The month melts down with a busy day for new album releases.

Taking on the persona of a paranoid, Grey Gardens-like recluse, Mitski’s Nothing’s About to Happen to Me is coursing with nervous energy and moments of hushed isolation. With a roster of guests including Sparks, Johnny Marr, Black Thought, Asha Bhosle, and countless others, Damon Albarn conquers his latest summit on the ninth Gorillaz album, The Mountain. Largely recording during the same productive Laurel Canyon sessions that yielded 2024’s Light Verse, Iron & Wine’s Hen’s Teeth finds Sam Beam in a playful, reinvigorated mood. Working with his Big Thief bandmates, as well as his brother Dylan, Buck Meek took a rustic approach to tracking his fourth solo album, The Mirror: vocals were recorded on the front porch of his log cabin studio while the band played inside.

15 years after their last release, during which time Eric Bachmann reunited with Archers of Loaf and spent time in Neko Case’s touring band, Crooked Fingers return with SWET DETH, a collection of songs examining mortality with signature wry wit. Nothing added a few new faces to their ranks, including former Best Coast member Bobb Bruno, and A Short History of Decay examines the Philadelphia band’s volatile history with unblinking honesty. On their third LP, Marathon, Maria BC builds ominous atmospheres to pair with vulnerable, open-hearted lyrics. Texas songwriter Bill Callahan worked closely with each member of his band to fine-tune the songs for My Days of 58; the result is a lived-in set that plays to each contributor’s strengths.

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

Mitski –
Nothing’s About to Happen to Me

CHECK OUT: “Where’s My Phone?”
“I’ll Change for You”

Gorillaz –
The Mountain

CHECK OUT: “The Happy Dictator”
“Orange County”

Iron & Wine –
Hen’s Teeth

CHECK OUT: “In Your Ocean”
“Robin’s Egg”

Buck Meek –
The Mirror

CHECK OUT: “Gasoline”
“Can I Mend It?”

Crooked Fingers –
SWET DETH

CHECK OUT: “Cold Waves”
“Haunted”

Nothing –
A Short History of Decay

CHECK OUT: “Cannibal World”
“Purple Strings”

Maria BC –
Marathon

CHECK OUT: “Marathon”
“Rare”

Bill Callahan –
My Days of 58

CHECK OUT: “The Man I’m Supposed to Be”
“Lonely City”

The PRESS PLAY-list

FURTHER LISTENING

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

PRESS PLAY BACK CATALOG

No time for horsing around, we’ve got new albums to listen to…

On Deface the Currency, their second collaboration, Fugazi-rooted trio The Messthetics and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis pull the pin on a blistering set of jazz-rock workouts. Amsterdam-based Altin Gün have made a career out of reimagining traditional Turkish folk compositions into psychedelic funk; their sixth LP, Garip, is a tribute to the late Anatolian songwriter Neşet Ertaş. Australian pop powerhouse Meg Mac switched gears while making her fourth album, It’s My Party; originally a moody, gothic affair, the final product is more playful, culminating in a cover of the namesake Lesley Gore classic.

Throwing open the door to a host of collaborators, including Hozier, Gracie Abrams, and Chris Stapleton, Mumford & Sons started work on Prizefighter even before releasing last year’s Rushmere. Returning to his ambient, orchestral roots, Moby’s Future Quiet is led by an updated take on “When it’s Cold I’d Like to Die,” the Everything is Wrong highlight that soundtracked multiple seasons of Stranger Things. Channeling joy and grief into her first album in nearly a decade, beloved indie songwriter Mirah’s Dedication reflects on the birth of her child and the death of her father.

