→ February 7, 2022
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Music update, January 2022.

Prospect season pushed this back about a week, but my monthly playlists are back, and this one is longer than usual because I have some tracks from late December as well. You can see the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

As for my use of Spotify, I’m leaning towards switching to another service, but in the middle of prospect-writing season, I didn’t have time to figure out the logistics of moving all of my playlists and information over – let alone deciding which service to use. I don’t think their responses so far have been adequate at all; putting a disclaimer before a podcast where the guest spends 2-3 hours spewing misinformation does nothing to stop the misinformation from spreading. That’s even before I get into more recent revelations of a Joe Rogan using the n-word dozens of times. I’ll get through the prospect reports and reevaluate where I put my money and where I ask you to listen to my playlists.

Gang of Youths – in the wake of your leave. I can’t wait for this Australian group’s third album, Angel in Realtime, which drops on February 25th. The title track was a top ten song of last year for me, and this one isn’t too far behind. There’s a lot of peak (1980s, not “Beautiful Day”) U2 in their music.

Khruangbin feat. Leon Bridges – B-Side. The collaboration that brought us last year’s EP Texas Sun returns with another EP this month called Texas Moon. This song is fantastic, but the second single from the EP, “Chocolate Hills,” was surprisingly boring.

Large Plants – The Death of Pliny. Large Plants is the new side project from Jack Sharp of Wolf People (not to be confused with Wolf Parade, Wolfmother, Wolfgang Press, or Wolf). This track is very late ’60s blues-psychedelia with some lovely guitarwork as a highlight.

Waxahatchee – Tomorrow. Katie Crutchfield did the soundtrack for the Apple TV+ adaptation of the graphic novel series El Deafo. This song feels very much like someone asked her to write the most upbeat song she could, and it’s great.

Camp Cope – Running with the Hurricane. I heard this song before knowing anything about the band, and was surprised to hear something so Americana-sounding from an Australian band. If you like Waxahatchee, I think this song might be up your alley.

Sprints – Little Fix. This Irish punk-garage quartet have churned out a series of hooky singles that don’t skimp on the noise elements, always with something a bit clever in the lyrics as well.

Frank Turner – A Wave Across a Bay. Turner’s tribute to Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison, who killed himself in 2018, has a beautiful build in the chorus and Turner’s knack for turning clever phrases even in grief.

Spoon – Wild. Spoon’s first album in five years, Lucifer on the Sofa, drops this Friday, and the two singles I’ve heard so far show Britt Daniel in peak form, with a harder edge to the music behind him, something I can certainly support. The piano riff behind the chorus sounds incredibly familiar to me though.

White Lies – Am I Really Going to Die. It’s not as morbid as it sounds – it’s quite upbeat, in fact, and after hearing the two singles they’ve released, I’m wondering if As I Try Not to Fall Apart (due out February 18th) is going to be this British new wave band’s best album yet.

Shungudzo – It’s a good day (to fight the system). A tip from my grad school classmate Jim led me to I’m not a mother, but I have children, the 2021 debut album from Zimbabwean-American (and former Real World cast member) Shungudzo. The album itself combines multiple genres, from folk to hip-hop, with biting social commentary, and would have made my top albums of the year list if I’d heard it in time.

FKA Twigs feat. Jorja Smith and Unknown T – jealousy. So FKA Twigs released a mixtape in January called [CAPRISONGS] featuring a cornucopia of high-octane guests, but if you’ve followed my music lists at all, you had to know I’d choose the song with Jorja Smith to highlight. The drumbeat behind this track is intense, with sudden stops and starts that keep you off balance for the duration of the song.

Lucius – Next to Normal. I’ve liked quite a few Lucius songs over the decade since their first proper album came out in 2013, but I did not expect this track, which sounds like it could have come from Prince’s back catalog. Their third (or fourth, depending on whether you count their self-released record from 2009) album, Second Nature, comes out on April 8th.

The Mysterines – Dangerous. I’ve been looking forward to this British hard rock quartet’s debut album for about two years now, although this track isn’t the best representation of the high-octane grunge I’ve come to love from them. That LP, titled Reeling, is out March 11th.

Kid Kapichi feat. Bob Vylan – New England. Two artists who appeared on my top 100 songs of 2021 teamed up on this new single, taking aim at voter apathy in the UK with music that would have fit right in on Kid Kapichi’s This Time Next Year.

Crows – Slowly Separate. Crows’ Silver Tongues was one of my favorite albums of 2019, and this is the first new music from the British punk-rock band since then. They’re signed to IDLES’ Balley Records label, but I find their music more accessible and interesting than their bosses’ throwback punk style, more akin to Kid Kapichi or Fontaines D.C.

Yard Act – Pour Another. The Overload, the debut album from this British post-punk band, did not disappoint, from the title track to “Payday” to “The Incident” to this bouncy, dissonant tune. I keep coming back to the Gang of Four comparisons because they fit so well. Maybe these guys should cover “Natural’s Not In It?”

The Smile – You Will Never Work in Television Again. The Smile are Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. There’s supposed to be an album coming, but for now we have two singles that sound a fair bit like Radiohead’s first album, and I’m here for anything where Radiohead members return to their rock roots.

Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo – You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever. Yep, that’s Pete Doherty of the Libertines, working with the French musician Lo, with an album from the two of them due out on March 18th. Doherty also hinted at new Libertines material perhaps coming within the year, which would be even more exciting, but this track has a lot of that same vibe, almost like an older twist on the Libertines’ sound.

Hatchie – Quicksand. Hatchie’s dream-pop sound always reminds me of the Cranberries’ first two albums before that band went sideways; don’t be fooled by the slow start here, as the chorus has the big hook Hatchie delivers on all her better tracks.

Griff & Sigrid – Head on Fire. Griff doesn’t miss – that’s three incredible pop tracks from her in a year, this one featuring the popular Norwegian singer Sigrid.

Tempers – Nightwalking. Gothic electronica from a NYC duo who’ll release their third album, New Meaning, in April.

Steve Vai – Zeus in Chains. Vai’s Passion and Warfare came out the summer after I graduated from high school, and I couldn’t get enough of it. That particular style of instrumental guitar music hit a creative and popular zenith at that time, ending some time in 1992-93 with the rise of grunge (I’d call Joe Satriani’s “Summer Song” the last big hit of this movement), and Vai’s next album, Sex & Religion, didn’t have the same kind of melodic highs, and I fell off the train. Then this song popped up on my Release Radar, and it’s pretty good – maybe not quite at the level of “I Would Love To” or “The Animal,” but with a solid hook and some peak Vai shredding.

Zeal & Ardor – Church Burns. This project of Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux will put out a new, self-titled album this month, and if this song is any indication, his efforts to integrate gospel sounds with extreme metal – he says “black” metal but I assume that’s a play on words – are reaching their fruition.

King Buffalo – Shadows. This track is ten minutes long, just to warn you, but if you like psychedelic metal with a good bit of stoner to it, King Buffalo’s Acheron should be right up your alley.

Anxious – Let Me. This Connecticut hardcore punk band veers into extreme metal territory, with less of the melodic sensibility of last year’s “In April.”

Destruction – Diabolical. These icons of ’80s thrash – Wikipedia calls them part of the “Big Four” of German thrash, which, sure – actually sound pretty good for a bunch of guys pushing 60, and I give them credit for sticking to their sound. Thrash’s moment came and went as its adherents either went more commercial (looking at you, Metallica) or more extreme, but I’ll forever think of it as the perfect blend of speed and technical playing, without the excesses of most death metal bands.

Deserted Fear – Reborn Paradise. German melodic death metal that borders on thrash, just with growled lyrics. The machine gun-like guitar riff behind the verse stood out for me even with the ridiculous vocals.

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→ December 2, 2021
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Music update, November 2021.

I lowered the bar a little bit this month to make the playlist a more suitable length, as it seemed like the tide of new releases finally slowed up a bit as we approach the end of the year. I’ll post best of 2021 album and song lists later this month, probably the week of the 13th but possibly the week after that, depending on how busy I am with prospect calls. As always, you can find the playlist here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

Charli XCX featuring Christine and the Queens & Caroline Polachek – New Shapes. This is hands-down one of the best pop songs I’ve heard this year. I’m not a big Charli XCX fan, but she chose the right collaborators on this track, and each of them gets a distinctive verse to show off their vocal skills.

