Summer is over but new-release season is in full bloom: The fall 2023 calendar is a bumper edition, with the likes of Mitski, Sufjan Stevens, and Animal Collective promising autumnal joy and post-summer sadness in equal measure. Some seven decades in, the sun is still shining on the Rolling Stones—back with their first album of originals in 18 years—but not lycanthrope Peter Gabriel, who has been doling out singles from his new LP every full moon. Sampha, Yeule, Jorja Smith, and L’Rain are flourishing anew with follow-ups to revelatory breakout albums, and look forward to long-awaited inaugurals from Sofia Kourtesis, whose Madres LP abounds with late entries for the song of the summer, and Evian Christ, whose chilly, pugilistic debut does not. Big releases from Drake, Doja Cat, and Nicki Minaj promise to populate your fall flowerbeds with an earworm or two, while Oneohtrix Point Never is burrowing back underground after his triumphant stint as the Weeknd’s sideman. As of September 11, all release dates have been confirmed. But, as usual, everything is subject to change.
Amor Muere: A Time to Love, a Time to Die
A Time to Love, a Time to Die is the first album from Amor Muere, a Mexico City collective of Mabe Fratti, Camille Mandoki, Gibrana Cervantes, and Concepción Huerta. The record developed out of a multi-disciplinary performance that Mandoki wrote and directed in 2018, with synthesizers, cello, tape manipulation, vocals, and violin among its musical components. “It’s a beautiful process where we connect through emotions and feelings as friends to make music,” said Cervantes of the ensemble’s work. The group shared one of the album’s five songs, “Love Dies,” in August. –Allison Hussey
Ana Tijoux: Vida
The Chilean hip-hop artist Ana Tijoux announced her new record with the single “Niñx,” which she called “a manifesto to the child we all have inside of us.… that is capable of dreaming and building infinite castles of humanity and love.” The album, her first in nine years, does not yet have a release date but will follow the memoir Sacar la voz, which she published through Penguin this year. –Jazz Monroe
Animal Collective: Isn’t It Now?
Stretching for 22 minutes, Animal Collective’s June song “Defeat” is the centerpiece of the ensemble’s next album, Isn’t It Now? The late-September LP is touted as the longest album to date from the electronics-bending ensemble, arriving less than two years after its predecessor, Time Skiffs. The group released the shorter “Soul Capturer” as the LP’s second single a few weeks after “Defeat.” Isn’t It Now? also includes “King’s Walk,” which Animal Collective have made a fixture of recent live sets and their “Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.” –Allison Hussey
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Armand Hammer: We Buy Diabetic Test Strips
First announced via a series of cryptic flyers, postcards, and phone numbers leading to pre-save details, Backwoodz Studioz duo billy woods and Elucid’s next album as Armand Hammer is their first since 2021’s Haram. They shared the DJ Haram–produced lead single “Trauma Mic,” which features Pink Siifu, in July, and the LP has additional contributions from Moor Mother, Soul Glo’s Pierce Jordan (aka Money Nicca), Junglepussy, Curly Castro, and Cavalier. –Hattie Lindert
Chai: Chai
Chai’s self-titled album was partly inspired by the Tokyo-born genre city pop—a local take on Western lounge music that blossomed in the 1970s and ’80s. The band members channel this nostalgic sound on cuts like the bass-driven “Para Para” and the groovy “Neo Kawaii, K?” Like their previous LP Wink, Chai is crammed with slightly scuffed pop hooks and cheeky celebrations of Japanese culture. “We live proudly as Japanese women,” the band wrote in a press release for Chai. “We hope this album gives everyone a little more confidence in living how they want to live.” –Madison Bloom
Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
A few years after sharing her breakout single, “Pink Pony Club,” Chappell Roan is making her full-length debut with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. “I’m always trying to remind myself that this is just pop,” Roan told Pitchfork’s Cat Zhang of her output. “Let’s not take it too seriously.” –Hattie Lindert
Chief Keef: Almighty So 2
