It may be the end of the calendar’s shortest month but the last album release day of February is making every moment count. Packed with guests ranging from Tame Impala and Stevie Nicks to Thundercat and Bad Bunny, Cracker Island is the eighth crowd-pleaser from Damon Albarn’s ever-shifting cast of Gorillaz. Swinging between heavy riffs and electro-ambiance, Meg Remy’s latest outing as U.S. Girls, Bless This Mess, is an ambitious set of omnivorous pop. Celebrating more than 40 years of moody jangle, Australian new wave icons The Church return with their 26th album, The Hypnogogue.
Teaming up with an assortment of collaborators from the worlds of rap and hard rock, Atlanta combo Algiers deliver their full-throttle fourth album, SHOOK. Mystical psychedelia creeps into the garage on Islands in the Sky, the latest cosmic trip from LA’s Death Valley Girls. If you listen close, you might hear a guest appearance by Phoebe Bridgers on Food for Worms, the third LP from British punk revivalists shame (even they’re not sure she’s in the final mix). Follow the Cyborg is the surprisingly human full-length debut from Miss Grit, a mutagenic pop singer for the AI age.
PRESS PLAY on these new releases below. Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every Friday on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.
Gorillaz – Cracker Island
CHECK OUT: “Cracker Island (feat. Thundercat)” “New Gold (feat. Tame Impala & Bootie Brown)”
U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess
CHECK OUT: “Futures Bet” “Bless This Mess”
The Church – The Hypnogogue
CHECK OUT: “C’est La Vie” “No Other You”
Algiers – SHOOK
CHECK OUT: “I Can’t Stand It! (feat. Samuel T. Herring & Jae Matthews)” “Irreversible Damage (feat. Zack de la Rocha)”
Death Valley Girls – Island in the Sky
CHECK OUT: “What Are the Odds” “Magic Powers”
shame – Food for Worms
CHECK OUT: “Fingers of Steel” “Six-Pack”
Miss Grit – Follow the Cyborg
CHECK OUT: “Lain (phone clone)” “Follow the Cyborg”
FURTHER LISTENING:
Adam Lambert – Ordinary World, Booker T. & The MG’s – Green Onions (60th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), Chasms – Glimpse of Heaven, Cola – Deep in View (Deluxe Edition), David Brewis – The Soft Struggles, Dierks Bentley – Gravel & Gold, Ellis Ludwig-Leone – False We Hope, Faten Kanaan – Afterpoem, Gabrielle Shonk – Across the Room, Gina Birch – I Play My Bass Loud, Gracie Abrams – Good Riddance, Iris DeMent – Workin’ on a World, Jenny O. – Spectra, John Lee Hooker – Burnin’ (Expanded Edition), Kate Fagan – I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool (Expanded Edition), Lucero – Should’ve Learned By Now, MEM_MODS – MEM_MODS, Vol. 1, Motörhead – Bad Magic: Seriously Bad Magic, mui zyu – Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, Naughty by Nature – 19 Naughty III (30th Anniversary Edition), The Necks – Travel, Neutral Milk Hotel – The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel, NNAMDÏ – Please Have a Seat (Deluxe Edition), Philip Selway – Strange Dance, Rick Wakeman – A Gallery of the Imagination, Sam Gendel – COOKUP, Steel Panther – On the Prowl, STÖNER – Boogie to Baja, The Strokes – The Singles Volume 01 (Box Set), Swim Camp – Steel Country, Ty Segall & Emmett Kelly – Live at Worship, ZG Smith – Nighttime Animal EP, Various Artists – Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1975-1987
