10 New Albums to Stream Today
Photos by Max Ritter, Katherine Rose, Casey Doran Music Lists New Albums
With Game of Thrones officially over, Last Watch documentary and all, have you found yourself feeling aimless? Bored? Maybe a little antsy? Good thing there’s a kingdom’s worth of new music to sink your teeth into on this glorious New Music Friday. It’s a heyday for indie nerds with new stuff out by Pittsburgh regulars The Gotobeds, Amsterdam exports Pip Blom and Atlanta newcomer Rose Hotel. There’s also a blockbuster country release courtesy of Thomas Rhett and a political think-piece by way of Kishi Bashi. And that’s only half this list. Keep scrolling to hear all 10.
1. Apex Manor, Heartbreak City
Earlier this year, Apex Manor, aka vocalist and guitarist Ross Flournoy, made his commanding return with a single titled “Asked & Answered,” the opening track from his first new album in eight years, Heartbreak City. Flournoy says of the record, “Conceptually, the record really explores variations on the theme of rejection and the different ways people react to it, especially the isolation—either by choice or by circumstance—that can sometimes follow.” Flournoy, joined by drummer Dan Allaire of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and bassist Rob Barbato, spent less than two weeks in the studio before completing the new album through live-in-studio recordings. —Montana Martin
2. Erin Rae, Putting On Airs Demos
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Erin Rae is following her lovely 2018 LP Putting On Airs with a four-song collection of demos to celebrate the album’s one-year anniversary. We named the original Putting On Airs one of the best country albums of 2018, but Rae doesn’t fit neatly into one box. She brings a vast knowledge of folk music and some psych leanings to the table, and these stripped-down versions show some of her best tracks in their infancies. —Ellen Johnson
3. Kishi Bashi, Omoiyari
As some artists deal with present-day realities, others are drawing historical parallels. Trump’s post-inauguration flurry of half-baked executive orders prompted the chamber-pop singer and multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi to write his new album Omoiyari about another unilateral presidential action: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which allowed for the incarceration of Japanese-American citizens in concentration camps during World War II. Born Kaoru Ishibashi, his parents didn’t arrive in the United States until well after the war, so the connection to Japanese internment is more historical than personal. Yet anti-immigrant rhetoric from Trump and his lieutenants seemed like a too-familiar echo of the race-based fear-mongering of 75 years ago. —Eric R. Danton
Read: Trump-Era Protest Music Draws on Personal Stories
4. Pip Blom, Boat
Dutch indie rocker Pip Blom and her band are here with their debut album Boat (via Heavenly Recordings / PIAS) following a searing showing at SXSW earlier this year (their first set of U.S. dates). After 2018’s solid Paycheck EP and recent single “Daddy Issues,” the 22 year-old singer/songwriter’s “Ruby” is another rapturous gem of post-punk-adjacent indie rock. With clamoring guitars and vocals that range from sassy to melancholic to euphoric, “Ruby” embodies the ephemeral rush of joy you get from a gentle beachside breeze. —Lizzie Manno
5. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, And Now For The Whatchamacallit
Out via Marathon Records, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ latest album is as memorable as their band name. And Now For The Whatchamacallit sees the Australian rockers at their very best and most developed sound, with soaring guitar and experimental arrangements. Somewhat of a concept album, the release delves into the band’s own loose interpretation of the circus that is life as a touring musician, allowing listeners in on the whirlwind of drunken nights, foreign cities and insanity that comes along with it. —Molly Schramm
6. Rose Hotel, I Will Only Come When It’s A Yes
Rose Hotel, aka Atlanta-based musician Jordan Reynolds, specializes in dream pop that won’t put you to sleep. “Write Home,” an enchanting bedroom piece that quickly evolves into a spacey, twang-tinged jam, was the third and final tune to arrive before the record, and it’s perhaps the most arresting. It’s a miraculous mix of psych-rock, pop and jazz that shouldn’t work, but Reynolds and her band (made up of other ATL aces from groups like Material Girls, Neighbor Lady, Karaoke and Palm Sunday) knit them all tightly together for a full, bold sound. The warped guitars and hurried drums sound like Aussie psych; the relaxed trumpet and pedal steel like a fusion of early blues and jazz. —Ellen Johnson
7. Sacred Paws, Run Around the Sun
Merge indie-pop pair Sacred Paws are back with Run Around the Sun, the follow-up to their 2017 debut Strike A Match and their first on the label. We find the duo (made up of Rachel Aggs and Eilidh Rodgers) right where we left them two years ago: slamming down hooks, perfecting the drum kit and charging up their vibrant pop sound. —Ellen Johnson
8. Sinkane, Dépaysé
Bringing in influences from frontman Ahmed Gallab’s Sudanese upbringing, Sinkane’s latest album is a mix of psychedelic rock with the theme of understanding cultural duality. The band’s members are from all over the world, but, still, a “collective experience as children of the diaspora helped bring the music to life in the most honest way possible,” Gallab says. Following up their 2017 acclaimed album Life & Livin’ It, Dépaysé is high-energy, raw and also finds Gallab singing in Arabic for the first time. Gallab and the band as a whole seem to be pushing their creative boundaries, and it’s definitely paying off. —Molly Schramm
9. The Gotobeds, Debt Begins at 30
Pittsburgh is the perfect home for a band like the Gotobeds. Too noisy and aggressive for the dripping sop that passes as “indie” today, too idiosyncratic and tuneful for punk orthodoxy, and too damn smart for most anything else, they’re a band with a certain appeal, much like Pittsburgh itself. Their new album, Debt Begins at 30, would’ve been a college radio smash back before colleges sold their stations to NPR. Like their two previous records, it could’ve existed at almost any time since the end of the ‘70s, indebted equally to Wire’s Chairs Missing and the general attitude of the Fall without specifically sounding like either. The Gotobeds have nothing to hide, but again, that doesn’t mean they don’t have any depth to ‘em. —Garrett Martin
10. Thomas Rhett, Center Point Road
If you like big-name country collabs, larger-than-life summer jams and and blockbuster love songs, then look no further than the latest from one of country music’s biggest stars, Thomas Rhett. After an onslaught of Life Changes resulted in his 2017 album, Rhett is more concerned here with warm weather fun. And if the good times are hard to come by, he’s here to remind you there “ain’t nothin’ a beer can’t fix.” The record also features Little Big Town, Kelsea Ballerini and Jon Pardi. —Ellen Johnson