Amoeba Music

Former Old Crow Medicine Show singer/guitarist Willie Watson forges a new path with his debut self-titled solo album. Among those backing him up is renowned Tom Petty keyboardist Benmont Tench, and Gabe Witcher and Paul Klowert of the Punch Brothers. It's Watson's uniquely Dylanesque vocals that shine through, no more so than on "Real Love," a perfect, heartfelt country love song written for Watson's wife Mindy. More

Rite Here Rite Now is the soundtrack to Ghost's concert film recorded at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA at the end of their 2023 Re-Imperatour . The soundtrack eschews the film's narrative moments from the band's web series Chapters, focusing on the riveting live music ramped up by the roar of the crowd. The sound is excellent on tracks like the epic, explosive "Kaisarion" and the blistering "Rats." While most of the music hails from Impera , there are also songs from Meliora and Prequelle , Seven Inches of Satanic Panic , and more. It's a real treat for fans even if they've experienced the band's energetic shows before. More

The much-buzzed about MJ Lenderman returns with some of the finest work of his brief yet dazzling career. Manning Fireworks is autumnal and essentially lonesome, a record that feels warm, gracious, and ever-so-slightly optimistic, even as Lenderman chronicles the unrepentant foibles and failures of his songs' characters. The music is twangy, fuzzed out, and gritty: it's the sound of epic yet angsty nights out where the lines blur between melancholic hedonism and letting the good times roll. Going nowhere fast has never sounded so good. More

Every so often, a record comes along and makes you stop in your tracks. That's the case for the wondrous, imaginative new Yannis & The Yaw album, Lagos Paris London . Vibrant, upbeat, and with a bit of an edge, this five-track EP is the result of an all-too-short yet seemingly fated collaboration between Foals singer Yannis Philippakis and the late, great Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. The pair play off each other magnificently, creating a fusion of sounds so dynamic and fresh it just feels like the sound of NOW — and that's despite the many setbacks in the creation of this collection, from scheduling issues to Covid restrictions, that started all the way back in 2016. Lagos Paris London is phenomenal. More

Yes, you heard right. There's a new album from beloved indie pop minimalists The Softies. The Bed I Made is lilting and tender, a softly beautiful and introspective exploration of grief and rebirth. The songs are quietly powerful, a testament to love, hope, and growth through challenges. The Bed I Made is an album to treasure, one you'll want to listen to closely, again and again. This album will remind you that nobody does it quite like The Softies. More

Filled with fierce, infectious post-hardcore tracks, Popular Monster is a fitting title for the latest from Falling In Reverse. Blending rap, metal, emo, and hard rock, these tracks are on fire with raw, rough emotion. They're also total anthems: turn them up loud and headbang your way through your worst (as well as your best) days. Popular Monster is a powerful, intense, world-shaking album. More

Northern Ireland's Kneecap are the kind of once-in-a-generation group that'll make you reimagine the possibilities for rap. On Fine Art , the trio cannonballs off the diving board of grime and 2-step, creating unpredictable, relentless tracks that juggle unhinged irreverence and laser-focused insights. The group members' flows accent each other nicely, the beats shift from simmering Beastie Boys'-esque minimalism to hands-in-the-air dance to moody, bass-heavy garage. Fine Art is a woozy and wonderful thrill ride. You've got to hear this one. More

Charlotte Day Wilson's Cyan Blue is a hazy, dreamy just left-of-center R&B album. The songs are intimate and inviting, the sound of falling in love. Wilson's Sade-like silked vocals float in and around the standup bass and plaintive piano at the heart of the tracks; the effect is hypnotizing and enthralling. Influences ranging from jazz to neo-soul are woven together to create an ethereal, seductive atmosphere. Charlotte Day Wilson is a true R&B innovator and Cyan Blue is a must-hear. More

Death Lens delivers scorching modern punk on Cold World . The songs tackle the topics of social injustice and global turmoil, and how we react to the seemingly nonstop flow of bad behavior and bad news. Listening to Cold World is an exhilarating experience that speeds by and will leave you aching for more. Grounded and gritty, the album moves from fierce and uncompromising to alienated and abrasive. This is the real deal. More

