Best New Releases, June 28: Mabe Fratti, Wilco, and more
And just like that, the year’s half over. We already compiled a list of our favorite albums of 2024 so far, but we could have very easily expanded it with another half dozen or so in the past few weeks. (Which would put it at just shy of an even 50, making the process of narrowing it back down in December even more challenging.) This week’s no exception, featuring a stellar new album from one of our favorite art-pop singer/songwriters, as well as a festival-ready EP from Wilco, plus great new collaborative albums in hip-hop, jazz and experimental folk, and so much more. Check out this week’s batch of best new releases.
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Mabe Fratti – Sentir que no sabes
Less than a year after delivering a year-end-worthy album with Titanic, Mexico City cellist and songwriter Mabe Fratti returns with the stunning Sentir que no sabes, which builds on her palette of abstract pop with even deeper grooves and brighter melodies. It’s our Album of the Week, and in our review, we said it’s “composed from a similar set of instrumental and emotionally evocative elements, yet they yield a set of compositions with a more immediate pop sensibility.”
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon (vinyl)
Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud
Less than a year after the release of their excellent 2023 album Cousin, Wilco returns with the Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP, which coincides with their Solid Sound festival. And it’s unsurprisingly excellent, showcasing the weirder and wilder side of the band through krautrock-inspired tracks like “Hot Sun,” the blazing psych-rock of “Livid,” and the sound-collage folk of “Inside the Bell Bones.” This is Wilco at their most playful and unpredictable, and it’s a sound that’s always worth hearing.
Previous Industries – Service Merchandise
Open Mike Eagle, STILL RIFT and Video Dave are the hip-hop trio Previous Industries, whose Merge Records debut features track titles that revolve around the very concept of shuttered businesses: “Babbages,” “Montgomery Ward,” and “Kay Bee,” to name a few. The album features production from the likes of Child Actor and Quelle Chris, and it’s a lot more than a highly niche nostalgia trip; the trio wind their way through 11 outstanding, abstract songs that merge the playful with the otherworldly, each woozy permutation of old-school boom bap steeped in static and warble. In short: This is dope as hell.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon (vinyl)
Danny Paul Grody Duo – Arc of Night
One year after the release of the gorgeous Arc of Day, guitarist Danny Paul Grody returns with a companion album, Arc of Night, that features him recording in collaboration with percussionist Rich Douthit. Hence: Danny Paul Grody Duo. Arc of Night is indeed a bit more nocturnal and exists amid a thicker cloud of gloom than its predecessor, but there’s also a bit more immediacy to some of these pieces, which can be heard in the stately post-rock sprawl of highlight “Hawk Hill” or the psychedelic drift of “Cloud Forest.” Essential listening for anyone captivated by the sound of guitars and the lure of the unknown.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon (vinyl)
Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance – Jinxed by Being
Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny just released a new album, the gorgeously understated Time Is Glass, which finds the guitarist and singer/songwriter returning to the gentle folk compositions that drive some of his most beloved work. Only a little over a month later, he teams up with producer Shackleton on a set of atmospheric pieces that expand his intricate folk into more widescreen electronic compositions that incorporate eerie elements of dub and psych. It’s gorgeous and unpredictable in stunning, if subtle ways, and we’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon(vinyl)
SML – Small Medium Large
A new collaborative ensemble of musicians in the International Anthem jazz sphere, SML (Small Medium Large), blends elements of jazz with funk, electronic music with avant garde fusion, and it grooves like hell. Small Medium Large—comprising bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann—was formed for a couple of long-form improvisations for live performances in Los Angeles, which eventually evolved into this album of future-funk fusion. It’s awesome, and we’ll have more to say on this soon.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon (vinyl)
The Drin – Elude the Torch
Dylan McCartney has released no fewer than eight great post-punk albums with The Drin, Crime of Passing and The Serfs, whose Half Eaten by Dogs was one of the best albums of 2023. The Drin’s fourth album, Elude the Torch, continues McCartney’s streak of accessibly experimental post-punk, which winds through dub, folk, psychedelia, Morricone-esque soundscapes and various other styles and textures. The Drin continue to hone and refine their sound while expanding its scope, and it’s always a thrill to hear it in practice.
200 Stab Wounds – Manic Manual Procedures
Cleveland’s 200 Stab Wounds have a thrillingly, disgustingly old-school take on death metal that’s made them one of the most enjoyable bands in North America’s current crop. The so-called New Wave of Old-School Death Metal has been cresting for a while now, but 200 Stab Wounds prove there’s still plenty of blood left in its veins with their sophomore album, a riff-driven beast that surges with energy, melody and violence. We’ll have more on this one soon.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Amazon (vinyl)
Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything
The members of Dirty Three have been busy enough of late, Jim White releasing a solo album and collaboration with Marisa Anderson, and Warren Ellis as a member of The Bad Seeds and scoring films with Nick Cave. But the Australian post-rock trio return with their first album as a proper band in over a decade, and it’s rife with the beautiful chaos and evocative soundscapes that have made them a singular band since the mid-’90s. Each track is titled “Love Changes Everything,” which makes this something of an extended suite, though each movement has its own unique sound and character, but most of all it’s as emotionally gripping and soaring as ever.
Listen at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade (vinyl)
Sour Widows – Revival of a Friend
California trio Sour Widows landed in our Essential Tracks a while back for their stunning single “Cherish,” which balances a stark slowcore sound with an emotional rise and powerful climax. It’s just one of many gorgeously rich songs on the band’s debut album Revival of a Friend, which balance moments of lush, patient beauty on a track like “Revival” with cathartic indie rock anthems such as the awesome “Witness.” It’s a summer indie album, but not in the way you’re thinking—this is one for those long, hot nights when everything else is quiet but the thoughts swimming around in your mind.
