Tour and festival lineup announcements have been taking up an inordinate amount of our brain space lately, as live music’s vaccine-assisted resurgence continues—at least on paper. But on this fine New Music Friday, we’re setting all that aside and pinpointing the 10 most pressing releases to set your streaming (and/or purchasing) sights on, from the triumphant debuts of Olivia Rodrigo and Claire George to rich new releases from the acts you see above. Enough ado—get acquainted with today’s top 10 new albums below.
CHAI: WINK
Though hyperpop, noise rock and other saturated genres are glorious in their own rights, it takes a lot of skill to leave behind the bells and whistles and still turn out a good record. Case in point: Japanese outfit CHAI’s third album, WINK, which abandons their bombastic approach to production but still makes you smile at every turn. Their previous releases PINK (2018) and PUNK fly in the face of anyone who claims less is more. The two records defy genre, skipping from hip-hop to synth-pop to bubblegum punk and buzzing with frenetic energy. More than anything, though, they are delightful in the purest sense of the word, overflowing with humor and optimism. The four-piece change tack with WINK, intentionally stripping back their sound (relative to their previous work, that is; don’t expect anything that sparse) to emulate the type of music they typically listen to at home. Much of their punk or power-pop influences are put aside for a more R&B-inflected sonic palette. Just compare the laid-back, Tame Impala-esque vibes of opener “Donuts Mind If I Do” with the first track of PUNK, “CHOOSE GO!”—an exuberant song that feels as all-caps as its title. But even with their energy tempered slightly, CHAI make every moment feel like a treat. —Clare Martin
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Claire George: The Land Beyond The Light
Claire George’s debut has been a long time coming since 2018’s Bodies of Water EP. Her much-anticipated first full-length The Land Beyond The Light shows a freer side of George, with feel-good dance anthems bathed in neon lights. Her delicate vocals slip over ‘80s synths and atmospheric hums on singles such as “Pink Elephants” and “I Promise,” thawing out a cold exterior to reveal something more human. George’s expressive lyricism finds her opening up about deeper issues of addiction and unconditional love, showing there are glimpses of gardens in even the most barren of lands. —Jade Gomez
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Erika de Casier: Sensational
There is a delicacy to Erika de Casier that harkens back to the treasured R&B stars of the late-’90s into the early-‘00s, balancing herself on the same tightrope as her inspirations between relatability and luxury. Her voice is cradled in glitters and silks, resting in the nostalgic atmosphere she’s created with a minimalist palette of acoustic guitars and pianos. Despite her album’s bare bones, de Casier does not overpower Sensational, instead allowing her songwriting and vocal control to take the wheel. It is a record with as much humility as there is confidence, and proof that de Casier has perfected the art of the homage. —Jade Gomez
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Fiddlehead: Between the Richness
On both their records to date—2018’s Springtime and Blind and today’s (May 21) Between the Richness—Boston rockers Fiddlehead have delivered a potent combination of anthemic melody, hard-rock muscle and poignant lyricism; the band, featuring members of Have Heart, Basement and others, “blend post-hardcore punch with emo’s openhearted catharsis,” as we previously wrote in praise of standout single “Million Times.” Between the Richness packs hard-won wisdom—vocalist Pat Flynn got married, had a son and marked the 10-year anniversary of his father’s death, all between the band’s two albums—into 25 minutes of explosive, deeply personal rock ‘n’ roll that manages to look back on life’s peaks and valleys without ever taking its foot off the gas. —Scott Russell
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Lambchop: Showtunes
For a band that is characterized by rebellion against characterization, it’s a bold statement to say that Lambchop’s newest album, Showtunes, is the most experimental and double take-inducing album in their vast discography. Moving away from the gorgeous and, at times, new age-feeling textures of FLOTUS and This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You), Kurt Wagner and his band opt for more cold and abrasive industrial templates with moments of free jazz exploration. Aided by washes of loud synth bass and mariachi horns, Wagner sings in an echo-drenched croon on the seven-minute centerpiece “Fuku,’’ sounding more like late-period Scott Walker than his old signature folksy, tobacco-stained drawl. With highlights like the gorgeous autotuned “Unknown Man” and the stark piano balladry of opener “A Chef’s Kiss,” Showtunes is a bleak, yet never downtrodden release from a band that keeps pushing themselves as they refine with age. —Pat King
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Lula Wiles: Shame and Sedition