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak – Fly As Me. I didn’t love the Silk Sonic album as much as I expected to, but this song is a perfect mix of ’70s funk and ’80s R&B. Paak sure sounds a lot like Skee-Lo on that second verse, though.

Foals – Wake Me Up. These guys are good for one solid banger every album, but singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis has promised that the next LP will be more rave-influenced like this track is, so gird your loins.

CHVRCHES – Screaming. The “director’s cut” of Screen Violence adds three more tracks and runs nearly an hour; this is the best of the additional songs.

The War on Drugs – Harmonia’s Dream. I Don’t Live Here Anymore is my favorite TWoD album, and it seems like the critical consensus is that it’s their best. I still think the songs are too long, but that’s just who they are. There’s just more here this time around: stronger melodies, more energy, more prominent drum and bass lines, even some better lead guitar work.

Chime School – Radical Leisure. Chime School is San Francisco musician Andy Pastalaniec, mixing jangle-pop sounds of the 1980s and some elements of Britpop. It’s sunny and bright and takes me back a few decades every time he opens a verse with “Tell me what it’s like…”

Potty Mouth – Not Going Anywhere. An ironic song title for a band that just announced they’re breaking up. At least they’re going out with a few bangers on this final EP.

Gang of Youths – tend the garden. I’ve never heard a band remind me so much of U2 without explicitly sounding like U2. There’s a little something in the singer’s laconic delivery that reminds me of Bono’s quieter moments, but otherwise I can’t pinpoint a specific connection. I’m a fan based on their last few singles.

English Teacher – Good Grief. This Leeds quartet is rather unapologetically English, with that certain style of sing-talked vocals and witty lyrics by lead singer Lily Fontaine. I’m kind of a sucker for bands like this when the lyrics are strong.

The Wombats – Everything I Love Is Going to Die. A bit morbid, I suppose, but this is how Matthew Murphy rolls.

Bob Vylan – GDP. I am not a fan of this kind of artist name, riffing on a more famous musician but changing one letter or sound, but this rap song with metal riffs behind the rhyming is actually pretty strong, and I can’t argue with the sentiment.

Frank Turner – Miranda. This song is based on the true story of Turner’s parent Miranda, who came out as transgender at the age of 72.

Bloc Party – Traps. They’re back – the band’s sixth album, Alpha Games, their first since 2016, is due out in April. “Banquet” is a forever track for me, so anything they do in that vein is right up my alley.

Yard Act – Payday. Yard Act are another of those post-punk sing-talk British bands I just can’t seem to get enough of. It doesn’t hurt when the song beneath the lyrics has a solid groove to it, and the chorus has me shouting along. “We all make the same sound when we’re mowed down” is grim, but rather well sums up our dystopian experience.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – It Don’t Bother Me. Plant and Krauss’s second album together, Raise the Roof, came out this month … and it’s kind of tame. I was hoping for more of Krauss’s bluegrass roots to show through, but it’s a muted affair throughout.

Cate Le Bon – Moderation. I’m contractually obligated to put a Welsh artist on the playlist whenever possible. Le Bon’s sixth album, Pompeii, comes out on February 4th. Wikipedia calls her music “baroque pop;” I hear a lot of Roxy Music here.

Aeon Station – Fade. Aeon Station is three-fourths of the indie band the Wrens,butall I hear here is Arcade Fire, in a positive way.

IDLES – The Wheel. Critics love IDLES; I don’t entirely get it. I don’t hear the hooks or the energy I want from a punk band. This song, however, has all of that. I’m in by the end of the first measure.

Tony Iommi – Scent of Dark. The iconic metal guitarist returns with this menacing, instrumental doom track that always sounds like it’s about to turn into a vocal track, like there’s a verse just around the next beat, but instead it sludges forward with Iommi’s trademark detuned riffing. Not bad for a 73-year-old who’s been playing with prosthetic fingertips for a half-century. Iommi’s former band, Jethro Tull, also released a new song this past week, and Ian Anderson’s voice hasn’t held up as well as Iommi’s fret hand.

Porcupine Tree – Harridan. I assumed Porcupine Tree was done, at least as a recording act, but their eleventh album Closure/Continuation comes on next June. It’ll be the prog-rock band’s first record in 12 years. I mostly know of them through their association with Opeth; he co-produced Blackwater Park, which I would probably rank as the best metal album of all time, certainly the best extreme metal album, as well as Deliverance and Damnation, all of which showed Opeth moving in a more progressive musical direction.

Animals as Leaders – The Problem of Other Minds. This instrumental trio’s album The Joy of Motion made my top albums of 2014 list, but they’ve only released one album in the intervening seven years. This track and its B-side Monomyth (are B-sides even really a thing any more? The term seems like an anachronism) are the first from the band’s Parrhesia, due out on March 25th.

Cynic – In a Multiverse Where Atoms Sing. Another band I assumed was through, with co-founder Sean Reinert and longtime bassist Sean Malone dying in 2020, although Reinert had left Cynic in 2015. Anyway, Cynic just released Ascension Codes, its first album in seven years, last week. It’s just their fourth album in over 30 years under the name, with singer-guitarist Paul Masvidal the only remaining founding member.

Mastodon – Sickle and Peace. Hushed and Grim cameout early in November and it’s a mammoth record, running almost an hour and a half, with some incredible guitar work and huge changes in style and tone. I almost went with “Gobblers of Dregs,” but that track is eight and a half minutes long, and I prefer the guitar riff in this song anyway.

Toundra – El Odio, Parte II. One more instrumental metal track to wrap things up this month, this one another monster track from this Spanish metal act, whose sixth album Hex comes out on January 14th.

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→ October 31, 2021
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Music update, October 2021.

Whew, that might be the most loaded month I’ve seen since I started doing monthly new music playlists in January of 2015 – a function, I’m sure, of the easier access to all kinds of music, and perhaps my expanding tastes, but there was just a lot of great fucking music released in October. I omitted plenty of tracks from artists I like, including new material from CHVRCHES, Yard Act, Metronomy, Snail Mail, Frank Turner, Jack White, Shamir, Tom Morello, Soft Cell (!), Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, and more. I also ended up cutting Janelle Monaé’s new version of “Say Her Name,” since it’s 17 minutes long and a new version of an old track from 2013. As always, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the playlist here.

White Lies – As I Try Not to Fall Apart. Few bands have channeled ’80s new wave as successfully as White Lies, who don’t so much mimic the sound as the entire vibe of those synth-heavy (and heavily made-up) bands from that era that was so formative for my own music tastes. This is easily one of my two or three favorite songs of theirs, right up there with “There Goes Our Love Again.”

Cœur de Pirate – Tu peux crever là-bas. Cœur de Pirate’s latest álbum, Impossible à aimer, is her best full-length LP so far, with some incredible melodies beneath her typically dark, incisive lyrics. This track is the strongest on the album, and for those of you who don’t speak French, it means “you can die over there.”

The Mysterines – Hung Up. This Liverpool group, led by singer/guitarist Lia Metcalfe, will finally get to release their debut album Reeling on March 11th, but in the meantime, here’s another driving, snarling track in the vein of their earlier tracks like “Gasoline” and “I Win Every Time.”

Gang of Youths – the man himself. This Australian indie-rock quintet are running headlong into comparisons with peak U2 with tracks like this one, an atmospheric rocker with introspective lyrics about the death of lead singer Dave Le’aupepe’s father.

The Wombats – Ready for the High. I’m always going to want the Wombats to recreate their incredible no-skips 2015 album Glitterbug, even though I’m sure they want to continue to evolve past that. This is a pretty good twist on that sound, with Matthew Murphy’s typically absurd lyrics and a little more crunch to the guitars. Their sixth album, Fix Yourself, Not the World, is due out on January 7th.

alt-J – U&ME. Speaking of wanting a band to be something else, the version of alt-J from their debut album is long gone, and they’re just another decent indie band now, with a clear commercial leaning they didn’t have a decade ago. But this song is pretty catchy.

Hatchie – Crush. Yep, this is a cover of one-hit wonder Jennifer Paige’s 1998 song, which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but Hatchie makes it less overtly poppy and more dream-pop.

