The Pulse is the Uproxx Music guide to the best new albums, mixtapes, and other music releases that matter this week. Find our complete list of the records coming out in August here.
Nicki Minaj hosted her first episode of Queen Radio on Apple Music last night, and during the show, she announced that she was pulling a bit of a Kanye: She had just finished her new album Queen a few hours before going on the air, and today, it’s available to the world.
Meanwhile, Foxing stakes their claim at indie rock supremacy, Moses Sumney offers up a quick treat, and a handful of other artists are releasing their first records into the world — Trippie Redd, Tomberlin, Tirzah, and Jake Shears, although the latter is well established after his illustrious career as frontman of Scissor Sisters.
Nicki Minaj — Queen
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The album was supposed to be pushed back a week due to trouble with samples, but that’s apparently been taken care of because now it’s here. Aside from samples, there are also high-profile collaborators here, including Eminem, Ariana Grande, Lil Wayne, and others.
Trippie Redd — Life’s A Trip
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The XXL 2018 Freshman Class member flexes on his debut album by hitting a variety of moods, from the sunny and optimistic “Taking A Walk” to the more menacing “Dark Knight Dummo” with Travis Scott. He’s recruited more big names than that to help on this effort, sicne Diplo and Young Thug are also on the tracklist.
Tomberlin — At Weddings
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Tomberlin proves on her debut that you don’t need to make a lot of noise to be heard. At Weddings is often a quiet album, and it uses that intimacy to make you listen to her emotive songs.
Foxing — Nearer My God
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Foxing made headlines for releasing the Nearer My God title track in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese, but nothing about their latest is a novelty. Instead, what we get is an album of adventurous and dynamic indie rock, whether it’s the bombastic album opener “Grand Paradise” or the experimental nine-minute “Five Cups.”
Read our interview with Foxing here.
Jake Shears — Jake Shears
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The Scissor Sisters frontman has gone solo, and to this new facet of his career he brings the band’s inimitable jaunt. That’s exemplified by lead single “Creep City,” a song that’s an instead head-bobber infused with personality and spunk.
Tirzah – Devotion
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You cannot accuse experimental R&B musician Tirzah of not trying something new. Her debut album touches on a variety of fascinating sounds: Album opener “Fine Again” is both alluring and unsettling, while “Holding On” has a restrained rhythm that keeps building and building until the song’s over. It’s surely an album that will reward repeat listens.
Moses Sumney — Black In Deep Red, 2014
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Sumney has followed up last year’s full-length Aromanticism with a brief three-song EP. The release features the introductory “Power?,” the hand-clapped, rhythmic, and lush “Call-to-Arms,” and the dark, baroque R&B “Rank & File.”
Odetta Hartman — Old Rockhounds Never Die
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Hartman is a true experimenter, evidenced by her use of gunshots as an instrument in the folk-meets-electronica murder ballad “Misery.” There’s plenty of more straightforward fare on her sophomore album too, like the country-rock romp “You You” and the lo-fi banjo folk of “The Ocean.”
