Best New Releases, April 26: St. Vincent, Inter Arma, and more
And April closes out strong! Today we have a dozen—a solid dozen!—new records that you should be queueing up throughout the weekend, including new records from indie heavyweights, synth-pop and rock ‘n’ roll legends, goth, industrial-rap, post-metal and more.
Blurbs by Jeff Terich (JT) and Mia Euceda (ME).
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
St. Vincent – All Born Screaming
Annie Clark spent her last two albums, 2017’s MASSEDUCTION and 2021’s Daddy’s Home, veering away from the guitar-driven art-pop that made her a uniquely mesmerizing force in indie rock, instead delving into synth-heavy arrangements and throwback ’70s pastiche, respectively. All Born Screaming is neither of these, instead focusing on Clark’s haunting songwriting and, yes, guitar. The sound of jangly 12-string guitar riffs drives leadoff track “Hell Is Near,” and she lays down some noisy grooves in first single “A Broken Man.” It’s a darker, grungier St. Vincent than we’ve heard in a while, rife with mesmerizing songwriting and a pervasive, mysterious atmosphere. Expect more on this soon. – JT
Listen at Spotify
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Inter Arma – New Heaven
Inter Arma offer their first new set of original songs in five years, following 2019’s Sulphur English, with the concise but intense, powerful New Heaven. It’s currently our Album of the Week, and in our review of the album, we said, “Inter Arma’s expansion continues ever outward, this latest batch of songs grounded less by the hints of roots music that occasionally revealed itself within their music than wilder, unfamiliar pursuits.” – JT
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Fu##in’ Up
Named for a song on his 1990 album Ragged Glory and recorded live, Fu##in’ Up finds Neil Young in a similar mode as he has been with recent releases such as Before and After, but with the benefit of a little extra volume and power from his longtime band Crazy Horse—credited here as The Horse. Specifically, these are live versions from a private performance in 2023 that primarily comprises material from Ragged Glory, including its profane standout namesake. It’s raw and scuzzy, but with the looseness and command of a band with over 50 years of performing under their belts, and a fine addition to an already huge discography. – JT
Listen at Spotify
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Full of Hell – Coagulated Bliss
Full of Hell had a prolific 2023, releasing two collaborative albums, Suffocating Humiliation with Primitive Man and Where No Birds Sang with shoegazers Nothing. But Coagulated Bliss is their first full-length album sans collaborator in four years, rife with the intensity and chaos we’ve come to expect from a group who have paired grindcore with noise as well as they have for over a decade. Their latest is no less furious or explosive, but it’s some of the most melodic material they’ve ever recorded, as well as some of the most eclectic. The usual blend of deathgrind and metalcore is here, along with moments of noise rock, sludge metal, and abstract moments of dread and terror. It rips, yes, but often in surprising ways, which is why Full of Hell remains one of the most vital bands in metal today. – JT
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Pet Shop Boys – Nonetheless
In a long and productive career full of sophisticated and danceable pop, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe continue to find satisfying avenues of exploration within their signature synth-pop sound. Their sixteenth album, Nonetheless, is lush and maximalist disco and pop with ornate, elegant string arrangements, which on a song like opener “Loneliness” only serves to make their take on disco sound as big-budget as possible. There are moments of gorgeous sophisti-pop (“New London Boy”) and Kraftwerk homage (“Feel”), and highlights abound throughout. An excellent showing from a group four decades into their career. – JT
Listen at Spotify
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All
Black metal legends Darkthrone continue their steady course of new music every two to three years, and here we are, right on schedule with another set that combines that rawness of vintage black metal with old-school heavy metal flourishes. It Beckons Us All is a no-frills release that’s big on riffs, growls and a reverence for heavy metal classicism that’s infectious. We’ll have more on this one soon. – JT
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Houses of Heaven – Within/Without
Earlier this year, we premiered a song from Bay Area darkwave group Houses of Heaven, the seductive and ominous “Strange Temptation,” which is the first song on their new album Within/Without. It’s a strong start to what’s one of the best gothic synth-pop albums I’ve heard in a long time, steeped in sleek post-punk darkness and industrial/EBM. It’s music that thrives after midnight behind sheets of fog, juxtaposing eerie atmosphere with sexiness in a way that only the best goth music can. We’ll have more on this soon. – JT
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror
The fourth album from Austin metal group Glassing is their first for Pelagic Records, and it’s only fitting that a label founded by members of The Ocean is now home for the atmospherically inclined post-metal group. Picking up where 2021’s Twin Dream left off, From the Other Side of the Mirror leans further into the group’s dreamy instrumentals while retaining the blistering surges of screamo and black metal that they’re known for. A killer, but beautiful, metal record, and we’ll have more to say on this soon. – JT
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
LustSickPuppy – CAROUSEL FROM HELL
The Machine Girl collaborator and Brooklyn digital breakbeat artist lays down what they’re all about on this chaotic carnival of an LP. Clocking in a little under 20 minutes, this debut takes listeners on a sinister infernal journey full of glitchy drums, mutated synths and confrontational call outs and cries. LustSickPuppy’s high speed verses and beats are whiplash inducing, and don’t seem to care if you can’t keep up. The artist’s monologue veers back and forth between conceited and conflicted, conveying an unstable persona who’s determined to cause wreckage by any means necessary. With all this in mind, CAROUSEL FROM HELL is a strong introduction to the epileptic high-adrenaline world of LustSickPuppy. – ME
Tara Jane O’Neil – The Cool Cloud of Okayness
Tara Jane O’Neil has released over twenty records in various styles and sounds, including a handful of film scores, not to mention her time performing in bands such as Rodan, Retsin and The Sonora Pine. Her latest, The Cool Cloud of Okayness, finds her venturing into more fascinating new directions, its nine songs steeped in psychedelia, synth-pop and krautrock, swirling with gorgeously rich flourishes and arrangements. Where standout songs like “Curling” pulse with hypnotic spirals of bass, slower tracks like “Glass Island” are smoky and understated, some of O’Neil’s most mysterious and compelling creations to date.
Six Organs of Admittance – Time Is Glass
Ben Chasny has taken Six Organs of Admittance’s music to some strange and interesting places of late, particularly on the psychedelic excursions of 2021’s The Veiled Sea. Yet his latest, Time Is Glass, is rooted in the American primitivist folk guitar sound from which he launched the project back in the late ’90s. Primarily comprising Chasny’s guitar and voice, its production often gives these stark compositions a richer atmosphere, like on the choral layers of “Slip Away” or the dense ambiance of “Hephaestus.” Some of his prettiest material, and we’ll have more to say on this soon.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Writhing Squares – Mythology
One of the standout bands on the great Trouble in Mind label, Writhing Squares are disciples of the school of Chrome and Hawkwind. Delivering sprawling space rock with a noisy, weirdo punk sensibility on new album Mythology, the Philadelphia group continue their exploration of the far reaches of weeded-out space with thick, fuzzy guitars and spiraling squeals of saxophone. It’s an acid trip on VHS, a barnburning basher that levitates even when it’s causing the ground beneath to rupture, and it absolutely rips.
