March usually comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but this year it goes out like a silver stallion. The second installment in Beyoncé’s Renaissance series, Cowboy Carter is the superstar’s much-anticipated exploration (and reclamation) of country-and-western tropes. Announced the same day as her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sheryl Crow’s Evolution is a rejuvenated offering from the venerated singer-songwriter. Interplay is the third post-reunion collection from Britpop/shoegaze vets RIDE; the group adds a dose of pulsing electronics to their signature guitar crunch. Teaming up with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Sleater-Kinney), Chicano Batman’s Notebook Fantasy boasts a gooey experimental spirit (and several collaborations with Say She She).
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers’ Revelations is a self-produced collision of the group’s signature countrified punk and bandleader River’s ethereal rock side project Mightmare. What’s for Breakfast? is the buoyant sixth album from pop auteur Dent May, who collaborates with like-minded West Coasters for an album that’s rich in vitamins and minerals. She Shreds founder Fabiola Reyna makes her ambitious debut as Reyna Tropical with Malegría, a sprawling musical journey through Colombian, Peruvian, and Congolese traditions. Exotic Birds of Prey is the latest imaginative dispatch from Shabazz Palaces, the prolific creative vehicle of Digable Planets member Ishmael Butler.
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.