New Music Friday - May 15, 2020

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

ALMA - Have U Seen Her? This is the debut album from this Finnish singer who started her career on the country's version of Idol, where she finished fifth. She spent the past couple of years working with fellow Nords MØ and Tove Lo, as well as Charli XCX and Miley Cyrus. Watch: "Have U Seen Her?" Watch: "LA Money"

The Magnetic Fields - Quickies This new album from The Magnetic Fields follows 2017's 50 Song Memoir. Their albums usually have some interesting concept to them, and this is no different. As the title suggests, the album is made up of super-short songs, none longer than two minutes 35 seconds. Watch: "Kraftwerk in a Blackout" Watch: "I’ve Got a Date with Jesus"

Moses Sumney - græ This seems to be the year of releasing albums in pieces. Hayley Williams released half of her debut album several months before the full release, and Moses Sumney has done something similar for his follow up to 2017's Aromanticism. The first half of græ was released February. Now, we get the full release of the beautiful new record. Watch: "and so I come to isolation" Watch: "Bystanders"

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately Perfume Genius has steadily released one incredible album after another. His latest may be his best, receiving the highest average ratings for his career. Inspiration for the album came out of Mike Hadreas' 2019 dance collaboration with Kate Wallich. Watch: "Describe" Watch: "On the Floor"

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Temple To introduce their fifth album, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down set the standard for great quarantine music videos. I know that I've mentioned the "Phenom" video before, but it is just such a great show of creativity in our new reality.  Watch: "Temple" Watch: "Phenom"

Other Full-Length Releases

Charli XCX - How I’m Feeling Now Watch: "Forever" Watch: "anthems"

The Dears - Lovers Rock Watch: "The Worst in Us" Watch: "Heart of an Animal"

Future - High Off Life Watch: "Hard to Choose One" Listen: "Solitaires" (featuring Travis Scott)

Jess Williamson - Sorceress Watch: "Wind on Tin" Watch: "Infinite Scroll"

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - The Music of Transformation Watch: "The Steady Heart" Watch: "Expanding Electricity"

Memory Pearl - Music for 7 Paintings Watch: "Number 28, 1950" Watch: "Red and Brown Scene, 1961"

The Neverly Boys - Dark Side of Everything Watch: "Never Come Down" Listen: "Burn Hollywood"

Nick Hakim - WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD Watch: "QADIR" Listen: "WTMMG"

Peaking Lights - E S C A P  E Listen: "EVP (DKMNTL081)" Listen: "The Damned"

Porcelain Raft - Come Rain Watch: "Come Rain" Watch: "Out of Time"

Public Practice - Gentle Grip Watch: "Compromised" Watch: "Disposable"

Retirement Party - Runaway Dog Watch: "Runaway Dog" Watch: "Compensation"

Sparks - A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip Watch: "Self-Effacing" Watch: "Lawnmower"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Becoming - Music from the Netflix Original Documentary

Brain - The World EP Listen: "Boss"

Charlie Cunningham - Pieces Listen: "All This" Listen: "Pieces"

Henry Jamison - Tourism Watch: "Still Life" (featuring Joseph) Listen: "Tourism" (featuring Fenne Lily)

Parsnip - Adding Up Watch: "Treacle Toffee World" Listen: "Adding Up"

Sleaford Mods - All That Glue Watch: "Second" Listen: "Reef of Grief"

New Music Tuesday - March 10, 2015

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

New Full-Length Releases

Aero Flynn - Aero Flynn Strangely, despite the intentionally off spelling, searching for this band always returns a lot of results for the actor Errol Flynn. The band is the project of Josh Scott, the latest member of the Bon Iver family tree to release new music. He hails from the same Wisconsin music scene and has played with members of DeYarmond Edison (a former project of Justin Vernon) in his former band Amateur Love. Listen: "Dk/Pi" Listen: "Twist"

Dick Diver - Melbourne, Florida Dick Diver is an indie pop band hailing from Melbourne, Australia; not Florida as the album title may imply (though that is a real place). Though their name sounds dirty on first pass, it is taken from a character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. This is their third album, though the first to be released in the States. Listen: "Waste the Alphabet" Listen: "Tearing the Posters Down"

