→ December 22, 2021
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Top 21 albums of 2021.

I have never had this many candidates for a best albums ranking before. I had this idea eight years ago that I’d make the length of my year-end album lists equal to the last two digits of the year, which would probably work until I was about 55 or so and who knew if I’d even still be doing these. Most years, though, I found that while there were always plenty of songs I loved, there were never quite enough albums, even accounting for the fact that every year I seem to find more new music to listen to, between the wonders of Spotify (for the listener, at least) and reader feedback. This year, though, I could have gone 30 deep and still had more to consider, even keeping the bar for inclusion reasonably high. I stopped this list at 21, to return to the old gimmick, but my honorable mentions include Amyl & the Sniffers’ Comfort to Me, Chime School’s Chime School, The Coral’s Coral Island, Deafheaven’s Infinite Granite, Inhaler’s It Won’t Always Be Like This, Khemmis’ Deceiver, Pond’s 9, Thrice’s Horizons/East, TURNSTILE’s GLOW ON, and Willow’s Lately I Feel Everything.

You can see my previous year-end album rankings here: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and my top albums of the 2010s.

21. Death from Above 1979 – Is 4 Lovers. I missed DfA1979’s first album when it first came out, but have been increasingly a fan of their work since they re-formed after a ten-year hiatus, and this is the best thing they’ve ever done – more mature and cohesive without losing the urgency or the fury of their first record. Highlights including “Modern Guy,” “One + One,” and the two-part “N.Y.C. Power Elite.”

20. Susanna Hoffs – Bright Lights. No, really, the lead singer of the Bangles put out one of the best albums of 2021. It’s a mélange of styles more appropriate to her age and this stage of her career, but damn if she doesn’t nail just about all of it, mixing in bits of folk, lite jazz, and torch songs for a record that manages to sound timeless. There’s one really ‘off’ track here (“Take Me with U”), but highlights include the oldies-influenced “You Just May Be the One,” “One of These Things First,” and “Name of the Game,” the last one featuring Aimee Mann.

19. CHVRHCES – Screen Violence. A welcome return to form for the Scottish electro-pop trio, with some of Lauren Mayberry’s best lyrics to date, built around themes of digital harassment and online hate, and better hooks than we heard on their last album, Love is Dead. Highlights include “How Not to Drown,” “Final Girl,” “California,” and “Screaming” (from the Director’s Cut).

18. The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore. This is the tightest, most accessible album from TWoD yet, with much stronger hooks than they’ve had before. I’ve become accustomed to the Bob Dylan impression – at which singer/songwriter Adam Granduciel winks in the lyrics to the title track – although I’m still not a fan of the song lengths. Highlights include “I Don’t Live Here Anymore,” “Harmonia’s Dream,” and “Change.”

17. Maisie Peters – You Signed Up for This. I’ve been a fan of Peters’ work since her first few singles, and while her sound has changed to something far more pop-oriented, the wit and insight of her lyric has only improved as she’s reached her early twenties, and it’s not as if her hooks have suffered from working with Ed Sheeran. Highlights include “Psycho,” “John Hughes Movie,” “Brooklyn,” and the title track.

16. Jungle – Loving in Stereo. Still fairly unknown in the U.S., Jungle have become quite popular in their native U.K. with their American R&B/disco throwback sound. This album, the duo’s third, is their most upbeat by far, a welcome antidote to a year of bad news. Highlights include “Truth,” “Keep Moving,” “Talk About It,” and “All of the Time.”

15. black midi – Cavalcade. The highly experimental English quartet returned with another album of challenging, unexpected, noisy tracks that defy any expectations you might have of a typical rock record … and yet somehow still manage to bring a weird sort of melody to their songs, something you can grab while you’re digesting the bizarre arrangements and tonal shifts. Highlights include “Chondromalacia Patella,” “John L.,” and “Slow.”

14. Emma-Jean Thackeray – Yellow. Thackeray is a trumpeter and bandleader from Yorkshire but is more than comfortable in American jazz and funk traditions, producing an album that refers back decades while still producing something fresh, thanks in no small part to the lush vocal harmonies on most of the tracks on this ebullient record. Highlights include “Say Something,” “Green Funk,” “Third Eye,” and “Sun,” the last of which has a nod to Parliament’s “Flashlight” in the chorus.

