Essential Listening: This week’s best new music
Welcome back to Essential Listening, a place where we compile all the best new music of the week into the definitive tome of modern music: The Far Out Playlist.
Truly a varied week for new music on the album front. On one end of the spectrum, we have great new LPs like John Cale’s Mercy (which took home our Album of the Week honour) and The Murder Capitals’ Gigi’s Recover. On the other, we have overbaked new albums from the likes of David Rowntree and Måneskin. We even have some albums that are hanging out in the middle, like Mac DeMarco’s charming but inessential new instrumental LP Five Easy Hot Dogs.
If the slate of new albums was a mixed bag this week, so too were the singles that were dropped. From surprising new favourites to strange misses to truly bizarre turns, we got a whole heap of new songs to parse through. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone this week.
Still, only eight tracks can make it onto this list. Here is all the best new music of the week, compiled into the Far Out Playlist.
Best new music, January 16th – 22nd:
The Goa Express – ‘Portrait’
The Goa Express have started 2023 on the front foot with their explosive new single, ‘Portrait’. The frantic effort only has a running time of two minutes, and every second of the song is crammed full of youthful energy.
The track also signifies The Goa Express’ first single since signing with Communion Records, the label that is also home to artists including Wunderhorse, Lucy Rose, and Bear’s Den. ‘Portrait’ was recorded in the Welsh village of Raglan, with Ocean Colour Scene’s Damon Minchella teaming up with Tom Manning on production duties.
Billie Marten – ‘This Is How We Move’
British singer-songwriter Billie Marten has returned to announce her fourth full-length studio album, Drop Cherries. The new release will come out later this year on April 7th.
With Marten’s signature acoustic-folk focus squarely intact from her previous material, ‘This Is How We Move’ almost overflows into country territory with its slight twang. The wide-open composition has room for bowed double bass and floating keyboard lines. In fact, everything in ‘This Is How We Move’ sounds like it’s floating above the air.
boygenius – ‘$20’
Indie rock supergroup boygenius are back. It’s been five years since Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus came together to release their self-titled debut EP. Now we’re getting something more substantial: the group’s full-length debut, The Record.
‘$20’ kicks off with some scuzzy guitar riffs and a mind-twisting 7/8 time signature, giving us the hardest-hitting out of the three tracks. I believe that’s Baker taking the lead vocal, spitting out fractured images of arson and road trips to Reno, Nevada. When the trio come together and harmonize on the song’s chorus section, it becomes obvious what we’ve missed as the three have focused on their solo careers.
Arlo Parks – ‘Weightless’
It’s been almost exactly two years since British singer Arlo Parks released her critically acclaimed debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams. After taking home the Mercury Prize and getting showered with a ton of praise, Parks is now ready to start it all back up again with her sophomore LP, My Soft Machine.
To preview the new record, Parks has shared the album’s first single, ‘Weightless’. Containing the same progressive R&B and light vocal tones that made Parks such a unique figure in British music, ‘Weightless’ doubles down on the airy synth tones, driving rhythms, and pop hooks that make Parks’ music so intoxicating.
The Lathums – ‘Struggle’
The Lathums have continued to tease their new album, From Nothing To A Little Bit More, with the pounding new single, ‘Struggle’. It is the third cut to be taken from the Wigan band’s upcoming second album, which is due for release on March 3rd.
The release begins with a delicate section of piano before gradually building as frontman Alex Moore pours his heart out and sings, “Oh, I struggle remembering your face, I wake up without a smile on my face, I notice the world’s turning but I’m stood still, And the voices inside of my head, Oh they tell me that I will wind up dead, If I continue the path that I’m on.”
Emma Trica – ‘King Blixa’
Delving into Emma Tricca’s latest track is like sinking your teeth into a fig roll. Her new Bella Union debut is a gooey texture song of sanguine reflection. From humble beginnings, it slides its way towards a spot of sunny transcendence.
‘King Blixa’ launches her forthcoming album Aspirin Sun. Produced by Steve Shelley and Jason Victor, it evidently sees Tricca push things up a notch as the track bellows towards a crescendo with more instrumentation than we are used to from the humble songsmith.
Algiers – ‘I Can’t Stand It!’ (ft. Samuel T. Herring and Jae Matthews)
British-American genre blenders Algiers are pulling out the big guns for their upcoming fourth studio album, Shook.
Helping out on the track is Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring and Boy Harsher singer Jae Matthews. Both vocalists add to the chopped-up noises that float in the background of ‘I Can’t Stand It!’, backing up a frantic lead performance from frontman Franklin James Fisher. As the track gets darker, new samples and programmed drums make the chaotic arrangement even wilder.
Deerhoof – ‘Sit Down, Let Me Tell You A Story’
Deerhoof have announced their first all-Japanese album, Miracle-Level, which will be released March 31st, 2023, via Joyful Noise Recordings.
The band have released a new single, ‘Sit Down, Let Me Tell You A Story’, to tease the album. The song comes with an accompanying music video directed by Noriko Oishi and was filmed in Tokyo’s Ebisu Garden Hall. Off-kilter guitars propel the track through intense drum bursts as Matsuzaki’s voice weaves in and out of stop-and-start rhythms.
