Best New Releases, Jan. 24: FKA Twigs, Mogwai, and more


It’s a big week for new releases. Among some of the records we’re most excited about this week are the first new album from FKA twigs in over five years (not counting a mixtape in between, of course), another banger from one of the greatest post-rock bands, plus our Album of the Week from a loud band from Brighton that definitely merits your attention. Check out 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.

FKA twigs – EUSEXUA
More than five years after the release of her last proper album, 2019’s MAGDALENE, FKA twigs makes her return with the higher energy techno-influenced pulses of EUSEXUA. Self-produced, in collaboration with Koreless and Eartheater, the new album ramps up the BPMs and the pulsing beats for the sake of pure dance euphoria. This is some of FKA twigs’ most thrilling and immediate music to date, and we’ll have a lot more to say about this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Turntable Lab (vinyl)

Mogwai – The Bad Fire
Mogwai continue to pursue their always compelling balance of melancholy and instrumental dynamism on The Bad Fire, their follow-up to 2021’s As the Love Continues. In our review, Michael Pementel said, “By channeling their trials and tribulations into The Bad Fire, Mogwai has given listeners a work of contemplative wonder featuring atmospheres so rich, you could simply close your eyes, lose yourself and maybe escape your own hell for a little while.”
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)

DITZ – Never Exhale
Brighton noise rock/post-punk group DITZ offer an even darker and more visceral set of songs on their outstanding second album Never Exhale. It’s currently our Album of the Week. In our review, we said, “Never Exhale is rife with explosive moments of catharsis wrought from malaise and existential panic, balancing twisted internal monologues with eruptions of noise and dissonance.” In other words: It rips.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)

Benjamin Booker – Lower
It’s been eight years since Benjamin Booker’s last album, Witness, and for his latest he’s teamed up with producer Kenny Segal, best known for working with hip-hop artists such as billy woods and Open Mike Eagle. The pairing is an inspired one, with Segal’s hip-hop palette pairing perfectly with Booker’s soulful and bluesy songwriting, which ranges from the noisy, garagey sound of “LWA in the Trailer Park” to the more sensual “Slow Dance in a Gay Bar” and the beat-driven “Show and Tell.” We’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Iggy Pop – Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023
If you’re looking for a companion live album to add to the queue after you make it through our picks for the best Bowie live albums, his old friend and collaborator Iggy Pop has a new live album that shows he’s still able to play one hell of a show, even after all these years. The album features a setlist full of career highlights, from his work with the Stooges to Berlin-era standouts like “The Passenger” and new wave-era gems. It’s a blast. We’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Amazon (vinyl)

Kathryn Mohr – Waiting Room
The music of Kathryn Mohr is stark and lo-fi, initially bringing to mind the hazy balladry of artists such as Grouper or her Flenser labelmate Midwife. But there’s an undeniable power behind these songs, even when they’re driven by little more than guitar and voice. She layers her vocals in intoxicating ways on “Take It,” turns up the fuzz on the raw and crunchy “Elevator,” and offers something eerily hypnotic in “Horizonless.” A dazzling listen—we’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Open Head – What Is Success
The sophomore album by New York post-punk group Open Head is an overwhelming and awesome blend of dark, sinewy grooves and progressive rock intricacy, with a touch of modern experimental artists like Arca, whom they’ve cited as an influence. What Is Success falls somewhere between the dark abstraction of FACS and the prog-wave of King Crimson’s Discipline, taut and technical but with an adherence to hooks and melody that keeps everything compelling and accessible beyond mere proficiency. It’s an awesome album, and we’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)

Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders
Dax Riggs, former frontman of sludge metal icons Acid Bath, returns with his first solo album in 15 years, and it’s a sludgy, bluesy slab of psychedelia as expected, and it’s an exciting sound to behold. Songs like “deceiver” showcase the heavier side of his sound, while maintaining an infectious tunefulness, while “Sunshine Felt the Darkness Smile” leans further into gothic psychedelia and “Even the Stars Fall” merges these two points seamlessly. It rocks. We’ll have more on this one just over the horizon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)

Rose City Band – Sol y Sombra
Rose City Band’s Ripley Johnson has an impeccable record of delivering excellent, tuneful country rock and Americana with a psychedelic streak. Sol y Sombra is no different, rife with songs full of jangly guitar strums, laid-back vocals and sweet pedal steel leads. But despite the warmth of the music itself, there’s a darkness underscoring these songs that Johnson acknowledges, which explains the title, which translates to “Sun and shade.” All the same, it’s a sweet sound that’s easy to love. We’ll have more to say about this one soon.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.