The 10 Albums We’re Most Excited About in August

Back-to-school season is busy for the music industry, too. This month we’re awaiting albums from indie icons like Sleater-Kinney and Bon Iver, as well as welcome releases from more recent favorites like Whitney, Marika Hackman and Jay Som, who made our favorite album of 2017. So pack up your towels, say goodbye to Hot Girl Summer and hunker down for Sad Boy Autumn. Here are all the records we can’t wait to hear (or cry to) this month. Revisit our favorite music from July right here.

August 2

The Teskey Brothers: Run Home Slow
Glassnote

When you hear The Teskey Brothers’ singer John Teskey flawlessly making his way through the band’s soul and blues rock songs, with a Joe Cocker-like rasp, you’d never guess this is a band from Melbourne, Australia. But if you’re a fan of Nathaniel Rateliff’s style of Americana, or have latched on to a group like Durand Jones & The Indications the way we have this year, then The Teskey Brothers are no doubt your next stop. With jams like “So Caught Up” and “Hold On,” The Teskeys masterfully gravitate to everything from jazz and dixieland to delta blues and gospel. And the Glassnote Records-released Run Home Slow showcases the force this group is becoming on their sophomore album. —Adrian Spinelli

Tyler Childers: Country Squire
RCA

It’s a big week for country singer/songwriter Tyler Childers. Not only is he playing two sets at Pickathon this weekend, but he’s also dropping his new album at the fest. The Kentucky native’s third LP and first for RCA Records is a letter to the folks back home in Lawrence County: “I hope that people in the area that I grew up in find something they can relate to,” he said in the album announcement. “I hope that I’m doing my people justice and I hope that maybe someone from somewhere else can get a glimpse of the life of a Kentucky boy.” Produced by fellow Kentuckian Sturgill Simpson and studio ace David Ferguson, and recorded at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville, Country Squire features nine new songs written by Childers. If lead single “House Fire” is any indication, it’ll sound something like a space-age square dance, one we’d absolutely attend. —Ellen Johnson

Young Guv: GUV I
Run For Cover

Young Guv is the solo project of Ben Cook (Fucked Up, No Warning), and he’s released two full-lengths so far—2018’s 2 Sad 2 Funk and 2015’s Ripe 4 Luv. He’s now prepping the first volume of a two part album series—GUV I. Cook likens the vibe of Young Guv songs to “people-watching in a foreign country in the morning, trying not to cry from the overwhelming feeling of sadness and happiness.” On GUV I, Cook’s acute sense of melody and poignant exploration of loneliness are spread across eight deceivingly cheery pop songs à la Elliott Smith, Teenage Fanclub and The Byrds. —Lizzie Manno

More notable August 2 releases: Clairo: Immunity, Cory Wong: Motivational Music for the Syncopated Soul, floral print: floral print, Penny and Sparrow: Finch, Slaughter Beach, Dog: Safe And Also No Fear, Ty Segall: First Taste

August 9

Marika Hackman: Any Human Friend
Sub Pop

“I’m just like you, but I can be your hero too,” croons Marika Hackman on “the one,” a track that resembles the rest of Any Human Friend: Hackman’s attempt to appear confident while an undercurrent of insecurity rumbles from below. She makes grand statements and attempts to take them back—a very human approach. Throughout Any Human Friend, Hackman’s third solo release and first since 2017, she allows herself to be more blunt and exposed than ever before, combining introspective lyrics with a dream pop haze and crashing guitars. The record, her second for Sub Pop, is undoubtedly her best, a release that simultaneously allows the listener to zone out on the dancefloor and overanalyze during a close read of the lyric sheet. —Steven Edelstone

More notable August 9 releases: Che Apalache: Rearrange My Heart, G&D (Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins): Black Love & War, The Regrettes: How Do You Love?, Wilder Woods: Wilder Woods

August 16

Sleater-Kinney: The Center Won’t Hold
Mom + Pop

A trio no more, Sleater-Kinney have been under a microscope since drummer Janet Weiss announced her sudden departure from the big-time rock band. But fans can mourn Weiss’ absence and agree with her, too: “The band is heading in a new direction and it is time for me to move on,” she said last month. Indeed, the band’s new album The Center Won’t Hold (which Weiss still played on) sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done before. Maybe that’s thanks to St. Vincent’s heavy hand on the production side, or maybe that’s just another side effect of being an artist in these trying times. “The Center Won’t Hold drops you into the world of catastrophe that touches on the election,” guitarist Corin Tucker said. But whatever went down in the studio isn’t for us to speculate. It’s just our job to listen to the music, and the already-released singles from The Center Won’t Hold are jarring and chilling and very nearly perfect, maybe even signaling a masterpiece to come. —Ellen Johnson

