It’s been an exciting week for us here at BrooklynVegan–we just launched the first issue of our new digital magazine, with Mannequin Pussy on the cover, and you can subscribe for free to read it immediately. Also inside: five Artist to Watch profiles, a spring tour preview, a TV column, and more.

As for this week’s new releases, I highlight four below, and Bill tackles more in Indie Basement, including Meatbodies, Bolis Pupul, Astrel K, and La Sécurité‘s remix EP. This week’s honorable mentions are Judas Priest, Ariana Grande, Norah Jones, Bleachers, Homeshake, Midnight, Grey Skies Fallen, Ghost Work (Seaweed, Minus The Bear, Snapcase), Tony Shhnow, Bizzy Banks, GHLOW, Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band, brother bird, Jane Inc, Drill, Haux, Slimelord, Konradsen, Lamplight, Ransom & Harry Fraud, Jae Skeese & Superior, Jay Worthy & LNDN DRGS, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, KYLE, CJ Fly, Discovery Zone, Erika Angell, Loreena McKennitt, Tomato Flower, Skeletal Remains, Whirlwind, Eyelids, Domain, Torrey, Spence Lee, Ethan Larsh, Too Close To Touch, The Hanging Stars, Slow Hollows, Kahil El’Zabar & Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Dion, the Stretch Arm Strong EP, the Olof Dreijer (The Knife) EP, the Bite the Hand EP, the Purest Form EP, the Thank You, I’m Sorry EP, the Locktender EP, the Remy Banks EP, the Susanna EP, the Froglord EP, the Peache Luffe EP, the orchestral Sleater-Kinney EP, and the acoustic CocoRosie EP.

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

Kim Gordon – The Collective
Matador

34 years after Kim Gordon went head to head with Chuck D on Sonic Youth’s “Kool Thing,” she’s… kind of released her first rap record? That’s a little reductive, but the artist best known for guitar-fueled noise rock has leaned fully into trap beats and other hip hop-adjacent electronics, and there are times when Kim’s iconic spoken word delivery style veers closer than usual into rapping. It’s the most drastic sonic reinvention that Kim’s music has gone through in years, and it’s a thrilling development for an artist who’s always innovating and never playing by anyone else’s rules. It also totally works. It doesn’t sound like Kim Gordon is trying to make a Lil Yachty record to appeal to Gen Z; it sounds like a Kim Gordon record, with her trademark delivery and lyrical style fully intact, and a musical backdrop that pushes as many buttons in 2024 as Sonic Youth’s music pushed four decades earlier.

Moor Mother – The Great Bailout
ANTI-

Like so many great artists before her, Moor Mother is a reporter and a historian. On The Great Bailout, she looks at the history and the aftermath of slavery in Britain, particularly the 1835 Slavery Abolition Act, a loan that provided money to former slave owners and was paid off over the course of nearly 200 years with the help of taxpayers, including descendants of former slaves. Moor Mother looks at centuries of greed, oppression, and corruption, and the effects that all of it still has on both Britain and the world. In a catalog that’s full of protest music, The Great Bailout is one of Moor Mother’s darkest records yet. With help from Lonnie Holley, Raia Was, Kyle Kidd, justmadnice, Angel Bat Dawid’s group Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty, Mary Lattimore, Alya Al Sultani, Vijay Iyer, Ambrose Akimbe, C. Spencer Yeh, Aaron Dilloway, and more, she tells these stories over a series of stirring, experimental backdrops. It’s part poetry, part documentary with a gripping film score, and it seems pretty impossible to hear these songs and not be entirely moved by them.

MIKE & Tony Seltzer – Pinball
10k

Last year, NYC rapper MIKE released his own great new album Burning Desire as well as an Alchemist-produced collaborative album with Wiki, Faith Is A Rock, and Wiki also released his own new album, 14K Figaro, entirely produced by Tony Seltzer. Now, MIKE and Tony Seltzer have released their own collaborative album, Pinball. Tony has a harder, sharper style than we usually hear from MIKE, who tends to favor hazy soundscapes, and Pinball sounds like no other record that MIKE has released. The production ranges from the lush instrumentals of early 2000s NYC rap to trunk-rattling trap beats, and MIKE tailors his style to fit the mood. He bounces between his usual lazy drawl, something a little more fired-up, and even some pop-friendly moments on parts of “Two Door” and “Yin-Yang.” Earl Sweatshirt, Tony Shhnow, Jay Critch, and Niontay add their unique voices to the mix too. At 21 and a half minutes, it’s less than half the length of Burning Desire, and it’s one of MIKE’s most immediate projects yet.

Jophus – True Crime
Counter Intuitive

Jophus is the solo project of Prince Daddy & the Hyena singer/guitarist Kory Gregory, and outside of Kory’s very recognizable voice, Jophus’ debut album True Crime is in vastly different territory than Prince Daddy. It finds him trekking through breezy bedroom pop, acid-drenched psychedelia, retro new wave, and a couple moments of louder guitar rock, with much bigger production and more fleshed-out arrangements than Jophus’ early lo-fi singles. (And Kory played, recorded, mixed, and mastered everything himself.) It’s exciting when a solo/side project really feels like a completely different beast than the artist’s main project, and Jophus stands tall on its own. It’s easy to see Prince Daddy fans liking it, but even if that band’s emo/punk isn’t really your thing, I could see fans of Animal Collective or Deerhunter or Spirit of the Beehive liking this record. It’s just really good off-kilter pop music, and it’s one of the best things Kory’s done yet.

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Meatbodiess, Bolis Pupul, Astrel K, 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 Ned Russin (of Glitterer and Title Fight).

Pick up the BrooklynVegan x Alexisonfire 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, in the BV shop. Also pick up the new Glassjaw box set & book, created in part with BrooklynVegan.