New Music Friday - May 4, 2018

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Eleanor Friedberger - Rebound Fiery Furnaces may have gone on hiatus in 2011, but Eleanor Friedberger has been going strong in her solo career. Rebound is her fourth solo record, following 2016's New View. Fiery Furnaces' seminal Blueberry Boat also got reissued this year! Watch: "In Between Stars" Watch: "Make Me a Song"

FAN - Barton’s Den FAN is the solo project of Meric Long, one-half of The Dodos. That band is far from done (they're actually releasing a new album in just a few weeks). Long introduced his solo career last November with the "Fire" single. Watch: "Velour" Watch: "What a Mistake"

Leon Bridges - Good Thing Bridges started his career with a throwback sound reminiscent of 1960s soul (think Sam Cooke or Otis Redding). For his sophomore album, he sought to update his sound a bit, and mix some modern pop into his retro style. Watch: "Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand" Watch: "Bad Bad News"

Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM Rae Sremmurd's latest is a triple album. The first is the true third album from the duo. The second part is Swae Lee's solo debut, Swaecation, and the third, Jxmtro, Slim Jxmmi's. Watch: "Guatemala" Watch: "Powerglide" (featuring Juicy J)

The Temptations - All the Time Yes, they're still around, though Otis Williams is the only remaining original member. The new album from the band's current iteration is primarily a covers album, featuring songs originally performed by Sam Smith, Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, and others, as well as a few originals. Watch: "Waitin’ on You" Listen: "Earned It"

Other Full-Length Releases

DJ Koze - Knock Knock Watch: "Pick Up" Listen: "Illumination" (featuring Roísín Murphy)

Iceage - Beyondless Watch: "Catch It" Watch: "The Day the Music Dies"

Jon Hopkins - Singularity Watch: "Emerald Rush" Watch: "Everything Connected"

Killa Kyleon - Candy Paint N Texas Plates Watch: "Fuck You" Listen: "They Don’t Know" (featuring Bambino)

Matt and Kim - Almost Everyday Watch: "Forever" Watch: "Like I Used to Be"

Royce da 5’9” - The Book of Ryan Watch: "Caterpillar" (featuring Eminem & King Green) Watch: "Boblo Boat" (featuring J. Cole)

Simian Mobile Disco - Murmurations Watch: "Caught in a Wave" Watch: "Hey Sister"

Viva La Void - Viva La Void Watch: "Red Rider" Watch: "Death Money"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Amber Mark - Conexão Watch: "Love Me Right" Watch: "Love Is Stronger Than Pride"

Braids - "Collarbones"/"Burdock & Dandelions" Listen: "Collarbones" Listen: "Burdock & Dandelions"

Brian Eno - Music for Installations Listen: "Kazakhstan"

Jenn Champion - "O.M.G. (I’m All Over It)" Watch: "O.M.G. (I’m All Over It)"

Katie Von Schleicher - "Glad to Be Here" 7” Listen: "Glad to Be Here"

Mass Gothic - "Dark Window" Watch: "Dark Window"

Perera Elsewhere - Drive Watch: "Drive"

New Music Friday - January 22, 2016

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Chairlift - Moth Following the release of a solo album and an EP from frontwoman Caroline Polachek (under the name Ramona Lisa) in 2014, it seemed that this band was in the midst of a break. Turns out, the band was still hard at work, preparing their third album. They continue making their special brand of artsy pop. The album was highly anticipated and received glowing reviews upon its release. Watch: "Romeo" Watch: "Ch-Ching"

Eleanor Friedberger - New View Eleanor Friedberger is a member of a band currently on hiatus. She was one-half of The Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew, but they went their separate ways in 2011, both embarking on solo careers. New View is her third album, on which she grapples with life as a solo artist and approaching 40. Watch: "Sweetest Girls" Watch: "He Didn’t Mention His Mother"

Savages - Adore Life Savages had a hard act to follow in their 2013 debut, Silence Yourself. In a statement released along with the album's announcement back in October, they seemed to acknowledge some of the inherent difficulty in following up a much celebrated record, stating it was about "recognizing your potential" and "self-doubt and inaction," and so on. Watch: "The Answer" Watch: "Adore"

Shearwater - Jet Plane and Oxbow Shearwater is one of those reliably consistent bands with a fairly well-defined sound and lyrical content. That consistency doesn't keep them from trying to expand and improve. On their latest, they've enlisted previous collaborators, tour mates, and film composer Brian Reitzell. The result is an album that still fits within my purview of the band's sound, but manages to add something new into that equation. Watch: "Quiet Americans" Listen: "Only Child"

Other Full-Length Releases

Adrian Younge - Something About April II Listen: "Memories of War" (featuring Laetitia Sadler) Listen: "Sittin’ By the Radio" (featuring Loren Oden)