Heems - Eat, Pray, Thug Heems, Himanshu Suri, was a member of the now-defunct trio Das Racist. He released two mixtapes in 2012, the same year that the band broke up, but this is first his solo album. On the record, he goes in a much more serious direction than he was known for in Das Racist; he has said that the album was recorded during one of the darkest periods of his life. Listen: "Home" (featuring Dev Hynes) Listen: "Sometimes"

Laura Welsh - Soft Control Laura Welsh is a young British singer and a member of a new class of young, female, British singers, which includes Florence Welch and Jessie Ware. With her lush vocals, she's already been garnering comparisons to those two ladies. Soft Control is her debut record. Watch: "Ghosts" Listen: "Hardest Part" (featuring John Legend)

Matthew E. White - Fresh Blood Matthew E. White had a big year in 2012 with the release of his debut album, Big Inner, which saw him named eMusic's breakout artist of the year and was included in numerous best-of lists. 2015 is another big year for him, but he's sharing the love. He co-produced Natalie Prass' well-received debut album and is looking to recreate the magic of his debut a second time around. Watch: "Rock & Roll Is Cold" Listen: "Golden Robes"

Sasha Siem - Most of the Boys Siem is another young British singer, but with a less conventional style. Also on her debut album, she built up her career working as a composer, writing music for the London Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Opera House, and Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, among many other. She's also received awards for her work. She applies that same compositional eye to her own music, which has seen her getting comparisons to a broad group of musicians, including: Björk, Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, and Leonard Cohen. Watch: "So Polite" Watch: "My Friend"

Will Butler - Policy Arcade Fire released their fourth album, Reflektor, in October of 2013. Since then, we've gotten one solo album from a member, Richard Reed Parry, who released Music for Heart and Breath last year. Will Butler is the first to follow suit with this debut album. Watch: "Anna" Listen: "Take My Side"

Young Guv - Ripe 4 Luv Another member of a prominent Canadian indie band is breaking out on his own! Ben Cook is best known as the drummer for Fucked Up. With his debut album as Young Guv, he separates himself considerably from the hardcore punk sound of his main project, creating a lighter pop sound. Watch: "Crushing Sensation" Watch: "Ripe 4 Luv"

Other New Releases

The Band - Palladium Circles In 1976, The Band played a show at New York's Palladium, just two months before their farewell concert, The Last Waltz. The concert was broadcast live by WNEW; that broadcast is being released here. Purchase: Amazon

Caribou - Our Love Expanded Edition Dan Snaith released his fourth album under the Caribou name in October of last year. This year, it is getting the reissue treatment, with seven remixed versions added to the album's original tracklist. Listen: "Second Chance" (Cyril Hahn Edit) Listen: "Mars" (Head High’s Core Remix)

Charlie Cunningham - Breather EP This talented singer-songwriter released his debut EP, Outside Things, in November of last year. He's following that up with another short collection of tracks. Listen: "Less Leg" (Live)

Head Wound City - Head Wound City EP Reissue Head Wound City was a supergroup, of sorts, made up of The Locust, Holy Molar, The Blood Brothers, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They formed in 2004 and one self-titled EP in 2005. They continue to perform together occasionally, but have released no other music under the name. This year, that one EP is getting a reissue. Listen: "Street College"

Jimmy Napes - The Making of Me EP Jimmy Napes is the writer and producer behind recent hits from Disclosure, Sam Smith, and even Mary J. Blige (he worked on her latest album). He had a big 2014 with releases from both Blige and Smith, but is making 2015 his own, with the release of his debut EP. Watch: "Give It Up" Listen: "Making of Me"

MusicNow - 10 Years MusicNow is a Cincinnati-based music festival, curated by Aaron Dessner of The National, which has been going strong for ten years. In that time, the festival has attracted artists like Owen Pallett, Richard Reed Parry, Sharon Van Etten, and Bon Iver. To celebrate its tenth year, many of those artists have come together to collect festival highlights onto this new compilation. Listen: Sounds of the South - "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations"

New Music Tuesday - November 18, 2014

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

New Full-Length Releases

Andy Stott - Faith in Strangers Stott released his previous record, Luxury Problems, in 2012, but released a collaborative record, Drop the Vowels, with Miles Whittaker under the name Millie & Andrea earlier this year. His follow-up was recorded and mixed in the first half of this year, using various instruments, vocals, and found sounds. Listen: "Violence" Listen: "Faith in Strangers"

