The eternal New Music Friday question: What on earth do I listen to first? As ever, we have some suggestions, led by much-anticipated new albums from BROCKHAMPTON and Spirit of the Beehive. Also on our radar are numerous small releases with big sounds: Skullcrusher, Francis of Delirium and Body Meat have new EPs out this week that pack punches. Dig into the complete list of new music to stream below.
Body Meat:Year of the Orc EP
Body Meat, the stage name of Philadelphia-based musician Christopher Taylor, is overwhelming in the best way. Year of the Orc is a thesis statement for his purpose as he bends the limits of listenable and unlistenable, jolting the listener through glitchy interpretations of pop music. There is something for everyone, notably the recognizable trap sirens and hi-hats that make this EP sound like a grotesque I Spy puzzle that slowly sheds its layers with each listen. —Jade Gomez
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BROCKHAMPTON: ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE
On ROADRUNNER, BROCKHAMPTON don’t try to reinvent the wheel as much as they pay homage to it. The album itself is soaked in the kind of gritty percussion and verbal intensity synonymous with hip-hop. But this time around, BROCKHAMPTON brought a few friends outside of their crew along for the ride. “BUZZCUT” kicks off things with a hearty vehemence against rip-roaring production and dangerously accurate one-liners from Kevin Abstract like, “A platinum record not gon’ keep my Black ass out of jail.” BROCKHAMPTON spit bars with laser-like precision on the JPEGMAFIA-assisted “CHAIN ON,” and the theme of success continues on “BANKROLL,” where cameos from both A$AP Rocky and A$AP Ferg remind listeners of the unapologetic bravado the pair specialize in. In typical BH fashion, there are moments on “THE LIGHT,” “WHAT’S THE OCCASION?” and “DEAR LORD” that lean into vulnerability, tenderness and slight existential dread. It’s easy to pinpoint BROCKHAMPTON’s growth as evidenced by their latest project, but deeper parts of their creativity are tapped when outsiders—who happen to be insanely talented—are allowed to infiltrate their unit. As the band continues to map out their progression, they also showcase their deep knowledge of and reverence for rap as a whole. This particular album reaffirms an element of hip-hop that the boys have earnestly embraced: There is nothing more important than brotherhood. —Candace McDuffie
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Francis of Delirium: Wading EP
Francis of Delirium’s EP Wading consists of three previously released singles and one new track in “I Think I’m Losing.” Taken as a whole, the collection of releases by Vancouver teen Jana Bahrich and Seattle drummer/producer Chris Hewett brings as much heart as it does edge. Bahrich’s range of vocal stylings are on full display, from more mild-mannered indie melodies to half-spoken poetic verses to powerful, emo-infused belts. Paired with grungy, fuzzy guitar, drums and choral harmonies, the duo pack a serious punch. The EP’s new song “I Think I’m Losing” is a stunning, dynamic ballad that pulls all these elements together and finishes Wading with a bang. —Carli Scolforo
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Matthew E. White & Lonnie Holley: Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection
The new album from Richmond, Virginia singer/songwriter and arranger Matthew E. White and Birmingham, Alabama-born artist Lonnie Holley is described in a press release as a “collaborative avant-garde Southern folk record,” but most attempts to summarize Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection fall woefully short … with the notable exception of Holley’s. “We are in a time where we need healing. We are in a time where we need truth. I think that’s what this music is all about,” he says in a statement. The primary cause of that situation at which Broken Mirror points a finger is social media, specifically Instagram, decrying its capacity to distort and divide from an almost spiritual remove. “Mirror, mirror on the wall / How can I put you back together?” Holley cries over a delirious funk groove on the sprawling title track, his singular vocal tone intertwined with organ wheeze and spacey guitars. White and Holley’s unlikely collaboration lands with shocking unity, with the former guiding a seasoned septet of musicians through spirited improvisations while the latter holds court, channeling wisdom as if he’s been watching humankind through a gigantic magnifying glass from space (which may help explain “I Cried Space Dust/Composition 12”). Broken Mirror uses its surreality to point out how unreal everyday life has become, jarring listeners awake so they can take a look at who they really are. —Scott Russell
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Milly: Wish Goes On EP
Los Angeles-based quartet Milly have shared their second EP via Dangerbird Records, following their 2019 debut Our First Four Songs, which Paste hailed as one of that year’s best EPs. Wish Goes On’s five tracks include October 2020’s Star Thistle Blossom and February 2021’s “Denial.” Milly make gauzy slowcore that vacillates between guitar-rock crunch and emotive dream pop, and on Wish Goes On, they do with it a noticeable new cohesion, as principal songwriter and guitarist Brendan Dyer is now joined by Spencer Light on guitar, Yarden Erez on bass and Zach Capitti Fenton on drums. Their new songs reckon with change, assuming perspectives both collective (“Star Spangled Banner”) and individual (“Denial”), and changing themselves, shifting instrumental gears with newfound fluidity. Ultimately, Wish Goes On is about finding a flicker of hope to light the way, like when Dyer sings on the EP’s closer, “When her birds fly free / This life goes on / Could it be all you want?” —Scott Russell
