Another week, another big haul of new albums. Between Notable Releases and Indie Basement, we tackle 27 this week, and you can head to the basement to read about Lost Girls (Jenny Hval & Håvard Volden), Maria BC, Emma Anderson (Lush), Pip Blom, Katie Von Schleicher, Sleaford Mods, Crime & the City Solution, Rat Columns, Screensaver, the Sondre Lerche covers album, and the Soft Cell and Three O’Clock reissues.

On top of those, this week’s many honorable mentions include Evian Christ, Forest Swords, Sparkle Division (William Basinski, Preston Wendel, Gary Thomas Wright), Pink Navel & Kenny Segal, City Girls, Gucci Mane, Ho99o9 (ft. Armand Hammer, HEALTH, Zelooperz & more), They Are Gutting A Body of Water, ME REX, Dirt Buyer, Glen Hansard, The Streets, Sun June, Cirith Ungol, Radar Peak (PUP), Valee & MVW, Dylan LeBlanc, Chris Shiflett, Dead Times (The Body), Afterbirth, Clowns, Bat Boy (Spraynard, Sundials), Carpool Tunnel, Skinny Lister, Hauschka, Duff McKagan, Jim Jones, Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked, G. Perico & Gotdamnitdupri, Terrace Martin & Alex Isley, new Maggot Stop signeee Texas Ketamine (reissue), Regarding Ambiguity, New Forms, Krieg, Marthe, Myrkur, Bex Burch, The Iron Roses (Boysetsfire), Hard Copy, Products Band, Dusk (ex-Tenement), Yoke, Joseph Shabason, Lee Gamble, Galya Bisengalieva, Naomi Sharon, the Hold My Own EP, the Jackal EP, the Florentino EP, the Elmiene EP, the HotWax EP, the Allegra Krieger B-sides EP, the Enumclaw B-sides EP, the Lync reissue, the Devo comp, and the 30th anniversary edition of Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville.

Read on for my picks. What’s your favorite release of the week?

Sampha – Lahai
Young

Having written his 2017 debut album Process after losing his mother to cancer, much of it was informed by death, but Sampha’s long-awaited sophomore album Lahai was inspired by new life. He became a father in 2020, and it’s made him think more about his own upbringing and his parents’ heritage–they were originally from Sierra Leone but in the 1980s they moved to London, where Sampha was born and raised. His multicultural background comes through in the music on Lahai, which connects the dots between West African folk music, Sampha’s roots in the UK electronic scene, and American jazz, hip hop, soul, and folk. That goal also comes through in the album’s cast of guests, which range from Korean-American electronic pop master Yaeji to Lisa-Kaindé Diaz of French-Cuban Yoruba-tinged pop duo Ibeyi to Sheila Maurice Grey of UK-based jazz-funk-Afrobeat collective Kokoroko. Much of the album was produced by Sampha himself (with contributions from El Guincho, Kwes, and others), and he remains inventive as both a singer and a producer. The album’s backdrop ranges from swirling synthesizers to gentle acoustic guitars to skittering electronic beats, and Sampha continues to use his voice in a way that reminds you why Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Stormzy, Beyoncé, and Kanye all wanted it on their records. The vocal production and the layers of self-sung harmonies are stunning, the very tone of his voice is show-stopping, and he has a way of working in these subtle hooks and repeated sentiments that just drill their way into your head. Lahai is a knockout on first listen, but it’s also a vast, intricate, complex album that I can tell is going to require a lot more time to fully digest.

blink-182 – One More Time…
Columbia

It’s been a long road to Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker’s first album together in 12 years, but it’s finally here. It covers a lot of ground, it makes me think and feel a lot of things, and you can find all those thoughts in my full review of the album.

The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds
Polydor

Are there any bands more ageless than The Rolling Stones? If, to quote Rob Sheffield, The Beatles invented breaking up, then The Rolling Stones invented not breaking up. They invented the idea of being in a rock band that just keeps going, and actually gets bigger over time. Mick and Keith have been side by side for literally over 60 years, a feat that would’ve been unthinkable when they emerged as leaders of youth culture in the 1960s, and they’ve still got it. They still strut around the stage and sound larger-than-life at their in-demand stadium shows, and Hackney Diamonds–their first album of original material in 18 years–sounds like something they could’ve put out in the ’70s. There’s a slight modern gloss, probably thanks in part to co-producer Andrew Watt–who works with people like Post Malone and Miley Cyrus but also likes to help veteran rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Iggy Pop make new records–but even with that, this really sounds like the Stones you know and love, and the songs are good. Keith’s still banging out those big, fat, rhythm guitar riffs, and Mick still sneers like a snotty little kid who can’t get no satisfaction. It’s the last album to feature contributions from late drummer Charlie Watts, who played on two songs (“Mess It Up” and “Live by the Sword”), and that latter track also marks the album’s sole appearance by longtime bassist Bill Wyman. Ronnie Wood, a Stone since the mid ’70s, rounds things out, and the album also features some famous friends, like Paul McCartney playing bass on “Bite My Head Off,” Elton John playing piano on “Get Close” and “Live by the Sword,” and Lady Gaga (vocals) and Stevie Wonder (piano/keys) on penultimate track “Sweet Sounds of Heaven.” (Touring members Darryl Jones and Steve Jordan also stepped in on bass and drums, respectively.) If I’m in the mood for the Stones, will I reach for Hackney Diamonds instead of the ~20 classic albums they’ve released that never go out of style? Maybe not, but when you do put this one on, it’s hard to deny that it captures that classic Stones magic.

awakebutstillinbed – chaos takes the wheel and i am a passenger
Tiny Engines

Since quietly and gradually taking the underground emo world by storm with with their 2018 debut album what people call low self​-​esteem is really just seeing yourself the way that other people see you, San Jose’s awakebutstillinbed let a few other songs trickle out over the years, but the wait for a proper second album just kept getting longer and longer. Now it’s finally here, and it’s everything I wanted and more. If you’re unfamiliar with the band, Tiny Engines lists both Hop Along and I Hate Myself as RIYLs, and the way awakebutstillinbed occupy the exact middle ground between those two bands is pretty exceptional–I certainly can’t think of many other bands who exist in that space. They’ve got the latter’s seamless blend of melodic emo and harsh screamo, and the Hop Along comparison comes from Shannon Taylor’s ability to go from a whisper to a roar at the drop of the hat. That’s not to say Shannon sounds like Frances Quinlan; both have remarkably unique voices, the kinds of voices that just grab you every time, that you need to just keep coming back to. Hop Along/Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart also produced the album, while past collaborator Jack Shirley engineered, mixed, and mastered it, and like the debut, it’s got a very bare-bones sound that lets the music do the talking. It’s the perfect way to experience awakebutstillinbed, who achieve so much with just guitars, bass, drums, and Shannon’s tremendous vocals. It’s equal parts towering and intimate, harsh and tender, raw and refined. It marks a clear evolution from awakebutstillinbed’s already-great debut, and it’s one of the most unique interpretations of emo I’ve heard since that last record came out.

Teenage Halloween – Till You Return
Don Giovanni

Teenage Halloween’s debut album is an album I’ve described as “bursting at the seams with ambition,” and their newly-released sophomore album sounds even more explosive. There’s no intro or build-up or anything; opener “Supertrans” kicks in with the band already in high gear, and it basically never lets up from there. Luk Hendricks is a magnetic singer, yeller, and lyricist, and bassist Tricia Marshall does a lot more lead singing/songwriting on this record and her songs are just as powerful. Like the awakebutstillinbed album out this week, the album was produced by Hop Along/Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart, who’s also worked on classics by Modern Baseball and Joyce Manor, and like Joyce Manor in particular, Teenage Halloween exist in an orbit between punk, indie rock, and emo, never really fitting neatly into any category but capturing the thrills of all three. They’re one of those bands with enough familiarity that their songs click right away, but who never really sound like anyone else on the planet.

Dreamwell – In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You
Prosthetic

The first song on Dreamwell’s In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You starts out as clean, post-rocky emo–somewhere in the general ballpark of Foxing or TWIABP or Moving Mountains–and I hope a lot of people experience Dreamwell for the first time by blindly clicking play on this album, because the way it turns into a ferocious screamo song a minute later would be a total mindfuck if you had no idea what Dreamwell were capable of. Even if you do already know, it’s still a monumental song, and it does a great job of setting the tone for what is easily Dreamwell’s best and most musically diverse album yet. KZ Staska brings a wider array of vocal styles to this record than ever before, from lovely cleans to abrasive screams and lots of in-between, and the music is equally varied. Botch-esque metalcore? Check. Bluesy desert rock? Also check. Not to mention twinkly post-rock, OG screamo, dissonant sludge metal, dramatic post-hardcore, and more. Its balance of beauty and aggression is up there with bands like Deafheaven and Envy and Touché Amoré, and Dreamwell’s ability to seamlessly change shape follows in the footsteps of mewithoutYou. In a world where so many bands seem to strive to fit into a specific subgenre, Dreamwell are just being their limitless selves.

Jane Remover – Census Designated
deadAir

Jane Remover’s music is often described in terms of internet-born subgenres like hyperpop and digicore, but even if you’re not up to date on that very recent terminology, it’s easy to hear how her musical DNA can be traced back to stuff that’s existed for decades; stuff like emo and shoegaze and electronic music and hip hop. Her new album Census Designated–the followup to 2021’s Frailty, released under Jane’s previous moniker dltzk–was made with contributions from Doug Dulgarian of shoegaze/noise pop band They Are Gutting A Body Of Water (who have a new visual album out this week), and it’s covered in a thick haze similar to where that band is coming from, but it also has soaring, passionately sung hooks and coarse screams that sound distinctly descended from third wave emo. Regardless of what genres you use to describe Census Designated, it’s just a deep, impactful album that’s firmly rooted in underground music, very modern, and very inviting to listen to.

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter – SAVED!
Perpetual Flames Ministries

Kristin Hayter delved deep into religious terror on her fourth album as Lingua Ignota, 2021’s SINNER GET READY. While she retired the moniker and its catalog the next year, her first album as Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, SAVED!, feels like a natural progression from SINNER GET READY, continuing the religious focus, specifically on Pentecostal Christianity (she also got ordained through an online ministry, hence the name). Like SINNER, SAVED! is intense and haunting, with a uniquely aged, decaying feel. Hayter and long-time collaborator Seth Manchester put high-fidelity recordings through a 4-track recorder and, according to a press release, “a series of small half-broken cassette players,” and the resulting sound crackles and fades in and out like a far-off FM radio station driving through a rural town in an old car. Hayter’s voice is still given plenty of room to shine, and she delivers the somber tracks with magisterial command over minimal musical backing, mostly piano and percussion. The clips of her speaking in tongues are genuinely terrifying, and a foreboding mood permeates all the tracks, even her more straightforward takes on traditional spirituals. Not a simple or easy listen, but absolutely a powerful and compelling one. [Amanda Hatfield]

Dream Unending / Worm – Starpath
20 Buck Spin

Just one month after Tomb Mold made a surprise return with their new LP The Enduring Spirit, related band Dream Unending release a split with their 20 Buck Spin labelmates Worm that was announced just days ago. The LP-length split has just two Dream Unending songs and three from Worm, but both sides clock in at around 22-23 minutes each. Dream Unending continue to explore the middle ground between death-doom and jazz fusion, with clean vocals from frequent collaborator Phil Swanson on opening track “So Many Chances,” and they continue to come out with a very unique version of metal that’s both bone-crushingly heavy and strikingly beautiful. Worm actually kinda change things up from last year’s great Bluenothing; they go in a black/goth/arena direction that ends up kinda sounding like Tribulation. It suits them well, and it pairs well with what Dream Unending are doing on this split. These bands sound nothing alike, but they’re both interested in pushing the boundaries of heavy metal and doing something out of the ordinary. They’re both bands that I think could appeal to a wide range of listeners, while both remaining firmly planted in extreme music.

Bombay Bicycle Club – My Big Day
AWAL

Bombay Bicycle Club’s last comeback attempt couldn’t have come at a worse time. The UK band released their first album in six years, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, in early 2020, right before global lockdown ensued, and their planned North American tour in support of it was never able to happen. Now, almost four years later, they’re back once again, and they’re Doing It Big. The album is loaded with big guests–Damon Albarn, Chaka Khan, Nilüfer Yanya, Jay Som, and Holly Humberstone–and the record is full of bright, artsy pop songs that bring out the best in those guests and Bombay Bicycle Club leader Jack Steadman. It’s yet another progression from a band who have evolved at every turn, and who are long past exceeding the potential of their hype machine-backed early releases.