Courtney Barnett – Write a List of Things to Look Forward To. Definitely one of Barnett’s better guitar riffs, with a tempo that better complements her laconic vocal delivery than some of her slower material. She also released “Smile Real Nice” from the soundtrack to the upcoming Apple+ series Harriet the Spy.

The Districts – I Want to Feel It All. The opening to this track keeps tricking me into thinking it’s Nine Inch Nails’ “Down In It,” which should give you some idea of the change in style here for these indie-rock stalwarts.

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Trouble. Terrible band name, although I suppose it fits their retro-emo sound. This was my favorite track off their latest album Illusory Walls, which reminded me of Pure Reason Revolution’s blend of metal elements into emo tracks.

Speedy Ortiz – Cutco. Sadie Dupuis, who records as a solo artist under the name sad13, re-recorded this early track, from when Speedy Ortiz was primarily a solo project for her, as part of the upcoming double LP The Death of Speedy Ortiz & Cop Kicker…Forever, a joint reissue of their first album and their first EP, both released in 2011.

Sprints – Modern Job. Another strong post-punk track from the Irish group who brought us “The Cheek” last year.

Michael Kiwanuka – Beautiful Life. The first new music since his last album KIWANUKA won the Mercury Prize is this soul/trip-hop track from the upcoming documentary Convergence: Courage in a Crisis.

Sunflower Bean – Baby Don’t Cry. This is Sunflower Bean’s second one-off single in the last two-plus years, since the King of the Dudes EP, with no word on a new album coming, although they do plan a UK tour in the spring.

Hinds – De la Monarquía a la Criptocracia. Maybe this is the step forward I’ve been waiting for Hinds to take, with lyrics that aren’t so much yelled-sung as just sung. Maybe it’s because they’re singing in their native Spanish, although that wouldn’t explain the stronger guitar work, but regardless of the reason, this is an evolutionary step the band needed.

DARGS featuring James Chelliah & Moses Boyd- Hold On, Part 2. DARGS is David Darghi, a producer who’s released just two short tracks so far (and the first was not, in fact, “Hold On, Part 1”). I found this because he worked with drummer Moses Boyd, who had my #1 song of 2020, “Shades of You.” It’s a relaxed, sensual track with vocals from “existential indie” rapper Chelliah and an unnamed female vocalist, which I think is a bit weird.

The Lottery Winners – Much Better. I have no idea how these guys keep churning out one great pop melody after another, but they have another one with the earworm chorus to this new track.

Anxious – In April. If I say punk-pop, you’re probably not thinking of that as a compliment, but this Connecticut five-piece’s sound here is less overproduced or cloying than many bands that earned that moniker.

The Horrors – Against the Blade. The Horrors haven’t released an album since 2017’s V, but they announced their second EP of 2021, also called Against the Blade, featuring this heavy, industrial track.

The Boo Radleys – I’ve Had Enough I’m Out. What a surprise to find out these Britpop stars were still around, although I’ve found a lot of acts from that era can’t recapture the sound that carried them on up the charts in the late 1990s. A lot of the Boo Radleys’ recent tracks are too slow and very light on the pop part, but this one comes the closest. I’ll still choose “Wake Up Boo” and “It’s Lulu” over this, though.

Band of Horses – Crutch. Band of Horses’ sixth album, Things Are Great, their first LP since 2016, will be released on January 21st. This lead single is strong, very jangle-pop, and is their first new material featuring guitarist Ian MacDougall and bassist Matt Gentling.

The War on Drugs – Change. Yes, it’s too long – six minutes and four seconds – but this is two straight tracks from The War on Drugs that feature a cohesive hook rather than more of a general vibe, which is how I’d describe a lot of their earlier material.

Lemaitre feat. Anna of the North – What About U. This is definitely Lemaitre’s best track since 2019’s “Rocket Girl,” featuring Betty Who, here going for a more ethereal, softer sound that works with Anna Lotterud’s voice.

Defcon Lawless feat. Band of Skulls – Slicktalk. I know nothing about Defcon Lawless, but have liked a lot of Band of Skulls’ music in the past, especially 2014’s Himalayan, and the psycheledic-rock backdrop they contribute here behind Defcon Lawless’ rhymes makes this something very different from most modern rap tracks.

Parquet Courts – Walking at a Downtown Pace. I have never liked anything by Parquet Courts before this new album, Sympathy for Life, but there are at least three bangers on this record. It seems like they settled down and worked on songcraft without totally compromising their garage-rock sound.

Potty Mouth – Contessa Barefoot. I don’t get the song’s title, but I’m glad Potty Mouth is back with their power-pop sound, although this doesn’t have quite the killer hook of “Cherry Picking.” UPDATE: A reader pointed out that Potty Mouth announced their breakup this week. This song will be on their final EP, 1% Happier, due out November 19.

Geese – Rain Dance. This Brooklyn quintet’s debut album, Projector, just dropped this month, barely a year after the members graduated from high school. Guitarist Foster Hudson cites Television’s debut album as a major influence, which is very evident across the album, but if you want a contemporary comparison, imagine black midi with less of the noise-rock trappings. Other standout tracks include “Low Era” and “Disco.”

Spoon – The Hardest Cut. I’d say this is the hardest Spoon song I’ve heard, but I’m good with that.

Mastodon – Teardrinker. Hushed and Grim just dropped on Friday and I haven’t gotten to listen to it all the way through yet, but I’ve loved this, “Pushing the Tides,” and “Savage Lands” so far.

Zeal & Ardor – Götterdämmerung. The death growls are back, but so are the great metal riffs, including a pedal-point riff here that really drives this song forward. This gospel/death metal band’s next album is due at some point next year.

Kowloon Walled City – Lampblack. Featuring Ian Miller of Puig Destroyer and the Productive Outs podcast on bass, KWC just released Piecework, their first new album since 2015, on October 8th.

Kælen Mikla feat. Alcest – Hvítir Sandar. I’m interested in this Icelandic goth/avant-garde trio’s music thanks to the guest appearance here by shoegaze-metallers Alcest, whose last two albums were among my favorite metal LPs of the past decade.

Toundra – El Odio, Parte I. An eight-minute instrumental from this Spanish progressive metal band, which only does instrumental music, and a preview of their upcoming album Hex.

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→ October 1, 2021
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Music update, September 2021.

Whew. That turned out to be an epic month for new music, with my top album of 2021 so far dropping on the first Friday, a bunch of returns from old favorites, even some tracks from artists I didn’t love who surprised me with great new material. That means this playlist is one of my longest ever – 29 songs and 104 minutes. Enjoy. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Little Simz feat. Obongjayar – Point and Kill. I’ve said a few times now that Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is my favorite album of 2021, and this track, featuring the Nigerian singer Obongjayar, is a major reason, one of the many standouts on the record along with the title track, “I Love You, I Hate You,” “Woman,” and more.

Sleigh Bells – True Seekers. My favorite track from this duo since “Rill Rill” over a decade ago. Their music can be so deliberately abrasive that it often turns me away even when there’s a good vocal hook, but this song is a sort of anti-pop anthem that I can’t get out of my head.

Hatchie – This Enchanted. I loved the melodies in Hatchie’s first album and earlier singles, all in the sort of dream-pop sound that reminded me of early Cranberries or Lush, but her voice is a little bit soft and I think she fares better when the production puts her voice down into the music rather than out front. This new single does just that and it’s among her best so far.

Snail Mail – Valentine. Lindsey Jordan, who records as Snail Mail, is now all of 22 years old, and her second album, also called Valentine,

Parcels – Somethinggreater. I was not familiar with Parcels at all before hearing this track, but I’m all in on this funky, R&B-inflected pop gem. It’s the third single they’ve released ahead of the double album they’re putting out on November 5th.

Frank Turner – Haven’t Been Doing So Well. Love when Turner gets into his punk roots more, which he really does here as on “1933” or “Recovery.”

The War on Drugs Feat. Lucius – I Don’t Live Here Anymore. At least Adam Granduciel is just leaning into the Bob Dylan thing, singing “a creature void of form” on this song before name-checking Dylan directly. The singers from Lucius bring a lot to the chorus here, too.

Cœur de Pirate – On s’aimera toujours. Béatrice seems to be locked into singing in French these days, which is fine, as I think her voice is beautiful, as is the language, although I feel like the U.S. audience is going to miss out on some great indie-pop because of it. If you’re wondering, the title means “We will always love each other.”