Ariel Pink - pom pom This is the tenth album from eclectic experimental pop performer Ariel Pink, though it's his first credited just to his own name and not to his band The Haunted Graffiti. Pink started slow in his career, but gradually built up acclaim and attention to the point that his two previous records are considered among the best of the decade (so far). His latest sees him sharing songwriting credit with Kim Fowley, a cult pop icon, who wrote songs for Ariel while in the hospital. Watch: "Picture Me Gone" Watch: "Put Your Number in My Phone"

Bryan Ferry - Avonmore Bryan Ferry is the former frontman for Roxy Music, which officially called it quits earlier this year (though many would argue that the actual end was long ago). He's been performing as a solo artist since the early 1970s. Avonmore is his fifteenth solo record, and sees him working with Todd Terje, Johnny Marr, Nile Rodgers, and even Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Watch: "Loop De Li" Listen: "Driving Me Wild"

Paul Smith & Peter Brewis - Frozen By Sight Smith is the frontman for Maxïmo Park, while Brewis fronts Field Music. The two have worked together in the past, Smith has been a frequent member of Brewis' side project The Week That Was. The two frontmen came together earlier this year to begin recording an album together, at Field Music Studio in Sunderland, England. Watch: "Los Angeles Street Cleaner" Listen: "Barcelona (At Eye Level)"

RL Grime - Void RL Grime is the stage name of LA-based producer Henry Steinway, who has made a name for himself with remixes for such acts as Shlohmoh, Chief Keef, and Jamie Lidell. He's released a number of singles and EPs throughout his short career, but this is his debut album. Here, he enlists some help from Big Sean, How to Dress Well, and a number of other guest artists. Watch: "Valhalla" (featuring Djemba Djemba) Watch: "Core"

Savages & Bo Ningen - Words to the Blind Savages became one of my new favorites with the release of last year's Silence Yourself. Their follow-up is a collaborative experimental album with another female-led group, Japanese acid rockers Bo Ningen. The album is one long (37 minutes) "simultaneous sonic poem" track. Watch: Trailer 1 Watch: Trailer 2

TV on the Radio - Seeds This Brooklyn-based indie rock band has already released four amazing albums throughout their 13 year career. With an EP from frontman Tunde Adebimpe's side project Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band last year and the passing of member Gerard Smith in 2011, I wasn't sure we'd be seeing anything new from them for awhile. They began hinting at a new album about a year ago, along with a new single. This is another great release from the band! Watch: "Careful You" Watch: "Happy Idiot"

Other New Releases

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness Deluxe Edition This indie folk singer built a name for herself early in her career through working with more established artists like Bonnie "Prince" Billy and LeRoy Bach of Wilco. In that time, she's also garnered praise for her own music, releasing a number of albums since 2010. Her hard work paid off in the form of this highly-regarded record, released earlier this year. This Deluxe Edition includes five bonus tracks. Watch: "Windows" Watch: "Hi-Five"

Annie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack The iconic movie and musical, Annie, has been remade for more modern audiences, starring Quvenzhané Wallis in the titular role. The movie's soundtrack is also reimagined, with new versions of the musical's songs from Sia, Beck, and the movie's cast. Watch: Sia - "You're Never Fully Dressed without a Smile" Listen: Sia & Beck - "Moonquake Lake"

The Art of McCartney Paul McCartney has had a long and celebrated career with a number of prominent groups, and as a solo artist. In that time, he's also inspired a lot of other musicians. Many of those artists come together here to present their own versions of his songs. We see contemporaries, like Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, and relative newcomers, Jamie Cullum and Corinne Bailey Rae, contributing to the new record. Watch: Corinne Bailey Rae - "Bluebird" Watch: Billy Joel - "Maybe I'm Amazed"

Brian Eno - Nerve Net Reissue Brian Eno has been active for over four decades and is showing no signs of slowing down. This week, we're seeing a couple of re-releases of his early 90s work. Nerve Net was originally released in 1992 and saw him returning to a more rock-oriented sound. Listen: "Fractal Zoom" Listen: "Wire Shock"

Brian Eno - The Shutov Assembly Reissue The Shutov Assembly was also released in 1992 and came out a few months after Nerve Net. The album was a tribute to Russian artist Sergei Shutov, something that he could use as he created his work. Listen: "Stedelijk" Listen: "Lanzarote"

