MUSIC PREMIERES
KARMA, the new album from Stray Kids, takes the top spot in this week’s fan-voted music poll.
Listeners cast their votes in a Billboard poll shared Friday (Aug. 22), naming the K-pop group’s newest LP as their favorite fresh release of the week.
KARMA claimed the number one position in a week filled with new drops from Doja Cat, Laufey, and others. In a close race, KARMA edged out Doja Cat’s newest single, pulling in more than half of the votes and securing first place.
The group’s new full-length project features 11 songs, including the track “Ceremony” with STAY, all created by production team 3RACHA.
According to a press statement about the album, KARMA reflects Stray Kids’ unique perspective on destiny. “Destiny is shaped by a tangled web of choices and consequences,” it explained. “KARMA begins with this very idea, an attempt to interpret Stray Kids’ fate. Despite countless external judgments and inner conflicts, they have continued to forge their own path with unwavering resolve. Through their music, Stray Kids represent a story of growth.”
The boy group finished their biggest world tour yet, Stray Kids World Tour <dominATE>, in late July after completing 54 concerts across five continents.
Doja Cat’s “Jealous Type” followed closely behind KARMA on this week’s poll with 47% of the votes. Other new projects that placed include Laufey’s A Matter of Time, Sombr’s I Barely Know Her, Deftones’ Private Music, Offset’s KIARI, Kid Cudi’s Free, and BigXThaPlug’s I Hope You’re Happy.
See the final results of this week’s poll below.
MUSIC PREMIERES
Four years on from the ‘Actual Life’ series lifting him into the mainstream spotlight, Fred Again.. continues to feel unavoidable. The London producer and DJ born Fred Gibson has moved at a relentless pace, bouncing between sold out stadium dates in New York and surprise appearances at Sheffield’s 1,000 capacity Forge, while also making history as the first electronic artist to top the bill at Reading and Leeds in 2024.
Where the ‘Actual Life’ releases and his fourth album, 2024’s ‘Ten Days’, leaned into warmth and joy pulled from ordinary moments, Gibson has also sharpened his instinct for high impact club weapons rooted in garage, dubstep and jungle. That side of his output lives on ‘USB’, an “infinite album” first imagined in 2022 as a home for tracks that exist outside any fixed universe, including defining moments like ‘Rumble’ and ‘Jungle’.
‘USB002’, the second vinyl only chapter of the ‘USB’ project, brings together 16 recent tracks, many of which surfaced gradually on streaming services over a ten week stretch. The music was shaped live, in step with ten unannounced DJ appearances across the world from Dublin to Mexico City. Even with a Glastonbury style registration system in place, The Times reported that 100,000 people tried to secure tickets for the opening night in Glasgow.
Appropriately, ‘USB002’ feels alive and constantly in motion, helped along by contributions from close collaborators such as Floating Points and Sammy Virji. The rigid, techno driven pressure of ‘Ambery’ echoes elements of Floating Points’ 2019 album ‘Crush’, while Gibson’s take on ‘The Floor’ builds like the slow climb of a rollercoaster before dropping back to earth without warning.
The guest list stretches beyond the usual dance circles, with two Australian guitar bands popping up in unexpected ways. ‘You’re A Star’ reworks Amyl and The Sniffers’ ‘Big Dreams’ into a breakbeat driven rush, while ‘Hardstyle 2’ pulls the experimental post punk edge of Shady Nasty into an Underworld adjacent space alongside Kettama. Gibson’s real trick is his ability to connect with anyone. These tracks are not reinterpretations but full takeovers.
The visual world wrapped around the ‘USB002’ rollout reinforces the instinct behind the music. Phones were prohibited at shows staged in vast warehouse spaces under sweeping light rigs, while Gibson’s team shared striking black and white footage and created artwork for each single on site. Bottling that sense of urgency, the project is rooted in the thrill of the present moment, something Gibson seems able to summon simply by turning up.
If the ‘Actual Life’ series and ‘Ten Days’ captured passing snapshots of experience, ‘USB’ is defined by constant movement, a space where boundaries are removed entirely. Sitting somewhere between an album and a playlist, ‘USB002’ underlines why Fred Again.. feels so dominant right now, and suggests that his current run may only be the beginning of something much bigger.