Jerro & Panama – Lost for Words. Producer Jerro’s debut album comes out today, and this single features Australian producer Panama, who appeared on several of my playlists in the mid-teens with “Always” and “Hope for Something.”

Obongjayar & Sarz – Sweetness. And here’s a track from Obongjayar’s latest EP of the same name, also featuring the Nigerian musician/producer Sarz, an Afrobeats-centric record with a heavy dose of ’80s R&B.

Bartees Strange – Weights. Strange is an avowed fan of the National, but I like him anyway, and here it sounds like he merged the National with the Hold Steady while adding his own vocal flourishes. It’s more than the sum of its parts.

Pond – Human Touch. These Aussie psych-rockers just released their ninth album, simply called 9, today, with this as the second track and third single released ahead of the record, along with the also strong “America’s Cup.” Their brand of psychedelic rock emphasizes groove over the hazy production more typical of the genre.

The Lottery Winners feat. KT Tunstall – Dance With the Devil. I’ve been on the Lottery Winners for a few months now, but just discovered that the bio on their Youtube channel calls them “a mob of four twits from a rubbish working class town called Leigh, near Manchester.” Anyway, Something to Leave the House For, their second album, drops on October 29th.

Sam Fender – Get You Down. I wasn’t familiar with Fender’s work, although with a name like that, you’d better play one. He’s pretty popular in the UK, with his first album hitting #1 and his second due out on October 8th, with a sort of emo-tinged indie-rock that I think could play pretty well here too.

Zeal & Ardor – Bow. The gospel/black metal fusion isn’t quite so present here – there’s some distorted guitars at the back of the mix, but this minimalist track from Manuel Gagneux puts his vocals front and center, where they belong.

Yard Act – The Overload. I feel like this particular brand of post-punk music only works if you have a working-class English accent, so that the deadpan talk-sung lyrics sound charming rather than offputting. Whatever the reason, it works for me.

Stereophonics – Hanging on Your Hinges. The Guardian‘s final tracks of the week column called this song “the biggest pile of sh**,” but this song, while not exactly vintage Stereophonics, rocks. That’s a great riff that carries the whole track.

Eels – Good Night on Earth. I didn’t realize Mark Oliver Everett – sometimes known simply as E – was still churning out albums every two years or so, but so it is. This track wouldn’t be out of place on Electro-Shock Blues, which is high praise. Also, I need to say this pretty much every time I talk about Eels: E’s father, Hugh Everett III, came up with the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. What’s the cooler legacy: that, or “Novocaine for the Soul?”

Talk Show – Underworld. I feel like at some point this new wave revivalist band will run into trouble thanks to the one-album act of the same name that included three members of Stone Temple Pilots (without Scott Weiland). “Underworld,” the first release off their EP Touch the Ground, due out in early 2022, straddles the genres of new wave and post-punk, like someone remixed a Gang of Four track.

Mini Trees – Carrying On. Lexi Vega, who records as Mini Trees, just released her debut album, Always in Motion, two weeks ago, featuring this lush dream-pop track and earning some extremely positive reviews already.

Ovlov – Land of Steve-O. Ovlov doesn’t release much music – their 2018 album Tru is their only LP since 2013’s am – but their sound is still intact, very ’90s Dinosaur Jr./Sebadoh lo-fi fuzz-rock.

Parquet Courts – Black Widow Spider. I have never been a fan of Parquet Courts, or Parkay Quartz as they once called themselves, but this song is fantastic. It’s off Sympathy for Life, their seventh album, which comes out today.

Aeon Station – Queens. Aeon Station is Kevin Whelan, bassist and co-founder of the dormant band The Wrens, along with two other members of the Wrens. Their first album, Observatory, comes out in December, and includes five tracks Whelan wrote for the never-completed fourth Wrens album. Charles Bissell, the guitarist and co-founder of the Wrens, is not involved, and has said that band is now “dead” and he’ll release his own solo work. It sounds like a big mess. Anyway, I wasn’t familiar with The Wrens at all before this track, but it’s good.

Mastodon – Pushing the Tides. These metal stalwarts’ eighth album, Hushed and Grim, comes out on the 29th. This track, the first single released off the album, veers back more towards the heavier technical metal of their early career, and while I loved their last record’s more accessible sound, I’m good with just about any direction Mastodon wants to take – as long as they don’t release their version of the Black album.

Thrice – Summer Set Fire to the Rain. Featuring Puig Destroyer drummer Riley Breckenridge, Thrice will release their eleventh album, Horizons/East, next Friday.

Monolord – The Weary. This is the first track I’ve heard from this Swedish doom metal band, with some stoner metal influences here as well, so this is more than just the eight thousandth version of Cathedral or another Sabbath ripoff.

Black Map – Chasms. I thought Black Map, which comprises members of several other bands (Dredg, Far, The Trophy Fire), was a one-off project, but they’re back, with the same style of classic metal with hints of prog.

Iron Maiden – Days of Future Past. Obligatory, although I maintain that the vocal melodies are beyond Bruce Dickinson’s capabilities at this point and end up detracting from the song.

Carcass – The Scythe’s Remorseless Swing. They’re back, with their first album in eight years and only their second in the last quarter-century. Torn Arteries includes this track, which has an incredible 70-second instrumental opening, as well as 2019’s “Under the Scalpel Blade.” I don’t think their sound has changed or evolved much if at all since Surgical Steel, which was the best extreme metal album of the last decade and maybe the best metal album of the decade, period, but I’m okay with this. Carcass more or less perfected melodic death metal, and while I could do without some of the blast beats and will never really enjoy the death growls, the guitar and bass work here is just incredible.

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→ September 2, 2021
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Music update, August 2021.

August finished with quite a bang for new music, so this playlist more than doubled in length in the last week, but I’ll take this as a great sign for how we’ll finish a year that has seemed a little flat for new music. Perhaps the imminent fall/winter tours are driving all this new music coming out. Anyway, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the Spotify playlist here.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Can’t Let Go. Fourteen years after their hugely acclaimed collaboration Raising Sand, which won six Grammy Awards, Plant and Krauss have reunited for a follow-up, Raise the Roof, due out on November 19th. This track, written by Randy Weeks and previously recorded by Lucinda Williams, is a hell of a lead single. It’s just about perfect.

Jungle – Truth. Jungle’s third album, Loving in Stereo, has a few bangers, including this, “All of the Time,” and “Keep Moving,” and some slower tracks that don’t do it for me. Jungle’s best work makes you want to dance. I want more of this.

CHVRCHES – Final Girl. CHVRCHES’ fourth album, Screen Violence, is a real return to form for the trio after the disappointing Love is Dead, with stronger lyrics and better hooks, as well as real guitars. This, “How Not to Drown,” and “Good Girls” are the highlights for me.

The Wombats – If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You. Now that’s more like it – this feels almost Glitterbug-esque, from the big hooks to the delightfully absurd lyrics. Their fifth album, Fix Yourself, Not the World, drops on January 7th.

Geese – Low Era. Geese announced their debut album, Projector, will drop on October 29th, including this track and their first single “Disco.” The Brooklyn quintet’s second track is slower, more dissonant, but still kind of intoxicating. I get black midi and alt-J vibes from them, which could cut both ways, but for now I’m excited for the album.

Kid Kapichi – American Scream. Kid Kapichi’s This Time Next Year is one of my favorite albums of 2021, and the deluxe version, which comes out on October 29th, will include four unreleased tracks, including this one.

Purity Ring – soshy. It’s written as one word but Megan James sings it as “so shy,” which I would say is a bit toocute. But it’s a good song, more uptempo than a lot of their stuff, while still a strong musical showcase for James’ vocals.

Creeper – Midnight. Creeper’s EP American Noir is supposed to serve as an epilogue to their incredible 2020 album Sex, Death, and the Infinite Void, with 8 new tracks running 19 minutes, including this very “Because the Night”-like duet, and the intro song “Midnight Militia”, a 75-second throwback to the punk sound they showed on their debut album, Eternity, in Your Arms.

Quicksand – Colossus. I was a little underwhelmed by Quicksand’s latest album, Distant Populations, after their surprisingly strong comeback album, 2017’s Interiors. It’s their first album without guitarist Tom Capone, who was arrested for shoplifting while on their last tour and appears to have some mental health issues. This is the best track on the record, though, with the most vintage Quicksand sound to it.

