Expect to see and hear a lot from / about Jelly Roll and Charlie XCX in coming days — he’s putting out a new album, and she’s got a remix set that will allow TV journalists to keep saying the word “brat.” One place you won’t see either of them: In the rest of this roundup. Oh don’t get me wrong; I’ll post something about their albums eventually, just for the ad revenue from all those fan clicks. But these are the albums I’ll really be listening to:
Chat Pile
Cool World
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like the towering mounds of toxic waste from which it gets its namesake, the music of Oklahoma City noise-rock quartet Chat Pile is a suffocating, grotesque embodiment of the existential anguish that has defined the 21st century. It figures that a band with this abrasive, unrelenting, and outlandish of a sound has struck as strong of a chord as it has. Dread has replaced the American dream, and Chat Pile’s music is a poignant reminder of that shift — a portrait of an American rock band molded by a society defined by its cold and cruel power systems. Besides being the name of a largely forgotten (and panned) ’90s film, Cool World makes for an apt title of Chat Pile’s sophomore record. In the context of a Chat Pile record, the words are steeped in a grim double entendre that not only evokes imagery of a dying planet but a progression from the band’s previous work, moving the scope of its depiction of modern malaise from just “God’s country” to the entirety of humankind. Says vocalist Raygun Busch: “Cool World covers similar themes to our last album, except now exploded from a micro to macro scale, with thoughts specifically about disasters abroad, at home, and how they affect one another.”
Dawes
Oh Brother
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For the first time in almost a decade, brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith grace the cover of a Dawes record. It’s just the two of them this time, and as such, Oh Brother marks a distinctive new chapter for the California rock band — one that is both introspective and accessible, all while maintaining their beloved sense of sincerity. After the amicable departure of two bandmates last year, Taylor realized that the group’s natural evolution was nothing to hide from fans. He likens it to looking back on The Rolling Stones’ career — eras with Brian Jones versus Ronnie Wood — or Dire Straits’ lineup with and without brothers Mark and David Knopfler together, or The Cure’s fluctuating cast encircling Robert Smith. People change. Music evolves. But a band is still a band. “We’re not shying away from this information, because then it just seems cowardly or something,” Taylor says. “Rather than try to hide something, let’s celebrate it. Let’s call our record Oh Brother.” The title of Dawes’ ninth LP serves as a sort of double entendre too, an exasperated sigh acknowledging that change can still be challenging. “We’re gonna miss our dudes,” he says. “They’re still brothers.”
Field Music
Limits Of Language
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Field Music release Limits Of Language, their first album of new music for almost four years. Back in 2022, the touring cycle for the Flat White Moon album ended with a sense of finality. For the first time since the Mercury-nominated Plumb 10 years earlier, Peter and David Brewis had no plan for what, if anything, would come next. However, after six years of continuation, they were clear that if Field Music was to carry on then it would have to be different, in both sound and scope. Solo projects followed with 2023 seeing the arrival of David’s quietly jazzy Soft Struggles, the playful of electronica of Peter’s Blowdry Colossus alongside a limited-issue brass collaboration LP Binding Time. It was these albums that provided fresh impetus for what was to become the new Field Music record. Whilst Peter amassed the instrumental compositions which become Blowdry Colossus, he was also tinkering with a batch of songs which would form the basis of Limits Of Language — songs which mixed synthesised textures with off-the-cuff flickers of guitar and layers of disorientating found-sound percussion.”
Becky G.
Encuentros
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “My last album Esquinas started a fire within my creative soul that brought new colors to my world and deep down inside I knew I couldn’t stop there,” says Becky G. “So I didn’t. Since last year, I continued discovering, feeling, healing and creating. All of the parts of me that I found along the way, I have now poured into this album with so much love and dedication. You guys said you wanted more, and so did I. Por las Esquinas de la vida, nos Encontramos otra vez (“On each corner of life, we’ll find each other again.”) Multiplatinum, award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, and activist Becky G. was born for the spotlight, and her multifaceted career is shaping up to be nothing short of iconic. The 25-year-old global superstar’s achievements include three number one hits on the Billboard Latin Airplay Charts, a starring role in Power Rangers, guest-starring in the Emmy-winning Empire series, her very own beauty brand Treslúce and Facebook Watch show Face to Face with Becky G.”
