 2022. The iconic New Orleans punk — who was born in the album’s titular suburb and spent some of his most prolific years in Portland and Memphis, playing with the Exploding Hearts and Bad Times (with Eric Oblivian and Jay Reatard) — was a fixture in his home city, leading a dozen-odd projects of varying seriousness and enjoying royalty status at perennial events like NOize Fest, despite his well-documented personalities clashes with other local legends.

Bankston initially saw the new project as a 22-track double tape, and his longtime label Goner Records has honored that vision with a cassette-only “directors cut,” though the digital and vinyl versions are 15 songs and 40 minutes long. Still, that’s plenty of time to get to know Louie, who flexes his famous sense of humor with tracks like “(Theme From) Crawzilla” and “Wasted at Work,” as well as his raw, nasty side on “Rehab Legend.” His disarming candor is placed front and center on a cappella cuts like “Places Like This” and “Down & Out.” On these heartbreaking numbers, he harmonizes with himself slightly off-key, presenting his full humanity without reservation. — Raphael Helfand

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

Florida-based artist and '90s alt-rock scion quannnic follows up his cherished 2022 debut kenopsia with his sophomore project today. His previous effort embraced glitch-pop and the anime intro electronics of Porter Robinson (not unlike the dltzk-era works of labelmate Jane Remover); Stepdream feels like a concerted effort to highlight quannnic's abilities as a songwriter of brooding guitar-based jams. Even though we're oversaturated with shoegaze at the moment, songs like "Comatose" and "South" feel fresh thanks to quannnic's talent for passionate hooks. The best moments are the most surprising ones: "How to Hold A Knife" has the twangy anxiety of Pablo Honey-era Radiohead, and "Ache" blends Failure and Elliott Smith with a few John Frusciante-style licks. Beneath the foggy textures and hazily cooed lyrics, there's a real sense of stakes on Stepdream, like its songs are quannnic's last, best chance to define himself. — Jordan Darville

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music