Almighty So, released in 2013, is one of the most inventive and essential Chief Keef mixtapes. So, naturally, its sequel, nearly a decade later, comes with major expectations. But since the project was announced in October 2022, it has gone through endless pushbacks and failed promises of “coming soon.” Originally it was scheduled for January, then April, then June, and now, maybe, this autumn. Who knows if it will ever actually see the light of day? There are a couple singles rumored to be on Almighty So 2, like “Racks Stuffed Inna Couch” and “Tony Montana Flow,” which is decent proof that the project actually exists. –Alphonse Pierre
DJ Shadow: Action Adventure
Bay Area producer DJ Shadow’s Action Adventure is largely instrumental, a choice he said he made in the pursuit of writing “music that flexed different energies” without the added responsibility of supporting a vocalist. The follow-up to his sizable 2019 double album, Our Pathetic Age, pares down both the features and the runtime, placing the veteran turntablist’s production front and center. DJ Shadow shared the first song from the project, “Ozone Scraper,” in August, alongside a mixed-media video starring actor Askhat Kuchinchirekov. –Hattie Lindert
Dogstar: Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees
Dogstar is a Los Angeles–based band that got started in the early 1990s and released two albums in 1996 and 2000. Guitarist and vocalist Bret Domrose leads the trio, which also features drummer Rob Mailhouse and, notably, the bass talents of The Matrix, John Wick, Bill & Ted, and Johnny Mnemonic star Keanu Reeves. It’s a full-on reunion from the alternative rock band, including a tour and a video for lead single “Everything Turns Around.” In a statement accompanying the single, the band called it “a fun summer song” with “an uplifting message and a positive vibe that hopefully makes your day a little bit lighter.” –Evan Minsker
Doja Cat: Scarlet
Since calling her last two albums, Planet Her and Hot Pink, “cash grabs” back in May, Doja Cat has positioned her next project as a return to edgier roots and an opportunity to highlight her rap skills. A series of singles and one swiftly scrapped album cover later, Scarlet finally drops on September 22. She’ll tour the album throughout the fall, bringing Ice Spice and Doechii along with her across two dozen North American cities. –Hattie Lindert
Dolly Parton: Rockstar
Dolly Parton’s next album lets its name speaks for itself: Rockstar finds the country veteran collaborating with a long, long list of artists of the titular persuasion. Although Parton herself initially declined (but later accepted) a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination, she’s still plenty happy to play some rock music. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Lizzo, Miley Cyrus, Mick Fleetwood, Sting, Elton John, Joan Jett, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, and many more feature on the 30-track album. –Hattie Lindert
Drake: For All the Dogs
Last year, Drake released a pair of albums in quick succession: first the club-indebted Honestly, Nevermind, then Her Loss, his scatty collaboration with 21 Savage. Many months and one stream-of-consciousness poetry collection on from the latter album, he is set to return with For All the Dogs, a companion of sorts to the poems. It comes with artwork drawn by his son, Adonis Graham. –Jazz Monroe
Drop Nineteens: Hard Light
It’s been more than 30 years since Drop Nineteens released their 1992 debut LP, Delaware, but, last year, Greg Ackell reassembled the original lineup to record a new batch of songs. Hard Light collects the first new music from Ackell, Steve Zimmerman, Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue, and Peter Koeplin since the Boston shoegaze band’s 1993 album, National Coma, and features songs written by Ackell and Zimmerman in their trademark drop tuning. If early single “Scapa Flow” is any indication, they’ve picked up right where they left off all those years ago. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz
Evian Christ: Revanchist
Evian Christ broke out in the 2010s with a string of pugilistic, bass-heavy tracks for labels including Tri Angle and Warp, as well as imprinting his signature strobing beats on rap hits like Kanye West’s “I’m in It” and Danny Brown’s “Pneumonia.” Now, after mostly exiting the spotlight to lurk behind the decks at his Trance Party club events, he is finally readying his debut album. He led Revanchist with “On Embers,” his first single in three years. –Jazz Monroe
Flo Milli: Fine Ho, Stay