Mumford & Sons –
Prizefighter

CHECK OUT: “Rubber Band Man”
“Prizefighter”

Moby –
Future Quiet

CHECK OUT: “When it’s Cold I’d Like to Die”
“On Air”

Mirah –
Dedication

CHECK OUT: “Catch My Breath”
“After the Rain”

The Messthetics
and James Brandon Lewis –
Deface the Currency

CHECK OUT: “Deface the Currency”
“Gestations”

Altin Gün –
Garip

CHECK OUT: “Neredesin Sen”
“Öldürme Beni”

Meg Mac –
It’s My Party

CHECK OUT: “He Said No”
“The Tune I’ll Be Singing Until I’m Dead”

FURTHER LISTENING

Abronia – Shapes Unravel, Absolutely – Paracosm, Amiture Music – Amiture Music, Art Pepper – Everything Happens to Me: 1959 – Live at the Cellar, The Band of Heathens – Country Sides, Bella Litsa – Drasticism, Brian James – Kicks and Diabolik Licks, Charm School – Skadenfreude Ploy EP, Chris Garneau – In Reverse, Dave Holland, Norma Winstone, and London Vocal Project – Vital Spark (Music of Kenny Wheeler), Dean Johnson – I Hope We Can Still Be Friends (Deluxe Edition), The Early – I Want to Be Ready, Eric Hilton – A Sky So Close, The Goldberg Sisters – When the Ships of My Dreams Return, Hilary Duff – luck…or something, Liz Cooper – New Day, Lucid Express – Instant Comfort, MX LONELY – ALL MONSTERS, Nicole McCabe – Color Theory, Olivia Belli – Daimon, Peaches – No Lube So Rude, PLQ MRX – UPSIDEYERHEAD EP, Rusty Santos – Psycho Horses, The Setting – The Setting, Sports – Sports, Steven Brown – In This Very World, Tim Easton – fIREHORSE, trauma ray – Carnival EP, U2 – Days of Ash EP

Set yourself up with this week’s new albums and you might just find yourself lucky in love.

Irish rockers Cardinals make a strong impression with their bold and bristly debut, Masquerade. The spirited offshoot of LA punk mainstays The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx deliver on-the-border tradition with contemporary flair on their fourth self-titled LP. A former university librarian, Isimeme “Naomi” Udu makes otherworldly pop confections as hemlocke springs; her first album is the dazzling The Apple Tree Under the Sea. Winnipeg crooner Boy Golden spreads the gospel of “better daze” on his latest lo-fi hoedown, Best of Our Possible Lives.

Rebounding from a break-in that claimed equipment and early album demos, The Lone Bellow decamped to FAME studios in Muscle Shoals to record What a Time to Be Alive. Philadelphia icon Jill Scott ends a decade-plus hiatus with To Whom This May Concern, rewarding her fans’ patience with her own meticulously crafted material. Returning to his Chet Faker moniker, Nick Murphy reconnects with the project’s warped and glitched R&B roots on A Love for Strangers. Rollicking Americana septet The Nude Party bare all on their gritty, glammy fourth album, Look Who’s Back.

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Ratboys –
Singin’ to an Empty Chair

CHECK OUT: “Anywhere”
“Penny in the Lake”

Cory Wong –
Lost in the Wonder

CHECK OUT: “Tongue Tied”
“Blame it on the Moon”

Silversun Pickups –
Tenterhooks

CHECK OUT: “The Wreckage”
“New Wave”

Ellur –
At Home in My Mind

CHECK OUT: “Missing Kid”
“The Wheel”

Mandy, Indiana –
URGH

CHECK OUT: “Sicko!”
“Cursive”

John Craigie –
I Swam Here

CHECK OUT: “Fire Season”
“Dry Land”

