JPEGMAFIA swears the follow-up to his 2018 breakout, Veteran, will be a big disappointment. Do we trust him? Not anymore than we can trust that new single “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot” wasn’t some sort of brain virus that he just gave us all. What we do know is that, following a slew of recent guest spots alongside the likes of Flume, Injury Reserve, and Channel Tres, the Baltimore rapper has lined up his own deep list of features for All My Heroes Are Cornballs, including the three aforementioned artists returning the favor, as well as James Blake, Jeff Tweedy, and Kenny Beats. Yeah, sure, that lineup has “disappointment” written all over it. [Kelsey J. Waite]
Pixies’ music won’t rattle your bones like it used to, but Black Francis and company still possess a keen sense of melody, the likes of which buoy shadowy new singles “On Graveyard Hill” and “Catfish Kate.” Beneath The Eyrie, the first LP from the post-punk legends since 2016’s Head Carrier, doubles down on its predecessor’s spooky vibes, delivering atmospheric, guitar-forward rock that burns with witches, crossroads, and bloody moonlit battles. Accompanying the album is a podcast, It’s A Pixies Podcast, that chronicles both the making of the album and the band’s legacy as it exists today. [Randall Colburn]
“OMG” is right. Australian innovator Sampa The Great brews a heady potion on The Return, her debut album on the Ninja Tune label. (Yes, she named her debut The Return.) Sampa came up in Sydney’s jazz and hip-hop scenes, and her music is informed by the flexibility and innovation that feeds those two styles, paired with the traditional rhythms of Botswana, where Sampa grew up. The result is exhilarating and innovative, a bracing rejoinder to the cynics who think there’s nothing new under the sun. Sampa The Great has arrived and returned all at once, twisting the fourth dimension in her wizardly quest to bring the world a mind-bending good time. [Katie Rife]
(Sandy) Alex G is that rare artist whose music is both wholly distinctive and relentlessly adventurous. Whether he’s mumbling over banjo plucks, strumming an acoustic guitar, or blowing a saxophone, you know you’re listening to Alex Giannascoli. Breezy singles like “Southern Sky” and “Gretel” evoke the songwriter’s folkier tendencies, while a cut like “Near,” with its chunky, modulated vocals and skittering drum machine, represents House Of Sugar’s digital, more experimental side. As is often the case with a (Sandy) Alex G record, you’re engaging with an artist who refuses to ignore his peripatetic whims. [Randall Colburn]
Birth Of Violence is Chelsea Wolfe’s “back to the land” record, an unexpected return to her acoustic roots following her 2017 sludge-metal outing Hiss Spun. But don’t fret: Just because Wolfe is sitting still for a little while doesn’t mean she’s lost her edge. Nature is full of fearsome, primal darkness as well as sunshine and butterflies, and Wolfe rides in on thunder, lightning, and pagan imagery in “The Mother Road,” the album’s lead single. A press release for the record takes a similar philosophical tack, describing Birth Of Violence as “an internal awakening of feminine energy, a connection to the maternal spirit of the Earth, and a defiant stance against the destructive and controlling forces of a greedy and hostile patriarchy.” Sounds pretty fucking metal to us. [Katie Rife]
Also due September 13: Alex Cameron, Miami Memory; Chastity, Home Made Satan; KAZU, Adult Baby; The Lumineers, III; Metronomy, Metronomy Forever; Mike Patton & Jean-Claude Vannier, Corpse Flower; Gruff Rhys, Pang!; Tiny Moving Parts, Breathe
Chastity Belt learns to trust itself on its self-titled fourth album, the Seattle indie rockers’ third on label Hardly Art. After a six-month break for its members to tend to their personal projects as well as their physical and mental health, Chastity Belt came back together for a series of at-home sessions before handing the result over to producer Melina Duterte, a.k.a. Jay Som. The result is the group’s lushest, most tender, most introspective album yet, informed by the deep bonds of friendship that have formed over Chastity Belt’s nine years together as a band. [Katie Rife]
Those who saw the band on tour this summer already got a taste of the music from Fitz And The Tantrums’ forthcoming album, All The Feels. The bombastic electronic pop group deliver on the comprehensive promise of that title with a sprawling, 17-track behemoth that looks to touch on nearly everything under the sun. The four singles they’ve released ahead of the album suggest the group is in no danger of losing its uplifting, get-on-the-floor-and-dance vibe any time soon, though the breadth and scope of the new record suggests a band stretching the boundaries of its previous sound. [Alex McLevy]
Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard took a break from her Grammy-winning band to create Jaime, her debut solo album. Named after her late sister, Jaime will easily be Howard’s most vulnerable work yet as she soulfully mines her small-town past, from encounters with racism to processing her sexuality. “Stay High,” a sway-inducing tribute to her father and the second song Howard has released from the album, is coated in all the bluesy warmth that has made Howard and Alabama Shakes so essential over the years. Fans should steady themselves not just for her funk-infused growl or whatever spell she plans to cast with her guitar, but also unadulterated honesty. [Shannon Miller]