13. Mastodon – Hushed and Grim. A sprawling album of 15 tracks and 86 minutes, Hushed and Grim threads a difficult needle, maintaining some of the more mainstream sensibilities of their last album, Emperor of Sand, without giving up some of their more complex arrangements or expansive song lengths (six of the tracks run six minutes plus, and only two are shorter than 4:59). Every review I found was positive except Pitchfork’s, of course. Highlights include “Pushing the Tides,” “Teardrinker,” and “Sickle and Peace.”

12. Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend. I respect the ambition here, and the highlights are very high, but when they go into quietcore territory they tend to lose me for the same reason I was tepid about their Mercury Prize-winning Visions of a Life – those songs lack the beating heart of their best tracks. Highlights include “Smile,” “How Can I Make It OK?,” “Safe from Heartbreak,” “Play the Greatest Hits,” and “No Hard Feelings.”

11. Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks of God. One of the most unexpected albums of the year was this introspectiverecord from the Georgia quartet whose albums have all been thematic in some way, but who reached a new apex here on a record about death and grieving. The album hums along even as it moves between heavier numbers and mournful acoustic tracks, each of which stands on its own while contributing to a whole that is cohesive in sound and lyrics. Highlights include “Telepath,” “Bed Head,” “Annie,” and “Keel Timing.”

10. Gojira – Fortitude. The best metal album of 2021 came from the group I’d call the best metal band working today. Gojira explores the edges of extreme metal without succumbing to its excesses – an affliction that cursed Carcass’ 2021 album Torn Arteries, which took a step back from their Surgical Steel peak – and without losing track of the guitar riffs that make metal compelling. Highlights include “Another World,” “Born for One Thing,” “Amazonia,” and “Into the Storm.”

9. Cœur de Pirate – Impossible à aimer. Béatrice Martin may be saying she’s impossible to love, but I fell for this album right away – she dives heavily into lush pop sounds from the 1970s, such as the lovely string arrangement that opens “On s’aimera toujours,” while continuing the piano-driven focus from her instrumental EP Perséides, all showcasing her beautiful voice (which continues to impress even after recent surgery on her vocal chords). Highlights include “On s’aimera toujours,” “Tu peux crever là-bas,” and “Tu ne seras jamais là.”

8. The Lottery Winners – Something To Leave the House For. The most recent release on this list, Something to Leave the House For just dropped on December 4th, with most of the fantastic singles they’d released in the prior year appearing on this album, which is a banger all the way through. The Mancunian quartet have a knack for churning out pop tracks with undeniable hooks, the sort of songs that get stuck in your head but you don’t really mind because they’re the feel-good kind of pop tracks. Highlights include “Much Better, “Favourite Flavour,” “Sunshine,” “Start Again” (with Frank Turner), and “Hotel DeVille,” although the March single “Bang” (with the Wonder Stuff) didn’t make the release.

7. Royal Blood – Typhoons. Production help by Josh Homme made a huge difference for the English duo, as their sound here includes more funk and disco elements, similar to the way Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age expanded their song after working with Mark Ronson on their last album. Highlights include “Boilermaker,” the title track, “Oblivion,” and “Trouble’s Coming.”

6. Foxing – Draw Down the Moon. The St. Louis trio’s blend of post-rock, emo, metal, and even more came together on this masterful album that is as ambitious as any record I heard this year – and succeeds, incorporating all manner of styles and genres within songs, demanding that you keep up with the rapid textural and sonic shifts, without forgetting the essential element of melody. It’s a record that rewards careful listening and patience, as so many tracks end somewhere completely unexpected. Highlights include the title track, “Go Down Together,” “Bialystok,” “737,” and “Beacons.”

5. Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime. One of the most globally acclaimed albums of 2021, Afrique Victime may help introduce Moctar’s blend of traditional Touareg music and western guitar rock to a wider audience. The fretwork here is incredible, more than enough to pull in anyone who plays guitar or enjoys that style of music, but even if you’re not into that specific aspect, this album just flat-out rocks. Highlights include “Chismiten,” the title track, and “Taliat.”

4. Geese – Projector. If I called these Brooklyn teenagers/early twentysomethings the American black midi, would it feel like enough of a compliment? Geese are experimental, but their base sound derives far more from post-punk traditions like Television, Suicide, and Wire than the noise-rock antecedents of black midi – and the result is a more accessible and delightfully weird debut album. Highlights include “Rain Dance,” “Low Era,” “Disco,” and the title track.