Turnstile – DON’T PLAY. Turnstile is definitely the it band on the rock side of things right now; I compared their song “BLACKOUT” to early Helmet, and Helmet certainly had that kind of buzz before Meantime hit. Anyway, Turnstile’s album GLOW ON is out now, and it’s great, a mixture of hardcore punk and plenty of post-punk tracks, more of the latter, really, which makes all the talk of them as a hardcore band seem a little behind the times. They’re good, and I think this album is going to be all over year-end lists, but they’re a lot more than just a hardcore punk band now.

Deafheaven – In Blur. So Deafheaven has gone from blackgaze to shoegaze, dropping almost all the trappings of death/black metal that characterized their previous four albums; the only screamed vocals on Infinite Granite come at the very end of a few songs, and I don’t think I heard any blast beats. Sunbather was on every critic’s top ten list for its year, or so it seemed, and I would bet you a huge amount of money most of them never got through the entire album and/or have never listened to it since, because almost nobody can stand that much screaming. If they could, extreme metal would be a shit-ton more popular than it is. Anyway, my guess is Deafheaven realized that they’d make a lot more money by toning down the black metal nonsense and crafting something that would appeal to a wider audience – which they could do without compromising the remainder of their musical aesthetic. Infinite Granite is a good shoegaze album, and that should boost their popularity. It is, however, not exactly groundbreaking stuff; if you put this album in 1993, it would fit in nicely with Ride and Slowdive, more accessible than My Bloody Valentine’s two albums of the era but with a similar vibe. The crime will be if this record gets worse reviews than Sunbather despite being music most people could actually enjoy.

Thrice – Robot Soft Exorcism. It’s funny; I always like Thrice’s lead single off a record a bit more than their second single, regardless of how much I end up liking the eventual album. I like “Robot Soft Exorcism,” especially the energy in the chorus, although “Scavengers” was better. Anyway, Horizons/East will be out on the 17th, and I look forward to seeing them here in Philly in October.

Chrome – Terminate. Not gonna lie: I had no idea Helios Creed was still going. Scaropy is the 23rd album released under the Chrome name, although I think it’s also fair to say Chrome hasn’t been real Chrome since the last Edge/Creed record, 1982’s 3rd From the Sun. Anyway, I don’t think Scaropy is very good, but this is the best track on it.

Unknown Mortal Orchesta – That Life. I included this track primarily for that weird, briefly dissonant guitar riff. Without that, the track would be utterly generic, but that riff is great.

Ariel Posen & Cory Wong – Spare Tire. Instrumental jazz-funk from two great guitarists … and it’s under 3 minutes, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome (if anything, they could have gone another minute and it would have been fine considering how strong the groove is).

Griff – One Night. Griff’s mixtape came out in June and reached #4 on the UK album charts, and now she’s back with another gem of a new single. The 20-year-old singer/songwriter seems headed for pop stardom, at least over in Europe, although I’m hoping the U.S. will catch on.

Maisie Peters – Elvis Song. Speaking of heading for stardom, Peters’ debut album, You Signed Up for This, came out a week ago on Ed Sheeran’s record label, and is likely to debut in the top 3 on the UK albums chart on Friday. The album is very good, with Peters’ great knack for telling stories about teenage romances gone wrong, but it’s also slickly produced pop that made me miss Peters’ more singer-songwritery stuff from when she was first starting out.

Courtney Barnett – Before You Gotta Go. I love Barnett the lyricist, and I have resigned myself to Barnett the singer. Whether I like her songs comes down to whether there’s a decent melody beneath them, regardless of tempo, although there’s a clear correlation between the two. This song is a little faster than her norm, and it has a little groove to it, so that the thing she does best – I’d call her a top 5 wordsmith in music right now – gets a chance to shine.

Alien Boy – The Way I Feel. This Portland quartet might have just stepped out of the mid-90s, with jangle-alt-indie-pop sounds and a hint of shoegaze in the production. The band’s name comes from a 1980 Wipers song, which was about James Chasse, who was later murdered by police in 2006 after he was arrested and beaten, breaking 26 bones, while he was probably having a psychotic episode.

Gorillaz feat. AJ Tracey – Jimmy Jimmy. I might be alone in this, but I’ve found most of Gorillaz’ output since their first two albums to be pretty boring. Even this song sounds like Damon Albarn mailed in the music – is that just a sample from “Clint Eastwood” on a loop in the background – but Tracey’s vocals make it something better than the typical Gorillaz track.

Jorja Smith x GuiltyBeatz – All of This. Smith did tell us in May that she would Be Right Back, and here she is again, now with an amapiano collaboration with Ghanaian-Italian producer GuiltyBeatz.

Tom Morello & Phantogram – Driving to Texas. This sounds like a great Phantogram song, but it’s going to appear on Morello’s upcoming album, and I don’t know that I hear him here. Maybe that’s a sign of how expansive the new record will be?

Dream Theater – Alien. It’s 9 minutes, just to warn you, but if you like Dream Theater’s proggy style, then you’re probably okay with that. There are some great guitar lines here, although James LaBrie’s voice is sounding a bit worn.

Exodus – The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves). I can’t believe these guys are 1) still at it and 2) still making almost exactly the same music as they did 35 years ago. Also, I have to make my Exodus joke: It will never not bother me that “Toxic Waltz” is in 4/4 time.

Omnium Gatherum – Paragon. This Finnish melodic death metal band tends towards a more progressive sound than, say, the Gothenburg school that influenced them, and Omnium often mixes some clean vocals in with the death growls, as they do here in the choruses (are those actual harmonies?). It’s the guitar work that reels me in, though, enough for me to ignore some of the ridiculous vocals.

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→ August 5, 2021
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Music update, July 2021.

With a slew of artists hitting the road this fall, releasing new albums in the next 2-3 months, or both, July turned out to offer a cornucopia of strong singles, including a couple of unexpected tracks from familiar names. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Jonah Nilsson feat. Steve Vai – Diamond Ring. Nilsson is one-third of the Swedish jazz-pop (jazzy-pop?) group Dirty Loops, a classically trained musician who sought out guitar virtuoso Vai for the solo at the end of this incredibly catchy, funk-infused gem that is easily one of the best pop songs of 2021.

Little Simz – I Love You, I Hate You. This is the fourth track we’ve heard so far from the British rapper’s upcoming second album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out September 3rd, and like the first single “Introvert,” the lyrics are intensely personal.

Amyl and the Sniffers – Guided by Angels. This Aussie punk act’s name is so anachronistic I’m almost forced to admire it. This is the catchy lead single from their upcoming second album Comfort to Me, due out September 10th.

CHVRCHES – Good Girls. I’m just excited for the Scottish trio’s fourth album, Screen Violence, now that we’ve heard three great singles from it; it drops August 27th.

Slow Pulp – At It Again (Again). A quiet track befitting the name of this Chicago indie group, “At It Again (Again)” was one of two tracks cut from their debut album Moveys that the band is releasing this fall as the Deleted Scenes EP.

Maisie Peters – Psycho. I’m not in love with the ableist language here, but this track, co-written with the head of Peters’ record label, some bloke named Ed Sheeran, does a great job of showcasing Peters’ voice and her skill with creating images around stories of teenaged romance.

Nas feat. Cordae and Freddie Gibbs – Life is Like a Dice Game. Okay, but which dice game? That’s Pretty Clever? Encore? Yahtzee? I would play a dice game with these guys. I think.

Big Boi, Sleepy Brown, and Killer Mike – Lower Case (no cap). This is the good stuff from Big Boi, reminiscent of Speakerboxxx.

Abstract Mindstate – A Wise Tale. Kanye West got this duo, last active about 15 years ago, back together by contributing beats and agreeing to produce their new album, Dreams Still Inspire, out this Friday.

Wye Oak – Electricity. I like a lot of Wye Oak’s stuff, but when they increase the tempo and the layering of their instruments, it grabs me more immediately, as did this, the third single from them so far in 2021.

Inhaler – Totally. Bono’s kid may never quite get out of his father’s shadow, but Inhaler is worth listening to on their own merits, not just their lineage. It Won’t Always Be Like This, their debut album, also features the 2019 single “My Honest Face,” which was #63 on my ranking of the top 100 songs from that year.

