It’s a new month! And May’s first New Music Friday brings a rush of new albums from across the board. Actor Caleb Landry Jones (who you know from movies like Get Out) makes the transition to singer with his debut album The Mother Stone, indie vets Car Seat Headrest delight fans with their latest effort, folk experimentalist Johanna Warren delivers with her cleverly titled album Chaotic Good and Austin rockers Pure X return with their first record in six years. There’s a little something for everybody, so nestle up next to your favorite speaker and get your stream on.
1. Caleb Landry Jones: The Mother Stone
Musician and actor (Get Out, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) is today releasing his debut album on indie label Sacred Bones. The Texas native says he’s inspired by The Beatles’ White Album and Syd Barrett’s solo work, and, following a bad breakup, the songs started pouring out of him. He recorded upwards of 700 songs in his parents’ barn, but, for now, we get to hear The Mother Stone, thanks to Jim Jarmusch, who introduced Jones to Sacred Bones. —Ellen Johnson
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2. Car Seat Headrest: Making A Door Less Open
Today, Car Seat Headrest release their anticipated new record Making A Door Less Open. Car Seat Headrest’s previous release was the 2016 album Teens of Denial, widely lauded as a breakthrough album for the band, followed by a 2018 reworking of an album Will Toledo had released on Bandcamp years earlier: Twin Fantasy. Making A Door Less Open is going in a drastically different direction, with songs that refuse to peg the album to a genre and with the debut of Toledo’s alter-ego Trait as the newfound ringleader of the band. Singles released in anticipation of the album have been “Can’t Cool Me Down,” “Martin,” “Hollywood” and “There Must Be More Than Blood.” —Natalia Keogan
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3. Deerhoof: Surprise Symphonies
Today, Bandcamp is again waiving all profits in favor of the artist (which they’ll do on the first Friday of the next two months, as well), and Deerhoof are releasing a special Bandcamp-exclusive album for the occasion. The rarities and b-sides collection spans 25 years of Deerhoof history. —Ellen Johnson
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4. Devon Williams: A Tear In The Fabric
After a six-year hiatus, singer/songwriter Devon Williams is back with his characteristic shuffle of folk-inspired rock and jangly pop. A Tear In The Fabric follows a series of changes for Williams, who welcomed a daughter and lost his father within a few years. “In domestic bliss, there are times when you start to wonder who you really are,” Williams said of the title track. “At a certain age, I think you start to feel more mortal, and you hold a little tighter to parts of yourself that are a little more difficult to reconcile. So, you’re basically trying to keep a part of you alive that should be dead. So, you may feel stuck. So ‘A Tear in the Fabric’ says we can change, we can stay the same, or maybe we can just do both. —Ellen Johnson
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5. Diet Cig: Do You Wonder About Me?
Formed in New Paltz, New York, Diet Cig went from performing in college basements to joining the music industry at large with their 2017 album Swear I’m Good at This. The band relocated to Richmond, Va., in 2017 with the sole purpose of concentrating on their next album, which is out today on FrenchKiss Records. The first three tracks have been released ahead of the album—“Thriving,” “Night Terrors” and “Who Are You?” —Natalia Keogan
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6. Happyness: Floatr
British lo-fi rockers Happyness today release their third album Floatr, which follows 2017’s Write In and 2015’s self-recorded debut Weird Little Birthday. The band began as a three-piece of Jonny Allan, Ash Kenazi and Benji Compston back in 2013 and now boasts a core lineup of Allan and Kenazi (who has recently come out and often performs in drag on stage) alongside live members Max Bloom (Yuck), Anna Vincent (Heavy Heart) and Scott Booker Roach (Social Contract). Following previous singles “Vegetable” and “Seeing Eye Dog,” “Ouch (yup)” also maintains their lo-fi roots, but it’s not an empty pastiche. It grapples with the personal and political defeatism that’s so easy to slip into these days—wondering how long we can (and should) tread water and marveling at how we convince ourselves that things are set in stone when they really aren’t. But it’s not overly bleak, thanks in part to their enlivening guitar passages and Jonny Allan’s trustworthy vocals. —Lizzie Manno
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7. Hot Country Knights: The K Is Silent
Just ask anyone: Hot Country Knights are the best 1990s country cover band in the history of time. They’re the real deal! OK, well, they’re not exactly who they say they are, but they’re certainly a project worthy of your attention. Hot Country Knights are on a mission to bring “real ‘90s country music back to a format that’s been drowning in male sensitivity, cashmere cardigan sweaters and programmed drum loops.” Helmed by their mullet-wearing frontman Douglas (“Doug”) Douglason (aka country superstar Dierks Bentley), they landed a deal with Universal Music Group Nashville, and they’ve been taking the world by storm ever since. Today (May 1) marks the arrival of their debut album, The K Is Silent. —Ellen Johnson
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8. Johanna Warren: Chaotic Good
Ahead of her new album Chaotic Good (out today on Wax Nine/Carpark Records), Johanna Warren decided to start a brash folk riot in the form of her fourth and final promo single “Twisted.” It might very well be the angriest and most impassioned folk track of the year—gurgling screams ring out over gleaming guitars, but even fans of dainty folk will gravitate to her simmering raw emotions. “I used to be too concerned with maintaining a certain crystalline prettiness in my high register to ever let myself go there,” Warren says. “It was a very restrictive approach to such a versatile instrument as the human voice. But now that prettiness is something I specifically try to avoid. I’d much rather my voice sound rough and textured. I’m more interested now in trying to make as many different kinds of sounds as I can.” —Lizzie Manno
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9. Pure X: Pure X
Austin, Texas rockers Pure X are releasing their first album in six years, a self-titled LP out digitally today and physically on July 3 via Fire Talk Records. Pure X released their latest album in 2014 with Angel. During their hiatus, Jesse Jenkins V released a solo album called Hard Sky in 2017, and the band spent time traveling and starting their families. Pure X quietly reformed in 2018, per a press release. Singles “Middle America” and “Fantasy” both tap into the languid, distorted sounds that fueled their rise, falling somewhere between warbled slowcore and dreamy heartland rock. Their album was recorded live in Texas Hill Country, and you can practically hear the sun-glazed flowers fluttering gently in the wind at dawn. —Lizzie Manno
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10. V.V. Lightbody: Make A Shrine Or Burn It
Chicago singer/songwriter Vivian McConnell, known professionally as V.V. Lightbody, today releases her sophomore album, Make A Shrine Or Burn It, via Acrophase Records. V.V. Lightbody’s self-described nap-rock sound is present throughout the single “If It’s Not Me,” though it also has a distinct punchiness due to the impactfulness of the lyrics. “‘If It’s Not Me’ is my anti-jealousy anthem about not hating the future partner of your current partner,” says McConnell. “Feeling happy for an ex, although not always easy, feels healthy and mature to me, especially when you aren’t ready to commit—there’s no need to be possessive!” —Natalia Keogan
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