3. Kid Kapichi – This Time Next Year. This Hastings quartet blends a strong Arctic Monkeys musical and lyrical sensibility with heavier guitarwork, veering into punk territory, with a series of working-class anthems where singers Jack Wilson and Ben Beetham rage against various machines. The band produced and released the album themselves, which might be why it hasn’t appeared on many year-end lists, but it was clearly the best straight rock album of the year for me, and one of the only truly no-skip albums of 2021. Highlights include “Working Man’s Town,” “Sardines,” “What Would Your Mother Say,” “Don’t Kiss Me (I’m Infected),” and “Self Saboteur.”

2. Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams. Winner of this year’s Mercury Prize, this debut album from the 21-year-old British singer-songwriter features nearly all of the singles I’ve included on my playlists from Parks over the last two years. Parks’s voice is gorgeous, soft and somewhat high-pitched, yet able to fill all the spaces left by the minimalist R&B, jazz, and folk music that backs her up across the album. Her lyrics are close and intimate portraits of pain and hope around stories of broken hearts, damaged families, and other stories, replete with little details (“Dragonfruit and peaches in the wine,” “Wearing suffering like a silk garment or a spot of blue ink”) that provide the images to the short films she’s creating with every track. Highlights include “Black Dog,” “Green Eyes,” “Hurt,” “Hope,” and “Caroline.”

1. Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. I called it in September, saying this was the best album of 2021, and that has more than held true, not just on my own list but on the non-scientific compilations over at albumoftheyear.org. The title is a backronym for Simbi, Simz’s nickname among her friends, and also introduces the listener to the profound lyrical themes she’s about to cover, including her difficult relationship with her biological father (“I Love You, I Hate You”), global feminism (“Woman”), the dichotomy required of people with public personae (“Introvert”), death and grief (“Little Q”), and more. The album features spoken-word interludes from Emma Corrin, who played Princess Diana Spencer on seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown, and tremendous guest appearances from Obongjayar and Cleo Sol. And the music, which incorporates elements of Afrobeat, British and American hip-hop, and old-school soul, is compelling just about the entire way through, providing a strong backdrop for Little Simz’s rapping while delivering a series of memorable hooks. It’s one of the best albums of the century so far, and if it doesn’t make Little Simz a star around the world, that’s our loss. Highlights include the songs mentioned above as well as “Point and Kill,” “Rollin Stone,” and “Protect My Energy.”

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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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→ July 4, 2021
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Music update, June 2021.

Life is busy here, in good ways, and with the draft now just a week away I’ve been extremely preoccupied … but the good new music keeps coming, so here’s a new playlist for you.

CHVRCHES featuring Robert Smith – How Not to Drown. I did not see this collaboration coming. So many pairings of current artists with some of their heroes from prior generations only serve to highlight how the older artists have lost their fastballs – especially singers whose voices have started to go. Smith sounds the same as ever, and this is the second great CHVRCHES single ahead of their upcoming fourth album.

Gang of Youths – the angel of 8th ave.GOY are stars in their native Australia, but they might be a little too indie to see that kind of success here. There’s some Echo & the Bunnymen, The Church, and even early U2 in here.

Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK? Blue Weekend is one of the best-reviewed albums of the year … and I think it’s good, but it has some of the same issues I had with Visions of a Life. When Wolf Alice rocks, they rock. When they slow things down, the formula doesn’t work as well. That’s not a universal truth – “Safe from Heartbreak” is a 150-second acoustic track that has a strong hook in the chorus, and “How Can I Make It OK” has a slower tempo but is boosted by a big guitar riff. I just like their music best when they let it rip.

Little Simz – Rollin Stone. I’m all in. Little Simz’ new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, comes out on September 3rd, and the songs she’s released so far make me think it’s going to be her best yet.

Tom Morello, The Bloody Beetroots, Pussy Riot – Radium Girls. Morello and the Italian electronic duo The Bloody Beetroots have an EP coming out in the fall called The Catastrophists, featuring this track co-written by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, and frequent Morello collaborator Carl Restivo.