Gang of Youths – unison. This track also appears on total serene, the new three-track EP from this Aussie indie-rock act, who’ve become extremely popular in their home country.

Foxing – Draw Down the Moon. The title track from the indie quintet’s fifth album, due out this Friday, has a big hook in the chorus and a subtle groove in much of the percussion work.

Lorde – Stoned at the Nail Salon. I can’t decide if I like this track or not. I’m including it anyway, because if nothing else, it’s interesting.

Thrice – Scavengers. Thrice is back with a new record, written during the lockdown, and will be back on the road this fall. I’ll be there when they visit Philly.

The Lottery Winners – Sunshine. A candy-sweet track that lives up to its title, and another little pop banger from this Mancunian quartet, who just keep churning out great song after great song.

Joy Oladokun – look up. Oladokun’s first album in five years, in defense of my own happiness, mostly comprises her signature R&B-tinged folk music, but there are occasional moments where she stretches her voice and shows more of its power and range, as on this anthemic, upbeat track.

The War on Drugs – Living Proof. Perhaps I don’t know TWoD’s catalog enough, but I don’t recall many intimate ballads in the vein of this track. Their fifth album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, will be out on October 29th.

Turnstile – BLACKOUT. These Baltimore punks, who sound a whole shit-ton like Meantime-era Helmet on this track, will release their third album, Glow On, on August 27th.

Iron Maiden – The Writing on the Wall. Bruce Dickinson sounds every bit of 62, but the music here is still tremendous – a bit slower in tempo than peak Maiden, with an intro that recalls that of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

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→ June 4, 2021
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Music update, May 2021.

I’m not sure if this was a weak month for new tracks or if I just missed a lot as I spent more time seeing games and working on some stuff around the house. It ended strongly, however, with a slew of important album releases on the last Friday in May and the first one in June. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Chondromalacia Patella. black midi are back, with their second album, Cavalcade, dropping on the last Friday in May. It’s frenetic, cacophonic, and deeply unsettling music, similar in attitude to their debut record, Schlagenheim, but differing enough in tone and style to mark a real progression in their sound. This was one of the lead singles and remains one of the better tracks on the record, which in some ways is more accessible than the first LP but which, on first listen, doesn’t have enough great hooks in the longer tracks like “Ascending Forth” or “Diamond Stuff.”

Pond – America’s Cup. Pond have always been weird, sometimes to good effect but sometimes to the point where it was easy to dismiss some of their experiments. Whatever the hell this is, though, I want more of it. This is early ’80s funk, still bearing the influence of peak disco, around lyrics about the rapid gentrification of Fremantle in Western Australia after that country’s entry won the America’s Cup sailing race in 1983 and the city hosted the Cup in 1987. This is the good shit.

YONAKA – Call Me a Saint. That’s three new singles this year from this Brighton quartet, whose feminist alt-rock made Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrrow one of my favorite albums of 2019. Still no word on a release date for a second LP.

Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol – Woman. The second single ahead of Little Simz’s sophomore album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out in September, “Woman” is also her second collaboration with singer Cleo Sol. Little Simz is easily one of my favorite rappers working today, both for her own vocal style and her choices of backing music.

Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth – Chase It Down. That’s the lead singer of Primal Scream and the lead singer of Savages, respectively, and their album, Utopian Ashes, will be out on July 2nd. There are hints of Primal Scream’s more psychedelic leanings in here – rather than the straight-up Rolling Stones homage they did on “Rocks” – along with a fantastic guitar solo at the end.

Emma-Jean Thackray – Say Something. I’ve seen Thackray called a jazz musician, but this isn’t jazz – this is smart, textured dance music, with elements of jazz, and R&B, and house, and more. She has her own record label, Movementt, and appears to be building up towards a debut album after releasing two singles in the last two months.

Jorja Smith feat. Shaybo – Bussdown. Smith’s EP Be Right Back feels like a tease, as the nine-song, 25-minute release just isn’t enough from the talented R&B singer/songwriter, whose debut album Lost & Found came out three years ago this week. I’ll take any Jorja Smith I can get, though.

Freddie Gibbs, Swizz Beats, and Shoota93 – We Want Justice Dammit! This track comes from season 2 of the series Godfather of Harlem, and both Gibbs and Swizz Beats deliver strong verses despite the near lack of a beat beneath them.

Atlas Genius – Elegant Strangers. I was seriously concerned these guys had hung it up for good, with only one new track in the last four years, but it appears we will get a third album from the guys behind “Trojans,” “If So,” and “Molecules.”

Renée Reed – Neboj. Reed is from Louisiana and sings in both English and French, but it’s the intricate finger-picked guitarwork that drew me to this song, from her self-titled debut album.

The Lottery Winners – Times Are Changing. I was very late to this parade, but damn can the Lottery Winners churn out pop bangers as fast as anyone. Their next album, which will be their second in 18 months (third if you count their lockdown covers record), is due out on September 24th.

The Wombats – Method to the Madness. There’s a distressingly slow start to this new track from Matthew Murphy and the lads, but it picks up in the second half and sounds far more like a Wombats song. They haven’t announced when their next album, which will be their fifth, will appear, but are planning their biggest concert ever at London’s O2 Arena next April.

Cœur de Pirate – Plan à Trois. Béatrice Martin released a surprise EP of instrumental piano tracks last month, and now she’s back with the kind of synth-heavy alternative pop for which she’s known. This isn’t quite up there with “Prémonition,” still my favorite song of hers, but it’s promising.

Greentea Peng – Dingaling. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE came out on Friday, June 4th, so it’s still in my queue, but her lead-up singles have all shown off her incredible ability to combine widely divergent genres. I feel like fans of the short-lived jazz-rap movement that started with Native Tongues and peaked briefly with Digable Planets will especially appreciate this track (and, I assume, the album).

Superbloom – Pollen. The title track from this group’s debut album couldn’t sound any more ’90s – I hear Hum more than anything else – if they tried, but as someone who wanted the music of that decade to last forever, I’m here for it.

Squid – Pamphlets. The British music press loves Squid’s debut album Bright Green Field, but it’s just too much of itself for me. I can do modern punk, I don’t mind music with a sneer, and I certainly like the art-rock stylings of Squid’s guitar work, but the lyrics combined with the deliberately obnoxious delivery just leave me feeling a bit too “oh shut up already” before the record is half done. I thought this was the best song on the record, but it’s nearly eight minutes long, and that is absolutely enough of Squid for me.

Mastodon – Forged by Neron. Mastodon has so many sides to its music that saying this is my favorite style of Mastodon track does something of a disservice to their ingenuity and breadth. But I do like when they pick up the pace a little and ensure their tracks have stronger melodies.

Sabaton – Defence of Moscow. These guys are ridiculous but I love it – it’s right out of a 1989 episode of Headbanger’s Ball. Savatage would be proud.

Gojira – Into the Storm. The French avant-garde metallists returned with the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Magma, which Decibel named the best metal album of the decade and which earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album, a rarity for any extreme metal band. Highlights from the new record, called Fortitude, include this track, “Sphinx,” “Amazonia,” “Born for One Thing,” and “Another World.”

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→ April 1, 2021
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Music update, March 2021.

What a loaded month for new tracks; maybe the possibility of tours later this year has encouraged artists to put out more new music, or maybe it’s a backlog of songs recorded during the long winter, but either way, this is one of my longest new music playlists ever, with 25 songs and over 100 minutes of music even after I made some cuts. You can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Lottery Winners featuring the Wonderstuff – Bang. The Wonderstuff’s “Circlesquare” is one of those songs I forget from time to time, only to have something bring it back the front of my memories and remind me of how much I like it. I wasn’t aware they were still active as a group, but they toured with then-rookies The Lottery Winners in 2016, which I assume led to this joint effort that I think is my favorite LW track so far. It’s indie-pop with a rough undertone in the lyrics, just like “Circlesquare.”

YONAKA – Ordinary. The Brighton quartet’s second new single of the year, “Ordinary” might be their best song so far, and I assume this self-produced track heralds a sophomore album at some point this year.

FKA twigs feat. Headie One – Don’t Judge Me. Headie One’s 2020 mixtape GANG had a two-minute song called “Judge Me (Interlude)” that featured FKA twigs on vocals, but it was truly an interlude, hardly a finished product. This, however, is a real song, with twigs elevated to lead status, or at least co-lead with Headie One, and how could you avoid interpreting the lyrics in an entirely new light after what she has gone through in the last six months? Her last album, MAGDALENE, was outstanding, one of my favorites of 2019, and I get the sense whatever she does next is going to top that.

