In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on September 20, 2024:
Jamie xx, In Waves
Jamie xx is back with a new album, In Waves, via Young. The follow-up to 2015’s In Colour boasts guest appearances from Robyn, Panda Bear, the Avalanches, his the xx bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim, Honey Dijon, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, and Oona Doherty. “It’s been a while… and a lot has happened in that time,” Jamie Smith said in a press release. “Ups and downs, growing up, figuring stuff out and then forgetting it all many times over. Life changing events and world changing events. These waves that we have all experienced together and alone. I wanted to make something fun, joyful and introspective all at once. The best moments on a dance floor are usually that for me.” Read our review of In Waves.
Bright Eyes, Five Dice, All Threes
Bright Eyes have released their latest album, Five Dice, All Threes, via Dead Oceans. The band’s first album since 2020’s Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was features guest appearances from Cat Power, the National’s Matt Berninger, and the So So Glos’ Alex Orange, as well as the early singles ‘Bells & Whistles’ and ‘Rainbow Overpass’. “For whatever reason, I was born with a brain that’s preoccupied with that kind of thing,” Conor Oberst said of his dark lyrics in press materials. “When I was young, there was a performative aspect to it, which got reflected back at me. Now I’m at a point where I don’t care what the reaction is going to be. Before it was a little out of my hands – I didn’t know how to write if it wasn’t specific to my actual life. Now I do it by choice.” Read our review of Five Dice, All Threes.
Regional Justice Center, Freedom, Sweet Freedom
Regional Justice Center – the powerviolence band led by Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton – have dropped Freedom, Sweet Freedom, their first album since 2021’s Crime and Punishment. Shelton started the band in 2016 after his younger brother Max was incarcerated; Max was released in 2022, and he joins his brother on the new album, along with Taylor Young of Twitching Tongues and Nails. “Eight years ago to the day, I woke up in county jail,” Max said. “I was confused, I had zero recollection of what events took place to land me there, and I didn’t know how long I’d be gone or when I’d be able to see and hug my family again. To be able to reclaim these dates and put something positive and hopeful in place of the trauma and anxiety that had always been wrapped around it all — that is the most beautiful full circle moment to me. Even a lotus can grow in mud. Freedom, sweet freedom.”
Future, Mixtape Pluto
Future has dropped Mixtape Pluto, his first solo project since 2022’s I Never Liked You. It follows two collaborative records Metro Boomin, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You. Teasing the mixtape earlier this year, the Atlanta rapper wrote on X: “Fuck yo album Shit ain’t slappin like my MIXTAPE.” The 17-track effort features production from 808 Mafia’s Southside and Wheezy.
Katy Perry, 143
Katy Perry’s new album, 143, has arrived via Capitol. It marks the pop singer’s first studio album since 2020’s Smile. “I set out to create a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” Perry said in a statement. She previewed the record with the singles ‘Lifetimes’, ‘Woman’s World’, and ‘I’m His, He’s Mine’. It features guest appearances from Kim Petras, JID, 21 Savage, and Doechii, as well as production Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Stargate, and first-time collaborators Vaughn Oliver and Rocco Did It Again!. “I understand that it started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with,” Perry said of working with Dr. Luke on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast. “But the reality is, it comes from me.”
Tasha, All This and So Much More
Tasha has unveiled a new album, All This and So Much More, through Bayonet Records. The Chicago-born artist wrote the follow-up to 2021’s Tell Me What You Miss the Most over the course of 2022 and 2023, right on the cusp of being cast in Illinoise, the Tony-winning Broadway musical adaption of Sufjan Steven’s Illinois. It was preceded by the singles ‘The Beginning’, ‘Michigan’, ‘So Much More’, and ‘Love’s Changing’. “As one of the first songs I wrote for this album, ‘The Beginning’ feels like an introduction to the journey of self-discovery I found myself on throughout the year to come (and in turn, the songs that emerged),” Tasha explained. “While the song touches on uncertainty, sadness, and a desire for connection, the very first line – ‘This is not the end, it’s just the beginning’ – encapsulates the sense of hope and possibility I continued to arrive at after it all.”
