Well this has been a dumb week.

There aren’t a lot of new albums out for obvious reasons, but life does go on and we do have some new records to talk about. I highlight a few below, and Bill covers more in Indie Basement, including Primal Scream, Bananagun, Yoo Doo Right, Robin Guthrie, and GLOK (Andy Bell of Ride) & Timothy Clerkin. This week’s honorable mentions include El Cousteau, the surprise See You Next Tuesday/meth. split, The Body, Paysage d’Hiver, Babytron, Earthburner, The Bad Plus, Thank, Fimiguerrero/Len/Lancey Foux, Hitkidd, SahBabii, Shordie Shordie, Real Boston Richey, State Champs, Sarah Davachi & Dicky Bahto, Loe Shimmy, Yatta Bandz, The Slaps, Capitol, Our Girl, Chimers, the Arms Aloft EP, the Venus Twins EP, the Girl Scout EP, the Haywire EP, the Counterparts EP, the Man/Woman/Chainsaw EP, claire rousay’s Sentiment remix album & The Bloody Lady score, the Bad Astronaut piano/cello/vocals re-imaginings album, the Tsunami box on Numero Group, the Talking Heads ’77 box, and the Margo Guryan tribute LP (ft. Clairo, Margo Price, Empress Of, Frankie Cosmos & more).

Read on for my picks…

Ferg – Darold (RCA)
The rapper formerly known as A$AP Ferg is back with his most deeply personal album yet, and also one of his most fun

“I wanna be like Future and drop every month, but if it ain’t the vision, God holding my tongue,” Ferg (fka A$AP Ferg) raps on his first full-length project in over four years. It’s on a song called “Alive,” which comes after a song called “Thought I Was Dead” and before a song featuring Future. The premise is clear; Ferg knows that you risk being left out of the conversation if you’re less prolific, but if you thought his career was over, you thought wrong. He’s taken the time to craft a deep, multi-faceted, filler-less new album, and it’s one of his best. Its earth-shaking trap bangers, braggadocio raps, Harlem pride, and a spitfire Denzel Curry verse make it one of the most fun rap albums in recent memory, but it’s the albums’s more pensive side that takes it to the next level. Ferg balances out the bangers with jazz, soul, and gospel-infused songs that explore mental health, trauma, and growth with the kind of vulnerable honesty we heard on the latest Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator albums. The most show-stopping moment of all comes on “Pool,” a bittersweet soul/rap hybrid about a topic that Ferg says “took a whole lifetime” to open up about. During its goosebump-inducing midsection, Ferg reveals that, at 10 years old, he was drowned and sexually abused in a swimming pool by an older male, and he wrestles with the toxic masculinity and unhealthy coping mechanisms he developed as a result of keeping it a secret for so long. When the uplifting gospel vocals come in at the end, it’s as if you can feel the weight being lifted off of Ferg’s chest. It’s a moment in which Ferg carefully turns trauma into impactful art, and he does it with the same attention-grabbing prowess that he brings to his biggest party-starters.

V/A – The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated (Epitaph)
Refused’s classic 1998 album gets covered in full for a 25th anniversary tribute LP featuring Touché Amoré, Fucked Up, IDLES, Gel, Zulu, Quicksand, and more

The Shape of Punk to Come wasn’t really the shape of punk to come, but it was very influential. After a genre rooted in nonconformity started becoming pretty damn formulaic, Refused dared to be different and they inspired others to do the same. The younger bands who embraced The Shape of Punk to Come didn’t usually sound like it, but they shared Refused’s goal of doing punk their own way, honoring the genre’s past but not being afraid to take its future in a new direction. When The Shape of Punk to Come was released in 1998, it was initially met with mixed reactions and lower-than-anticipated sales, and the band ended up breaking up in the middle of their tour supporting it. It wasn’t until after their demise that the album started to rise in stature, and eventually demand for Refused increased so much that the band reunited in the early 2010s. Two more albums and multiple tours followed, but now Refused are breaking up again, and they’re saying goodbye with a tribute album to The Shape of Punk to Come that also celebrates its (slightly belated) 25th anniversary.

