Even though it feels like a Thursday (does Thursday even have a feel?), it is, in fact, Friday, which means we’ve got a big pile of new releases to dig into. Ahead of their XPNFest appearance, UK psych-folk combo The Heavy Heavy make their full-length debut with the charming One of a Kind. Acclaimed for his guitar work for Wednesday and Waxahatchee, Artist to Watch MJ Lenderman steps into the spotlight for Manning Fireworks, his fourth solo album. A member of the Black Opry Residency collective, Hudson Valley-based Denitia decamps to Nashville for a fresh start on Sunset Drive. Veteran songwriter Steve Forbert showcased his new material at a recent Free at Noon concert; on Daylight Savings Time, those compositions glow with late-summer nostalgia.
Working with collaborators like Benjamin Gibbard and Kevin Abstract, Toro y Moi conjures the spirit of early 2000s mixtape making on Hole Erth. Following a recent lineup change, Madrid’s Hinds team up with Beck and Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten on their fourth LP, the resilient VIVA HINDS. Matt Johnson’s focus for the last quarter-century has been soundtrack composition; it’s no surprise then that Ensoulment, the first album since 2000 from his long-running (and long-dormant) project The The, offers a cinematic take on art-rock. Working with alt-J producer Charlie Andrew, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour looks to the future on his fifth solo album, Luck and Strange. The FORCE is the guest-packed, Q-Tip produced 14th album by LL Cool J, his first new release in a decade, and his first since receiving a Kennedy Center Honor and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Music Excellence Award.
Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every week on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.
PRESS PLAY on these new releases
The Heavy Heavy – One of a Kind
CHECK OUT: “Happiness” “Because You’re Mine”
MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks
CHECK OUT: “She’s Leaving You” “Joker Lips”
Denitia – Sunset Drive
CHECK OUT: “Back to You” “Don’t Let Me Go”
Steve Forbert – Daylight Savings Time
CHECK OUT: “Purple Toyota” “The Blues”
Toro y Moi – Hole Erth
CHECK OUT: “Hollywood (feat. Benjamin Gibbard)” “CD-R”
Hinds – VIVA HINDS
CHECK OUT: “Boom Boom Back (feat. Beck)” “The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You”
The The – Ensoulment
CHECK OUT: “Cognitive Dissident” “Linoleum Smooth to the Stockinged Foot”
David Gilmour – Luck and Strange
CHECK OUT: “Between Two Points (feat. Romany Gilmour)” “Dark and Velvet Nights”
LL Cool J – The FORCE
CHECK OUT: “Saturday Night Special (feat. Rick Ross and Fat Joe)” “Murdergram Deux (feat. Eminem)”