The Besnard Lakes - A Coliseum Complex Museum Watch: "The Plain Moon" Listen: "Nightingale"

Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Pond Scum Watch: "When Thy Song Flows Through Me" Listen: "Rich Wife Full of Happiness"

Charlie Hilton - Palana Listen: "100 Million" (featuring Mac DeMarco) Listen: "Funny Anyway"

The I Don’t Cares - Wild Stab Listen: "Born for Me" Listen: "King of America"

Jesu & Sun Kil Moon - Jesu/Sun Kil Moon Listen: "America’s Most Wanted Mark Kozelek & John Dillinger" Listen: "Exodus"

Sam Means - 10 Songs Watch: "We’re Alone"

Tindersticks - The Waiting Room Watch: "Were We Once Lovers?" Watch: "Hey Lucinda"

Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger Listen: "Diversion" Listen: "Leopard Priestess"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

METZ - "Eraser"/"Pure Auto" Watch: "Eraser" Listen: "Pure Auto"

SAD13 & Lizzo - "Basement Queens" Listen: "Basement Queens"

Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star Reissue Listen: "Winner’s Blues" Listen: "Bull in the Heather"

Sonic Youth - NYC Ghosts and Flowers Reissue Listen: "Free City Rhymes" Listen: "Renegade Princess"

Eleanor Friedberger - "My Own World"

Eleanor Friedberger's latest video, for the track "My Own World," follows a young woman with friendship issues and a less-than-supportive therapist. Note: the video's main protagonist is not Friedberger; the singer plays her crappy friend!

Friedberger's sophomore solo album, Personal Record, was released in June of last year.

New Music Tuesday - 06/04/2013

New Full-Length Releases

Camera Obscura - Desire Lines Camera Obscura are yet another example of the incredible indie pop that comes out of Scotland. For their fifth full-length, they've enlisted such go-to guest vocalists as Neko Case and Jim James. Desire Lines promises to be yet another delivery of incredible pop from this band! Listen: "Fifth in Line to the Throne"

Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record Eleanor Friedberger made a name for herself with her brother Matthew as one-half of The Fiery Furnaces. Although her brother has been an active solo artist for about seven years, Eleanor released her first solo album, Last Summer, in 2011. It's been four years since the last Fiery Furnaces album; I'm not sure if the siblings' respective solo albums signal a break for them. Listen/Watch: "Stare at the Sun"

Future Bible Heroes - Partygoing Future Bible Heroes is one of many side projects of The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt. In stark contrast to the baroque pop sound of his main band, this project delivers a more electronic sound. In more than 16 years together, this is only the band's third album. Stephin Merritt is a busy enough man to warrant the gaps in releases, though. Listen: "Sadder Than the Moon"

Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends Every time I think of Portugal. The Man the song "So American" gets stuck in my head. The opening track from their last album, In the Mountains in the Clouds, is easily my favorite song from the band. And so, I'm very confused on how I almost missed that they were releasing a new record! Although it was actually announced months ago, I only heard about it last week. Still, I'm pretty excited for some new music from these guys. Listen/Watch: "Evil Friends"

Quadron - Avalanche I kind of stumbled upon this Danish group recently, when I listened to the song "Better Off," which featured Kendrick Lamar. The lead singer, Coco O., was also recently featured on The Great Gatsby soundtrack. Their sound reminded me a bit of the indie soul of Jessie Ware. Are these two artists signaling a new trend in music? I certainly hope so! Listen: "Better Off"

Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork QOTSA work hard to keep driving, riff-filled hard rock alive, and they may be the best at it of any current bands. For this album, they teamed up with the visual artist Boneface for both the album artwork and a series of five music videos. Thanks to the visuals in those videos, this may be one of the creepiest albums to date. It's hard to listen without thinking of those terrifying characters! Listen/Watch: "My God Is the Sun"

Other New Releases

Future Bible Heroes - Memories of Love, Eternal Youth and Partygoing In addition to the new album up above, Future Bible Heroes is also re-releasing their first two albums, Memories of Love and Eternal Youth. So, if you're like me and hadn't taken the chance to check out this side project from Stephin Merritt, this seems the perfect opportunity to do it! Listen: "Lonely Days"

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County Stephen King may be best known for the numerous horror novels he has written, but he recently expanded his repertoire into musicals. Ghost Brothers was written with John Mellencamp. The soundtrack, released last week features tracks from Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case and Elvis Costello Listen: Elvis Costello - "That's Me"

Hodgy Beats Untitled 2 Hodgy Beats is a member of the hottest hip hop collective of the moment, Odd Future. Naturally, he's been featured on a number of other Odd Future releases, but has also released some in his own name. This is his second "Untitled" EP. Listen: "Years"