If you’re a PRESS PLAY regular, you might notice a few more albums than usual sharing the spotlight this week. There were so many notable releases that instead of the usual six or eight I simply had to feature TEN (a “stingy dozen,” as I like to call it).

On his third solo album, Thrasher, Brandon Flowers ventures deeper into the countrified heartland rock he previously explored with The Killers on Pressure Machine. A spiritual sequel to 2023’s Mother Road, Grace Potter is still traversing highways and byways on her seventh solo LP, Trespasser. Ella Williams expands the scope of her Squirrel Flower project on Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going, including a co-write with her sibling Nate and members of The War on Drugs and Angel Olsen’s band.

Coinciding with the 40^th anniversary of the band’s formation, Soft Control is the thunderous fourth post-reunion album (and 10^th overall) from The Afghan Whigs. With songwriting contributions from all four bandmates (and a guest appearance by Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman and Xandy Chelmis), Weezer’s gold-hued self-titled 20^th album is a cinematic return. On the heels of a bi-coastal residency that featured cameos by Brandi Carlile, Norah Jones, and Hozier, Sam Smith is radiant on their New York City love letter, Hazel Eyes.

Wild Pink have been releasing albums at an impressively steady clip since forming a decade ago; Recorded with Alex Farrar in Asheville (just like Squirrel Flower’s latest), Still Coming Down is their masterfully accomplished sixth full-length. A rising star who fuses the rustic storytelling of Lucinda Williams with the attitude of Courtney Love, Brennan Wedl exudes punk confidence on her Waxahatchee-produced debut.

It Goes On is the debut of Manchester’s Westside Cowboy; equal parts throwback and trailblazing, the album couples clean guitar lines with conversational lyrics. Recently on tour with Iron and Wine, “acoustic grunge” combo Improvement Movement make proggy, psychedelic roots rock sound effortless on Your Perfect Real Life.

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

Brandon Flowers –
Thrasher

CHECK OUT: “Plans”
“Paradise”

Grace Potter –
Trespasser

CHECK OUT: “Love Me Not”
“Run Baby Run”

Squirrel Flower –
Say a Prayer to the Gods
of Getting Going

CHECK OUT: “Reelin” “Not Me”

The Afghan Whigs –
Soft Control

CHECK OUT: “House of I”
“Jungle Roux”

Weezer –
Weezer (The Gold Album)

CHECK OUT: “We Might as Well Be Strangers”
“Shine Again”

Sam Smith –
Hazel Eyes

CHECK OUT: “Love is a Stillness”
“My Guy”

Wild Pink – Still Coming Down

CHECK OUT:
“Round of Applause at the End of the World”
“Box Store”

Brennan Wedl –
Brennan Wedl

CHECK OUT: “Pretty Little Fantasy”
“Let’s Be Models”

Westside Cowboy –
It Goes On

CHECK OUT: “Kick Stones (The Boys)”
“Pinup Boys”

Improvement Movement –
Your Perfect Real Life

CHECK OUT: “Still Cold”
“I Do”

The PRESS PLAY-list

FURTHER LISTENING

Alex G – Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Anthony Hopkins – Life is a Dream, The B-52’s – Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited, Black Marble – Life in Small Spaces, Chelsea Wolfe – The Dark, The Cramps – Gravest Gravy, Dan + Shay – Young, Foglights – Nous Deux EP, Frances Chang – been thinking bout confession, French Film – Yours + Five, Ghost Hounds – Justified, hey, nothing – Hound, Jack Larkin – Purkinje Shift, James Eichman – St. Catherine Street, Jorja Smith – What Are the Odds, Julia Holter – Materia, Keb’ Mo’ – The Breakdown, Ken Pomeroy – Tonight’s News EP, King Sans – Sell the Cow, Lambchop – Punching the Clown, Loose Buttons – You Came to See Magic, Lorg – I Fell for Fantasy, No Joy – Big Life, Big Leaf EP, Ok Cowgirl – Rhinestone Cowgirl, Ruth B. – Peace to Make, Sawyer Hill – Everybody’s Home, Nobody’s Happy, Sondre Lerche – Acrobats, Spaer – Lessons and Nonsense EP, The Tragically Hip – Live July 22 – August 20, 2016, Tyondai Braxton – Splayed Works, Your Jack – This One, Various Artists – Schmigadoon! (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

PRESS PLAY Back Catalog

It’s my birthday today! But we’re all receiving gifts in the form of this week’s new albums…

Making her long-awaited return as a solo artist, Phoebe Bridgers is accompanied by an impressive roster of friends (including her boygenius bandmates and maybe Geese’s Cameron Winter) on Lost Weekend. Crashing to Earth mere hours after its announcement, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s Alien Metal is an electro excursion for the tireless Australian combo.

Grace Cummings’s fourth LP, Bloodhorse!, correctly places the Melbourne singer’s incomparably arresting voice front-and-center for a soulful and vulnerable set. Los Angeles trio The Womack Sisters have classic soul in their blood as well as on their globally inspired self-titled debut.

Comes in Waves, Carly Simon’s first album of new original material, arrives 18 years after her last; informed by personal love and loss, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer embodies grace and resilience. Toronto’s Kiwi Jr. reflect on carefree childhood adventures and spin tales of fanciful characters on Blowin’ Up.

In their hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, Sweeping Promises are celebrated not only as purveyors of energetic, lo-fi indie-punk, but as stewards of a burgeoning DIY scene; You Say I Romanticize is their literary-influenced third LP. Ever the gentleman charmer, LA fixture Dent May dreams up a timeless world of Nilsson- and McCartney-esque melody on The Big One.