Goat
Goat
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The ouroboros — the icon of the snake or dragon eating its own tail — appears to some a statement of the brutality of nature. To others of a Gnostic disposition it symbolises the duality of the divine and earthly in mankind. But most commonly, it’s taken simply to mean the endless cycles of death and rebirth that characterise life on this planet. As such, it’s an image that looms large in the world of Goat, the ever-mysterious and endlessly revivifying collective whose latest album marks another adventure above and beyond this particular plane of reality. This may be a band that has named albums both Requiem and Oh Death, yet this eponymous salvo proves yet again that transcendence and metamorphosis are their watchwords. Following on from the uncharted territory of the soul-searching and folk-tinged Medicine and the dark, atmospheric soundtrack to Shane Meadows’ The Gallows Pole, Goat see this ever-unpredictable outfit summoning rhythmically-driven rituals in unmistakable, uplifting and scintillating style, equally adept at igniting dancefloors and expanding minds.”
Gut Health
Stiletto
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Gut Health are a six-piece hypnotic dance-punk ensemble from Naarm / Melbourne. Stiletto is their debut album. Recorded in 2023 with collaborator Julian Cue (Civic, Screensaver) and Gut Health’s Dom Willmott at Button Pusher Studios and APAX Warehouse in Preston, produced by Willmott and bandmate Adam Markmann, mixed by Portland’s Evan Mersky (Lithics) on a 24-track reel-to-reel tape machine, and featuring additional contributions from saxophonist Yang Chen, Gut Health’s debut offering is an immersive 10-track foray into dancefloor-inducing soundscapes and punchy prowess, with songs oscillating between infectious uptempo numbers, hypnotic bliss and chaotic noise edging precariously toward collapse. Gut Health’s expression of the healing qualities of consensual rage and their unadulterated demonstration of sonic shapeshifting, lingering tension and auditory ambition gives Stiletto its magnetic edge. Tracks flicker between atonality and melodicism, while unpredictably snaking and expanding into engulfing, kaleidoscopic soundscapes, reinforced by a groove — heavy rhythm section that champions the diverse musical backgrounds of each player — spanning punk to jazz to sound design and beyond.”
Paul Heaton
The Mighty Several
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Produced by legendary producer Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds and recorded at Blueprint Studios in Salford, The Mighty Several features 12 new original songs, performed by Paul Heaton and his band, plus a number of special guest singers. Heaton, who was recognised at the prestigious Ivor Awards in 2022 for Outstanding Song Collection, is one of the U.K.’s most successful songwriters with 15 million album sold. Heaton first came to prominence in the early ’80s as The Housemartins front man. Following the band’s breakup, Heaton formed The Beautiful South in 1988. The band became one of the biggest-selling U.K. acts of all time, releasing 10 hugely successful albums before calling it a day in 2007. Paul released his first solo album Fat Chance in 2001, followed by two more before reteaming with former Beautiful South bandmate Jacqui Abbott.”
Samara Joy
Portrait
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “I’m still speechless,” says Samara Joy, reflecting on her 2023 Grammy win for Best New Artist. When the Bronx-raised jazz vocalist, 24, tries to place herself back in that historic moment today, she feels nothing but gratitude. At the same time, Joy understood then that she couldn’t let the award define her. She still had a lifetime of music to explore, a tight-knit crew of extraordinary collaborators to guide, and a passion for songwriting to nurture. So Joy did what any committed, eternally curious jazz musician would do: She hit the road. For her and her band, a seemingly endless run of sold-out tour dates became a nightly opportunity to reach new creative heights. “I just got back to work, doing what, in essence, got me the Grammy in the first place,” she says. Joy’s new release Portrait is the proper followup to Linger Awhile, her 2022 breakthrough LP, and it represents the next phase in her continuing artistic evolution — unbound by expectations.”
The Linda Lindas
No Obligation
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No Obligation, the second full-length release from The Linda Lindas further advances their unironic, joyful, and exciting trajectory of mashing up L.A. punk with post punk, garage rock, power pop, new wave and rock en Español. Written and recorded by the band during spring breaks, winter breaks, and long weekends (Lucia de la Garza and bassist Eloise Wong are still in high school, drummer Mila de la Garza just finished middle school, and Bela Salazar is patiently waiting for them to get done with it already), the new album has been in the works for the last two years whenever they weren’t at school or touring. “I don’t got no obligation,” roars Eloise in the opening, title track of the album — “just brush off all expectation.” From the first moment of their sophomore release it is clear that The Linda Lindas are here to defy expectations and challenge norms. With all four musicians each contributing to the writing and lead-singing, the songs are as varied and dynamic as the girls themselves, however the listener always senses the underpinning of both their shared worldview and their bond.”
Holly Macve
Wonderland
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When singer-songwriter Holly Macve wrote her third album Wonderland, it coincided with a period of profound transformation — but not in any way she could have imagined. “It’s been a time of real change in my life,” she shares. “Moments of extreme highs and extreme lows, it’s just kind of been chaos.” The Galway-born, Yorkshire-raised artist has spent the last decade penning immersive, Americana-inspired anthems of love, loss and spiritual searching, revealing a born storyteller with a deep longing for human experiences and a romantic curiosity for the world around her. It’s no wonder her talents caught the attention of Lana Del Rey who, after featuring on Holly’s single Suburban House from 2024 EP Time Is Forever, declared her “one of the most beautiful singing voices in the world.”
Nate Mercereau
Excellent Traveler
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “I consider the music on this album in different ways — as environments, a forest or a city, or some type of new not yet created combination of those things,” says guitarist Nate Mercereau. The album as a place to visit, look around, explore, and travel through … It’s also a type of diary, or a moving sonic photo album, representing traveling excellently, physically, emotionally, dimensionally. I use the guitar as a sampler and synth controller, allowing me to make anything my instrument. I have a microphone in my set-up, and when I’m playing with a group, or in an environment, I point the mic at the band or sound source, and if something happens that I want to play, I record it, and drop it into the sampler. The sample maps across the fretboard, and I can play it at any pitch and speed, effectively making anything that makes sound, my instrument. All possible realities are available.”
The Necks
Bleed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australian minimalist-jazz trio The Necks’ 20th studio album, Bleed, explores a sublime language of stillness. With a single, 42-minute composition, The Necks masterfully express the unspeakable beauty of decay and space in yet another totally distinct entry in a vast and stunning body of work.”
The Offspring
Supercharged
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “We wanted this record to have pure energy – from the start to the finish! That’s why we called it Supercharged,” says Dexter Holland. “From the height of our aspirations to the depths of our struggles, we talk about it all on this record… in a way that celebrates the life that we share and where we are now. Our single Make It All Right is a great example of this because it talks about the people in our lives who make us feel strong when we are feeling low – our partners in crime who make us feel all right. The album was recorded in three different locations this time around: Maui, Vancouver, and our home studio in Huntington Beach, and together with our producer Bob Rock everything came out awesome. I feel like this is the best we have ever sounded! We’ve been rocking out and headbanging to it for months! And we can’t wait for you guys to hear it!”
StrateJacket
Bad Start
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Stratejacket, the nimble, punky alt-rock trio from California’s Bay Area, have had to learn the hard way that good things come to those who wait. Singer-guitarist Jackson Roemers and bassist Fabian Angel went to the same school but didn’t form a band until after graduation. The band, which formed in Sunnyvale in mid-2019, managed to play one gig before Covid swept the planet, effectively putting a straitjacket on their moment. But at that gig, they spotted a drumming dynamo in another band, Nate Mangold, and decided to ask him to replace the one they’d been playing with. Now Stratejacket are ready to make up for lost time on their debut album, which they gave a humorously self-deprecating title. “We call it Bad Start because we had such a bad start,” Roemers says. But listening to the record, you can tell they made the best of their bad start since they’re having so much fun.”
Touché Amoré
Spiral In A Straight Line
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Burbank melodic hardcore rockers Touché Amoré have announced their first new album in four years, Spiral In A Straight Line. The announcement coincided with the release of the band’s new single Nobody’s, their first official release following their signing to the renowned Rise Records. Recorded with legendary producer Ross Robinson (KoRn, Slipknot, Glassjaw, At The Drive-In), Spiral In A Straight Line features collaborations with Julien Baker (Boygenius) and the legendary Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Folk Implosion). The new song is a rousing statement of intent from the LA-based band, rooted in life-altering changes and the turmoil of moving forward while grappling with what’s been left behind. Returning to work with Robinson for the second time following their critically acclaimed 2020 album Lament, Spiral In A Straight Line challenges the band to dig deep again. As a result, they return with a poignant body of work that captures a distinctly universal feeling — spiraling — and getting caught in the emotional debris of the words, emotions, memories and pain that are left after things are flipped upside-down and how one keeps pushing through.”
