Best New Releases, March 14: clipping., Circuit des Yeux, and more

We’re one day before the Ides of March (beware!), but we’re too busy listening to new music to be troubled by any sinister plots. Among today’s best new releases are the latest from a conceptual-minded industrial rap group, our darkwave-steeped Album of the Week, sludge metal, post-punk, heavy metal and more. Check out our picks for this week’s Best New Releases.

Blurbs written by Colin Dempsey (CD), Kurt Orzeck (KO), Langdon Hickman (LH), Jeff Terich (JT) and Wil Lewellyn (WL).

Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.

clipping. – Dead Channel Sky

At last, clipping has produced enough of a varied body of work that they can make synthetic works. Dead Channel Sky doesn’t advance their style by folding in a new idea as much as it finally unifies concepts from across their body of work. The harsh noise rap of their debut and their self-titled merges with the high energy dance beats of the Wriggle EP. The synth-driven hip-hop of Splendor & Misery unifies with the bleak visions of their horrorcore double album. The result is a record that feels one step closer to the avant-rap throne of Public Enemy and another brilliant installment to an already brilliant body of work. More on this one soon. – LH

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)

Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside

Following the stellar and dramatic -io from 2021, Haley Fohr doubles down on the darkwave influence with an even greater helping of ominous synthesizers and dance-friendly rhythms. Halo on the Inside is our Album of the Week, and in our review, we said, “It’s never breezy, only occasionally gentle and more often than not snarling with an undercurrent of terror, but Halo on the Inside harbors a mischievously playful side of Circuit des Yeux.” – JT

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Bambara – Birthmarks

In 2022, Bambara took a slight turn away from their gothic punk-blues narratives with the Love Is On My Mind EP, fleshing out their dreamily ominous sound with lush synthesizer arrangements. On Birthmarks, their first new full-length in five years, the group goes a step further, enlisting producer Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis as they expand into deeper shades of ambience while retaining the haunted tone of their earlier records. Moments like the opening “Hiss” have a stately, nocturnal glow, while “Dive Shrine” has an ominous twinkle and “Letters from Sing Sing” carries their signature, driving post-punk energy. Another stellar release from the New York group, and we’ll have more on this soon.

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

Rwake – The Return of Magik

The Arkansas-based metal band is back after 13 years. After having built their reputation as sludge stalwarts, this album finds them expanding into a more progressive direction with guitar solos that are tastefully jammed out. There are more blues-drenched southern rock influences creeping in from the edges of their crust-ridden angst, which is more introspective this time around rather than lashing out the world around them. This inward turn of aggression finds the riffs slithering with more emotional heft to counterbalance the snarl of the dual vocal attack. It’s hard to imagine a sludge metal album that is going to be more adventurous this coming out this year, and it’s only March. – WL

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Courting – Lust for Life

Lust for Life is not an album-length tribute to the Iggy Pop album of the same name, but one imagines the legendary Stooges frontman would sign off on Courting copping it for their latest LP. The electro-fied Liverpool trio scores a rare three goals with their first three records—each a different confection of sugar all their own. While Courting tore through the kitchen on their first two records, throwing the sink at a wall more than once, this outing finds the more focused clan centering around delectable pop melodies that could appeal to fans of bands ranging from The Strokes to Weezer. – KO

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)

The Body and Intensive Care – Was I Good Enough?

It was inevitable that The Body would release a chopped and screwed record eventually. Their mountain of collaborative albums and furling and unfurling of production techniques set the precedent that it would happen one day, all they needed was the right partner, whom they found in Toronto noise duo Intensive Care. While definitely not a hip-hop album, Was I Good Enough? focuses on beats and vocal lines, contorting them out of spinal alignment, like a bastard child of Godflesh and Mystic Stylez. (More on this one soon.) – CD

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp

Sanhedrin – Heat Lightning

Sanhedrin may very well be only four albums deep, but the rugged Brooklynites emanate more barroom reek than wet-brained bands twice their age. Listening to Heat Lightning in all its trad-metal splendor, it’s easy to separate Sanhedrin’s amusing persona—you can almost smell the leather—from the band’s talent. Distinctly more ‘80s hard-rock than contemporary heavy metal (especially with Sanhedrin’s use of harmonized vocals, that means they’re all the more willing to let their hair down. And they sure do. – KO

Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)