Best New Releases, July 25: Tyler, the Creator, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist, and more
Our weekly roundup of the best new releases is back this week with a couple of late-breaking drops from two big names in hip-hop, plus some experimental electronics, some gnarly noise rock and more. Dive into our picks for the best new albums of the week.
Tyler, the Creator – DON’T TAP THE GLASS
Tyler, the Creator’s defiance of the omnipresent fear of being cringe (or, if you prefer, his dance album) dropped at the least danceable time of the week; Monday morning. Even worse, it was after he hosted a private party we—and, realistically speaking, you—weren’t invited to. Fortunately, DON’T TAP THE GLASS, his ninth album, is so infectious that it can make a Monday morning commute feel like an invite-only party. Tyler focused on stimulating the body, cutting much of the pageantry and narrative framing of his previous albums as well as the self-mythologizing that makes him Tyler. He strikes for the body here, leaving cerebral ruminations for another day while he melts techno and hip-hop into a joint lubricant. – Colin Dempsey
Listen: Spotify
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2
Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s Alfredo was one of the best hip-hop records of 2020 for the same reason that Alc’s collaborations with Boldy James and Armand Hammer from the next year were best-in-class that year: He has a way of bringing lyrical narratives to life with a richly cinematic production quality that offers sparks of brilliance even at their darkest. Alfredo 2 is a fitting sequel to that stellar first collaboration, showcasing a blend of Gibbs’ charisma, grit and lush production that’s perfect for restless, steamy summer nights. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Turntable Lab (vinyl)
Editrix – The Big E
Weird prog with a heavy rock vibe. Editrix draws from a magical window of 90s prog from the era where grunge, shoegaze and alt rock of all stripes were the favored taste and so groups of that era like Cheer-Accident, Slint and Jesus Lizard were mixing the precision mathematics of peak King Crimson with the brumy rock atmospheres of the noise rock and grimy alternative worlds of contemporary music. On paper, sure, that means Editrix is playing an old style, but it’s one with a decreasing number of entrees each year in an already shallow pool, and with rock this brainy and muscular, who can complain? Imagine FACS, an indie pop singer-songwriter and Horse Lords forced to pen a record together, then pare down the arrangement for Red-era King Crimson trio play. Spectacular! – Langdon Hickman
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Giant Claw – Decadent Stress Chamber
As co-chief of the outré Orange Milk label alongside Seth Graham, Keith Rankin has been releasing deliciously gnarly pop, dance-centric and noisy rock ecstasy for the last decade or so, most recently dropping essential wax from galen tipton & Shmu and Fruit Looops. The winning streak continues for Orange Milk with the new album by Giant Claw, Rankin’s long-running solo project and label cornerstone. Decadent Stress Chamber is, arguably, Rankin’s magnum opus. A stroke of majestic, lushly layered and intricate pop wizardry, the synth-powered songs that make up Decadent Stress Chamber have a certain radio-friendly accessibility and a glorious warpedness at the same time. Full of glitchy sonics, sublime hooks and sweaty dance club pulsations, Giant Claw’s latest is pure ecstasy—just listen to what should be its body-moving smash hit single and ultimate banger, “Desire Despair,” for solid proof. – Brad Cohan
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Latter – What Lives Inside of Me
The new EP from noisy Chicago upstarts Latter is the most face-ripping twelve minutes you’re going to spin this year. As the follow-up to My Body is My Sickness, their 2024 debut, the utterly relentless What Lives Inside of Me finds the core duo of guitarist and raw-throated screamer Meredith Haines and drummer Jonathan Alvarado throwing down a furious gauntlet of aggro noise-punk underpinned by industrial’s caustic edges, spacey post-metal nuances and pedal-stomping Nirvana-like grunge that will surely incite a mini-riot in the pit. With the arena-sized and icky riff blitz on full blast, it’s Haines’ impassioned bawls with lyrics surveying themes of desperation, dread, anxiety and self-worth that shatters the intensity scale. In what seems like a blink of an eye, Latter’s What Lives Inside of Me is able to bleed the urgency and claustrophobia of this dumpster fire of a world. – Brad Cohan
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
