Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.
This week Noname shows why she is one of hip-hop’s rising stars, Lana Del Rey returned in classic form, and The Smashing Pumpkins released a song that takes fans back 20 years. Yeah, it was a pretty great week for music. Check out the highlights below.
Noname — Room 25
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It feels weird to call Chicago spoken-word artist/rapper Noname‘s Room 25 her “debut album,” if only because her debut mixtape, Telefone, was such a sensation. Its success brought her to Coachella on the back of two years of touring, but Room 25 promises to put her newfound success to good use. For her first proper album, expect more jazz-infused arrangments and poetic lyrics, with Noname already developing a distinct style so early in her career.
Dilly Dally — Heaven
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Heaven is an album that almost didn’t happen, as Toronto punks Dilly Dally almost impoded before it could even be made. But the album takes the adversity and channels it into something truly special. As our own Corbin Reiff wrote in his profile of the band, “The songs are deep, lacerating, introspective, and begging to be blasted at hazardous volumes.”
Aphex Twin — Collapse
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There might not be a longer-lasting institution in the world of electronic music than Aphex Twin. Or, at least a longer-lasting artists who has remained at the forefront of innovation within the genre. That makes pretty much everything he does essential, and his latest, Collapse, is no different for all its skittering, drippy, and glitch-filled mastery.
6LACK — East Atlanta Love Letter
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6LACK has felt like he was famous out of the gate. The Atlanta rapper was getting big billing at festivals and playing to huge audiences before he had much of a critical narrative, but that’s looking to change with his latest, East Atlanta Love Letter. As our own Aaron Williams writes, “6lack is expanding hip-hop’s palette by filling in the blank spaces between observant rap and confessional R&B, coloring outside the lines, and creating a stark, beautiful picture of hip-hop’s future.”
The Dirty Nil — Master Volume
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Canadian rockers The Dirty Nil combine both punk and classic rock influence to make music that lands somewhere in-between. Having already won a Juno for their previous work, their new record, Master Volume, seeks to improve upon the formula. Our own Steven Hyden writes that the new album “delivers the band’s sharpest set of songs via gloriously drunken guitar heroics and Bentham’s strutting, histrionic vocals.”
Low — Double Negative
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When a band is as consistently good as slowcore legends Low, it’s hard to distinguish one record as particularly more vital than the last. But that’s just what is happening with Double Negative, as it’s earning more buzz for the Sub Pop band than they’ve received in more than a decade. Inspired in part by the political moment, Low doesn’t reinvent their own wheel so much as they just let it evolve at its own pace, further cementing their status as one of the most enduring bands of the last 25 years.
The Smashing Pumpkins — “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)”
30 years after forming, the best that can be hoped for new Smashing Pumpkins music is that it even captures a fraction of what fans love about the band. At that, “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)” far exceeds expectations and stands as Billy Corgan’s finest composition in more than a decade. Detractors could note the similarity to some of their past successes, namely “1979,” but those comparisons mostly come from the vibe and tempo. And let’s be honest, if Corgan’s newest song is being compared to one of the all-time great alternative songs ever written, then he must be doing something right.
Kurt Vile — “Bassackwards”
Kurt Vile‘s upcoming album Bottle It In features three songs that all extend into the 10-minute range. As seen on “Bassackwards,” these extended, sprawling, vibey sessions suit Vile’s relaxed aesthetic and calming delivery. The affectations he puts on his voice only add to the charm, but at its heart, there is still remarkable sturdiness to Vile’s songwriting. “Bassackwards” ultimately succeeds at being many things at once.
The 1975 — “Sincerity Is Scary”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyaHjtAr960
The 1975 have been sharing a lot of music ahead of their upcoming November album, A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. And the great thing about the music is how distinct each song has stood from each other. “Sincerity Is Scary” is the smoothest and most chilled-out of the lot, with the group chorus shining like a beacon. This is only the first of two planned upcoming albums, but it’s shaping up to be an all-timer.
Lana Del Rey — “Mariners Apartment Complex”
When it became known that Lana Del Rey would be working with Jack Antonoff on her new album, some fans were worried that would mean an overall change to her aesthetic. But “Mariners Apartment Complex” is classic Lana: a little Radiohead-y, a little melodramatic, and 100% captivating. As if any collaborator could really change Lana Del Rey’s aesthetic. But best avoid the actual apartment buildings for which this song is named, they only have three stars on Yelp.
