Paste is the place to kick off each and every New Music Friday. We follow our regular roundups of the best new songs by highlighting the most compelling new records you need to hear. Find the best new albums of the week below.
beaming: horseshoe
Derek Ted and Braden Lawrence haven’t been in a band together long, but the music they’re making as beaming sounds like it’s always existed. Their debut album, horseshoe, is a firecracker of a record. Written, recorded, and celebrated in Southern California, it is a community-driven banger that feels both nostalgic and immediate. As Ted noted, there is a special magic in the right people coming together in a room, and this project proves that chemistry is alive and well.
Frog: Frog for Sale
Daniel and Steve Bateman have delivered an absurdly fun record with Frog for Sale. Blending lo-fi pop, country, and bossa nova, the album jaunts around with the ease of a band that writes songs as naturally as they breathe. It is 12 tracks of strange, deeply lovable music that refuses to take itself too seriously.
Jessie Ware: Superbloom
On Superbloom, Jessie Ware continues her exploration of sleek, sexy disco-pop. While it carries a familiar aftertaste compared to her previous work, the album is draped in lush harmonies, funky basslines, and a genuine emotional urgency, particularly on standout tracks like “16 Summers.”
Kathryn Mohr: Sing Me Alive
Five years in the making, Kathryn Mohr’s Sing Me Alive captures a tangible aridity inspired by the American Southwest. Her lyrics remain opaque and surreal, painting a portrait of grief as a constant, imminent condition of intimacy.
Lucy Liyou: MR COBRA
MR COBRA is a revisionist retelling of a traumatic past, transformed into a musique concrete haunted house. It is an immersive, all-encompassing work of theater that defies simple description, forcing the listener to confront a singularity of feeling.
Nine Inch Nails / Boys Noize: Nine Inch Noize
This collaboration is a potent, industrial-rock-meets-techno powerhouse. By wedding Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s recent scores with the dense, trashy electronica of Boys Noize, the duo has created a project that feels dangerous and essential.
Sean Solomon: The World Is Not Good Enough
Sean Solomon’s solo record is a contemplative, pared-back look into the psyche of a gentle soul. Caught between a lullaby and an existential crisis, the album pairs a philosophical bent with a quiet, desperate affection for humanity.
Teen Suicide: Nude descending staircase headless
The married duo’s first full studio recording proves that a higher budget doesn’t dilute their intensity. The album rips through post-rock and noise-pop with a scale that perfectly matches the weight of their emotions.
Winston Hightower: 100 Acre Wood
100 Acre Wood is a tremendous lo-fi release that feels charming, discordant, and goofy. It is a record that encourages listeners to carve out time for themselves, offering a wistful heart wrapped in carefree camouflage.
Yaya Bey: Fidelity
Fidelity confronts the act of grief itself. Through a suite of R&B, jazz, and reggae, Yaya Bey explores the transient nature of life, delivering a mesmerizing vocal performance that shines like a light in the fog.
Yot Club: Simpleton
Ryan Kaiser’s latest project offers a woozy, lo-fi record that captures the malaise of modern life. With twinkly electric guitars and a dissociative tone, Simpleton is a disarmingly sparse exploration of feeling stuck in late-capitalist suburbia.
