15
votes
Fresh Album Fridays: Animal Collective, Armand Hammer, Wilco and more
Good morning ~ This is a thread to discuss new album releases that have arrived on our doorstep this week. Feel free to share albums and EPs that have caught your eye and interest!
Discussion Points
What are you looking forward to listen to?
Have you listened to any of these releases?
What are your thoughts?
What have you enjoyed from these artists in the past?
Why Friday?
Most (but not all) new LPs release on a Friday, as labels want to give the release a full week of sales before entering the charts.
~~ Feedback on the format welcome!
Note: if these posts are too big and it is preferred that I avoid them here, I usually also post these on my blog and could link there instead (but I preferred to post here to avoid self-promotion and requiring users to click and load an external link). Just feeling a bit self-conscious about this today.(Edit: thank you whoever added the Exemplary tag, I appreciate you and your words- they gave me some comfort and reassurance I needed today)
Non-metal releases
Gunship - Unicorn
bc / a.l
This popular synthwave act returns with a new album. I really enjoyed the singles. Tons of special guests. Continue to be a great vocal synthwave project with fantastic songwriting.
Lowswimmer - Lack Thereof
bc
A bit of a surprise release for me. I've followed Ed Tullett since his earliest days and he's involved in a number of projects now (Novo Amor, Lissom, and others- Lissom maybe my favorite of them). Somehow his newer solo material under a different project name missed my radar and I'm glad I found it again. Intimate, acoustic, and with a very recognizable style that permeates all of Tullett's writing.
Fearing - Destroyer
bc / a.l
A recent find. Gothy post-punk from Calinfornia. Very classic darkwave kind of sound.
Metal and metal-adjacent releases
This category is overflowing this week. Very common for September to be packed full of releases. There are so many here and these are only the best of the week. There are so many that didn't make the cut.
Moonlight Sorcery - Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle
bc / a.l
Probably my favorite of the week and an AOTY contender. Absolutely loved their previous releases and this is no exception. Icy, snowy, frigid melodic black metal that brings to mind castle-y power metal but in a black metal world. Have heard it described as "black metal Wintersun" and that is not wrong.
Disguised Malignance - Entering the Gateways
bc / a.l
Finnish old-school death metal. Solid low growls and classic death metal riff after riff. Mid-high tempos to blast-beats. We've all heard this sound before but this is well-executed.
Ruin Lust - Dissimulant
bc / a.l
Bestial war-metal inspired black/death. It's on 20 Buck Spin so you know it's quality. Absolutely crushing.
Woe - Legacies of Frailty
bc / a.l
Well-known USBM with a vibe that matches their band name. A concept album about humankind repeating mistakes of history and leaving nothing to inherit for future generations. Despairing, dark black metal but with some breathing room for melody.
Broken Vow - Anthropocene
bc / a.l
New England hardcore with environmental lyrics lamenting our destruction of the Earth. Great frustrated screams and occasional spoken word that actually fits the music perfectly.
Harm's Way - Common Suffering
bc / a.l
Metallic-hardcore with gritty vocals, dissonant riffs, and just a general sense of heaviness. Will make you want to stomp around.
Karras - We Poison Their Young
bc / a.l
From grindy, punky, crusty moments to slow stompy death metal riffs, plenty of anger to go around from this French outfit.
Rorcal - Silence
bc / a.l
Dissonant droning doomy black metal? This one's hard to nail down but it sounds great. Swirling walls of guitar and pain. Does this make three albums just this week about humanity destroying itself? Seems to be a common theme, understandably.
Oreamnos - The Granite Wall
bc
Slow doomy HM-2 death metal. A huge slab of low growly death. Meaty!
Svartkonst - May the Night Fall
bc / a.l
One-man black/death project from Sweden and all the instruments, including vocals are great, no weakpoints. Great mix of the genres with echoes of a number of black metal and death metal acts.
Thlurm - Botched Sacrifice
bc / a.l
Wailing panicky punk-metal from Indiana. Tons of feedback and energy in this one. No bullshit here.
Marthyrium - Through the Spheres of Darkness
bc / a.l
Occult, sinister-vibe black metal with some occasional well-placed chanting. Wonderful guitar tone and some riffs and picking with moments that bring Schammasch, Svartulven, and other occult bm bands to mind.
I’m not even into metal, but I still read through your posts every week. They’re great! I’m amazed at how you keep up with so much.
I say keep the posts coming. You’re doing a fantastic job, and they’re right in line with what this topic is for.
Thank you! :) Glad that people are enjoying the posts. Being part of a music community (stream + discord) where we talk about music daily helps and still yet, the week of, there are still plenty of surprises! Music's just a huge part of my life and I realized I was already making note of tons of music for myself personally, and figured, why not share it, and this seemed like the perfect place to do it
Animal Collective - Isn't It Now?
Single
Genre(s): Neo-Psychedelia
Country: United States
Bandcamp
Spotify
RYM
Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
Single
Genre(s): Progressive Electronic
Country: United States
Bandcamp
Spotify
RYM
Pre-ordered this one and the (double) LP arrived a day early, so I was able to give it a first listen last night. My first impressions are that it might be the best material he's released in the past few years. Think it's my favorite since R Plus Seven. Need to give it a deeper listen to get into more specifics, but the whole album feels very lush and emotive. Ended up buying tickets for the tour next year.
Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
Single
Genre(s): Experimental Hip Hop
Country: United States
Bandcamp
Spotify
RYM
Lil Wayne - Tha Fix Before Tha VI
Single
Genre(s): Southern Hip Hop
Country: United States
Spotify
RYM
Viper - You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack 3
Single
Genre(s): Southern Hip Hop
Country: United States
Spotify
RYM
Nihiloxica - Source of Denial - "Source of Denial"
The artist blurb on their bandcamp is "Bugandan drums meet UK bass." From a recent Guardian article: "The result is a polyrhythmic assault, running the gamut from industrial techno to doom metal."
'68 - Yes, and...
Single - The Captains Sat
'68 is what I'd call minimalist hardcore -- their Wiki page describes them as noise punk. Josh Scogin, formerly of The Chariot and Norma Jean, started '68 when The Chariot called it quits (and I can't believe it's been a decade already). This is their 4th album and I didn't realize it came out last week until this morning!
Wilco - Cousin
Single
Genre(s): Indie Rock
Country: United States
Bandcamp
Spotify
RYM