Mannequin Pussy returns with I Got Heaven , a musical showcase of moods, with all of them hitting equally hard in different ways, often within the same song. Singer and guitarist Marisa Dabice bares her soul on the indie-folk track "I Don't Know You," increasing the volume, distortion, and emotion as the song goes on. Conversely, "Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!" is a chaotic hardcore banger, replete with a tambourine during the breakdown. Brooding and shoegazey one moment, and bludgeoning you over the head in the next, I Got Heaven happily throws the rulebook out the window and does things the Mannequin Pussy way. More

Branching out from his roots in Title Fight, Ned Russin has elevated Glitterer from a one-man side project to a fully formed band on Rationale . Russin and company pluck moments of shiny synth from the '80s, fuse them together with '90s fist-pumping alternative rock and 00's shoegaze and pop and you're getting a sense of what to expect from Rationale . More

Themes of life, love, faith are explored on Weird Faith , the latest album from Madi Diaz. Coming off of a stint as a touring guitarist with Harry Styles, Diaz's unique style of introspective indie folk with a pop sheen uses minimal bells and whistles, her voice being the star of the show. The album also features "Don't Do Me Good," a duet with country star Kacey Musgraves. More

Sarah Jarosz seventh studio album, Polaroid Lovers , delivers her viscerally potent and resplendent brand of folk-rock, while exploring the ephemeral moments that indelibly shape our lives. The alchemy of Jarosz's finely wrought lyricism, gorgeous vocal work, and virtuosic yet unfettered musicality creates an album-long meditation on love and longing. More

Legendary musician and artist Kim Gordon's second solo album continues her collaboration with producer Justin Raisen (Lil Yachty, John Cale, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and advances their joint world building. Raisin's damaged, blown-out dub and trap constructions work as a foil to Gordon's word collages and mantras, conjuring themes of our modern world's dysfunctions with communication, commercial sublimation, and sensory overload. Gordon is here to disrupt and we like it. More

Future Islands have just released one of the best albums of their career. The songs on People Who Aren't There Anymore are totally bops, the type of ear worm tracks that become instant favorites. At the same time, there's a sense of emotional exploration to these songs that gives them real heft — Future Islands has gotten introspective in these slowed-down jams, delivering songs that feel like companions for the most uncomfortable moments of change and growth in life. It's a lovely album that will linger in your mind longer after the last note fades out. More

Waxahatchee's Tigers Blood finds Katie Crutchfield grappling with addiction issues and lost relationships and coming out on top. Sober since 2018, Crutchfield's songwriting is vulnerable yet bold, gritty yet graceful. Her lilting voice and easy-going Americana melodies bring sunlight to even the darkest corners, as Crutchfield moves from singing of tension and disappointment to belonging and welcome stability. Tigers Blood is summer day music: moving and magical, a moment to rest and survey the beauty in the world around you after the long metaphorical winter. More

Adrianne Lenker's Bright Future is a testament to growth, resilience, and the transmutation of emotions. That's transmutation in both the musical and the emotional sense: the second track is titled "Sadness as a Gift," if you needed a case in point. There's a tears-in-your-eyes clarity to the heartbreak detailed in these songs with their keening strings, tender guitars, and Lenker's sweetly bitter vocals. Bright Future is an album that finds meaning in the temporality of both pain and pleasure. An album that feels like a companion for the days you're looking for something or someone to hold onto. More

Sufjan Stevens's Javelin is a beautiful heartbreaker. These tracks feel like some of his deepest, most vulnerable, devastating work, yet this album is no downer. Buoyed quite literally by the lovely backing vocals of his five-part vocal choir of friends (adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui, and Nedelle Torrisi), the tracks embody the incredible human ability to reach up from the gutter, towards the stars. Javelin is a soft-voiced companion for tough times, gifted with a sense of the sacred and sublime. More

Taking its name from the infamous Georgia recording studio, Capricorn is a big step in the evolution of Atlanta bluesman Eddie 9V. Whether it’s the N’awlins funk of lead single “Yella Alligator” or the simmering ‘70s soul of “Are We Through” or “How Long,” Eddie 9V spreads his wings and flies across the genres and decades on Capricorn . More