It’s another big week for music so let’s get right to it. I highlight 12 below, and Bill tackles Blonde Redhead, Wilco, Melenas, Modern Nature, Seablite, Don Letts, and the Moondog tribute (ft. Jarvis Cocker, Marissa Nadler, Rufus Wainwright, and more) in Indie Basement.

On top of those, this week’s honorable mentions include Oneohtrix Point Never, Jlin, Harm’s Way, Random Hand, Slow Pulp, ’68, Cleo Sol, Kamaal Williams, Matana Roberts, Steven Wilson, Lil Wayne, YG & Tyga, Rome Streetz, Defcee & Messiah Musik, Molly Burch, Cherry Glazerr, Becky G, KK’s Priest (Judas Priest), Maggot Heart, David Eugene Edwards, Primordial, Bad History Month, Alexalone, The Atom Age, John P. Strohm (Blake Babies), Thank You I’m Sorry, Thanks For Coming (Water From Your Eyes), Ruin Lust, Caged, Psing Psong Psung, Blood Command, The Howdies, Del Water Gap, Ann Wilson, Islet, Jeremiah Chiu, Russell Louder, MJ Nebreda, Colin Miller, No-No Boy, Boy Named Banjo, Oh Land, Oliver Tree, La Force, Latewaves, Say She She, Michael the Band, Final Gasp, Fearing, Setting, LP, the Wolves In The Throne Room EP, the Girl Scout EP, the Career Woman EP, the Hard Feelings EP, the Private Hell EP, the hemlocke springs EP, the Beggars (Fairweather, Be Well) EP, the Skam archival LP, Bryce Dessner’s soundtrack for She Came to Me, and The NID Tapes: Electronic Music From India 1969​-​1972.

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

Armand Hammer – We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
Fat Possum

billy woods and ELUCID haven’t released a new album as Armand Hammer since putting out the Alchemist-produced Haram two and a half years ago, but if it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, that’s probably because they both continue to be insanely prolific on their own. ELUCID released I Told Bessie last year and woods has released two albums since Haram: last year’s Aethiopes and this year’s Kenny Segal-produced Maps. And throughout all of their near-constant output, they never lose stream creatively. Everything they do feels like another crucial piece of the puzzle, and We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is no exception. It has a familiarity that builds off of the Armand Hammer albums that came before it, and it still keeps you on your toes. Its cast of producers and guests includes a mix of usual suspects and entirely new collaborators, and even the album-making process was new for the duo. ELUCID and engineer Willie Green recruited a group of live musicians–including jazz trailblazer Shabaka Hutchings on flute–for a jam session in 2022, and those recordings ended up becoming the basis for several of the beats you hear on this album. Guests include Soul Glo’s Pierce Jordan (as Moneynicca), Junglepussy, Moor Mother, Pink Siifu, Curly Castro, and Cavalier; and producers include JPEGMAFIA, El-P, Kenny Segal, DJ Haram, Black Noi$e, Preservation, Steel Tipped Dove, August Fanon, Child Actor, and Sebb Bash. The end result is an experience that is both psychedelic and hyperfocused all at once.

Code Orange – The Above
Blue Grape

Over the years, Code Orange have proven to be adept at a variety of different styles of music–brutally heavy metalcore, hook-fueled grunge and industrial rock, unabashed nu metal revival–and on their fifth album The Above, they do all of it and more (with a little help from friends like guest vocalist Billy Corgan and engineer Steve Albini). It  has some of their most antagonizing songs, and it has some of their lightest, catchiest, most welcoming songs. Whatever you think Code Orange is, this album both confirms and contradicts that. It’s a reminder that Code Orange are constantly expanding the definition of what it means to be Code Orange, and they’re doing it on their own terms.

Pick up our exclusive transparent ochre vinyl variant.

Jorja Smith – Falling or Flying
FAMM

Finally, over five years after releasing her debut album Lost & Found and over two years after telling us she’d Be Right Back, UK singer Jorja Smith is back with her sophomore album, Falling or Flying. Made largely with production duo DAMEDAME*, Falling or Flying has an everchanging backdrop that weaves seamlessly between skittering electronics, jazzy instrumentation, ambient textures, Afrobeats, R&B, and a brief dose of alt-rock, all with Jorja’s powerful, soulful voice front and center. The album has just two guest vocalists–elusive UK rapper J Hus and Jamaican reggae singer Lila Iké–and in the case of Falling or Flying, less is definitely more. Every move on this album feels carefully made, all in service of achieving a vision that’s nothing short of remarkable.

Koyo – Would You Miss It?
Pure Noise

Koyo may have started out as a side project that aimed to embrace the Long Island melodic hardcore/emo vibes of bands like Silent Majority, The Movielife, and early Taking Back Sunday, but they’ve blossomed into a force of their own, and their debut album Would You Miss It? rivals the late ’90s / early 2000s era-defining classics. The delivery is urgent, the songwriting feels instantly timeless, and Jon Markson’s production gives it a crisp, modern shine that you’d never mistake for ’97 or 2001. It has an energy and a grit that keeps it fully in touch with Koyo’s hardcore upbringing, and catchy, cathartic hooks that transcend LIHC and welcome in a wide variety of listeners.

Read our feature on the album for much more, and pick up our exclusive tri-color vinyl variant.