PRESS PLAY on these new releases

Phoebe Bridgers –
Lost Weekend

CHECK OUT: “Lost Boys”
“I Can’t Wait”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard –
Alien Metal

CHECK OUT: “Alien Metal”
“Kill for the Steel”

Grace Cummings –
Bloodhorse!

CHECK OUT: “My God”
“I’m Not Crazy”

The Womack Sisters –
The Womack Sisters

CHECK OUT: “Chauffer”
“If I Let You”

Carly Simon –
Comes in Waves

CHECK OUT: “Howl”
“Peaches”

Kiwi Jr. –
Blowin’ Up

CHECK OUT: “Blowin’ Up”
“Hard Drive, Ontario”

Sweeping Promises –
You Say I Romanticize

CHECK OUT: “Shooting Shadows”
“Cocoon”

Dent May –
The Big One

CHECK OUT: “The Big One”
“Second Wind”

FURTHER LISTENING

ALA.NI – Somewhere Between Saying It EP, Alex Dupree – Talking to the Dog, Ann Wilson and Tripsitter – Consecrated Ground, Benny Blanco – Hermoso, Brendan Angelides – Can You Feel the End Begin?, Bob Marley & the Wailers – Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, Credit Card – Devil’s Night / Dead Internet, Descendents – Liveage! (Reissue), Elizabeth Cook – Great Television, Getdown Services – Massive Champion, Girl Talk, Michael Christmas and Chris Crack – Don’t Come to My House Sharing Your Location EP, Graphic Violets – Endless Parade, Hovvdy – Big World, Icona Pop – Ritual, James Ellis Ford – Lost in Another World, Johanna Samuels – Sorry, Kid, Jon Batiste – Monk Meditations / Monk Movements, Judah & The Lion – I Am a Prism, Jungle – Sunshine, KATSEYE – WILD EP, L’Rain – fata morgana, Laura Veirs – Temple Songs, Lukas Graham – Good Times, Maggie Rose – Half Moon, Melaina Kol – Okay that’s a great idea because if I do that then, Radiator Hospital – Distorting Time, Real Numbers – Was it Always This Way, Regulator Watts – kWh EP, Reverser – Reverser, Sparks – Live on the Moon, Strange Lot – Strange Lot, Sunken Cages – Neram Pularumbol (As the Dawn Breaks), Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) – The Ecstatic (Reissue), Various Artists – Sending Hearts to All My Dearies: A Tribute to the Smashing Pumpkins

Start the new month on the right foot with the first new releases of August…

Dinner Party is the multi-headed hydra supergroup centered around Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, and 9^th Wonder; a feeling of joyous camaraderie courses through their fourth offering, Watchu Bringing?. With a name like Man/Woman/Chainsaw, it has to be good; Cannonball is the long-awaited debut from the UK art rock sextet.

Margaret Glaspy’s songwriting has always felt timeless; on I am Both, Glaspy unplugs from the chaos of the modern world for a reflective set of hard-earned self-empowerment. Barely a year after the stellar Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan, John Darnielle returns with the Mountain Goats’ 24^th studio album; Days is as lyrically addictive an album as you are likely to find this year.

Listen for spotlights on new records like these (and more) every week on the XPN Morning Show and Indie Rock Hit Parade.

Tucker Pillsbury makes wide-ranging, genre-busting music as Role Model; the songs on Chuck Timely & the Hourglass recount Pillsbury’s journey from his darkest moments to the light of love. On molly picture, their second collab as god of war, Douglas Dulgarian (They Are Gutting a Body of Water) and Scott Turner and Sam Silbert (Hooky) conjure a lost world of Y2K beats and squishy synths.

PRESS PLAY on these new releases

Margaret Glaspy –
I am Both

CHECK OUT: “Michigan”
“That Rose”

the Mountain Goats –
Days

CHECK OUT: “Charlie Sheen Reaches Out to the Feds”
“Candlebox”

Dinner Party –
Watchu Bringing?

CHECK OUT: “If it Ain’t Broke (Love Wins)”
“Peace of Mind”

Man/Woman/Chainsaw –
Cannonball

CHECK OUT: “Nosedive”
“Get Up and Dance”

Role Model –
Chuck Timely & the Hourglass

CHECK OUT: “High Hopes 3000”
“Joy”

god of war –
molly picture

CHECK OUT: “mickey don’t pose”
“new deal”

FURTHER LISTENING

Blums – Sunk Cost Fantasy, Ceremony – Tell Me Your Dream, Citizen – Halcyon Blues, Crazy Clue – Where the Dregs Dwell, Effe – Solder EP, Ela Minus and Nick León – qué les pasó a mis amigos?, Fana Hues – Catch N’ Release, The Hollywood Vampires – At Montreux Jazz Festival, Jason Calhoun – revelations of divine love, John Carpenter – Cathedral, Mac Luster – Ritual EP, mclusky – My Pain and Sadness is More Sad and Painful Than Yours (Reissue), Megasound – Megasound, Militarie Gun – God Save The Gun (Deluxe), Morgan Freeman – Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience, Neptune’s Core – Pivot, Overmono – Pure Devotion, Public Opinion – The Curse of Public Opinion, Rowena Wise – Bad Things Feel Good*, Slack Key ʻOhana – The ʻOhana Sessions, Slow Fiction – dollhouse, Sunken Cages – Neram Pularumbol (As the Dawn Breaks), Uh Huh Her – Nocturnes: Redux

Still not enough new music?? For previous editions of PRESS PLAY, click HERE.

Balún: “La Nueva Ciudad”