Titled The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated, the tribute LP includes a wide range of bands who have taken inspiration from Refused over the years, including Touché Amoré, Fucked Up, IDLES, Gel, Zulu, Brutus, Cult of Luna, Cold Cave, Igorrr, and Ho99o9, as well as two bands that influenced Refused during the making of The Shape of Punk to Come, Quicksand and Snapcase. With the exception of IDLES, who contribute a remix of “New Noise,” each song is a cover, and every single one of these covers genuinely brings something new to these 25+ year old songs. Each band makes the song their own, and Obliterated proves there’s still more to say with this batch of songs. If you didn’t know any better, Obliterated could just function as a great compilation album that ranges from hardcore to post-hardcore to post-metal to rap rock to electronic music and brings multiple generations of counter-cultural musicians together. And even if you’ve heard The Shape of Punk to Come a hundred times, this album feels new. It’s an album that I imagine will introduce some of the younger bands’ fans to Refused, and introduce Refused fans to a great crop of active bands that will keep carrying the torch after Refused say goodbye. And on top of all these genre/generation-crossing feats it may or may not achieve, it’s an album that’s just fun to listen to.

Ab-Soul – Soul Burger (TDE)
2024 has been a big year for Black Hippy members, and it continues with a new Ab-Soul album featuring Vince Staples, Doechii, JID, and more

Like Ferg, Ab-Soul came up at the turn of the 2010s with a uniquely futuristic approach to rap that we’re still feeling the effects of today. His Black Hippy/TDE groupmates Kendrick Lamar and ScHoolboy Q are already having big years (the latter released one of this year’s best rap albums and I probably don’t need to recap the world-conquering year that the former is having), and now Ab-Soul re-enters the conversation with Soul Burger. It’s TDE, so you know the production is gonna be rich and luscious, and it’s Ab-Soul, so you know you’re getting raps that are commanding, psychedelic, and sometimes a little too goofy for their own good. The well-curated list of guests include Vince Staples, Doechii, JID, Jasonmartin, Lupe Fiasco, and more.

drive your plow over the bones of the dead – tragedy as catharsis (No Funeral, Middle-Man)
The Vancouver screamo band’s pissed-off debut LP provides exactly what the album title promises

drive your plow over the bones of the dead are from Vancouver, but I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that they dropped their perfectly-named album tragedy as catharsis on the day of the US presidential election. “I hope this album reminds everyone who hears it that anger is the correct response to injustice,” the band said along with its release, and it would’ve hit hard regardless of who won the election. It’s been feeling like we’re going backwards for a long time, and this band’s violent screamo does indeed sound like catharsis in the face of tragedy. I don’t want to over-romanticize the concept of protest music that coincides with an upsetting political event, but if you’re feeling like things are looking pretty dire right now, this might just be the pissed-off soundtrack that you’re looking for.

Bottom Bracket – I’m So Afraid of Where (Count Your Lucky Stars)
The Chicago band’s sophomore LP is the kind of good old fashioned emo that always hits

If you like mathy, Midwest-style emo with sharp production and punchy hooks (a la Into It. Over It.’s Proper, You Blew It!’s Keep Doing What You’re Doing, etc), you need Bottom Bracket’s sophomore LP I’m So Afraid of Where in your life. They hail from the perennial emo hotbed of Chicago, they’re among the new generation of bands signed to the pioneering emo revival label Count Your Lucky Stars, and this album sounds like something that would’ve popped off in just about any era of emo. It’s the kind of good old fashioned emo that always hits when it’s done well, and Bottom Bracket have all the chops and the tuneful songcraft needed to make a record that just never stops hitting.

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Primal Scream, Bananagun, Yoo Doo Right, Robin Guthrie, and GLOK (Andy Bell of Ride) & Timothy Clerkin.

Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases archive.

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