10 New Albums to Stream Today
Images via Nonesuch Records, Taylor Clark, Alex Knowles Music Lists New Albums
Both the year and the decade are winding down, but that doesn’t mean we’ve had a New Music Friday slump. Today, we’ve been served with new full-lengths from indie-pop powerhouse Vagabon, British rock veterans Foals, slowcore duo Hovvdy, experimental hip-hoppers Clipping., rock ‘n’ roll revivalists White Reaper and more. Plus, there are LPs from lesser-known names that are sure to risem like otherworldly pop artist Caroline Polachek, French-Canadian post-punk outfit Corridor and spring-loaded London rockers Sports Team. Scroll down for our weekly slate of essential new albums.
1. Behavior: Spirits & Embellishments
Los Angeles trio Behavior have shared their third album Spirits & Embellishments and their first for resurrected label Post Present Medium. It swings between minimal rock and punching post-punk while, lyrically, it’s full of absorbing contradictions and underpinned by artful desire. Spirits & Embellishments is theatrical, personal and philosophical, but gripping all the same. These contradictions were no accident. Per a press release, “The lyrics were compiled and composed collaboratively on a shared document hosted on a proprietary cloud.” —Lizzie Manno
2. Caroline Polachek: Pang
Caroline Polachek, formerly of Chairlift, has released her first record under her own name, Pang, following albums in 2016 and 2017 as Ramona Lisa and CEP. Singles, “Door,” “Parachute” and “Ocean of Tears,” take her elastic voice to new heights, leaning into an experimental-pop aesthetic with the help of PC Music producers A. G. Cook and Danny L Harle. —Amanda Gersten
3. Clipping.: There Existed an Addiction to Blood
Far from fiction, Clipping.’s latest album, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, turns the framework of horror on its head. Fear runs rampant across each track, but instead of channeling nightmares through imagination, the L.A. experimental hip-hop trio show us the terrifying nature of our own kind. There Existed an Addiction to Blood is the deranged culmination of everything Clipping. have been experimenting with—but not quite nailing down—over their previous two albums. Here, they’ve given their most focused project, all while exploring the darkest corners of humanity over envelope-pushing industrial production. With a carefully constructed chaos, Clipping. throw us into their torturous musical realm and boldly ask us to find the art in fear. —Hayden Goodridge
4. Corridor: Junior
Montreal post-punk quartet Corridor have made their Sub Pop debut with a new full-length Junior. The French-Canadian foursome may write and perform in French, but rock music this good is something we can all understand. Junior’s standout track “Domino” opens with chipper, call-and-response guitars bookending the mix, which are soon joined by propulsive percussion and the band’s subtle, inviting harmonies. But eventually, those irresistible melodies fall away, subsumed by a hard-charging, Krautrock-like instrumental break that wrests the song away as in a demonic possession—like an artist seized by inspiration, the self consumed by the act of creation. —Scott Russell
5. Foals: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost — Part 2
Foals have had a busy year. They released their new album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost — Part 1, back in March, were nominated for the coveted Mercury Prize for it and just unleashed its sister album today, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost — Part 2. A press release describes their brooding lead single, “Black Bull,” as “a bruising expression of conflicted masculinity & delusions of grandeur.” That certainly comes across during the song’s brisk runtime—it’s a bass-driven and reverb-heavy ripper that’s about as harsh as anything the band have ever done. —Harry Todd
6. Hovvdy: Heavy Lifter
Hovvdy, the Austin-bred slowcore duo of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor, released their third album Heavy Lifter today. Built around melancholic guitars and self-conscious vocals, lead single “Cathedral” is a lilting groove that feels like having a series of existential realizations in the middle of a field. The duo sing of finding your own spirituality and learning how to step outdoors in the face of anxiety: “Trust I’ll calm down / Always do somehow / Open my door / Brighter than before / Outside, hide,” they whisper, sunnily. —Harry Todd
7. Sports Team: Making Hay
London six-piece Sports Team have shared their latest EP Making Hay, which follows 2018’s Winter Nets and 2019’s Keep Walking!. The new EP comes in conjunction with their first full run of U.S. tour dates this fall, concluding with a special Halloween show in Chicago. The guitars on “Fishing” are hopped-up with giddy excitement as frontman Alex Rice employs jolly rock ‘n’ roll theatrics and wears a playful smirk. Sports Team’s music is by friends and for friends—a frisky riot with an enjoyment level inversely proportional to the number of tipsy, ride-or-die pals who join in. Rice sings over bouncy guitars, “We go out with our friends / And we sit by the Thames going fishing / I don’t need no conversation, please.” —Lizzie Manno
8. Vagabon: Vagabon
Following her 2017 debut Infinite Worlds, Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) became one of the most distinct voices in indie rock. Her husky alto is warm and unforgettable. Now add indie pop to that faction of genres. Her next album, a self-titled effort, breezes through synthy breakdowns and horn numbers with ease, never content to be just one thing. Tamko’s voice remains each song’s focal point, especially on the bouncing pop numbers, but the album as a whole feels most like a low-lit mood. Hypnotic and transportive, Vagabon feels even more like Tamko’s arrival than her warmly received debut. —Ellen Johnson
9. Vancouver Sleep Clinic: Onwards to Zion
23-year-old Australian ambient artist Tim Bettinson has shared his sophomore album as Vancouver Sleep Clinic, Onwards to Zion. “In a purposeful departure from his forays into electronically driven song construction, Bettinson wrote much of the album on a $100 nylon guitar bought at one of Bali’s only music stores,” per a press release. “I’d started getting used to making three-and-half-minute songs with a beat and a hook-but the thing is that I don’t really come from making beats,” Bettinson says. “I used to busk: that’s where I came from. The whole direction of this album changed for me once I realized I wanted to put the focus back on guitar again.” —Lizzie Manno
10. White Reaper: You Deserve Love
After signing to Elektra Records and sharing a pair of new singles over the summer, Louisville, Ky., rockers White Reaper released their new album, You Deserve Love, the follow-up to the band’s 2017 breakthrough The World’s Best American Band (one of Paste’s top albums of that year). Single “1F” finds the band preserving their garage-rock edge while introducing more pop-oriented elements: Tony Esposito’s vocals still spike and crackle like a live wire over big, brash guitars, but it’s the insistent, simplistic organ lick, old-school backing harmonies and tidy production that sound like something new. —Scott Russell