10 New Albums to Stream Today

Music Lists New Albums
10 New Albums to Stream Today

Well, the entire world is this meme of the dog drinking coffee in a burning office, but at least there are still some institutions that remain normal through all of this chaos. We’re not talking about the music industry at large (which, if you haven’t noticed by now, has been hugely affected by the coronavirus cancellations). However, streaming and purchasing music (two things you can do straight from your couch to help struggling independent artists!) remain doable and useful activities both for you and your mental health and for the artists at hand. So pour yourself a cup of coffee, slide your work-from-home laptop across the table and fire up your streamer of choice (or, better yet, bandcamp after throwing some donations out into the world!). Remember that you’re doing the best you can, and that music is still good. Here are 10 new albums out today, Friday March 13, that you can listen to right now.

1. Caitlyn Smith: Supernova

Following her 2018 debut Starfire, Caitlyn Smith is back with her Supernova (out now on Monument Records). Like so many Nashville troubadours, Smith has made a great career out of writing for others—Dolly Parton, John Legend and Meghan Trainor, among them. But Smith shines the brightest when she’s singing her own music, something that became abundantly clear on Starfire, which we named one of the best country albums of 2018. Supernova is Starfire’s cool older sister—a little wiser, a little more world-weary (though no less hopeful) and wearing a little more eyeshadow. —Ellen Johnson

Listen here

2. Dave Simonett: Red Tail

You may know Dave Simonett as the frontman of Americana jam band Trampled By Turtles or as the solo man behind his songwriting alias Dead Man Winter, but now the musician is releasing a record under his own name. Red Tail, which features the winding indie-folk single “In The Western Wind and The Sunrise,” is out now on Thirty Tigers. —Ellen Johnson

Listen here

3. The Districts: You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere

Beloved Philadelphia rock outfit The Districts are back with their fourth LP today, You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere, out now on Mississippi indie stronghold Fat Possum. After more than 200 shows supporting their 2017 album Popular Manipulations, the band found themselves in an at-times painful transition period. “This album was written as an escape and as reassurance,” singer/guitarist Rob Grote said in a press statement. “I was falling in love with someone new and trying to juggle this desperate desire to escape with the need to show up in my life. It’s pretty damn hard to be present and completely checked out all at once. It felt like much of my world had reached such a pitch that all I could do was try to tune it out.” —Ellen Johnson

Listen here

4. Grouplove: Healer

Five-piece indie-pop band Grouplove (made up of husband/wife duo Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi, plus Andrew Wessen, Daniel Gleason and Benjamin Homola) are returning today with their fourth LP in just over 10 years. The group (who we’ll always love thanks to a special, Glee-indebted pop song) are releasing the record following a string of turbulent events: Hooper debuted her first-ever solo art show the day before she had brain surgery. With those events in their rearview and a whole world of unrest to tap into, the band moved into the same house for a week to crank out their loudest and most off-the-wall record yet. —Ellen Johnson

Listen here

5. Porches: Ricky Music

Aaron Maine, the musician behind the electro-indie outfit Porches, today releases his fourth studio album under the moniker. The album, Ricky Music, solidifies the artist’s comfort with synth-pop leanings, while also serving up explicit introspection. The singles “Do U Wanna,” “rangerover” and “Patience” preceded the album’s release, with music videos for “Do U Wanna” and “Patience” offering imagery about isolation, introversion and, overall, a desire to overcome petty limitations. —Natalia Keogan

Listen here

6. Porridge Radio: Every Bad

Tension-building holds a whole new meaning when Dana Margolin utilizes it. As lead singer of Brighton quartet Porridge Radio, Margolin emotes such unbridled theatricality that every song becomes a vigorous hurricane. Her raw vocal oscillations are menacing, compassionate and sultry—often at the same time. There’s a fire burning underneath their raucous guitar-pop, and it’s made of desire—a desire to understand and be understood, to love and be loved and to cast aside bitterness, cynicism and judgment. That sentiment coupled with Margolin’s animalistic vocals and majestic yet unhinged strings on “Lilac,” and we’re not only presented with the album’s pièce de résistance, but a modern-day anthem of radical kindness. Following the band’s compelling 2016 self-recorded debut Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers and their recent signing to Secretly Canadian, their bold, tantalizing new LP Every Bad makes them one of the most exciting new bands on the planet. —Lizzie Manno

Listen here

7. The Garden: Kiss My Super Bowl Ring

California twin rock duo (that’s right: they’re actually twins!) The Garden are back with their fourth studio LP, the humorously titled Kiss My Super Bowl Ring. Wyatt and Fletcher Shears primarily self-produced the new record, but it also features tunes co-produced by Dylan Brady and Wharfwit, plus features by Ariel Pink, Khalif Jones (aka Le1f) and Carrot Top.—Ellen Johnson

Listen here

8. Ultraísta: Sister

You’ve heard Nigel Godrich’s music before, but he’s rarely the main act. He’s most well-known as Radiohead’s longtime producer, though he’s also worked with Beck, U2, Paul McCartney, Warpaint and more. But with Ultraísta, who are gearing up to release their sophomore album (and first since their self-titled debut in 2012), he finally gets to be part of the main band, playing synth and bass. With vocals from Laura Bettinson (aka FEMME) and percussion from his Atoms for Peace bandmate Joey Waronker, Ultraísta are about to unleash a dazzling electronic record, as intelligent as it is danceable. Sister is quite reminiscent of Thom Yorke’s solo work, a testament to how much Godrich himself contributed to the overall sound of those records. But Bettinson’s clear vocals and Godrich’s alien synths sound quite a bit more human than ever before. —Steven Edelstone

Listen here

9. Vundabar: Either Light

Today Vundabar release their new album Either Light on their own Gawk Records label. This is the follow-up to 2018’s Smell Smoke, which we called “the intersection of personal and political punk.” The Boston band are sure to deliver more fierce social and introspective rock on their new release, which was produced by Patrick Hyland. —Ellen Johnson

Listen here

10. Yumi Zouma: Truth or Consequences

Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, Yumi Zouma are about to drop their third LP and first since signing to Polyvinyl Records, Truth or Consequences. Singer Christie Simpson’s vocals have always given rise to airy escapism, and when she sings over juicy bass lines on songs like “Right Track/Wrong Man” and “Cool For A Second,” I feel like I’m on a sailboat with the warm breeze blowing across my hair under a beautiful blue sky. Even though SXSW is now a no-go, Yumi Zouma’s grooves would pair admirably with a cold Lone Star and an outdoor stage on an 80-degree Austin day, and we’ll be blasting these songs well into summer. —Adrian Spinelli

Listen here

Share Tweet Submit Pin