Julian Casablancas + the Voidz, Like All Before You
Julian Csablancs + the Voidz are back with their first album in six years, Like All Before You. The follow-up to 2018’s Virtue was announced via a trailer on YouTube alongside ‘Overture’, an instrumental single from the LP. Featuring the early offerings ‘Prophecy of the Dragon’, ‘Flexorcist’, and ‘All the Same’, the album was recorded at the Voidz’s studio in Venice, CA and at Vox Studios in Los Angeles. The band worked with producers Ivan Wayman, Justin Raisen, and SADPONY aka Jeremiah Raisen.
The WAEVE, City Lights
The WAEVE – the duo of Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall – have released a new LP titled City Lights. The follow-up to their self-titled 2023 debut features the previously released singles ‘You Saw’, ‘Boken Boys’, and the title track. “The band had an identity this time around so we had a little bit more of a framework to know how we might operate,” Dougll commented. “But obviously, the circumstances were quite different…”
Thurston Moore, Flow Critical Lucidity
Thurston Moore has issued a new album, Flow Critical Lucidity, via The Daydream Library Series. Marking his ninth LP, it includes the previously unveiled singles ‘Isadora’, ‘Hypnogram’, ‘Rewilding’, and ‘Sans Limites’ featuring Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier. It was arranged at La Becque in Switzerland, recorded at Total Refreshment Studios in London in 2022, and mixed at Hermitage Studios in London with Margo Broom in 2023. The album sleeve cover artwork features Jamie Nares’ ‘Samurai Walkman.
Katy J Pearson, Someday, Now
Katy J Pearson has put out her latest album, Someday, Now, via Heavenly Recordings. The follow-up to 2022’s Sound of the Morning finds Pearson working with electronic producer Nathan Jenkins, aka Bullion, whose credits include Carly Rae Jepsen, Nilüfer Yanya, Westerman, and more. Check out the new single ‘Those Goodbyes’ below. “I knew exactly who I wanted to work with, I knew exactly who my session band were going to be, I knew where I wanted to record,” Pearson said of the new LP. “It felt like I was finally calling the shots for myself, and that was so empowering.” The singles ‘Sky’, ‘Those Goodbyes’, and ‘Maybe’ preceded the LP.
Clinic Stars, Only Hinting
Clinic Stars – the gauzy Detroit duo of Giovanna Lenski and Christian Molik – have unveiled their debut LP, Only Hinting, via Kranky. Recorded at the band’s home studio, the collection follows two EPs, 2021’s 10,000 Dreams and 2022’s April’s Past. “We’ve definitely put a lot of thought into acoustic treatment and utilizing the space to the best of our ability,” Molik said in an interview with Stereogum. “It’s definitely very comfortable for us. I don’t think we could ever see ourselves recording in a [traditional] studio.”
Nubya Garcia, Odyssey
Nubya Garcia has returned with a new full-length, Odyssey, following up her 2020 Mercury Prize-nominated debut Source. Introducing the overarching theme behind the album, Garcia said: “It represents the notion of truly being on your own path, and trying to discard all the outside noise saying you should go this way or that way.” The record features collaborations with Esperanza Spalding, Richie Seivwright, and Georgia Anne Muldrow, as well as the singles ‘Set It Free’, ‘Clarity’, and ‘The Seer’.
Other albums out today:
Manu Chao, Viva Tu; Nelly Furtado, 7; LICE, Third Time at the Beach; Dave Guy, Ruby; Lutalo, The Academy; Sunset Rubdown, Always Happy to Explode; Honeyglaze, Real Deal; Hippo Campus, Flood; Kate Pierson, Radios and Rainbows; Downhaul, How to Begin; Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Orchestra Hits; Joan As Police Woman, Lemons, Limes and Orchids; cliffdiver, birdwatching; Dreamless Veil, Every Limb of the Flood; Nightwish, Yesterwynde; Drifting In Silence & Suseti, Echos Beyond.