Gold Soundz: July 12, 2024

This week's suggested new music, curated by omg!nyc

Jul 12, 2024

The second half of 2024 is starting off very strong as we’ve been delivered a big week of exciting new music. Following up her incendiary 2021 record An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, Cassandra Jenkins has gifted us the divine new album My Light, My Destroyer. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a listening party for this one at a planetarium earlier this week where I also picked up the vinyl and it hasn’t left my turntable since. Digging deeper into lush, textured guitar work, she mixes ‘90s alternative sounds with the glowing ambient nature you’re already expecting and by doing so she’s crafted something truly sublime. It’s easily one of the year’s best.

Charming pop singer Clairo has made the rounds opening for boygenius and collaborating with Phoenix, but now she’s back with a new record that pushes her soft-rock sound into more of a defined statement.

After breaking through as an alt-country mega-star, Sturgill Simpson is shaking things up and has dropped a new album under the moniker Johnny Blue Skies. You shouldn’t expect a major departure on this one, but perhaps just a new outlet for the singer to explore new territory without veering to far outside his lane.

Singer-songwriter Chris Cohen has been making sharp, crisp, pop tunes that lean into the folk-rock category for quite some time and he returns today with yet another solid record of high fidelity tunes that highlight his soft croon and breezy melodies.

There’s always a need for tight, angular post-punk that merges some sing/speak lyrics and dance-inspired bass lines and right now Font are ready to be that band as they drop their debut album today and look to become the next torch-bearers of this niche, yet exciting, genre.

In 2022, Braxe + Falcon teamed-up with Panda Bear to release “Step by Step,” the best song of that year. This week the French touch duo (and cousins!) enlisted Bibio to join them on vocals and guitar for another shimmering tune that sparkles with glistening disco beats and joyous grooves that you’ll want to have on repeat all summer long.

His touring schedule and steady release of singles makes it rather hard to believe that the last solo album from Floating Points came out back in 2019, but that will change this fall when Sam Shepherd releases his new record. It features some of his recent one-offs as well as the new techno jam “Key103” that sounds like classic rave-ready music that’ll have you cutting loose on the dance floor in no time.

It seemed like a rather unlikely pairing when Dawn Richard linked-up with Spencer Zahn for their collaborative album Pigments, but anyone who doubted them has surely flipped that opinion based on the glowing results of their ambient record and they’ll follow it up with a new joint effort that’s lead by the sparse, yet engaging new song “Breath Out.”

I really can’t believe the first album from The Jesus Lizard in 26 years is really on the way, but with another new single dropping this week, it’s all starting to feel very real. Naturally, “Alexis Feels Sick” is another seething track of scraping, rusted guitar and brutal punishing rhythms which makes the feeling turn from shock to increasing excitement.

Following the awesome new song “Death & Romance,” Magdalena Bay have now announced their sophomore record and hit us with another single, “Image.” It follows their trajectory of glitchy, ‘90s inspired hyper-pop that continues to be their calling card and showcases why that needs to remain the case.

It’s been fifteen years since the last album from Sunset Rubdown, but following some reunion shows, the band has announced their comeback record will be out later in the year and shared the first single, the driving “Reappearing Rat” that should quench that indie rock thirst of early-aught nostalgia.

Jangle-pop continues to have its much deserved comeback streak with another new song from San Francisco’s Chime School. “Wandering Song” is just one more blissful tune from a group that brings bright, breezy melodies with a focused rhythm section to fruition with excellent results.

On his first two record, Bartees Strange brought familiar vibes to his unique style of indie rock that expanded on the traditions of the genre in new and unexpected ways. On his new song “Lie 95” he goes off his beaten path and boldy asserts himself in a new position where synths have overshadowed his usual guitar work, giving us a refreshing update that seems to broaden his horizon.

Cornelius just dropped his very good new album only last month and he’s already shared a new song since then, but this week he popped back up with a cover of the great Haroumi Hosono’s “Bara to Yuju” that combines the City Pop magic with Shibuya-kei elements for something pretty special.

Dream-pop and slowcore icons Galaxie 500 had a really short initial run that consisted of three fantastic albums in as many years. While a reunion of the trio still seems firmly out of reach, they did announce a new release of archival material from 1988-1991 that they’ve described as “their most comprehensive collection of unreleased and rare archival material ever.” Ahead of the release, the group shared two “new” songs this week that goes to show just how much their legacy remains in tact after all this time and how much more the band had to offer.

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Songs:

If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2024) here!

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