10 New Albums to Stream Today
Images via Alex Lake, Kendall Bailey Atwater, courtesy of the artist Music Lists New Albums
The last time The Black Keys and Thom Yorke both had traditional albums out at the same time it was 2014. The last time The Raconteurs were mid-album cycle, it was 2008. The last time Madonna and Bruce Springsteen held the number one and two spots, respectively, on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart, it was February 1985. Until now! Welcome to June 2019, aka the musical version of a time machine. We’re just as confused as you are, but with new albums out from all of those aforementioned artists, we can’t say we’re mad about it. There’s also another mid-2010s throwback in Freddie Gibbs’ and Madlib’s Piñata follow-up, Bandana, and new records by a slew of up-and-comers like Jade Jackson, Brijean and Sofia Bolt. Here are 10 new releases to check out today, that is when you’re done binging Chance the Rapper on Spotify.
1. Brijean: Walkie Talkie
You’ve likely heard Brijean Murphy playing the congas before, but you just don’t know it. Press play on Toro y Moi’s single “Ordinary Pleasure,” and there she is flashing what’s made her a lowkey indie conga royal. The debut Walkie Talkie EP packs a healthy seven tracks, and on lead single “Show And Tell,” the Oakland-based Brijean’s musical vocabulary comes through in a thumping, disco groove, tailor-made for summertime hedonism. Dig it. —Adrian Spinelli
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2. Daughter of Swords, Dawnbreaker
The year is just halfway through, but 2019 has already been a big one for Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. The musician best known as one-third of Mountain Man, the folk trio who made their comeback with last year’s beautiful Magic Ship, announced earlier this year that her debut solo record was en route. Dawnbreaker arrives less than a year after Magic Ship, Mountain Man’s second album as a trio and their first after an eight-year hiatus. It’s a gentle 10-song collection of rustling folk-pop. —Ellen Johnson
3. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, Bandana
Bandana, the long-awaited follow-up to Gibbs’ and Madlib’s 2014 joint effort Piñata, would be exciting enough in any capacity. It just so happens that this new album not only rewards us with 15 new bangers, but it also features Anderson .Paak, Pusha-T, Killer Mike, Yasiin Bey and Black Thought. “Crime Pays,” which follows previously released single “Flat Tummy Tea,” finds the pair in fine form, with Gibbs slinging accelerated verses left and right and Madlib’s distinctly wobbly production on full display. All hail the dream team. —Ellen Johnson
4. Griffin House, Rising Star
“We were never meant to stay the same,” Griffin House and Joy Williams sing in unison on their song “Change.” Williams sounds splendid with House, a singer/songwriter who’s spent more than 15 years touring with acts like Josh Ritter, The Cranberries and John Mellencamp, and making records of his own. So he’s no “Rising Star” in the typical sense of the phrase, but the album certainly pays homage to House’s ascent from a guitar-toting Nashville newbie to a Music City regular—what he jokingly calls a “slow rise.” —Ellen Johnson
5. Horse Jumper of Love, So Divine
On their second album and first for Run For Cover Records, Horse Jumper of Love perfect their driving slowcore while discarding some of the moping that characterized their self-titled debut. This time around, the Boston trio’s desolation is mostly confined to the dejected guitars, which exude as much angst as a pop-punk chord progression, as much muscle as a metal riff and as much sonic weight as a shoegaze solo. —Lizzie Manno
6. Jade Jackson, Wilderness
California singer/songwriter Jade Jackson started writing songs at age 13, and by the time she graduated high school, she had more than 300 filed away. Now in her 20s, Jackson is back with her sophomore LP Wildnerness, a more refined collection of songs but no less impassioned. She blends a little country rock with her pop star-ready vocals to create a sound that’s hard to nail down. —Ellen Johnson
7. Sofia Bolt, Waves
The debut album from French-born and Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Amélie Rousseaux, who records under the name Sofia Bolt, cuts deep with its tender-hearted, flowy garage-pop. The LP features arrangements from the legendary Van Dyke Parks (Beach Boys, Harry Nilsson) and a backing band of Emily Elhaj (Angel Olsen), Marian Li Pino (La Luz), Bryant Fox (Miya Folick) and Itai Shapira (Rhye). —Lizzie Manno
8. Summer Cannibals, Can’t Tell Me No
“There’s no saving, just had to get the fuck out,” sings Jessica Boudreaux on Can’t Tell Me No’s title track. The story goes that Summer Cannibals’ Can’t Tell Me No, their first LP since 2016, was written after the original album—finished and ready for release for over a year—was entirely scrapped in order for frontwoman Jessica Boudreaux to prevent an abuser from profiting from their work. What followed were 14-hour days creating what became the band’s first entirely self-engineered and produced album, recorded and mixed in Boudreaux’s home studio. The result is an album that balances the brave with the raw and takes no shit. —Libby Cudmore
9. The Black Keys, Let’s Rock
The Black Keys strip away all the extra stuff on Let’s Rock and put the focus back on guitar and drums. Apart from some backing vocals, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney played everything on Let’s Rock, and produced it, too—the first time in a decade that they’ve made an album without production help from Danger Mouse. If you’re looking for experiments with song structure or eclectic instrumentation, this probably isn’t the album for you. If you want something you can crank up at backyard barbecues or in the car with the windows down, well, The Black Keys have two words for you, and they’re in the album title. —Eric R. Danton
10. Thom Yorke, ANIMA
Thom Yorke’s recently announced new album ANIMA is out now. Along with it came the new Netflix short film of the same name from long-time Radiohead collaborator and Phantom Thread director Paul Thomas Anderson. To paraphrase Spaceballs, the new album has all the bleeps, creeps and sweeps you might need. It picks up where Yorke’s last solo album, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, left off, highlighting similar thematic beats that permeate Yorke’s work. Fans of Yorke’s oddball dancing will be relieved to hear that ANIMA (the “one-reeler”) finds the singer moving and grooving with his girlfriend, Italian actress Dajana Roncione. —Harry Todd