Today’s New Music Friday is a good one for indie rock. There’s a new EP from Yo La Tengo, which features covers of songs by The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Delmore Brothers, Ronnie Lane and The Flying Machine, plus a new original song. U.K. veterans Future Islands released their sixth studio album As Long As You Are, and the Madison, Wis.-bred and Chicago-based Slow Pulp shared their self-produced debut album Moveys. Sample these three releases, plus seven other notable albums out today.
1. Alexia Avina: Unearth
Alexia Avina has a restorative voice, and her previous album All That I Can’t See was an ambient folk fan’s dream. She’s now readying her third album Unearth, which is more fleshed out than its acoustic predecessor, but still satisfyingly layered and wispy. It’s also a breakup album—one that grapples not just with the initial resentment and anger, but the lingering existential questions that will remain for a lifetime (“Came in like a raging comet / And I was on the other side of it / Where are all the other roses / And who decides when we’re unfrozen?”). Unearth isn’t background music—it’s a gorgeous, inner retreat. —Lizzie Manno
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2. The Budos Band: Long In The Tooth
The Budos Band are celebrating their 15th anniversary with their new album Long In The Tooth, out now via Daptone Records. It follows 2019’s V, which Paste praised for its lead track, “Old Engine Oil,” calling it a “pedal-to-the-metal rocker.” Paste has long been a fan of “the sinister, wicked vibe” of this New York afro-soul/psychedelic rock outfit. Back in 2018, Paste editor Jim Vorel commented, “If a Budos Band song could be personified, it would look like Lee Van Cleef in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and that’s a fact.” —Lizzie Manno
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3. Cut Worms: Nobody Lives Here Anymore
Brooklyn act Cut Worms (aka Max Clarke) released a new double album Nobody Lives Here Anymore via Jagjaguwar. Clarke says the album grapples with “throwaway consumer culture and how the postwar commercial wet dreams never came true, how nothing is made to last.” There is a powerful old-timey atmosphere in these songs, and they reverberate with the feeling of road tripping in the South. —Danielle Chelosky
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4. Future Islands: As Long As You Are
As Long As You Are is Future Islands’ sixth full-length LP and it’s now arrived via 4AD. The band will also perform a live-streamed concert today (Oct. 9) . The album was promoted with four singles: “Thrill,” “For Sure,” “Moonlight” and “Born in a War.” “Thrill” is slower and sparkling, a true synth ballad delivered by an emotional Herring. Future Islands’ most recent album was 2017’s The Far Field. —Ellen Johnson
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5. Machinedrum: A View Of U
North Carolina-born producer Machinedrum, aka Travis Stewart, released his new album, A View of U, which features the double single “Kane Train (feat. Freddie Gibbs)” / “Ur2yung.” The album, out now via Ninja Tune, marks Machindrum’s ninth solo LP, and features collaborators including Sub Focus, Freddie Gibbs, Jesse Boykins III and Tanerélle. A View of U was based on the concept of out of body experiences. Machinedrum explains, “When I am in the creative zone I tend to forget time, who I am and where I am. As I became aware of my OOBE through song creation, choosing what songs should go on an album as well as through my meditation, I realized that this was meant to be the central theme of the album.” —Lia Pikus
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6. METZ: Atlas Vending
Canadian punk outfit METZ released a new album Atlas Vending via Sub Pop. It follows last year’s Automat. The album features production work from Ben Greenberg of Uniform and Seth Macheter of The Body, Lingua Ignota and Daughters fame. A press release says the album includes “seemingly disparate themes such as paternity, crushing social anxiety, addiction, isolation, media-induced paranoia, and the restless urge to leave everything behind.” Lead single “A Boat to Drown In” is a characteristically bleak, seven-and-a-half minute boil of Alex Edkins’ snarling delivery playing against a heavy backdrop of guitars and drums—eventually dropping into churning instrumental tension for the second half of the song. —Jack Meyer
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7. Slow Pulp: Moveys
The self-produced debut album from indie-rock four-piece Slow Pulp—Emily Massey (vocals/guitar), Henry Stoehr (guitar), Alex Leeds (bass) and Teddy Mathews (drums)—may as well have been written and recorded in another lifetime. The Madison-bred, Chicago-based band began work on their first full-length last spring, and they redirected their efforts after Massey was diagnosed with Lyme disease and chronic Mono; her newfound focus on self-care dovetailed with Slow Pulp fine-tuning their approach to songwriting, parallel processes each rooted in accountability and communication. These new songs came together in earnest during the band’s fall 2019 tour alongside Alex G, but in March 2020, as they were finishing the album, Massey’s parents were injured in a serious car accident, requiring her to return home to Madison to care for them—soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic’s Stateside spread required her to stay there. The ensuing seven months of lockdown have distorted time almost beyond recognition. The band finished Moveys (its title, in part, a nod to the upheaval of its making) from afar, and it’s better than it has any right to be, a vividly realized debut with the bold, exploratory confidence of a mid-career release. —Scott Russell
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8. Suitor: Communion
Cleveland duo Suitor released their debut EP Communion. Earlier this week, they shared its title track exclusively with Paste, which you can check out below. The indie-punk band consists of vocalist and lyricist Emma Shepard and Chris Corsi (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards). Both members also play in Small Wood House, which Paste named one of 15 Cleveland bands you need to know in 2020. “Communion” is the perfect meeting of spiky and sweet. Its jangly post-punk tones, classic indie-pop vocals and intergalactic keys are a nice introduction to the band. The rest of the EP offers varying shades of moody, synth-laden indie rock, and there’s even a stylish, tightly-wound punk number (“Suitor”). —Lizzie Manno
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9. Touche Amore: Lament
Post-hardcore band Touché Amoré released their long-awaited fifth studio album Lament via Epitaph. The album is produced by Ross Robinson, who’s worked with Glassjaw, Slipknot and Korn. Lead single “Limelight,” which features Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull, is as chaotic as Touché’s other songs, though it’s quiet at first, with Bolm’s scratchy vocals making the most noise. Hull’s silky vocals are a great addition to the post-hardcore/emo mess. Touché Amoré’s last studio album was 2016’s critically-acclaimed Stage Four, which reckoned with the death of frontman Jeremy Bolm’s mother. It was powerful and evocative, and Bolm’s poetic lyricism resonated with many. Since then, they re-recorded their album …To the Beat of a Dead Horse, and they released a live album and some one-off singles. —Danielle Chelosky
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10. Yo La Tengo: Sleepless Night
Yo La Tengo are back with a new EP titled Sleepless Night, which follows their instrumental collection that dropped a few weeks ago. The EP is out now via Matador Records, and it features six tracks: five covers and one new original song titled “Bleeding.” The covers include songs by The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Delmore Brothers, Ronnie Lane and The Flying Machine. Sleepless Night was originally released as part of artist Yoshitomo Nara’s retrospective exhibition at the LACMA. Nara also helped choose the EP’s tracklist, and made the cover art. —Lexi Lane
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