The first full week of August doesn’t have any big name contenders dropping new albums, but there’s still some great records and reissues out today and some killer new songs. Few bands can match the sleep when we’re dead attitude of the ever prolific psych-rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and today they’re back with their 26th album since 2012. The band says it’s their most collaborative album yet and the first on their new label p(doom) records.
Anonymous shoegaze project Parannoul hails from South Korea and has played live, but they still remain rather mysterious. Last weekend, they surprise released their latest record, Sky Hundred. It follows the typical patters of the band’s swelling, cinematic guitar anthems that crackle with power and it includes this year’s single “Gold River.”
Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up are here to follow up last year’s banger One Day with their new album, aptly titled Another Day. The band has been a constant in their epic thrashers of hard hitting punk rock that gets the blood pumping with its righteous energy.
Long Island’s oso oso have made consistently groovy emo-indebted indie rock for a few years now and this week they’ve arrived with their latest entry in their canon that will hopefully boost their signal towards a broader crowd.
One of the most dependable indie rock bands of the century so far has been Spoon and this year they’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of their excellent eight album, They Want My Soul. The new deluxe edition includes home demos of the album’s tracks and highlights their in-studio sonics.
Earlier this year, The Smile dropped their excellent sophomore album Wall of Eyes. Last week, a new twelve-inch single appeared in select independent record stores as mysterious, perhaps AI-generated, images took to the band’s socials. The record is a new double-sided single for the tracks “Don’t Get Me Started” and “The Slip,” two songs the band has recently played live. The former is now on streaming services.
Next month, ambient jazz artist Nala Sinephro will release her new album Endlessness and this week she gave us the opening number “Continuum 1.” It’s a flowing and elegant number that blossoms to life through gentle melodies and delicate beauty.
As one half of the hottest underground rap duo Armand Hammer, E L U C I D has been on a hit streak as of late and later this year he’ll drop a new solo record that’s led by the two singles he posted this week. “INSTANT TRANSFER” features his Amand Hammer partner billy woods, but both continue to preserve his startling, yet intricate and deep rhymes over stark, brutal beats.
Adrianne Lenker released her wonderful solo record Bright Future earlier in the year, but this week she shared a new tune that digs deeper into the country vibes she’s been exploring, as she delivers a sweet, stomper of a track that amps up the twang with joyous results.
Over the course of several album, Kelly Lee Owens has shaped her sound into brilliant forms of ambient, techno, and other realms of electronic music that have made her a mesmerizing artist. She’s set to release her fourth album in October and the record’s second single is the vivid new tune “Sunshine” that continues to build her engaging energy.
In 2022, Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn released their stunning and soothing ambient treasure Pigments and this fall their set to drop their follow-up. This week the duo shared their latest single, “Traditions,” which puts a new spotlight on Richard’s moving vocals as Zahn’s smooth undertones set the perfect tone upon which they deliver something incredibly pure and moving.
It’s been five years since Margaret Chardiet’s last record as Pharmakon, but that is set to change this October when she’ll release the new album Maggot Mass. “WITHER AND WARP” is the grueling lead single from the industrial noise project and stretches on for over nine minutes.
At this point, Ian Shelton might be best known for founding the hardcore band Militarie Gun, but before that he led the powerviolence group Regional Justice Center. This week the band announced their return and shared two murderous tracks that absolutely tear things to shreds with each clocking-in barely past the one minute mark.
Bookending this with another artist who is never short on new releases, Neil Young is set to drop his most extensive Archives box set yet and this week he’s shared the never before heard track “Winter Winds” which is a balmy, bouncing country tune that pulls out of the ditch and back towards the main lane.
Albums:
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD | flight b741
PARANNOUL | Sky Hundred
FUCKED UP | Another Day
LATTO | Sugar Honey Iced Tea
OSO OSO | life til bones
BEABADOOBEE | This Is How Tomorrow Moves
OSEES | SORCS 80
BIG SEAN | Better Me Than You
KALI UCHIS | ORQUÍDEAS Parte 2
LOGIC | Ultra 85
SPOON | They Want My Soul (Deluxe More Soul Edition)
TUNE-YARDS | Nikki Nack (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Songs:
THE SMILE | “Don’t Get Me Started”
NALA SINEPHRO | “Continuum 1”
E L U C I D | “INSTANT TRANSFER” (ft billy woods) / “SLUM OF DISREGARD”
THE KILLERS | “Bright Lights”
ADRIANNE LENKER | “Once a Bunch”
KELLY LEE OWENS | “Sunshine”
DAWN RICHARD / SPENCER ZAHN | “Traditions”
LEON BRIDGES | “Peaceful Place”
PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE | “Dawn”
PHARMAKON | “WITHER AND WARP”
REGIONAL JUSTICE CENTER | “FREEDOM” / “TAKE A STEP AWAY”
NEIL YOUNG | “Winter Winds”
EDDIE VEDDER | “Room at the Top” [Tom Petty cover]
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2024) here!