Animal Collective – Isn’t It Now?
Domino

Last year, Animal Collective released Time Skiffs, their catchiest album since 2009’s beloved Merriweather Post Pavilion, and if you’ve been hoping that Animal Collective have more where that came from, you’re in luck; they very literally do. That album’s nine songs came from a fruitful recording session that resulted in about 20 songs, and nine others from that same session now make up Isn’t It Now?. With a 22-minute song and other tracks near the eight and nine minute marks, Isn’t It Now? clocks in at 64 minutes and is Animal Collective’s longest album to date, but even that 21-minute song never feels too meandering. Like its predecessor, Isn’t It Now? is a focused, welcoming album, but still deeply weird compared to the general landscape of indie and pop music. There was a time when it felt like Animal Collective were actively trying to turn off the people who hopped on board because of “My Girls,” but right now, it feels like Animal Collective are just off in a land of their own. They’re not necessarily looking to rope new people in, but if you’re curious, they’ve left the gates unlocked.

Equipment – Alt. Account
Klepto Phase

Ohio emo band Equipment aren’t a new band (their first demo came out in 2015), but the buzz that’s building for them this year makes Alt. Account feel like it’s going to be their breakthrough, and they definitely deserve it. Whether he’s singing about feeling inadequate as the partner of someone in medical school, or feeling mentally drained by yet witnessing another social media argument, singer/guitarist Nick Zander brings unique perspective and wit to these songs, paired with melodies that are easy to latch onto and hard to let go of. Their quirky, scrappy vibes put them in an emo lineage that stretches from Cap’n Jazz to Modern Baseball to Origami Angel, and they know that lack of professionalism can be a creative choice, not a result of laziness.

Maxo – Debbie’s Son
SMILEFORME

It took LA rapper Maxo four years to release his sophomore album Even God Has A Sense of Humor, but only a few months to follow it with his next album, Debbie’s Son. That spontaneity shows up in the music too, with 10 songs, one guest (Zelooperz), and the feeling that these songs are coming to life as you listen to them. With production from The Alchemist, Beat Butcha, Ahwlee, lastnamedavid, and more, this album uses the abstract side of its predecessor as a launchpad and goes in even hazier, more experimental directions. It’s cut from a similar cloth as something like Shabazz Palaces, with jazz, psychedelia, and stream-of-consciousness thoughts all swirling together in one strange brew. Maxo already sounded like a world-weary veteran as a 23-year-old on his debut album, and now he’s taking his music is pleasantly surprising new directions that the Maxo of 2019 hardly even hinted at.

Broken Vow – Anthropocene
Triple B Records

As I wrote in my track review of “1.5,” Broken Vow’s knack for primal chugs and environmentally-conscious lyrics suggest a love of Earth Crisis, but there’s much more happening on their debut album Anthropocene than idol worship. From thrash riffs that could fit on Ride the Lightning to atmospheric passages that fall on the more post-hardcore side of things, the music is far from one-note, and the lyrical content follows suit. Environmental crises inform a lot of these songs, as does the corruption and oppression brought on by the American government and military, but Anthropocene isn’t all rallying cries; it’s also about the times when those rallying cries feel hopeless. One of the album’s most powerful, personal songs is “Function,” which vocalist Tommy Harte (who also plays guitar in Anxious) says is “about the feeling of powerlessness and worthlessness in the face of a catastrophic state of the world.”

Read Tommy’s full track-by-track breakdown for more on this LP.

Filth Is Eternal – Find Out
MRNK Heavy

Filth Is Eternal are a hardcore band hailing from Seattle, and they’ve definitely absorbed some of their hometown’s history–the grungy grit of Mudhoney and Bleach-era Nirvana find their way into the blistering mix. Vocalist Lis Di Angelo matches all the noise with a caustic yet melodic delivery, tackling topics like mental health, addiction, and sexuality with genuine emotion and delightfully gnarly hooks.

pulses. – It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This
Oh Word? Records

It’s nearly impossible to sum up the new pulses. album in one word, but if I had to try: maximal. It just does everything. The core of the album is the kind of sassy, chaotic post-hardcore that recalls anything from Heavy Heavy Low Low to The Callous Daoboys, the latter of whom’s Carson Pace lends his voice to the closing track, but it’s also got everything from aughts-era dance-punk to Talking Heads-y polyrhythms to hip hop to Panic! at the Disco/My Chemical Romance-level theatrics to ska (with help from JER on that last one). It’s shit thrown at a wall, and pulses. move too fast to ever look back and see what sticks.

Feid – MOR, No Le Temas a La Oscuridad
Universal Music Latino

Over the past couple years, Feid has skyrocketed to reggaeton stardom, and MOR, No Le Temas a La Oscuridad feels like a victory lap. It’s loaded with catchy songs, and it finds Feid expanding his sonic palette to include Afrobeats, dancehall, clubby dance beats, alt-pop, and more, all delivered with that syrupy Feid flair.

Woe – Legacies of Frailty
Vendetta Records

Queens black metal band Woe are back with their first album in six years, and it’s a towering, intense record. We’ve got an interview up on Invisible Oranges for much more on this LP.

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Blonde Redhead, Wilco, Melenas, Modern Nature, 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 Justice Tripp (Angel Du$t, Trapped Under Ice).

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.