Somehow, we’re already half-way through June and the hits keep coming. The big news this week is the surprise release of the new Sigur Rós album, their first in a decade. After sharing a new single earlier in the week, the band announced that their first studio album would arrive nearly exactly ten years to the day since they released Kveiker and it also marks their first album since keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson rejoined the band.
Queens of the Stone Age are also back this week with their new album In Times New Roman… which finds the band amping up their signature hard rock tracks just as you’d expect. It comes after leader Josh Homme revealed he’d been diagnosed with cancer just last year and is a welcome return that now holds even more weight.
After spending the last decade as one-half of the unstoppable rap duo Run the Jewels, Killer Mike has dropped his first solo album in over ten years and it features a stellar guest list that includes André 3000, Young Thug, and of course, El-P. Meshell Ndegeocello is also releasing a new record today and it’s full of smooth, rich, funky jazz that is brought to life by an eclectic group of musicians and soothing, velvety vocalists.
On the heavier side of things, metal legends Boris have teamed up with modern noise makers Uniform for a wicked new album that is sure to cause quite the racket and leave you headbanging in no time. Just after releasing their excellent album Lucifer on the Sofa last year, indie titans Spoon are back with a three song EP that proves that even on a relatively minor release, the band can still do it better than most.
Rock and roll revivalists The Hives continue to bring the heat with the second single from their forth coming album and “Countdown to Shutdown” is ready to be your summer rock anthem. After making a triumphant return last year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have offered up a new take on their smashing single, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World.” The “lush” version, as they’re calling it, features prominent vocals (once again) from Perfume Genius and takes on an acoustic aspect that makes it feel much more stripped down and intimate, but equally as enthralling as the bombastic original.
South Korea via Berlin DJ Peggy Gou has been on the rise over the years with a steady slew of EPs and a DJ-Kicks compilation and this week she shared the club-ready banger “(It Goes Like) Nanana” which is a fabulous blast of techno that will have you instantly ready to rave. After breaking through with last year’s Icons EP and some stellar singles, Two Shell came back earlier with another EP of club hits and this week they dropped yet another piece of glitched-out dance music, “ghost2.”
Last year, Spencer Zahn teamed-up with Dawn Richard on the stunning record Pigments and last month he worked with Dave Harrington and Jeremy Gustin on a track-by-track cover of Harry Styles’ Harry’s House. This week he announced a new solo record and shared the eloquent piano ballad “Two Cranes.” Saxophonist Cole Pulice unveiled the mind-bending, 22-minute epic “If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You in the Pasture” which is a droning odyssey, rich with brilliant ambient tones that suspends time for a prolonged moment of sublime frequencies and blurs the lines between euphoric dreaming and divine meditation.
Vines (not The Vines), is a solo project from Cassie Wieland, an artist based out of Brooklyn who makes floating, ethereal pop that’s washed in a digital haze and her new song “i don’t mind” is a dizzyingly gorgeous track that rises with stunning grace all the while built around a singular, repeated vocal take that acts as the skeletal frame as warm, lush synths wrap around it with blossoming fashion.
Albums:
Sigur Rós | ÁTTA
Queens Of The Stone Age | In Times New Roman…
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation
Killer Mike | Michael
Hand Habits | Sugar The Bruise
Boris & Uniform | Bright New Disease
Meshell Ndegeocello | The Omnichord Real Book
Spoon | Memory Dust EP
The Reds, Pinks and Purples | Unloveable Losers EP
Songs:
The Hives | “Countdown to Shutdown”
Peggy Gou | “(It Goes Like) Nanana”
Cole Pulice | “If I Don’t See You in the Future, I’ll See You in the Pasture”
Vines | “I don’t mind”
Samantha Urbani | “More Than a Feeling”
ANOHNI | “Sliver of Ice”
Spencer Zahn | “Two Cranes”
Vagabon | “Can I Talk My Shit?”
Cakes da Killa | “Sex Drive”
Two Shell | “ghost2”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs | “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” (Lush version)
If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2023) here!
I would like to add new Deer Tick album :bow: :peace: