Best New Releases, April 11: Messa, Valerie June, and more
When it’s Coachella season, a lot of the heavy hitters hold their record releases for later in the year (or already dropped them in March). So on the surface today might not look like a day for big names with new music. Which is technically true. But big and good aren’t necessarily synonymous, and today is positively stacked with great new releases from smaller-print artists that range from Americana to doom metal to “Lebrary” music. Dive into our picks for the week’s best new releases.
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Messa – The Spin
Eclectic, Italian doom metal outfit Messa return with their first album for Metal Blade, the goth-streaked, heavily ’80s-influenced The Spin, which is our Album of the Week. In our review of the album, we said, “As their first album to be released through Metal Blade, The Spin can be viewed as a leveling up of sorts—both commercially, as evident through the hooks in their satisfyingly soaring goth-metal songs, as well as via the progression of their ambition.” – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Valerie June – Owls, Omens, and Oracles
Classical music, jazz and prog-rock may have the edge on the most complicated forms of music, but Valerie June pulls off something very special here. Owls, Omens, and Oracles is full with pinched vocals, horns, piano and a litany of other unexpected musical delights but, magically, never feels crammed. Much to the contrary, Valerie June manages to make rollicking, catchy splendor as she unpretentiously and seamlessly waltzes from pop to rock to gospel to ‘60s girl-group/Wall of Sound brilliance. If you’re not at least tempted to dance along to every song on this record, produced by M. Ward masquerading as a pre-notorious Phil Spector, you’d best get your feet, ears and head checked. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Salif Keita – So Kono
Malian artist Salif Keita first began releasing music in the ’70s but developed a wider following in the ’80s through albums like Soro and the acclaimed Folon: Past. With his first new album in seven years, the singer and songwriter presents a gentle and stripped down set of primarily stark, acoustic tracks that he recorded mostly in his hotel room while in Japan for a festival performance. There’s an intimacy to these tracks that lay bare the expressive beauty of his vocals, and they feel all the more emotionally resonant as a result. Standout moments such as “Chérie” find Keita accompanied by Badie Tounkara on ngoni and Mamadou Kone on calabash, subtly enriching an already gorgeous and affecting sound, and a little goes a long way. We’ll have more on this one soon. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Idle Heirs – Life is Violence
It’s been a decade since Sean Ingram has made any music, making this project something fans of Coalesce should be thankful for. Josh Barber’s partnership with Ingram here shows a great understanding of where the hardcore/metal veteran is coming from. The duo have captured something that is powerfully emotive with dynamic songs that seldom conform to a formula. They don’t try to pick up where Coalesce left off, yet still share some of the band’s sonic colors. It’s a logical next step for Ingram and is a must for forward-thinking fans of post-hardcore. – Wil Lewellyn
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Tapeworms – Grand Voyage
If you like writing messages with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles at kids or daydreaming snow-angel-style on fresh-cut grass, Grand Voyage will be music to your ears. Resembling a mash-up of the Flaming Lips and Cornelius (who toured together in 1999, incidentally), Tapeworms have come a long way since their rough, less-focused 2018 debut, Everything Will Be Fine. Better yet, they’re clearly having way more fun. Breaking free from the shackles of shoegaze, the Tokyo trio’s gonna give Stereolab’s new record a run for its money. Don’t call Tapeworms more “mature”; call them more well-versed in—and more adept at—the priceless art of playfulness. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Charif Megarbane – Hawalat
Lebanese artist Charif Megarbane’s psychedelic “Lebrary” music, as heard on his 2023 album Marzipan, is something like the crate-digging beatscapes of an artist like J Dilla. Except they’re actually recorded in-studio with live instruments. Megarbane continues that exploration into psychedelic, cinematic groove on new album Hanandi, intertwining funk with lounge, Arabic pop, psych-rock, hip-hop and other varied sounds, crafting a lush and versatile mixtape of headphone candy gems that connect the playful scoring of Piero Umiliani with the intrigue of John Barry and the analog beats of Madlib. Outstanding stuff. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Stander – Collapsing
For the last decade, Chicago trio Stander have been honing their singular form of minimalist/maximalist precision to hypnotic and headbanging effect. On their third album, titled Collapsing, Stander’s vision of achieving experi-metal bliss has been fully realized. The thoroughly expansive Collapsing is a sonic and evocative shapeshifter of a record that meticulously weaves a thread where post-rock, mathcore, noise, death and black metal collide but they improbably emerge with a cohesive thing of intense and physical beauty. With incredible contributions from pals in Genital Shame, Full of Hell, BIG|BRAVE and Pyrithe and chunks of free jazzy skronk courtesy of saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, Stander have taken a tremendous leap forward with the sprawling Collapsing. – Brad Cohan
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Neptunian Maximalism – Le Sacre du Soleil Invaincu
Apocalyptic euphoria. Their name continues to be no joke: what other group descended from metal musicians feels more at home with Sun Ra and the monumentalism of Miles Davis live documents from his densest, darkest fusion days? These are 11 tracks but, in true NM fashion, three long pieces over the two hours, a cycle which feels closer to the birth and death of the universe via lush and all-encompassing psychedelic big band composition. This baby is too dense to parse in one go. Be patient. Like a lotus, it unfurls. – Langdon Hickman
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Final Dose – Under the Eternal Shadow
Seeing as punk rock is back on the menu given the state of (insert whatever the government is tampering with this week), it’s worth indulging some of its more deprived disciples like London’s Final Dose. On their second album, Under the Eternal Shadow, the group pairs snot-nosed indignation with black metal’s contempt for the world. Note that it’s more of a trade-school album than an art school project, meaning it’s shoddy, rudimentary, and, most importantly, necessary. You can’t get distilled shots of anger like this without a prescription, and Final Dose are happy to hand them out free of charge. – Colin Dempsey
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