FURTHER LISTENING

Ásgeir – Julia, August Ponthier – Everywhere Isn’t Texas, The Beach Boys – We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years (Box Set), The Bret Tobias Set – Tuneless Blues EP, Charli XCX – Wuthering Heights, Chris Garneau – In Reverse, Colin Stetson, Greg Fox, Trevor Dunn – Nethering, congratulations – Join Hands, Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine: Comes Alive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Felsmann + Tiley – Protomensch, Giallo – Tenebrarum, Gogol Bordello – We Mean It, Man!, Howling Bells – Strange Life, The Infamous Stringdusters – 20/20, Ishmael Ali – Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper, Jeremy Ivey – Its Shape Will Reveal Itself, Katzin – Buckaroo, Organ Tapes – 一包烟 EP, The Olympians – In Search of a Revival, The Paranoid Style – Known Associates, Paul Anka – Inspirations of Life and Love, Pokey LaFarge – Travelin’ with Pokey LaFarge: Voice and Guitar, Vol. 1, PONY – Clearly Cursed, Remember Sports – The Refrigerator, Seal – Purpose: Celebrating 30 Years of the Classic Albums Seal I and Seal II, The Sky Chiefs – The Sky Chiefs, SUPERWORLD – Super World, Troye Sivan – Blue Neighbourhood (Ten Years On), Tyler Halverson – In Defense of Drinking, Velocity Girl – ¡Simpatico! (Remastered and Expanded), WORM – Necropalace, Yellow Days – Rock and a Hard Place, XBYRDX – Anthems for the End Times

Instead of letting the weather forecast of an unreliable rodent get you down, settle in with the first new releases of the month.

Chicago indie combo Ratboys retreated to rural Wisconsin to record Singin’ to an Empty Chair; the result is a healthy dose of organic energy to their already peppy pop. Vulfpeck’s guitar virtuoso Cory Wong is joined by a different collaborator on just about every track song on Lost in the Wonder, from Devon Gilfillian to Taylor Hanson. An injury to singer Brian Aubert’s eardrum momentarily sidelined the recording of Silversun Pickups’ Tenterhooks; the album appropriately reflects feelings of anxiety as well as resilience.

At Home in My Mind is the debut full-length from newcomer Ellur, arriving after six years of well-received singles and EPs in her native England. Mandy, Indiana’s URGH is a refinement of the Manchester crew’s caustic industrial-adjacent new wave style. Prolific raconteur John Craigie’s 10^th album, I Swam Here, was recorded in New Orleans with members of local favorites The Deslondes and Lost Bayou Ramblers.

Ratboys –
Singin’ to an Empty Chair

CHECK OUT: “Anywhere”
“Penny in the Lake”

Cory Wong –
Lost in the Wonder

CHECK OUT: “Tongue Tied”
“Blame it on the Moon”

Silversun Pickups –
Tenterhooks

CHECK OUT: “The Wreckage”
“New Wave”

Ellur –
At Home in My Mind

CHECK OUT: “Missing Kid”
“The Wheel”

Mandy, Indiana –
URGH

CHECK OUT: “Sicko!”
“Cursive”

John Craigie –
I Swam Here

CHECK OUT: “Fire Season”
“Dry Land”

FURTHER LISTENING

About You – The Lighthouse, the Storm, Asher White – Jessica Pratt, Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer, C.Y.M. & Abby Sage – My Whole World EP, daphne tunes – Volume D, Daphni – Butterfly, Dirt Buyer – Dirt Buyer III, The Grownup Noise – No Straight Line in the Universe, Ian Brennan – The Forgotten Parts, J. Cole – The Fall-Off, Jay Buchanan – Weapons of Beauty, Jontan – The Yellow House, KMFDM – ENEMY, LAPêCHE – Autotelic, Nick Schofield – Blue Hour, Oliver Coates – Pillion, Power Snatch – EP1, Puma Blue – Croak Dream, Puscifer – Normal Isn’t, Railcard – Railcard, Storey Littleton – At a Diner, Sydney Ross Mitchell – Cynthia EP, 2070 – Big Blue, Ulrika Spacek – Expo, Unsane – Occupational Hazard (Reissue), Yes – Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Edition)

Kathleen Edwards: “Chameleon/Comedian” (XPoNential Music Festival – 2019)