Between a bafflingly chaotic presidential debate and the start of the new month, it was a crazy week to say the least. But, as ever, it’s over, and we’ve been rewarded with New Music Friday—whether we deserve it or not. This week brings a supreme prize pack of new albums including a new Jónsi solo record, a sort-of surprise Field Medic compilation and a new Death Valley Girls LP. Find all these and more below.
1. Bartees Strange: Live Forever
Bartees Strange has shared his much-anticipated debut album, Live Forever, following singles “Mustang” and “Boomer.” The album follows the release of his March EP, Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, which landed on Paste’s list of best EPs of 2020 so far. —Jack Meyer
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2. Dawes: Good Luck With Whatever
The L.A. rock band Dawes have released their first new album since 2018’s Passwords today. Good Luck With Whatever is out now on Rounder Records. The band, helmed by guitarist Taylor Goldsmith alongside his brother Griffin and their compadres Wylie Gelber (bass) and Lee Pardini (keys), recorded the new album at RCA Studios in Nashville, Tenn., with one of Music City’s most in-demand producers, Dave Cobb. “We’re a living breathing organism,” Pardini said in a statement. “People love to say, ‘this record sounds so THIS’ and ‘that record sounds so THAT,’ but to us, it just sounds like Dawes. We make records to document where we are at that time, but every time I check, it just sounds like Griff, Taylor, Wylie and me.” —Ellen Johnson
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3. Death Valley Girls: Under the Spell of Joy
LA’s indie mystical punks Death Valley Girls are back with their new album Under the Spell of Joy, out today via Suicide Squeeze. “Under the Spell of Joy is a space-gospel record,” said vocalist/guitarist Bonnie Bloomgarden of the album and lead single “The Universe.” “We believe we served as channels for what we think are guides. As we learn what the songs are about we realize they are meant to be sang like chants, hymns, or spells. Most of the songs were recorded with 12 voices, including a kids choir! We are learning that words with intention and energy hold so much power, especially when said or sang with a group. “The Universe” is a song to sing, a space to be, a time to think, remember, and truly feel that not only are we all connected, but we are also being guided.” —Danielle Chelosky
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4. Drive-By Truckers: The New Ok
On the heels of their most recent album The Unraveling, Drive-By Truckers announced this week a new surprise album, The New Ok, which is out digitally today via ATO Records, with CD and vinyl editions arriving on Dec. 18. “To call these past few months trying would be a dramatic understatement,” Patterson Hood said. “Our lives are intertwined with our work in ways that give us our best songs and performances. It is a life that has often rewarded us beyond our wildest dreams. Speaking for myself, I don’t have hobbies, I have this thing I do. To be sidelined with a brand new album and have to sit idly while so much that I love and hold dear falls apart before my very eyes has been intense, heartbreaking, anger provoking and very depressing. It has gone to the very heart of our livelihoods and threatened near everything that we have spent our lives trying to build. Here’s to the hope that we can make 2021 a better year than this one has been. In the meantime, here’s to The New Ok!” —Paris Rosenthal
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5. Field Medic: Floral Prince
After months of releasing one-off songs, Field Medic announced his new song collection Floral Prince. The announcement also came with a new song titled “i will not mourn who i was that has gone away.” Floral Prince, out now via Run For Cover Records, includes prior singles and seven unreleased songs. A press release describes it as “part mixtape, part album, part collection, part musical patchwork quilt.” —Lexi Lane
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6. Hot Chip: Late Night Tales
There are few bands in this world whose DJ sets merit as much excitement as their usual output quite like Hot Chip. Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard and co. are flat out one of the best synthpop bands in the world, and—across seven releases—they’ve never made a bad album. The way they manage to keep their finger on the pulse of shifting musical styles and the anthropomorphic nature of dance music is unique to say the least, and hearing them spin the tunes that inspire them is a window into the soul of their incredible discography. Enter Hot Chip’s installment in the famed Late Night Tales series, which asks artists to create the ultimate late-night mix of songs. Keeping with the tradition of the series (which has featured notable mixes in the past from acts like Bonobo, The Flaming Lips, Badbadnotgood, et al.), Hot Chip have compiled a perfect mix for a hazy evening, which is when you’ll ideally be listening to it. And best of all, there are four new Hot Chip songs in the mix, too. Peep “Candy Says” below, but do yourself a favor and delve into not only Hot Chip’s Late Night Tales, but also any of the other mixes in the series from artists that might mean something to you, too. —Adrian Spinelli
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7. Jónsi: Shiver
Jónsi, the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist of Icelandic post-rock giants Sigur Rós, is releasing his first solo album in a decade. Sigur Rós have been quiet since 2013’s Kveikur, so it’s a more than welcome return for Jónsi’s pacifying voice—though you haven’t heard his songs quite like this before. Jónsi teamed up with producer A.G. Cook for an album of striking synthetic pop sounds, and it also includes features from Robyn and Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser. The contrast of Cook’s icy soundscapes and Jónsi’s warm falsetto makes for essential listening. “He was brutal, which was really healthy for me,” Jónsi says of the PC Music founder. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I get tired of everything really easily. I always want things to be fun and exciting and fresh, and doing another album…I just wanted to have a different approach.” —Lizzie Manno
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8. Kurt Vile: Speed, Sound, Lonely KV
Kurt Vile shared a duet and cover of John Prine’s “How Lucky,” featuring the late country legend himself, a few weeks ago for his new EP. Vile and Prine take different verses at first, but join forces at the end, with their vocals complementing each other quite nicely. It’s a glimpse of his new EP Speed, Sound, Lonely KV, out now via Matador. —Lexi Lane
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9. Laura Jane Grace: Stay Alive
Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! surprise released a solo album Wednesday night via Polyvinyl titled Stay Alive. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s Bought to Rot, which she recorded as Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers. The album was recorded with just vocals, an acoustic guitar and a drum machine, and it was engineered by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in July 2020. —Lizzie Manno
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10. Shamir: Shamir
Philadelphia indie rock artist Shamir has released his anticipated self-titled album and shared three singles from it ahead of time: “On My Own,” “I Wonder” and “Running.” This LP follows the release of Cataclysm, a surprise album that dropped in March. —Lia Pikus
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