Best New Releases, March 21: Japanese Breakfast, Lonnie Holley, and more
Another new music Friday is here, and that means a whole bunch of albums on our must-hear list are finally available on shelves and streaming services. Among our picks for the week’s best new releases are the latest from Japanese Breakfast, the reunion of two jazz greats, a psych-rock tag-team match, the return of a post-hardcore powerhouse 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 we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)
Japanese Breakfast’s last album, 2021’s Jubilee, found Michelle Zauner embracing a brighter palette through standout singles such as the synth-driven “Be Sweet,” which readers might recall being our Song of the Year in 2021. Four years later, Zauner pares back the electronics in favor of a gorgeously intricate album of chamber folk and acoustic-driven arrangements. There’s an array of harps and woodwinds on standout moments like first single “Orlando in Love” and leadoff track “Here Is Someone,” while there’s an unexpected heaviness to “Honey Water” and a delicate, affecting sensibility to “Leda.” It’s a beautiful album, and we’ll have more about it soon. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)
Lonnie Holley – Tonky
The master of contemporary arthouse talking blues returns. His sonic world only grows wider it seems; on Tonky, the list of collaborators is so long you might be confused how all of them can possibly fit in a coherent way, but everyone plays with a reverent and attentive hand to these spectral and genre-defying kaleidoscopic approaches to Holley’s supernaturally fluid storytelling. Fuve records in a row of wildly compelling music pressing at the limits of jazz, funk, blues, ambient, art pop and more should be enough to make you set a Google Alert for his name at this point. – Langdon Hickman
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith – Defiant Life
Pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith released one of the best jazz albums of 2016, A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke, which found the two veteran musicians engaged in a gorgeous series of atmospheric duets. Defiant Life once again finds the two musicians engaged in a sort of hypnotic chemistry, crafting stripped-down pieces that are as much ambient as jazz, not unlike Iyer’s Love In Exile project from two years ago. These pieces are sometimes melodic and sometimes floating weightlessly on drones, always fascinating, frequently moving, and rarely broadcasting where they’re going in advance. A stunning piece of ambient jazz that’ll take a few listens to fully absorb, but it’s well worth the effort. – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Spotify | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Young Widows – Power Sucker
Noise rock rarely has the appeal that Young Widows bring to the table. Incorporating catchy melodies, mid-volume singing, and we dare say even a gentle touch, Power Sucker is a testament to the songwriting skills that the Louisville trio has developed over the past two decades (notwithstanding an 11-year hiatus that started in 2014). It’s a relief that they returned without feeling incumbent to sound louder than ever before; instead, they use their fifth record as an opportunity to showcase an artistic craft that far exceeds what they exhibited on each of their previous releases. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
In his interview with Imperial Triumphant, Michael Pementel wrote “Goldstar contains a rich ecosystem of cosmic atmosphere and ruthless shredding, to captivating blends of jazz, classical and grindcore, as well as North African Gnawa music.” These elements have surged within the New York avant-garde black metal trio for years, but Goldstar presents them more clearly than ever. If previous Imperial Triumphant albums were 3x3x3 QJ dodecahedron Rubik’s cubes, then Goldstar is a standard Rubik’s cube—more conventional, less obtuse, but still an exercise to work your head around. – Colin Dempsey
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Spiritworld – Helldorado
Reverend Horton Heat one moment, the next second Slayer. But the beauty of Spiritworld, never more evident than on Helldorado, is that you don’t hear the static between the musical styles: They flow so seamlessly, your head doesn’t spin a millimeter. Genre-hopping is a high-wire act, but on their third record, SpiritWorld have honed that skill by leaps and bounds over 2022’s Deathwestern. Adding to the fun, they lassoed in Rise Against’s Zach Blair and Blackbraid’s Sgah’gahsowáh for this wild (West) hoedown. – Kurt Orzeck
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
GNOD & White Hills – Drop Out III
Both of these groups just do motorik psych right. Lengthy tracks, spacey vibes, killer grooves: there’s everything you’d ever want. Hawkwind hasn’t stopped making records but if they did, this collaboration, now on its third outing, would be their reincarnation. The titles here nod to other greats of the form, much like any given Acid Mothers record, and like that great Japanese group there’s little to say aside from any psych fan worth their salt should check it out. More to come on this one. – Langdon Hickman
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Corpus Offal – Corpus Offal
This goregrind band features members of Demoncy, Bell Witch, and Caustic Wound, and while the gurgled vocals might sound like a demon is being flushed down the toilet, the band possesses more depth to their songwriting than your typical disciples of Cannibal Corpse. The dense mix of the album carries a claustrophobic production not unlike that of a haunted house, but instead of chainsaws it’s the buzz of guitars that chase you through the maze of violent riffs. The result is a collection of songs more nuanced in the frenzied chaos, setting them apart from the other bands in this sub-genre. – Wil Lewellyn
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Hiroshi Yoshimura – Flora
Flora, by the late ambient master Hiroshi Yoshimura, was recorded in 1987 but only finally released for the first time in 2006, after Yoshimura’s death. It’s received a reissue nearly two decades later, honoring the visionary artist by giving its serene beauty another chance to be heard. In our review of the album, Ernesto Aguilar said, “this previously elusive album unveils an intriguing intersection between his celebrated minimalism and more animated, expressive impulses.” – Jeff Terich
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Turntable Lab (vinyl)
Nick Storring – Mirante
Toronto-based experimentalist Nick Storring is a deep-thinking composer who wields a variety of musical weaponry in creating seriously heady sound-worlds. Following the outdoorsy abstract found sounds of Humbucker Music, Storring, on Mirante, his We Are Busy Bodies label debut, looks to Brazil for inspiration and the result is percussion-powered spiritual ecstasy. Storring improbably captures a drum circle-like rhythmic feel on the thumping and thwacking trance music found on Mirante, peppering its beat salvos with dreamy synthesizer shapes and patterns. Like the serene album cover of the ocean waves crashing, Mirante is akin to soothing water and gentle breezes warming body and soul. – Brad Cohan
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