In 2007, M83 dropped Digital Shades Vol. 1, an album of ambient-adjacent tracks that, by virtue of its title, promised more instrumental experiments were on the way. Well, it took 12 years, but here it is. The fully analog album is described as having been “influenced heavily by early video game soundtracks, ’80s sci-fi/fantasy films, and analog synth pioneers” like Brian Eno, Suzanne Ciani, and John Carpenter, which sounds about right for the artists behind wonderful, nostalgic LPs like Junk and Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. On Twitter, frontman Anthony Gonzalez described it thusly: “With DSVII, I wanted to come back with something stronger that featured the depth of a proper studio album without the pressure of providing pop music.” In lieu of any pre-release singles, peep the album’s full list of influences here. [Randall Colburn]
The reverb smothers like a soft, slightly bristly blanket on “Sick,” the first new single from Vivian Girls in eight years; ecstatic, lovely, and timeless, it’s almost as if this fourth LP were nipping at the heels of 2011’s Share The Joy. But they did break up, exhausted by the toxic attitudes that swarmed the indie landscape around the turn of the ’10s, when internet trolls were just beginning to find their voice. Now, with each member having spent nearly a decade refining their own projects—Katy Goodman’s La Sera, Cassie Ramone’s Babies, and Ali Koehler’s Upset—they’re back and, as they put it to Rolling Stone, “coming out swinging.” The attitude and energy are evident, not just on “Sick” but also on follow-up single “Something To Do,” which might be one of the best songs they’ve ever released. [Randall Colburn]
Also due September 20: Pieta Brown, Freeway; Efterklang, Altid Sammen; Fly Pan Am, C’est Ca; Hiss Golden Messenger, Terms Of Surrender; Loraine James, For You And I; Fumio Miyashita, Wave: Sounds Of The Universe; Trentemøller, Obverse; Zac Brown Band, The Owl
Never one to follow a safe or predictable muse, Thurston Moore’s newest is an ambitious three-CD boxset that sees the former Sonic Youth guitarist trying out a variety of bold sonic experiments, with electronic musician Jon “Wobbly” Leidecker joining the lineup in the studio. The first disc’s noise guitar rave-ups are a tribute of sorts to jazz singers; the second boasts a whopping 12 guitarists working in tandem to craft its more orchestral sound; and the last is Moore’s personal homage to his late mentor, avant-garde composer Glenn Branca. The release also includes a 20-page book of photos and writings by Moore, so get ready to set aside some serious time for this thing. [Alex McLevy]
You can take the title of Alessandro Cortini’s new solo LP at its word: Volume Massimo scales the Nine Inch Nail keyboardist’s analog synth wizardry outward to maximum pop appeal. Cortini’s experimental sensibilities are still very much intact, but his keen sense of melody comes to the fore in rich, emotive arrangements, many of which feature guitar work. Singles “Amore Amaro” and “Batticuore” both follow a gradual panoramic build, from guttural subs to towering psych textures. [Kelsey J. Waite]
Whether or not it is in fact a concept album, In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights represents The New Pornographers’ offer of musical refuge in these trying times. The follow-up to the band’s “bubblegum krautrock record,” 2017’s Whiteout Conditions, contains multitudes: The starry-eyed lead single, “Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile,” is an unabashed love song, while “The Surprise Knock” is vintage New Pornographers sound, all bounding keys and vibrant harmonies. Just don’t call it a throwback—not to A.C. Newman’s face, anyway. [Danette Chavez]
While most of us would prefer not to revisit our adolescence, Tegan And Sara are doubling down on the retrospective works this September—the indie pop duo is accompanying the publication of their joint memoir, High School, with Hey, I’m Just Like You, an album full of re-recordings of unused demos the twin sisters wrote as teens. But don’t expect some LiveJournal entries set to great synth beats: Tegan And Sara have rewritten some of the lyrics and worked with Alex Hope to put together a collection as polished as it is earnest. Just listen to “I’ll Be Back Someday,” which is full of the kind of unremitting hope you only have while you’re still part of roll call, delivered with the duo’s glowing vocals. [Danette Chavez]
Brooklyn rapper Young M.A is finally unveiling her debut studio LP this month, three years after the release of triple-platinum single “Ooouuu” made her a seemingly omnipresent figure in hip-hop. While listeners shouldn’t expect too radical a change in her topics of discussion—presumably women, sex, money, and power will still feature prominently—she has said the record is dedicated to the memory of her brother, who died from gun violence a decade prior, and involves her opening up in a far more personal manner. [Alex McLevy]
Also due September 27: Laurie Anderson, Jesse Paris Smith, and Tenzin Choegyal, Songs From The Bardo; Moon Duo, Stars Are The Light; Opeth, In Cauda Venenum; Telefon Tel Aviv, Dreams Are Not Enough
