The Pulse is the Uproxx Music guide to the best new albums, mixtapes, and other music releases that matter this week.
With an album launch that would make Elon Musk proud, Towkio highlights a low-key great week of new music. There’s also more fresh and exciting hip-hop from Earthgang, gentle and comforting indie from Lionlimb and Vance Joy, and turn-it-up-to-11 rock from Screaming Females and Turnstile. During this season of Lent, let us also not forget Young Jesus, an experimental post-punk band on the rise that demands your attention with their trance-like post-punk.
Towkio — WWW.
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Now that he’s gone 100,000 feet in the air to literally “drop” his new album, it’s here. The Chicago rapper’s debut features guest spots from SZA and fellow Chicagoan Vic Mensa, but WWW. is far more than Towkio’s friends, as the bouncy, house-influenced single “2 Da Moon” proves that Towkio is a unique rising voice, and his passion is palpable in this new interview about his RX-approved official debut.
Screaming Females — All At Once
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Screaming Females singer Marissa Paternoster has one of the most powerful and idiosyncratic voices in modern rock, and the rest of the band lives up to that as well. Singles like “I’ll Make You Sorry” and “Glass House” show a band pumping out ’90s-influenced indie rock at its highest and most fun level.
Young Jesus — S/T
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The band’s previously self-released record S/T is getting a fresh re-release via Saddle Creek, and it deserves the attention. “Green” is a hypnotic post-punk album opener, and “hypnotic” is a good way to describe most of the record: There are a lot of six-plus-minute tracks that can lull you into a groove without putting you to sleep, like the ambition 13-minute album closer “Storm.”
Read our interview with the band here.
Earthgang — Royalty
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One door shuts, another opens: Royalty is the final installment in Earthgang’s Dreamville EP trilogy, but it’s also the lead-up to their debut album, Mirrorland, which is slated for later this year. This EP’s five soul and jazz-inspired tracks feature fun flows from the J. Cole-co-signed rappers, and it’s a tantalizing taste of what’s to come.
Lionlimb — Tape Recorder
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Lionlimb isn’t afraid to take the time to allow a moment to sink in: All of the Tape Recorder tracks are at least four-and-a-half minutes, while half of them run for longer than six. It’s an approach that works, especially on the serenely orchestral single “Maria,” a six-minute ode to Maria Goretti, one of the youngest saints to be canonized.
Vance Joy — Nation Of Two
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Fun fact: Vance Joy’s “Riptide” (which you definitely remember and have sung along to) is one of the most dominantly successful songs in Australian history. That said, the tune itself isn’t a be-all-end-all, but an introduction. His new album proves he’s capable of more than one-hit-wonder status, like the emotional punch of single “Call Me If You Need Me.”
Turnstile — Time & Space
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Baltimore experimental hardcore band Turnstile knows how to come out of the gates swinging: “Real Thing” kicks off their latest album with an intense rock energy, provided by a raucous instrumental and piercing vocals of singer Brendan Yates. The song is more than just an adrenaline rush, though: In under two minutes, it manages to fully and satisfyingly express multiple musical ideas, which is more than most hardcore bands can pull off in that truncated window.
Read our review of the album here.