The titles of Flo Milli’s full-length trilogy offer a clear emotional narrative. There was 2020’s Ho, Why Is You Here ? (anger), which was followed by 2022’s You Still Here, Ho? (bargaining). This year it’s Fine Ho, Stay (acceptance), which features the lead single “Fruit Loop.” While “Fruit Loop,” new single “Chocolate Rain,” and the album announcement come after a prolific string of features and solo singles from Flo Milli in 2023 alone, a release date and tracklist have not been cemented. –Evan Minsker
Ian Sweet: Sucker
When recording Sucker, her fourth LP as Ian Sweet, Jilian Medford broke out of her comfort zone, both as a musician and as a Los Angeles resident feeling stuck in isolation. That liberating feeling takes shape in a catchy, polished sound audible in lead single “Your Spit” (whose music video features cameos by Saturday Night Live cast members Sarah Sherman and Martin Herlihy). Sucker also includes a new rendition of “Fight,” which originally appeared on Medford’s 2022 Star Stuff EP, for a little dose of reimagining her past in the present. –Nina Corcoran
Jamila Woods: Water Made Us
A quote from Toni Morrison inspired the title for Water Made Us, Jamila Woods’ follow-up to 2019’s Legacy! Legacy! The Chicago singer-songwriter dives deep into her sense of self, her feelings, her relationships, and more, drawing upon astrology and plant metaphors; it is, in her words, “the most personal and vulnerable piece of art I’ve ever made.” She threads these pieces together with thoughtful interludes that give further peeks into her inner worlds. Woods treats love as a blossoming investment in the record’s first single, the duendita-featuring “Tiny Garden,” and she more recently shared the LP’s “Boomerang.” –Allison Hussey
Jane Remover: Census Designated
The sophomore LP from digicore innovator Jane Remover was, in part, conceptualized during a cross-country drive in a blizzard, an influence that rings clear in the anxious, heavy tones of its first single, “Lips.” After releasing other singles and mixes, Jane Remover’s first full project since 2021’s Frailty also marks a pivotal new moment in the artist’s life and career: It’s the first album she has released since coming out publicly as a trans woman last year. –Hattie Lindert
Jorja Smith: Falling or Flying
Jorja Smith’s debut album, 2018’s Lost & Found, delivered on her promise as Britain’s next great R&B singer. In the five years since, she has released a stopgap EP, Be Right Back, which she described as “a little waiting room so people knew I was coming back.” Now, she is back for real: Her official second album, Falling or Flying comprises a fresh batch of tracks, including collaborations with J Hus (on “Feelings”) and Jamaican singer Lila Iké (“Greatest Gift”), as well as the singles “Little Things,” “Go Go Go,” and “Falling or Flying.” –Jazz Monroe
Kylie Minogue: Tension
Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam” reigned as one of the blockbuster singles of the summer, and she’s riding the high of the hit into fall with the promise of her full-length Tension. It’s the first album from the Australian pop star in three years, following 2020’s Disco. “Padam Padam” is not only Tension’s lead single but also its opening track, chased with titles like “Things We Do for Love,” “You Still Get Me High,” and a non-Lorde “Green Light.” After the record’s release, Minogue will hold court at a new venue in Las Vegas for her first-ever residency, where she’s more than likely to perform Tension’s “Vegas High” along with her other classic cuts. –Allison Hussey
Laurel Halo: Atlas
Los Angeles electronic musician and producer Laurel Halo has spent the past few years researching electroacoustic sound design and renewing her focus on piano. Now, five years after 2018’s Raw Silk Uncut Wood, she’s gearing up to release a new album. Atlas, which arrives later this month on September 22, features collaborations with saxophonist Bendik Giske, violinist James Underwood, cellist Lucy Railton, and vocalist Coby Sey. As captured in lead single “Belleville” and the title track, the album is a moving body of minimalist instrumentation, windswept strings, and Halo’s impeccable touch on the keys that showcases her more pensive side. –Nina Corcoran
Loraine James: Gentle Confrontation
