As we hit the half-way mark of April, we’re once again showered with a lot of great new music this week. Feist is back today with her first new album since 2017’s Pleasure. The pop singer has already gifted us four tracks from the album and each one offers sharp songwriting and impressive melodies that fit into her unique craftwork and structures that make her tracks so compelling.
Thrash metal kings Metallica roar back this week with 72 Seasons, their first new studio album in seven years and one that, once again, harkens back to a ‘90s style Metallica with high speed riffs and winding solos.
Dinner Party, the jazz collective of Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, and Robert Glasper return with their sophomore record, Enigmatic Society, that carries on their expressive showmanship and flamboyant flair for spaced-out jazz and R&B rhythms. Dreamy slowcore band Cindy take things in the opposite direction with their new record, the light and majestically flowing Why Not Now? It’s a record that blossoms with the new season, perfect to soundtrack the transition to warmer days ahead.
Free-jazz ensemble and avant-garde experimentalists Natural Information Society also have a new album this week that is sure to explore heady melodies and elongated rhythms. Hardcore act Jesus Piece stomp back this week with their explosive new record …So Unknown that features punishing tracks primed for the pit.
Following last year’s excellent Big Time, Angel Olsen has a new EP of tracks recorded during those same sessions, all of which deliver continue to explore her country sound with even more intimacy than ever before. Hyper-pop wonders Magdelena Bay also have a new EP out today which contains more of their effervescent bangers and delightful melodies.
Never one to show signs of slowing down, Neil Young has two live reissues out this week, both of which are from his new Bootleg Series. Somewhere Under The Rainbow is from the ditch era and contains some of his best work from his, in my opinion, creative peak. High Flyin’, billed to his band The Ducks, offers up a few more live classics as well as a lot of other material from the rest of the group.
At the end of the month, Jessie Ware will release her fifth album, but this week she shared the stunning third single, “Begin Again.” It’s a lush track of unabashed disco pleasure that radiates with sparkling wonder that hits towering heights. Dawn Richard also returned this week and following last year’s excellent Pigments, she’s back to her Electro Revival era with the bouncing new jam, “Bubblegum.”
Romy has been delivering a series of killer singles over the past few years and this week she followed suit with the shimmering and joyous “Enjoy Your Life,” a smooth and grooving dance number that calls you to the club floor with the greatest of ease. After last year’s awesome Growing Up, The Linda Lindas hit back this week with the pumping “Too Many Things” that prove they still are one of the most exciting new bands on the scene.
Brooklyn’s billy woods has been on one of rap’s hottest streaks over the past few years whether on his solo game or as part of the duo Armand Hammer with Euclid and this week he shared a new single called “FaceTime,” this one from an upcoming collaboration with Kenny Beats. Always forging a new path, guitarist and complex wordsmith King Krule announced his first new record in three years this week and shared the airy, woozy number “Seaforth.”
Albums:
Feist | Multitudes
Metallica | 72 Seasons
Dinner Party | Enigmatic Society
Cindy | Why Not Now?
El Michels Affair / Black Thought | Glorious Game
The Tallest Man On Earth | Henry St.
Jesus Piece | …So Unknown
Xylouris White | The Forest In Me
Natural Information Society | Since Time Is Gravity
Angel Olsen | Forever Means EP
Magdelena Bay | mini mix vol. 3
Neil Young With The Santa Monica Flyers | Somewhere Under The Rainbow [Live Album]
The Ducks | High Flyin’ [Live Album]
Songs:
Jessie Ware | “Begin Again”
Dawn Richard | “Bubblegum”
Romy | “Enjoy Your Life”
billy woods / Kenny Segal | “FaceTime” (ft Samuel t Herring)
The Linda Lindas | “Too Many Things”
ALL HANDS_MAKE LIGHT | “The Sons and Daughters of Poor Eternal”
Frozen Soul | “Glacial Domination” (ft Matthew K Heafy)
King Krule | “Seaforth”
Asian Glow | “Kuroitamago #2”
The National | “Your Mind is Not Your Friend” (ft Phoebe Bridgers)
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2023) here!