Best New Releases, February 21: Baths, Yazz Ahmed, and more
It appears we missed a week of Best New Releases, but we’ll just go ahead and blame it on a three-day weekend starting one day early. Nonetheless, the parade of new releases continues this week with the return of an electronic pop favorite after eight years, a stunning new jazz record (our Album of the Week), a catchy-as-hell new indie rock album, and more. Queue up this week’s Best New Releases.
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums included are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Baths – Gut
Baths’ Will Wiesenfeld returns with his first new album in eight years on Gut. He’s undergone a bit of a transformation since the release of his glitchy, sample-heavy pop debut Cerulean in 2010, and the songs on his latest are warmer and more organic, steeped in more of a conventional indie pop sound with more than a few traces of emo in its DNA. But it’s melodic, catchy, and often beautifully written and performed, and it’s great to hear him back at it again, whatever form it takes. We’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the Hold
The first new full-length album from Yazz Ahmed is an ambitious and sprawling jazz album that draws inspiration from epic poetry, pearl divers and Ahmed’s own home country of Bahrain, with gorgeous compositions that more heavily showcase vocals while offering a dazzling chemistry between Ahmed and her bandmates. It’s our Album of the Week; in our review we said, “Paradise draws from a similarly rich and complex well of inspiration as its predecessors, intertwining the personal with the mythical in a breathtaking suite of sounds that brings added dimension and finer detail to her expanding repertoire.”
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Anxious – Bambi
Connecticut emo/punk band Anxious made a stellar debut with 2022’s Little Green House, and they’ve returned with another set of hook-laden anthems that are big on feelings and melody alike. From the opening rush of “Never Said,” the group charges in with a surplus of energy and immediacy, weaving through moments of melancholy guitar arpeggios on “Some Girls” and supercharged punk fury on “Counting Sheep” and “Head & Spine”—all delivered with the magnetism of the best power pop. A replayable and instantly enjoyable set of guitar-driven indie rock.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Jules Reidy – Ghost/Spirit
After releasing one of our favorite experimental albums from last year, a stunning collaboration with Andrea Belfi, guitarist and composer Jules Reidy makes their Thrill Jockey debut with Ghost/Spirit, a new set of solo pieces that balance experimental electroacoustic sounds with more pop-oriented songwriting. In our review, Michael Pementel said, “Abundant with evocative performances, Jules Reidy’s Ghost/Spirit is a fascinating exploration of spirituality.”
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Masma Dream World – PLEASE COME TO ME
Brooklyn dark ambient/industrial artist Masma Dream World crafts a haunted and atmospheric sound world on her sophomore album, PLEASE COME TO ME. These are sounds situated near the strangest netherworlds of darkwave, evoking British underground composer Caroline K or the strangest songs on Dead Can Dance records while conjuring up something more sinister, like stumbling upon some kind of supernatural ritual in the woods. This is music that’ll make you see shapes on the walls and infiltrate your dreams, and we’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Nina Garcia – Bye Bye Bird
Previously performing noise and improvisational music under the name Mariachi, Parisian guitarist Nina Garcia releases her latest album under her own name, via Stephen O’Malley’s (Sunn O)))) Ideologic Organ imprint. And with it comes a diverse approach to solo guitar music. Some of it is menacing and cacophonous, some of it more gentle and meditative, and even occasionally bright and melodic. It’s a remarkable showcase of what one person can do with just one guitar, and we’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