YONAKA – Raise Your Glass. YONAKA’s new stuff is veering towards the anthemic, which is fine in and of itself as long as the hooks are good (this one is), although I hear this song and worry it’s going to show up in a Heineken commercial in two years.

James BKS – Kusema. James BKS’s debut album Wolves of Africa is due out in the fall, and the son of the late Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango (who died last year of COVID-19) has released at least three tracks from the album so far, including this one, with a Swahili title that means “to express” and that features BKS rapping for the first time.

Jungle – Talk About It. Jungle’s third album Loving in Stereo comes out on August 13th, and this second track from the record is among the most straight-up dance tracks they’ve done (lighter on the ’70s soul and funk elements) to date.

SAULT – London Gangs. SAULT just released Nine, their fifth album in the last 25 months, although this is the shortest one to date, clocking in at just over a half an hour. The band is also saying they’re removing the album from the internet after 99 days, which means it’ll vanish from streaming sites (and from my Spotify playlist) at some point in October, which strikes me as a stunt. You can (and should) grab the album for free from their official site, although I don’t think it’s as strong as either of their 2020 releases.

Inhaler – It Won’t Always Be Like This. Solid work from this Irish band, although they can’t really get away from the U2 comparisons when the lead singer sounds so much like his father, Bono.

Everything Everything – Natural’s Not In It. The Gang of Four tribute album The Problem of Leisure was delayed five months but came out on June 4th, featuring two covers of this track, which gives the album its title, two of “Damaged Goods,” and three of “Not Great Men,” but none of “At Home He’s a Tourist.” At least EE’s singer Jonathan Higgs pronounces “migraine” in the American style.

Wye Oak – Its Way With Me. That’s the second single from Wye Oak this year, along with “TNT,” to go with singer Jenn Wasner’s solo effort as Flock of Dimes.

Kiwi jr. – Cooler Returns. I wasn’t familiar with this Canadian indie band until my friend Paul Boyé named their new LP one of his favorites of 2021 so far. There’s something a little too hipstery in their lyrics and vocals for me, but this title track from the record is strong.

Floatie – Shiny. “Math rock” is kind of a meaningless term, no? This is experimental music, and I don’t mean that adjective in the way anti-vaxxers use it, although I doubt Floatie’s debut album Voyage Out is FDA approved.

The Lottery Winners – Favourite Flavour. I’m becoming a bigger fan of The Lottery Winners all the time, and I can’t get over how prolific they are, approaching King Gizzard level, but in this case churning out one catchy indie-pop single after another.

Descendents – Nightage. I mean, all good Descendents songs sound pretty much the same, but that’s what we pay for, right?

Quicksand – Missile Command. If bands still released singles with B-sides, Quicksand should have paired this with a cover of Killing Joke’s “Asteroid.”

Accept – Zombie Apocalypse. I had no idea Accept was still around and recording music, and while I suppose purists might object that it’s not Accept without Udo, but I don’t have that same history with the band that I might with other ’80s metal acts, so the new vocalist doesn’t faze me. Their newest album, Too Mean to Die, leads off with a pair of impressively heavy songs for a band that was often lumped in with hair-metal acts in their heyday, with thrash elements in both this song and the title track.

FALSET and James Labrie – Kickstart My Heart. “Kickstart My Heart” is actually my favorite Mötley Crüe song, and this track is quite faithful. FALSET’s drummer is the son of James Labrie, longtime lead singer of Dream Theater, who does a very reasonable imitation of Vince Neil here.

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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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→ May 3, 2021
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Music update, April 2021.

April didn’t bring quite as much new music as March did, or as May will with its five Fridays, but the first three songs on this list are among my favorites of the year, and I’m guessing they’ll all still be very high when my annual top 100 rolls around. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Wolf Alice – Smile. I loved Wolf Alice’s first album, My Love is Cool, but was more lukewarm on their sophomore LP, Visions of a Life, which won the 2018 Mercury Prize. This song, though … this is the good stuff. Wolf Alice is at their best when they churn out huge, often heavy guitar riffs, and contrast them with quieter moments that make use of singer/guitarist Ellie Roswell’s impressive range of vocal styles. Now I can’t wait for their third album, Blue Weekend, due out June 11th.

AJ Tracey – Little More Love. The British rapper/singer’s new album Flu Game didn’t live up to this single, but this is a banger.