Charlie Cunningham - Outside Things EP Charlie Cunningham is a new one for me. I checked him out following a Stereogum article on him and was quickly reminded of one his fellow British folkster Fink. This is his debut release. Watch: "Lights Off" Listen: "Outside Things"

David Bowie - Nothing Has Changed Nothing Has Changed is a career-spanning compilation from Bowie. In order to highlight the progression in his career, the album moves in reverse chronological order from 2014 (and a new song) to 1964, then back to the present. Watch: "Where Are We Now?" Listen: "Lets Dance" (Single Edit)

David Bowie - "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" The new single from Bowie's new compilation is also getting its own release this week. The track book-ends the compilation, appearing at both the beginning and the end. Watch: "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" Listen: "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"

Depeche Mode - Live in Berlin This is the seventh live album from Depeche Mode, which was recorded at O2 World in Germany in November of last year. The album accompanies a concert film directed by Anton Corbijn. Watch: "Enjoy the Silence" Watch: "Should Be Higher"

Fugazi - First Demo This is one of the first recordings from the band, recorded after the band had performed only ten shows together in 1988. The demo is getting its first official release now, coming 13 years after the last studio album from the band. Listen: "Waiting Room" Listen: "Merchandise"

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Lorde may be young, but she's already being given some impressive tasks. She was recently  asked to curate the soundtrack for the first part of the final segment of the Hunger Games movie franchise. She's done an impressive job; she has a couple of incredible tracks of her own, and brings together work from Chvrches, Charli XCX, The Chemical Brothers, and a number of other impressive musicians. Watch: Lorde - "Yellow Flicker Beat" Listen: Chvrches - "Dead Air"

Kim Deal - "Biker Gone"/"Beautiful Moon" Kim Deal is best known as the bassist for the Pixies, which she left in 2013. Since then, she's been focusing on a series of singles. "Biker Gone" and "Beautiful Moon" are her ninth and tenth releases. Watch: "Biker Gone" Listen: "Beautiful Moon"

Manchester Orchestra - Hope Manchester Orchestra released their fourth studio album, Cope, in April of this year. Hope is the companion album to that release, with each track being an acoustic version of an accompanying track from Cope. Listen: "Trees" Listen: "Cope"

Marissa Nadler - Before July EP Marissa Nadler released the incredible July in February of this year; safe to say that it is one of my favorites of the year. Before July comprises a number of b-sides and demos, including a cover of Elliott Smith's "Pitseleh." Listen: "Pitseleh"

Noel Gallagher's High-Flying Birds - "In the Heat of the Moment"/"Do the Damage" This former Oasis lead guitarist and vocalist will be releasing his sophomore album, Chasing Yesterday, with his project High-Flying Birds in March of next year. "In the Heat of the Moment" is the lead single from the album. Its B-side was initially intended to be the lead track off of the new record, but was later dropped from the release. Watch: "In the Heat of the Moment" Watch: "Do the Damage"

Ty Segall - $ingle$ 2 It seems almost just yesterday that Segall released his seventh album Manipulator. He is quickly following that up with a new singles compilation, bringing together non-album tracks recorded over the past few years. Listen: "Spiders" Listen: "Hand Glams"

While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years of Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records, founded in 1993, is an independent label with a focus on roots indie and punk rock, and alternative country. This is a compilation of covers of songs originally performed by artists on the label, predominantly by artists not on the label. The record includes contributions from Andrew Bird, Split Single, Ted Leo, and Blitzen Trapper. Listen: Blitzen Trapper - "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" Listen: William Elliott Whitmore - "I Wish I Was the Moon"

Whirr/Nothing - Split Single Whirr and Nothing share a member, guitarist Nick Bassett (who is also a former member of Deafheaven). Whirr released their latest album in September, while Nothing released theirs in March. Now, the two sibling bands have come together for this split single and a few new tracks. Watch: Nothing - "Chloroform" Listen: Whirr - "Ease"

Wilco - Alpha Mike Foxtrot Wilco (the band) has been together for two decades. To celebrate their entry into their third decade as a band, they have a couple of new releases. Alpha Mike Foxtrot is a four-disc pressing of studio rarities from the band. Listen: "Handshake Drugs" (First Version) Listen: "I Shall Be"

Wilco - What's Your 20? Wilco's second anniversary release is a "greatest hits" of sorts. It pulls together some of the most celebrated tracks from the band's twenty years and eight studio albums. Listen: "I Must Be High" Listen: "Box Full of Letters"