Today should be declared a holiday in Philadelphia, as three of the city’s brightest musical acts highlight this week’s crop of new albums. Recent Free at Noon favorites Mannequin Pussy deliver a thrilling opus in I Got Heaven, a dynamic set guided by vocalist Missy Dabice’s limitless energy. Making a new home with Jack White’s Third Man label, Sheer Mag level up their sturdy power pop-inflected punk on the sparkling Playing Favorites. On Half Divorced, their first album in seven years, Pissed Jeans give the slam-dancers something to think about (and the thinkers something to slam-dance about).
Around the globe, Leeds crew Yard Act incorporate clattering dance rhythms into their trademark talkative post-punk for their addictive second LP, Where’s My Utopia?. Atlanta’s Faye Webster brings a smorgasbord of influences to her fifth album, Underdressed at the Symphony, which includes a guest appearance by Webster’s childhood friend Lil Yachty. Two titans of Manchester indie collide and collude; Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and Stone Roses guitarist John Squire’s self-titled release is sure to please fans of both groups. Another collaboration out this week is credited to BryhM: Bruce Hornsby and yMusic’s Deep Sea Vents is a song cycle inspired by the boundless regions of the briny depths. Australian bassist/smooth operator Donny Benét offers sumptuous synthpop on his sixth solo LP, Infinite Desires.
PRESS PLAY on these new releases below. Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every week on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.
Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
CHECK OUT: “I Don’t Know You” “Nothing Like”
Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites
CHECK OUT: “All Lined Up” “Moonstruck”
Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced
CHECK OUT: “Moving On” “Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt”
Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia?
CHECK OUT: “Dream Job” “We Make Hits”
Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony
CHECK OUT: “Lego Ring (feat. Lil Yachty)” “But Not Kiss”
Liam Gallagher and John Squire – Liam Gallagher and John Squire
CHECK OUT: “Just Another Rainbow” “Mars to Liverpool”
BryhM – Deep Sea Vents
CHECK OUT: “The Wild Whaling Life” “Deep Blue”
Donny Benét – Infinite Desires
CHECK OUT: “Multiply” “American Dream”
FURTHER LISTENING:
Abdallah Oumbadougou – Amghar: The Godfather of Tuareg Music Vol. 1, Ben Frost – Scope Neglect, Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project, Coco – 2, Daniel Romano’s Outfit – Too Hot to Sleep, The Donnas – Early Singles 1995-1999, Everything Everything – Mountainhead, Footballhead – Overthinking Everything, Hannah Frances – Keeper of the Shepherd, Jacob Collier – Djesse Vol. 4, Kaiser Chiefs – Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album, Kitchen Dwellers – Seven Devils, lake j – Dizzy, Late Bloomer – Another One Again, Linda Smith – Nothing Else Matters (Reissue) / I So Liked Spring (Reissue), Michael A. Muller – Mirror Music, Ministry – HOPIUMFORTHEMASSES, The Narcotix – Dying, Nick Mulvey – First Mind (10th Anniversary Edition), Nils Frahm – Day, Punchlove – Channels, RIP Dunes – RIP Dunes, SAVAK – Flavors of Paradise, ScHoolboy Q – Blue Lips, Shane Smith & The Saints – Norther, STRFKR – Parallel Realms, Thundercat – Apocalypse (10th Anniversary Edition), Tish Melton – When We’re Older EP, Zakk Sabbath – Doomed and Forever Doomed