Sentenced 2 Die – Parasitic Infection
Maggot Stomp

Minneapolis old school-style, hardcore-indebted death metal band Sentenced 2 Die formed in 2021 with members of Descent of Man, Brain Bleed, While God Sleeps, and Avarice, and last year they released the No Reason To Live EP and a three-song promo before unleashing their debut album Parasitic Infection this week. The 10-song LP includes two songs from the promo (“Bestial Deformity” and “Manifestations of an Infected Mind”), and it has plenty more where those songs came from. It exists in the same no-bullshit death metal realm as other current and former Maggot Stomp bands like Undeath, 200 Stab Wounds, Vomit Forth, and Tribal Gaze, and Sentenced 2 Die just do it really well. It’s disgusting, it’s energizing, it’s exactly what you want from this kind of music.

Knuckle Puck – Losing What We Love
Pure Noise

“It feels like we’re in a bit of a losing battle with the state of the world,” says Nick Casasanto, co-lead singer of Chicago pop punk band Knuckle Puck. In the past, he says the band felt a responsibility to have an “overwhelming hopefulness” in their lyrics and say that things will be okay, but this time they’re saying, “No, we should be panicking.” The change in tone is reflected in the music on Losing What We Love, which is one of the band’s darkest, angriest records without abandoning their knack for glossy, sugar-sweet hooks. It’s a record that’s full of growth, but it’s also one that hearkens back to their earliest releases, when they were making pop punk that was directly connected to hardcore. It’s a treat to hear them going back to something a little grittier, while still showing how far they’ve come.

Titanic – Vidrio
Unheard of Hope

Mabe Fratti has been very busy lately. She released her great new album Se Ve Desde Aquí last fall, and this fall she has new albums from two other projects she’s part of: Amor Muere (due 11/4) and Titanic (out today). Titanic is a collaboration between Mabe and Hector Tosta (aka i la Católica), and it finds the pair pulling from jazz, chamber pop, folk music, and more. It’s full of gorgeous instrumentals that would catch the ear on their own, communicating and contrasting with Mabe’s vocals that push the songs in all sorts of directions. It’s music that can be warm and tender, but also music that’s restless, always looking for some new space to explore.

The Callous Daoboys – God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys EP
MNRK Heavy / Modern Static

Three-song EPs can sometimes seem like something minor on paper, but not many three-song EPs cover as much ground as God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys. “Pushing the Pink Envelope” goes from mathcore chaos to jazz fusion to deathcore breakdowns to industrial dancefloor jams to catchy emo-pop to hell and back… and that’s just the first song. Its other two songs (including one featuring pulses.) are similarly all-over-the-place, but in entirely different ways. “I appreciate the Dillinger Escape Plan comparisons — that’s a band I saw so many times, and I love them to death,” vocalist Carson Pace said in an interview with Alternative Press, “but I’m ready for it to be like, ‘What does the new Callous Daoboys song sound like? It sounds like the Callous Daoboys.’” Honestly, at this point, that really is the only thing this batshit EP sounds like.

Strange Joy – Power Pop EP
Sunday Drive

Another shorty-but-a-goody out this week is Strange Joy’s Power Pop. (It has one more track than the Daoboys EP, though it’s actually like five minutes shorter.) It’s also one of my favorite red herring album/EP titles in recent memory. Make no mistake, Strange Joy is very much a melodic hardcore band, and Power Pop is actually even heavier than last year’s great 5 Tracks (which just came out on vinyl). But this band’s got power, and their songs definitely pop, so by all means, go ahead and reclaim that phrase as your own.

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Lost Girls (Jenny Hval & Håvard Volden), Maria BC, Emma Anderson (Lush), Pip Blom, Katie Von Schleicher, Sleaford Mods, Crime & the City Solution, and more.

Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases archive or scroll down for previous weeks.

Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out our new episode with Citizen.

Also, BrooklynVegan launched pre-orders for its first-ever special edition 80-page magazine, which tells the career-spanning story of Alexisonfire and comes on its own or paired with our new exclusive AOF box set and/or individual reissues. Pick up yours in the BV shop.