Jungle – Keep Moving. Jungle put two songs on my ranking of the top 100 tracks of the 2010s, “Busy Earnin” (#64) and “Happy Man” (#11), one from each of their first two albums, both heavily influenced by 1970s soul, R&B, and funk. This lead single from their third album Loving in Stereo, due out August 13th, moves forward a few years in the past to the early years of disco, with a great hook but perhaps not the high ceiling of their best songs to date because it’s lost some of the harder edges.

Ghost of Vroom – I Hear the Axe Swinging. I was hopeful that Mike Doughty’s new project would bring back some of that long-lost Soul Coughing vibe after a promising EP last summer, and I think this new single, from the group’s full-length album Ghost of Vroom 1, delivers on that promise, from Doughty’s half-sung, half-spoken word vocals to a drum-and-bass backdrop. The whole album is made of the same stuff, although I think Doughty is more front-and-center than he was on Soul Coughing’s first two albums.

The Horrors – Lout. The Horrors came on the scene in 2006 with the arty, dissonant single “Sheena is a Parasite,” went more mainstream with their stellar album Skying in 2011, and continued evolving in an even tamer direction after that, so their new three-song EP, also called Lout, is a surprise and a callback to their mid-aughts sound, with this title track the most accessible on the record.

NewDad – Slowly. This new Irish quartet is the latest in a sudden surge of shoegaze bands from that country, a quarter-century after the original shoegaze movement peaked in England, although this new wave is often more pop-accessible, as on NewDad’s sixth single, off their new EP Waves.

Japanese Breakfast – Be Sweet. “Be Sweet” is one of the most-lauded tracks of the month as far as I can see, thanks to a big hook in the chorus and a sunny, poppy sounds that should really cross over to mainstream pop radio.

BLOXX – Everything I’ve Ever Learned. I enjoyed this West London group’s debut album Lie Out Loud, including the title track and “Coming Up Short,” comparing it to California indie pop, and that’s still here on this new single, which is a little more mature and layered without losing any of their knack for a strong melody.

Sprints – Ashley. Sprints, like BLOXX, appeared on my top 100 songs of 2021, and they’re back now with another punk-influenced banger, although here the Irish quartet bring more rock/pop elements to their formula for a song that’s less indignant but still rocks, building to a powerful chorus, with lyrics that might take a little from “Every Breath You Take.”

Everything Everything – SUPERNORMAL. These art-rockers released this leftover track from their RE-ANIMATOR recording sessions, and I kind of wish it had made the record – this is the kind of frenetic music at which they excel, and which first drew my attention nearly a decade ago with songs like “Cough Cough” and “Kemosabe.”

Jorja Smith – Addicted. Still waiting for word on a second album from Smith, who has still been busy, including this stunning single and, as I recently learned, a contribution to the soundtrack of Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon.

Sons of Kemet feat. Kojey Radical & Lianne La Havas – Hustle. This British jazz ensemble brings in elements of Afrobeat, Caribbean music, classical, and here rap courtesy of Kojey Radical. Sons of Kemet were shortlisted for the 2018 Mercury Prize for their last album, Your Queen is a Reptile, and their follow-up, Black to the Future, will be out on May 14th.

Daniel Casimir, Moses Boyd, et al – Safe (Part One). Because I’ve listened so much to Dark Matter, the 2020 debut album from jazz drummer Moses Boyd, I’ve discovered numerous other tracks on which he’s played, songs I would never have found otherwise because I don’t really know jazz well at all. Casimir is the lead artist here, a bassist and bandleader who put out his first full-length album (with Tess Hirst) in 2019 and has returned here with his longest song yet, this seven-minute opus that my limited jazz knowledge tells me bears a strong influence from John Coltrane.

DREAMERS, Big Boi, UPSAHL – Palm Reader. You might remember DREAMERS’ 2014 alternative radio hit “Wolves” or 2016’s “Sweet Disaster,” both perfectly cromulent songs, but this track expands their sound and is far more memorable for the contributions of Big Boi and the young singer UPSAHL. Just a reminder that palm reading is not a thing.

James – All the Colours of You. James’ peak output from 1989-1999, from “Sit Down” to Millionaires, should be up there in the pantheon of music in that era alongside the Oasises and the Blurs and other purveyors of smart rock/pop, but for whatever reason they’re just not remembered that way, and their music since the turn of the century has usually left me disappointed. This isn’t the next “I Know What I’m Here For,” but it’s good to hear James turn the tempo back up and bang the drums again.

TEKE::TEKE – Meikyu. Named for a Japanese urban legend about a vengeful spirit, this seven-piece, Montréal-based, Japanese band, incorporates traditional instruments into 1960s rock that sounds like the score to an early spy movie or a James Bond thriller. Their new EP Yoru Ni features two standout songs, this one and the title track.

Black Honey – Back of the Bar. This Brighton indie-pop band just released their second album, Written & Directed, which runs a scant 30 minutes but includes a bunch of catchy pop tracks, including this one, “Believer,” “Run for Cover,” and “Beaches.”

beabadoobee – Last Day on Earth. I do appreciate beabadoobee’s ’90s alternative radio sounds, but when she says “I’ve got something to say,” it just reminds me that she doesn’t seem to have anything to say. Her music isn’t catchy or compelling enough for me to overlook the lyrics yet, but she is a talented guitarist and songwriter, so she’s still a prospect with some upside.

Inhaler – Cheer Up Baby. Poor Elijah Hewson. The lead singer of Inhaler is never going to get away from comparisons to his father, Bono, because he sounds just like him whenever he extends his voice, as he does on the chorus here – but it’s a good song in its own right, and Inhaler doesn’t really sound like U2.

Royal Blood – Limbo. I’m not sure how I feel about this new single from Royal Blood, whose first single “Out of the Black” was my #1 song of 2014 and #13 of the decade, which is catchy and has that heavy bottom all their songs do (because Mike Kerr is playing a bass guitar with an octaver pedal, not a six-string), but it’s … dancy? Am I just thrown because this is a good song that is not what I think of a Royal Blood song? That bass riff at the end is pretty killer, though.

Death from Above 1979 – Modern Guy. “One + One” was the lead single from their new album, Is 4 Lovers, and I think my preferred single of these two, but I haven’t had a chance to dive into this album yet.

Wheel – Ascend. This Finnish prog-metal band has fast become one of my favorite artists in that niche, and their second album, Resident Human, has two standout shorter singles in this and “Fugue,” along with three songs that clock in beyond ten minutes, which I understand isn’t everyone’s taste.

Gojira – Amazonia. Is Gojira the best metal band in the world today? I’m inclined to say yes, especially since this is the third straight single they’ve released (“Born for One Thing” and “Another World”) that retains their trademark heaviness but strike a better balance between the not-quite-growled vocals and the showstopping music behind it.

Moonspell – The Hermit Saints. More gothic metal from these Portuguese stalwarts who seem like a throwback to heavy metal in the pre-death (pre-Death?) days.

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→ March 3, 2021
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Music update, February 2021.

My first draft prospect ranking for 2021 is now up for The Athletic subscribers.

I didn’t post a playlist for January, as that month didn’t give me anywhere near enough new tracks even if I’d accepted that I’d have to make the playlist shorter than usual, but now, with two-plus months since my last music post, we’re back to normal again. Three great albums have helped kick off 2021, with a few stragglers from 2020, and a slew of singles heralding upcoming LPs from artists new and old. As usual, I’ve pushed the heavier material to the back of the list. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Kid Kapichi – Working Man’s Town. This Time Next Year, the debut record from this Hastings quartet, sounds like something Alex Turner might have cooked up if he wanted to do something grittier and more abrasive. The record is brilliant, witty, and surprisingly full of hooks, featuring this track, “Sardines,” and “Don’t Kiss Me (I’m Infected).”

Arlo Parks – Hope. Parks’ debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams dropped in January, featuring all of the great singles she’d released in the preceding eighteen months, including “Hurt,” “Green Eyes,” “Black Dog,” and “Caroline.” This track has more of her gorgeous vocals, sharp lyrics, and soulful, jazzy (but not jazz) backing music, making it the best of the new songs on the record.