Esteemed UK producer Loraine James has woven between electronic forms since releasing debut album Detail while a student in London. For You and I followed on Hyperdub, establishing the synthesis of puckish beats, vaporous ambience, and exquisitely textured melody that is now her trademark. Gentle Confrontation follows last year’s Building Something Beautiful for Me, an album of Julius Eastman interpretations, and an LP from her Whatever the Weather project. The new one, which has collaborators including Marina Herlop, KeiyaA, and George Riley, was announced with the single “2003,” prominently featuring James’ own vocals. –Jazz Monroe
Lost Girls: Selvutsletter
Jenny Hval’s electronic project with longtime collaborator Håvard Volden returned in 2021 with the beguiling Menneskekollektivet: a wilderness of insistent beats, otherworldly synths, and decayed electric guitar. Follow-up Selvutsletter advances the debut’s freeform abstraction, pairing Hval’s nocturnal poetry with exploratory compositions seemingly designed to breach alternate worlds. The album title, a made-up Norwegian word, translates in the duo’s telling as “someone who tries to erase themselves.” The concept loosely applies to Hval and Volden’s creative interplay, the way Lost Girls operates as “two parts of the unconscious,” a synergy described in the single “Ruins.” The approach might sound heady, but songs like “Jeg Slutter Meg Selv” break into mesmerizing raptures. –Jazz Monroe
L’Rain: I Killed Your Dog
It’s no derogatory statement to refer to Taja Cheek’s new album as L’Rain, I Killed Your Dog, as “basic bitch” music. The Brooklyn artist uses the term herself to describe the kind of album she wanted to create as a follow-up to 2021’s Fatigue. “Sometimes when people talk about experimental music, it’s like it’s untouchable,” she said. “I wanted to do something that was the exact opposite of that.” She recently shared a new single from the album, “Pet Rock,” alongside a playfully nostalgic and pink video. –Hattie Lindert
Maria BC: Spike Field
Singer-songwriter and classically trained vocalist Maria BC’s first album on Sacred Bones illustrates their complex relationship with the past. As they shared in a statement: “I had a very strong tendency to want to destroy any previous version of me.” Announcing Spike Field in late August, Maria BC shared the first two songs on the 12-track album: “Amber” and “Watcher.” –Hattie Lindert
Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
Mitski’s seventh album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, is shaping up to be an intimate, introspective collection of songs about life’s fleeting details. That’s present in the lead single “Bug Like an Angel,” which reflects on self-destruction and community, and her forlorn vocals over quiet strumming in “Heaven” and “Star” alike. Written in small bursts, these songs draw inspiration ranging Arthur Russell to the spaghetti western scores of Ennio Morricone. It’s a shift from the disaffected indie-pop of last year’s Laurel Hell, but a fitting sound for Mitski all the same. –Nina Corcoran
The Mountain Goats: Jenny From Thebes
The next album from the Mountain Goats is a rock opera chronicling a woman’s Kawasaki-aided escape from a small town. It’s also, according to John Darnielle, a spiritual sequel to the band’s 2002 LP All Hail West Texas. The album’s first single “Clean Slate” sets the scene of Jenny’s life, which Darnielle and crew build out with guitar from Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, backing vocals from Matt Nathanson and the Go Go’s Kathy Valentine, and horn and string arrangements crafted by Matt Douglas. –Hattie Lindert
Nation of Language: Strange Disciple
Strange Disciple is the third album from Brooklyn synthpop trio Nation of Language, and first that was created and released outside of a pandemic lockdown. The title is drawn from the single “Sole Obsession,” and means “one who finds themself an adherent to a subject that is probably not worth the devotion,” according to a quote from the band. Nation of Language have also shared the single “Weak in Your Light” ahead of the release. –Eric Torres
Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday 2
Thirteen years after her debut, Nicki Minaj is releasing a sequel, Pink Friday 2. In the summer, Minaj released the new song “Last Time I Saw You,” a pop ballad that could as easily fit on The Pinkprint, in September. She’s also recently released music with Young Thug and Ice Spice (the closest thing she has to an heir apparent). Pink Friday 2 will follow 2018’s Queen. –Hattie Lindert