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PONY: TV Baby
PONY make high-energy, grungy power-pop for the anxious introvert. Singer Sam Bielanski’s light, airy voice combines with pounding drums and power chords for a sound straight out of a coming-of-age teen movie. TV Baby consists of 10 short, jaunty tracks, and reads as a love letter to staying at home while battling constant, nagging worries and overcoming the toxicities of past relationships. Previous singles “WebMD; and “Couch; are fast-paced standouts, along with the singing electric guitar of “Furniture” and closing track “Swore,” whose sprinkling of synths marries well with PONY’s ‘80s-infused aesthetic. PONY’s debut album is a spirited introduction to their nostalgic charm, picking out the best parts of the last four decades and blending them for a perfect mood-booster. —Carli Scolforo
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Skullcrusher: Storm In Summer EP
Tim Kreider once wrote, “If we want the rewards of being loved, we must submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.” Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Helen Ballentine only just released her self-titled debut as Skullcrusher last year—one of 2020’s best EPs, if you ask us—but she’s already grappled with that give and take, struggling with Skullcrusher’s success. Now as then, Ballentine’s music lives up to her moniker by virtue of its devastating emotional honesty, which left her feeling exposed after realizing her debut’s intimate songwriting was being parsed by total strangers. “How did I end up here with my old lines on your page? / Sometimes I wish I’d kept them safe / Far away from your gaze,” she sings on her Storm In Summer EP’s title track, later wondering, “If I step into this storm / Is it warm? / Will I find my place?” Ballentine’s songwriting remains deeply personal, but her journey is universal, couched in beautiful music that will kill you softly. —Scott Russell
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Small Black: Cheap Dreams
New York City-based chillwave veterans Small Black describe their first new album in six years as a “Long Island gothic surf epic.” Cheap Dreams is a tribute to vocalist Josh Kolenik’s late uncle, an avid surfer who passed away after suffering a stroke at the beach, shortly after the release of the band’s 2015 album Best Blues—the band had recorded their 2010 debut New Chain in his Long Island attic. Fittingly, the album finds Kolenik and company looking back on his life, and how his pursuit of his passion inspired their own, bringing a new level of emotional introspection to their atmospheric indie-pop sound. Cheap Dreams is dark, but never heavy, with a lyric and melodic grace suited to the advice Kolenik offers on its lead single and opening track, “Tampa”: “Take a breath and just be here.” —Scott Russell
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Spirit of the Beehive: ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH
Shapeshifting. If there’s one descriptor for Philadelphia rockers Spirit of the Beehive, that’s it, so we figured we’d get it out of the way early. Transformation surrounds their fourth album and Saddle Creek debut ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, affecting the band itself—founding members Zack Schwartz and Rivka Ravede are now joined by Corey Wichlin—as well as their recording process and, of course, the music itself. While the band recorded their breakout 2018 album Hypnic Jerks in only a week, they took four months for ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, self-recording and producing their most adventurous album yet. Just take “I SUCK THE DEVIL’S COCK,” the record’s near-seven-minute third single, which they describe as “our take on ‘a day in the life’”: The song begins as glitchy, drum machine-spiked jangle-psych, but quickly devolves into borderline ambient noise, eventually reconstituting itself as dreamy indie-pop with the oddest refracted textures. It, like all of ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, is thrillingly unpredictable from moment to moment, and a mind-expanding exploration of the innumerable forms rock music can take. —Scott Russell
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Yoshinori Hayashi: Pulse of Defiance
Yoshinori Hayashi manipulates sound with ease. Whether it’s his disorienting techno DJ sets or his homages to ‘90s bleep techno, Hayashi’s music is not meant to be easy. His second full-length, Pulse of Defiance eases back on that ethos a bit while also disrupting the natural expectations of dance music. The atmospheric, jazzy elements ooze into the slight nods to jungle, house and reggae. It sounds like a living thing that slowly gains its footing, becoming more fully realized while reminding you to keep your distance. —Jade Gomez
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And don’t forget to check out … Benny Sings: Music, Briston Maroney: Sunflower, Cheap Trick: In Another World, Jordan Rakei: Late Night Tales, Merk: Infinite Youth, Nick Waterhouse: Promenade Blue, Parker Millsap: Be Here Instead, Rhiannon Giddens With Francesco Turrisi: They’re Calling Me Home, Tomemitsu: Sun
