Gold Soundz: May 31, 2024

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

May comes to a close with a small, yet mighty week of new music that will set us up for a great summer season. Southern doom metal greats Thou roar back today with a crushing new album of hard-hitting blasts of sludgey riffs and iron-clad beats. It will rock you to the core and get your adrenaline pumping.

Last year, Arooj Aftab teamed-up with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily for the album Love in Exhile. Today she shares her fourth solo record Night Reins, the follow-up to 2021’s elegant Vulture Prince, and her latest composition of folk-jazz music that celebrates bold song structures and moving refrains.

The always enigmatic and intriguing Bat for Lashes also has a new record out today that continues to push the pop landscape into new directions with her indelible vocals and knack for embracing experimental tones while still crafting wonderfully accessible gems.

It’s been thirteen years since the last release from the slowcore band IDAHO but that changes today with their new record Lapse. Several years in the making, it’s a return to the band’s core sound of minimal rock music and breaks the solo streak of Jeff Martin as Robby Fronzo re-entered the picture to bring these songs to life.

The vaults from the legendary krautrock group Can have slowly been opening to reveal quite the collection of archival live recordings from the band’s heyday in the late ‘70s and this week we’ve been rewarded with a show from Aston in 1977. Although it came around the time of their poorly received album Saw Delight the recording still finds the band operating at a high-level and demonstrates their ability to continuously create something with magnetic appeal.

Last year, James Blake released the album Playing Robots Into Heaven and this week he’s shared a new, one-off, single that goes deeper into ‘90s techno grooves and unleashes some of his most dance-heavy beats in quite some time. It’s a fun track that will certainly grab attention and feels like something he’d work into his DJ sets rather than his lone solo shows.

The last official single from Magdalena Bay came with their 2021 debut album Mercurial World. Since then, the duo has released an expanded edition of the record as well as some “mini mixes,” all of which have featured new music. Still, this week they dropped a brand new single that amplifies the sound we’ve heard from them previously and seemingly takes things to the next level.

One of the best albums from last year was Erotic Probiotic 2 from Nourished by Time. He followed that up with this year’s great Chasing Chickens EP and this week he returned with another new song. The slow jam vibes are lit on “I Guess I Got My Answer” as the artist settles in to his distinctive sound that always manages to sound both nostalgic and also inventively fresh.

When Disclosure released their debut album all the way back in 2013, it seemed like the brothers were about to be the next big thing in electronic dance music. In the time since, they’ve never been fully able to capture the bliss of that first album, but songs like their latest “She’s Gone, Dance On” help to bring back that spark and assure that there is still some magic happening even if it’s never reached the heights of Settle.

Somehow, Romy’s sparkling solo debut record seemed to fly under the radar for most last year, which is a shame considering the thirst for more music from her main project and bandmate Jamie xx (both are said to have new stuff on the way). This week, Romy shared the new song “Always Forever” which strongly interpolates the ‘90s Donna Lewis song “I Love You Always Forever.” It doesn’t quite reach the excitement level you’d hope and ends up more like a mashed-up cover than something original, but probably radiates on the dance floor.

Perhaps best known as Cal on the phenomenal Netflix show Sex Education, Dua Saleh has been making groovy, nocturnal R&B tracks for quite some time and this week they shared a new song with the vibrant serpentwithfeet that goes deep on echo-driven beats and breathy vocal work.

Next week, Charli XCX will release her hotly anticipated new album Brat. Riding the enormous wave of support, she’s already announced some upcoming release shows, recently started a rave on a street corner in Brooklyn, and has plans for a headlining arena tour with Troye Sivan this fall. Now, with seven days to go, she’s shared a remix of her recent single “360” featuring Robyn and Yung Lean.

Albums:
Thou | Umbilical
Arooj Aftab | Night Reign
Bat For Lashes | The Dream Of Delphi
IDAHO | Lapse
Willie Nelson | The Border
Buffalo Tom | Jump Rope
Anastasia Coope | Darning Woman
BADBADNOTGOOD | Mid Spiral: Growth EP
Can | Live in Aston 1977

Songs:
James Blake | “Thrown Around”
Magdalena Bay | “Death & Romance”
Nourished by Time | “I Guess I Got My Answer”
Normani | “Candy Paint”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | “Frogs”
200 Stab Wounds | “Ride the Flatline”
Disclosure | “She’s Gone, Dance On”
Fred again.. | “places to be” (ft Anderson .Paak and CHIKA)
Washed Out | ”Running Away”
Charly Bliss | “Calling You Out”
Chris Cohen | “Sunever”
Romy | “Always Forever”
Dua Saleh | “unruly” (ft serpentwithfeet)
Elias Rønnenfelt | “Like Lovers Do”
Charli XCX | “The 360 remix with robyn and yung lean” (ft Robyn and Yung Lean)

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