Writing and recording during a year when billionaires’ wealth grew collectively by $3.9 trillion while most of us were surviving a pandemic, it’s no wonder Lula Wiles’ Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland and Mali Obomsawin turned to unchecked capitalism when compiling material for their new album last summer. The liner notes mention Jeff Bezos specifically, but Shame and Sedition looks to dismantle all sorts of present-day evils. Trying on a new sound that marries lo-fi indie rock to the band’s trademark take on old-time roots music, Lula Wiles’ third album explores its namesake “concepts” (shame, and of course sedition) through the lenses of twenty-something affliction and good old-fashioned protest music. Recorded in an old farmhouse on Wabanaki territory across three weeks during the summer of 2020, Shame and Sedition captures every bit of angst and pain that accompanied a racial reckoning and worsening pandemic. And just as the pandemic has furiously bloomed into something far beyond a public health crisis—revealing institutional crises and failing systems that have been crumbling for centuries—Shame and Sedition doesn’t just examine one aspect of our present dilemmas. —Ellen Johnson
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Mannequin Pussy: Perfect EP
Following 2019’s sentimental powerhouse Patience, Mannequin Pussy returns with new EP Perfect. Toeing a similar line between punk and anthemic rock, Perfect edges the band closer to stadium-rock territory while sacrificing none of the lyrical and emotional potency they’ve delivered in the past. If anything, Perfect finds the band doubling down on the intensity, the passion and the ambition they’ve demonstrated previously, further cementing them as a titanic voice in modern rock. —Jason Friedman
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Mdou Moctar: Afrique Victime
Tuareg guitarist and songwriter extraordinaire Mdou Moctar and his band are making their Matador Records debut with Afrique Victime, a resolute protest against the ongoing large-scale exploitation of their continent. “Africa is a victim of so many crimes / If we stay silent, it will be the end of us,” Moctar sings out on the LP’s towering title track, loosing scorched-earth Saharan rock riffs over a shuffling groove that speeds and slows, but adamantly marches on regardless of its pace. Moctar’s Van Halen-inspired electric shred is one element among many on Afrique Victime, sharing space with acoustic folk-rock (“Tala Tannam,” “Layla”), drum machines (“Ya Habibti”), atmospheric group vocals (“Asdikte Akal”) and field recordings captured in his native Niger (“Chismiten,” “Untitled”). Mdou Moctar’s music once spread across Western Africa via cell phone data cards; now, Matador is releasing an Afrique Victime collector’s edition that’s preloaded onto (and mastered for) an old-school Nokia 6120. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better metaphor for the journey Mdou Moctar’s talents have taken them on. —Scott Russell
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Olivia Rodrigo: SOUR
2021 is the year of Olivia Rodrigo, full stop. The 18-year-old pop sensation made a multi-platinum entrance with “drivers license,” proved she was no fluke on “deja vu,” and put her range on display with “good 4 u” just last week. Still, the lingering question in the lead-up to her debut album SOUR was, “Is Rodrigo for real, or just a flash in the pan?” From the record’s opening moments, it would appear we have our answer: “brutal” begins with a mock orchestral intro before uncorking a left hook in the same pop-punk revival vein as “good 4 u,” with Rodrigo confessing over chugging guitars, “I feel like no one wants me / And I hate the way I’m perceived.” From that song’s supremely relatable teenage angst (“jealousy, jealousy” is another standout of that stripe) and heartfelt ballads like “enough for you” and closer “hope ur ok,” to the hits that made this album an event, SOUR cements Rodrigo as an artist deserving of the year’s most meteoric rise. —Scott Russell
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Storefront Church: As We Pass
The darkly beautiful debut album from Lukas Frank’s Los Angeles-based rock project Storefront Church, As We Pass finds Frank leading a team of 20+ collaborators, performing and co-writing alongside DIIV frontman Cole Smith and guitarist Waylon Rector (Phoebe Bridgers)—it’s that sense of fellowship that empowers Frank to face the fact that everything ends, even titling his album for the act of moving on. “The past is just a tale I tell myself,” Frank sings over the placid guitars of “Total Stranger,” his deceptively powerful vocals evoking any number of singer/songwriter greats. On “Smile-Shaped Scar,” the evanescence of it all borders on apocalyptic: “Grass fingers reach from pavement / Some day, the city will sleep in a green blanket / Until then / I’m always there,” Frank prophesies over waves of dream-pop guitar, his melodies’ ghostly glow shining a light on all the beauty in the breakdown. —Scott Russell
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And don’t forget to check out… Allison Russell: Outside Child, CLOVES: Nightmare On Elmfield Road, Downhaul: Proof, FACS: Present Tense, Gary Numan: Intruder, Georgia Anne Muldrow: VWETO III, Gruff Rhys: Gruff Rhys, John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band: Leftover Feelings, Lord Huron: Long Lost, Lydia Ainsworth: Sparkles & Debris, Mach-Hommy: Pray for Haiti, Mesh: Mesh EP, PACKS: Take the Cake, Patrick Paige II: If I Fail Are We Still Cool?, Robert Finley: Sharecropper’s Son, Sons of Raphael: Full-Throated Messianic Homage