More notable August 16 releases: Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors: Dragons, The Hold Steady: Thrashing Thru the Passion, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Infest The Rats’ Nest, Lillie Mae: Other Girls, Oso Oso: Basking in the Glow, Peaer: A Healthy Earth, Taylor McFerrin: Love’s Last Chance

August 23

Jay Som: Anak Ko
Polyvinyl

Following the release of her stellar debut, Everybody Works, (Paste’s favorite album of 2017), Jay Som’s Melina Duterte wanted a change. Surely, creativity is a byproduct of your surroundings and the Bay Area native challenged herself and her livelihood by heading south to L.A. There, the life experiences from early success, love, growth, life, etc. began shaping the music she wrote for her upcoming sophomore release on Polyvinyl Records. Duterte’s honesty in crafting a sound that felt like it was a part of so many of us made Everybody Works really freakin’ endearing, and now with Anak Ko, she’s tapping back into the emotions and wavelengths of life’s states of flux. Early singles “Superbike” and “Tenderness,” show that not only is this a continuation of the journey with a protagonist we see so much of ourselves in, but also that she’s getting even better at it. —Adrian Spinelli

More notable August 23 releases: Carriers: Now Is The Time For Loving Me, Yourself & Everyone Else, Shannon Lay: August, Sheer Mag: A Distant Call, Tanya Tucker: While I’m Livin’, Taylor Swift: Lover, Tropical Fuck Storm: Braindrops

August 30

Bon Iver: i,i
Jagjaguwar

Those Wisconsin woods where Justin Vernon retreated to on 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago are a world away from where the Bon Iver mastermind is these days. i,i, a continuation of 2016’s 22, A Million, features more of the same glitchy electronic production mixed with his particular blend of folk rock. If anything, i,i is more streamlined than ever before: Vernon has found his lane and he’s sticking to it, funneling his various collaborators (which include James Blake, The National’s Bryce Dessner, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Bruce Hornsby and Moses Sumney, among others) into a singular vision. There’s a lot going on here, but it feels like more of a complete effort, one that utilizes its weirdness to its fullest extent. —Steven Edelstone

Boy Scouts: Free Company
ANTI-

Taylor Vick’s voice is heavenly. Few songwriters have emerged this year as instantly soothing and comforting as the ANTI- signee. And yes, the Jay Som comparisons for Vick’s Boy Scouts project have probably been thrown out there already, but they both come from the same Oakland scene and make music that feels humble, immediate and true to both them and ourselves. In fact, Boy Scouts will even be supporting Jay Som on tour starting in September. Songs like “Expiration Date” and especially “Get Well Soon” show Vick to be her own palpable songwriting force and that Boy Scouts is undoubtedly one of this year’s notable revelations. —Adrian Spinelli

Ezra Furman: Twelve Nudes
Bella Union

Following his 2018 LP Transangelic Exodus and his soundtrack for Netflix’s Sex Education (where he and his band also appeared in an episode), Ezra Furman will unveil an even more vociferous record, Twelve Nudes. “This is our punk record,” Furman says. “We made it in Oakland, quickly. We drank and smoked. Then we made the loud parts louder. I hurt my voice screaming. This was back in 2018, when things were bad in the world. The songs are naked with nothing to hide.” Twelve Nudes steps on the gas pedal and leaves skid marks as distorted guitars rumble and Furman’s gravelly howls condemn white supremacy, abusers and those who wage war. —Lizzie Manno

Whitney: Forever Turned Around
Secretly Canadian

Forever Turned Around marks the very welcome return of a wonderful band. A lot has changed for Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek in the three years since the arrival of their debut Whitney album Light Upon the Lake in 2016. They spend more time on the road than at home, juggle relationships with one another and others and balance the demands of indie fame. Thusly, their sophomore release, Forever Turned Around, wasn’t begotten in the heartbroken daze of a Chicago winter. It was made everywhere. Nothing about Forever Turned Around feels crammed or cold—it’s just as emotional as Light Upon the Lake, but there’s more restlessness to it. The task of putting together a sophomore album can be daunting, but when you’ve got two friends like Ehrlich and Kakacek in charge, the results feel more freeing than labored-over. —Ellen Johnson

More notable August 30 releases: Black Belt Eagle Scout: At the Party With My Brown Friends, Lana Del Rey: Norman Fucking Rockwell, Noël Wells: It’s So Nice!, Parsnip: When The Tree Bears Fruit, Salami Rose Joe Louis: Zdenka 2080, Sheryl Crow: THREADS