Gum Country – Somewhere. As the year came to a merciful close, I found more and more best-of lists to peruse, including some great genre-specific ones over at Paste. Gum Country’s debut album Somewhere took the last spot (that is, #50) on Paste‘s top 50 albums of 2020 list, and it’s worthy of the praise, combining elements of power pop, indie rock, and psychedelia, like Velocity Girl met My Bloody Valentine by way of early Mercury Rev.

Black Honey – Believer. Black Honey have been among my favorite indie pop/rock bands for at least three years now, and they put out two songs since my last playlists went up, this straight-up pop track and the much harsher “Disinfect,” although even that song has an undeniable hook.

HAERTS – Shivering. HAERTS’ third album Dream Nation will be out on March 12th, and I can’t wait, even though I think you could argue their sound hasn’t really changed in the nine years since they first appeared.

The Lottery Winners feat. Frank Turner – Start Again. I missed the Lottery Winners’ self-titled debut album last March, but it’s fun, hooky indie-pop, and their sound works really well with Turner’s vocals here.

Royal Blood – Typhoons. I’m cautiously optimistic that Royal Blood are going to correct course a little bit and get closer to the heavy hooks of their debut album, although nothing will ever touch “Out of the Black.” This song really grooves with more bottom than a good splitter.

FRITZ – Jan 1. FRITZ’s sophomore album Pastel feels like something out of the mid-90s, kind of Lotion meets early Lush, fuzzy, reverbed-out, guitar-driven indie-pop with a coming-of-age theme to it.

Griff – Black Hole. This is Griff’s eleventh single, according to Wikipedia, although she has yet to release a full album, although I suppose we can forgive her since she just turned 20 in January. This was the first track of the pop singer/songwriter’s to cross my radar, but the hook in this chorus – “there’s a big black hole where my heart used to be” – is a hell of an earworm.

Allie X – GLAM! That intro sounds like I’m about to play a video game … 15-20 years ago, maybe? But then the singer/model Allie X starts with a whoa-oh-oh-oh that would have fit in on pop radio in 1985. I mean, listen to this chorus. How is this song not already an enormous hit?

Noname – Rainforest. I confess Noname’s laconic delivery has never done much for me, but the syncopated beat and her somewhat faster tempo here caught my ear in a way none of her previous tracks had.

Potty Mouth – Let Go. Speaking of Velocity Girl, I feel like this Massachusetts all-girl trio is sort of VG’s spiritual heirs with their sunny power-pop tracks, although I think their lyrics slipped a grade here.

Django Django feat. Charlotte Gainsbourg – Waking Up. The third new album of 2021 that’s likely to show up on my year-end list – although I’d rank it third of those three – is the Djangos’ fourth album Glowing in the Dark, which has this surprising collaboration with erstwhile Lars von Trier muse Gainsbourg.

YONAKA – Seize the Power. This Brighton quartet, led by the charismatic singer Theresa Jarvis, plan to release their sophomore album this year, with this first single a slight departure from the style of Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – East West Link. This prolific Australian prog/psych rock band just released L.W., their 17th album in just eight and a half years. I assume the title refers to the vaguely “eastern” sounds – I’d say more south Asian, or even the southwestern part of Asia, but I’m no expert in music from either region – which sort of give this whole thing a Physical Graffiti vibe.

Greentea Peng – Nah It Ain’t the Same. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE is due out this summer, and I’m at least curious after this lead single, which has elements of hip-hop, soul, funk, andthe sort of Thai jazz brought to the mainstream by Khruangbin.

Freddie Gibbs – Winter in America. Gibbs is an unusual but inspired choice to cover Gil-Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s 1975 track, which originally appeared on The First Minute of a New Day. This cover is part of a partnership between ESPN’s The Undefeated and Hollywood Records and appeared on an EP called Black History Always – Music For The Movement Vol. 2.

Iceage – Vendetta. This Danish post-post-punk band’s fifth album Seek Shelter is due out May 7th, with this tense, sludgy track the lead single.

Death from Above 1979 – One + One. Driven by a guitar riff to make Josh Homme blush, this song also has a real groove to it, like a lost track from the Mark Ronson-produced QotSA album.

Gojira – Born for One Thing. I think Gojira is the most interesting metal band going right now, as they’ve gotten more progressive and creative with each album, moving from straight death metal to more technical material to their current hybrid of thrash, prog, and even “groove” metal sounds. I never got into Pantera, but I can hear the influence of Diamond Darrell on the guitarwork here as I did on Magma.

Angelus Apatrida – Bleed the Crown. These Spanish thrash stalwarts released their self-titled seventh album late last year, showing a strong influence from both Bay Area thrash and the giants of Teutonic metal like Kreator and Destruction, although the vocals are mostly death growls and in many cases overtook the pleasure of the guitar riffs.

Memoriam – Failure to Comply. Memoriam are often tagged as straight death metal because of Karl Willetts’ (ex-Bolt Thrower) guttural vocals, but they have more in common with traditional thrash than current extreme metal. This track is directly inspired by the BLM protests that took place across most of last summer in the US, as Willetts has a friend who participated in and recorded one event, ending up in jail and receiving community service (in his telling) for protesting.

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→ December 6, 2020
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Music update, November 2020.

A quick playlist of new tracks from November, as we head into mid-December and time for my year-end lists of 2020’s best albums and singles, which I’m tentatively planning to run on December 21st and 22nd. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

James BKS feat. The New Breed Gang – No Unga Bunga. French producer and hip-hop artist JamesBKSwas the first signing to Idris Elba’s new record label, and this is now his fourth single for the imprint, following last year’s “New Breed,” with guest spots from Q-Tip, Little Simz, and Elba himself.  

Arlo Parks – Caroline. At this point, I might be looking forward to Parks’ debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, due out January 29th, more than any other album scheduled for next year. Her voice is stunning and I love the lush sound of just about everything she’s released so far.

Jade Bird – Headstart. The Welsh singer-songwriter Bird hasn’t announced a new album but this is her first new track in over a year, since her debut album dropped in May 2019.

HAERTS – It’s Too Late. The duo announced a release date for their third album, Dream Nation, of March 21, with this track and “For the Sky” to be included.

Mourn – Stay There. ThisBarcelona punk-rock trio seem to be getting more experimental as they get older – although they’re still all between 20 and 23 years old – with their fourth album, Self Worth, released on October 30th.

Khruangbin – Summer Madness. Khruangbin had already released one of the year’s best albums in Mordechai, and now they’ve put out a full album with 15 covers, including this reworking of a Kool & the Gang track from 1974.

Django Django – Glowing in the Dark. The title track from the Djangos’ fourth album, due out February 12th, is more of the same electronic rock we’ve gotten from the group since their more experimental first record, 2012’s self-titled debut.

Radkey – Seize. The Brothers Radke are at their best when they turn up the tempo, which they do here on this punk-infused track. Their newest album Green Room just came out on November 27th.

Record Heat – Nathan. Record Heat used to be called Spirit Animal, but they changed their name based on criticism of the possible cultural appropriation involved in the old moniker. I find their music a mixed bag – when they try to introduce anything resembling rap, it doesn’t work, but their straight rock tracks can be pretty strong.

Romero – Troublemaker. A new power-pop group from Melbourne, Romero just released this, their third single, in advance of a debut album coming out next year.

The Lounge Society – Burn the Heather. This West Yorkshire teenaged quartet have called themselves “the antidote to The 1975,” which is good enough for me, although I also dig the post-punk vibe on this, their second-ever single.

Pale Waves – Change. This is my favorite song to date from the Mancunian indie-rock band, whose second album, Who Am I?, is due out on February 12th.

Middle Kids – R U 4 Me? I never got this Sydney indie-pop act’s their 2016 hit “Edge of Town,” but this new track, their first since an EP came out last May, is pretty solid.

Zeal & Ardor – Wake of a Nation. The title track from this gospel-blues-metal band’s new EP, released October 23rd, has more of the same righteous anger in the lyrics and tones down the harshest elements (e.g., blast beats) of some of their earlier output.

Moonspell – The Greater Good. The Portuguese doom metal stalwarts announced their 12th album, Hermitage, will come out on February 26st; it’s their first since 2017’s concept album 1755.

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