featuring Squid, clipping., Young Nudy & MORE
An overwhelming amount of music is released daily, and we're here to help you weed through it all. Every week, we share select releases we are all looking forward to and personalized picks from a few of our editors.
Welcome to our New Releases to Check Out guide featuring the most notable music released the week of November 15.
And don't forget to check out our YouTube, where DeVán reports on the latest music news every Friday.
BLIGATORY Picks
Squid - "Crispy Skin"
Post-Rock, Post-Punk, Art Rock
via Warp Records
write-up by Peter Doherty
Squid announce their third studio album Cowards—along with a headline UK & European tour—with lead single and album opener "Crispy Skin.”
“Touring fed into this record in a way that I didn't initially realise. Every song has a specific place anchored to it, places that all five of us have visited together, like New York, Tokyo, and Eastern Europe." says Squid drummer and vocalist Ollie Judge.
Anyone who has indulged in Squid material over the years knows that we're closing in on a very special period of time for a music fan. Squid are one of, if not THE, top-tier acts and live performers on the contemporary music scene.
Cowards, "an album about evil", releases February 7 via Warp.
clipping. - "Keep Pushing"
West Coast Hip-Hop, Acid Techno
via Sub Pop Records
write-up by Peter Doherty
clipping.'s next project has been announced, however, it hasn't got a release date nor name; said things aren't necessary though as the knowing of new clipping is enough in and of itself.
"Keep Pushing" thrives forward on the back of a squelchy, synth-based beat; strings add a taste of class to the seedy mix. It follows up their September single in "Run It.” Both are set to feature on the mysterious upcoming album. The promised new clipping. record is said to be a "Hip-Hop and cyberpunk project."
'And everywhere you go, just keep on pushing dope...'
Atticus' Picks
Cameron Winter - "$0"
Singer-Songwriter, Avant-Folk
via Partisan Records / Play It Again Sam
Cameron Winter of Geese is making a late-year album run with the teasing of—and now formally announced—Heavy Metal, slated for release on December 6 and available for pre-order on Bandcamp. Neither track from his October Singles drop is featured on the project’s tracklist, which technically makes “$0” the lead single, even though it was released through a free download on his website and has yet to appear on streaming.
Winter debuted a sound far from that of Geese on his first public solo tracks “Vines” and “Take It With You,” but “$0” takes the operatic, baroque, and classical attributes to another level. Within the nearly 7-minute runtime, the track swells on a profound chord progression that never really changes. His vocals are free yet intimate, and he occasionally sounds mere inches away from the mic while delivering very emotional lines that drift from ironic to serious; it’s hard to tell at points. However, the piano and strings clearly convey emotion, and the abrupt shift into the track’s lyric-less second half unlocks a pristine instrumental outro with bent string plucking and touches of operatic vocals.
If you couldn’t tell by now, this track has become one of my personal favorite singles of the year, not only because of its impeccable execution of self-aware grandiose and beauty, but also because of its intriguing release strategy. After I downloaded the file from Winter’s website, I opened it in iTunes and discovered that its metadata listed it as track 9 on Heavy Metal and displayed the album’s art, nearly a week before it was formally announced on 11/18. Needless to say, I am quite excited for this album’s release.
El Costeau - Merci, Non Merci
Trap, Cloud Rap, Plugg
via Super Costeau / Stem
Maxo Kream - Personification
Houston Trap
via Persona Money Gang / Stomp Down
Young Nudy & Pi'erre Bourn - Sli'merre 2
Atlanta Trap
via RCA Records
Dominick's Picks
Heart to Gold - Free Help
Indie Rock, Emo, Skate Punk, Pop Punk
via Memory Music
Minneapolis band Heart to Gold share their third album Free Help. Filled to the brim with sleek, punchy, and crisp—and emotional—rock, HTG really come into their own here.
Free Help is out now via Memory Music. In support of the album, Heart to Gold will embark on a tour—with support from Enumclaw (and others at select dates)—starting in March 2025.
Kettle - Blown Up Days
Slacker Rock, Indie Rock
via Julia's War
Kettle is the new project of Philadelphia-based musician Nick Myers. It’s warm and inviting, but a slight tension underscores Blown Up Days. It fits nicely along a very long list of great Philly projects this year—an extra boost for anyone who liked the most recent from A Country Western, Greg Mendez, or 22° Halo.
Straw Man Army - Earthworks
Post-Punk
via La Vida Es Un Mus Discos
Following up on 2020’s Age of Exile and 2022’s SOS, Straw Man Army wrap up a trilogy of politically-charged post-punk records with Earthworks. Sporting an anarcho-punk core with jazz, krautrock, and post-rock appendages, the NYC duo put together a dazzling compendium of societal frustration and desire for more.
Earthworks is out now via La Vida Es Un Mus Discos.
DITZ - "Taxi Man"
Post-Punk, Noise Rock
Self-Released
Grandmas House - "Screw It Up"
Post-Punk, Noise Rock
Self-Released
Kills Birds - "Behind"
Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Post-Grunge
via Lucky Number Music Limited
Peter's Picks
bdrmm - "John on the Ceiling"
Indietronica, Dream Pop
via Rock Action Records
bdrmm return on the scene with their sweet blend of Dream Pop and Shoegaze. The band released I Don't Know in 2023 to positive reception. The Hull-based collective will be looking to maintain their fanbase while reaching further afield on their upcoming third studio album Microtonic. Lead single "John in the Ceiling" houses a hazy, electronic essence.
Microtonic is out February 28 on Rock Action.
bdrmm begin their EU/UK tour on March 6 in Newcastle and also head to Leeds, Cologne, and Paris across the month of March.
Ichiko Aoba - "Luciférine"
Chamber Folk, Singer-Songwriter
via hermine / Psychic Hotline
The caressing worlds of Ichiko Aoba bless us once more with "Lucifèrine.” The subtle and ever-so-serene sounds of "Lucifèrine" pick up where Windswept Adan left off. Underwater effervescence; deep-dives akin to pristine, clarifying solitude.
Aoba's new album Luminescent Creatures is out February 28th, 2025 via hermine/Psychic Hotline.
Aoba's extensive world tour in support of Luminescent Creatures runs from February to May of 2025; it begins in Hong Kong on February 24 and also hits cities such as Barcelona, Hamburg, Antwerp, Vancouver, and Chicago.
lots of hands - "backseat 30"
Indie Folk, Slacker Rock
via Fire Talk Records
The Newcastle-New York connection strengthens with "backseat 30," the third single from into a pretty room, Lots of Hands' debut on Fire Talk Records.
"backseat 30" is very Alex G in vibe. It is sweet with hints of teeth, innocent with an air of 'I've seen this all before'; country roads and the drifting by of multiple lives like sand through a sieve. A feeling of 'things have to change' but not really knowing what, or how, to change—melancholia manifested.
'I don't wanna waste my life up hitting the backseat 30.'
into a pretty room is out January 17 via Fire Talk.
Pebbledash - "Soak"
Shoegaze
Self-Released
Cork-based band Pebbledash release the second single in the run-up to their upcoming Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House EP. With the tinge of Midwest Emo air, "Soak" stylistically feels like a reminiscence of days passed by; the sweet scent of never-ending summer nights; the people and places we meet along the way. Inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but perfect in and of itself. A speck of dust caught in the wind stands no chance, but it has its moment, its place, its slither in time. Reality does indeed kick in as it always does.
'I'd run to you like Autumn runs to Spring.'
Four Portraits of the Same Ugly House releases January 31.
Comments