Manchester Orchestra – Telepath. ManOrch’s latest album, The Million Masks of God, just came out on Friday, and it’s both excellent and a real surprise, showing entirely sides of lead singer/guitarist Andy Hull as a lyricist and a songwriter. This song could have easily come from Lord Huron or Josh Ritter, except for how distinctive Hull’s voice is.

CHVRCHES – He Said She Said. Speaking of lyrics, this feels like a possible return to form for Lauren Mayberry after the disappointing, mailed-in feel of the trio’s last album Love is Dead.

Freddie Gibbs – Big Boss Rabbit. Gibbs is the best male rapper working right now, bar none, and he’s absurdly prolific.

Moses Boyd and SW2 – Bridge the Gap b/w Dirty South. I couldn’t decide which of these two tracks to include – they’re both superb, and yet very different from each other – so I put them both on the list, because I’m the boss here. Boyd’s drum work is revelatory, and he might be even more prolific than Gibbs. I doubt I’ll ever fully grasp jazz the way an aficionado would, but Boyd has made me a bigger fan of the genre than I ever was. (Also, no one seems to know who SW2 are. I wonder if they’re connected to SAULT at all.)

HAERTS – Why Only You. This track comes from the duo’s third album, Dream Nation, which was due out March 12th but doesn’t seem to have actually come out on that date, or any date since. We have four singles so far, and they’re all good, so I’m still eager to hear the full LP.

Paul McCartney feat. Khruangbin – Pretty Boys. I think this the third most-talented Beatle’s first appearance on my playlists, but that’s due to the tremendous work here by Khruangbin.

Royal Blood – Boilermaker. The singles I’ve heard so far from Typhoons, which just came out on Friday, made me think of Queens of the Stone Age’s sonic shift on their last record, Villains, thanks for the production work of Mark Ronson. Turns out that QotSA’s Josh Homme helped produce Typhoons, so I’m not crazy – and just like with Villains, the addition of dance elements and more funk influence in the rhythms really works.

Jorja Smith – Gone. Smith has been all over the place since her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Lost & Found back in 2018, but she’s finally releasing another EP, Be Right Back, on May 14th, featuring this song and “Addicted,” but neither of the two songs she released in 2020 (“Come Over” and “By Any Means”).

Sarah Chernoff – Remains of the Way. Chernoff just released Transitions, a five-song EP, last April, highlighted by this song, which makes the best use of her voice while bringing a little more uptempo vibe to the backing music.

Jade Bird – Black Star. This lovely acoustic cover of the Radiohead track, from her RCA Studio A Session, remagines the song as a bittersweet ballad.

Little Simz – Introvert. This track starts out almost like a sketch you’d find on old-school hip-hop records, but then transitions into a typically great Little Simz joint, the lead single from the London rapper/actress’ fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out September 3rd.

Teenage Fanclub – In Our Dreams. If you’d played this song for me and told me it was by Teenage Fanclub, I would have assumed it was from somewhere in the mid-1990s – it’s that sort of slightly muted power-pop, and while one of the group’s vocalists, Gerard Love, departed the band in 2018, this still pretty much sounds like Teenage Fanclub to me.

Sports Team – Happy (God’s Own Country). This is Sports Team’s first new track since their Mercury Prize-nominated album Deep Down Happy, and the likely lads, several of whom went to the University of Cambridge, manage to sound reminiscent of Gang of Four, the Libertines, and Art Brut all at once.

Elvenking – The Moon and Magic. An Italian power/folk-metal band, or so Wikipedia tells me, although I would have guessed Elvenking were Norse in origin given their sound and subject matter. I think a lot of bands in this weird niche appeal to me because the guitar work often sounds a lot like the bands I enjoyed while first learning guitar in the late ’80s, before groove & death metal competed with grunge and pulled this sort of music apart at the seams.

Bala – X. I wasn’t familiar with this Galician duo, both women, but I’m into the guitar work here, as well as the rapid tempo shifts, drawing from thrash and punk while incorporating the kind of guitar/drum sound popularized by Royal Blood, the White Stripes, and Drenge.

At the Gates – Spectre of Extinction. These melodic death metal legends have been as good or better in their return (2014 to now) as they were in their heyday (through 1995’s Slaughter of the Soul). It’s not for everyone, not with those throat-shredding vocals, but the guitar work is fantastic.

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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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