Ben Howard – Collections From The Whiteout

★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Island Records

Classic folk mumblings with just enough modern electronic textures to keep it interesting. An album that exists as background noise more than anything else, and says it’s okay.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises

★★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Luaka Bop Records

One of the foremost symphonies on Earth, a legendary jazz saxophonist who played with Coltrane, and, er, a British DJ get together to create a series of minimalist movements that force great attention to the detail that goes into each and every note. Floating Points’ work is whatever; Sanders is the main attraction here and he captivates every time his piercing sax cuts into the menu-minimalist backdrop.

serpentwithfeet – Deacon

★★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Secretly Canadian Records

An unabashedly romantic art-R&B record that centers on the intersection of Black love and gay love to create something thrilling, timely, and necessary. Clean, bright sonics that don’t go all-in on the wow factor but provide a solid base for Josiah Wise’s soaring voice.

L’Impératrice – Tako Tsubo

★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on Microqlima Records

For the romantics who deeply miss vintage Air and soft-disco Daft Punk tracks, here’s an entire album of French nu-disco sure to get your dancing going, vertical or horizontal.

Lost Girls (Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden) – Menneskekollektivet

★★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on Smalltown Supersound Records

In the beginning, there is no word.

For Those I Love – For Those I Love

★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on September Recordings

Irish artist David Balfe crafts an emotional homage to best friend and bandmate Paul Curran, who killed himself during the recording process. Curran’s death was also the impetus for 2019’s When I Have Fears by The Murder Capital. For Those I Love is reminiscent of the best moments of early Streets records, before they stopped having anything worthwhile to say.

Kanga – You And I Will Never Die

★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Artoffact Records

An industrial pop Amy Lee? Who the fuck was asking for that? *Puts hand to earpiece* This just in, I’m being told that scads of horny weirdos were, in fact, looking for this.

Anna Fox Rochinski – Cherry

★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on Don Giovanni Records

An intriguing debut from the former Quilts member, blending indie rock tropes a la Regina Spektor with a more rounded, kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation.

Bull – Discover Effortless Living

★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on EMI Records

Easy jangle pop, as blameless and blue as the sky. Almost enough to feel nostalgia for the alt-pop days of the mid-90s. Almost.

Citizen – Life In Your Glass World

★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Run For Cover Records

The Toledo band’s first album in four years does nothing to distinguish itself from the uncountable hordes following in the footsteps of The Killers and Foals.

Tuns – Duly Noted

★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on Murderecords

I didn’t recognize the band at first, didn’t really look at the album cover. A Black Mirror episode was making me feel ill and I just put it on from my list. I immediately wondered why the thing sounded like it came out of Halifax in the mid 1990s and then I saw Chris Murphy staring at me from the album cover. So this is him, Matt Murphy from Super Friendz, and Matt O’Neill from the Inbreds. If there was a Sixties-indebted power pop hole in your heart, this should fill it pretty well. Hey guys, while we’re at it, can we get Where The Change Is up on Spotify? I have an “Elevature” shaped hole in my own heart.

The Peacers – Blexxed Rec

★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Drag City Records

A stoned slurry of a psychedelic indie rock record, kind of comes and goes as it pleases, much like my attention.

Writhing Squares – Chart For The Solution

★★★☆

Released March 26th, 2021 on Trouble In Mind Records

Half pounding space rock, half searing jazz record, and if not for the meandering 18 minute suite “The Pillars”, pretty damn near great.

Skegss – Rehearsal

★★★

Released March 26th, 2021 on Loma Vista Records

Aussie punk has become a thing in recent years and while Skegss doesn’t hold up as one of the pillars of the scene they at least make a decent enough job of it. Songs of beer and youth that wear their influences embroidered directly on their sleeves but at least that makes them honest.