Oneohtrix Point Never: Again
After spending the last couple of years as the Weeknd’s executive producer, Daniel Lopatin is ready to share his first studio LP since 2020’s Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. Revisiting a concept from his 2015 album, Garden of Delete, Lopatin imagines Again as a “speculative autobiography,” meditating on his identity as a musician through the lens of middle age. For a taste of Lopatin’s latest “what if,” check out album closer “A Barely Lit Path,” which features an orchestra conducted and arranged by Robert Ames and performed by the Nomad Ensemble. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz
Peter Gabriel: I/O
Peter Gabriel’s long-awaited I/O still doesn’t have an official release date, but the ex-Genesis leader has spent much of 2023 releasing new material to mark full moons. He began with “Panopticom” in early January, which he’s chased with monthly entries like the Brian Eno collaborations “Four Kinds of Horses” and “Road to Joy.” Whenever it arrives, I/O will be the first all-new studio LP from Gabriel since 2010’s Scratch My Back. –Allison Hussey
Ragana: Desolation’s Flower
Since coming up in the Olympia, Washington, DIY punk scene in the 2010s, Ragana have picked up a secondary homebase in Oakland and signed with The Flenser. Now, the duo of Maria and Coley will release their first album on the label, Desolation’s Flower, in October. The title track, which Ragana shared in August, is “a hymn of gratitude for queer and trans ancestors, known or unknown, by blood or affinity, whose joy and survival make our lives possible, and whose memory inspires and helps us resist the tide of increasingly visible hatred and oppression,” per a statement. –Hattie Lindert
Reverend Kirstin Michael Hayter: Saved!
Reverend Kirstin Michael Hayter is the new alias of Lingua Ignota, who retired the earlier project last year. “I will not allow my wounds to destroy me,” she said at the time. “I want to live a healthy, happy life and have changed much in myself and my surroundings to bring light in. As such the art has to change too. It is not healthy for me to relive my worst experiences over and over.” Her debut album under the new name mixes her typical, uniquely corrupted take on gospel standards with original music like the single “All of My Friends Are Going to Hell.” –Jazz Monroe
Rihanna
In the days leading up to Rihanna’s Super Bowl stand, fans were abuzz with hopeful speculation that the marquee event would be the launchpad for a new album announcement. Instead, she revealed another major life development: her second pregnancy with A$AP Rocky, following the birth of their first child last May. Since issuing Anti in 2016, Rihanna has said that her next LP will bend toward dancehall, claiming that she’s worked on more than 500 demos for the project. As of right now, the latest major Rihanna material is “Lift Me Up,” a one-off for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack that’s picked up a few major award nominations. “I want it to be this year,” she said of a new record in February. So do we, Rihanna, so do we. –Allison Hussey
The Rolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds
The Rolling Stones teased their first album of original songs in 18 years with a cryptic ad in the local paper Hackney Gazette. Named for the east London slang for glass shattered in a robbery, the LP led off with “Angry,” its burly riff and beat strutting into a singalong chorus about a lover’s spat. The follow-up to 2005’s A Bigger Bang and the 2016 covers album Blue & Lonesome features Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga on a track apiece (the former playing bass), as well as two songs recorded with the late drummer Charlie Watts. –Jazz Monroe
Sampha: Lahai
It’s been six years since Sampha released his debut album, Process, a critically lauded record so strong it earned him the Mercury Prize. He’s still popped up here and there as a featured artist, known for collaborating with A-list talent including Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Kanye West, and more. Finally, Sampha is returning with a sophomore album. Lahai is set to feature “Spirit 2.0” and “Only.” –Evan Minsker
Sen Morimoto: Diagnosis
Chicago multi-instrumentalist Sen Morimoto will return with his first album in three years, Diagnosis, at the start of November. Once again blending together indie rock, R&B, jazz, and electropop, just like 2020’s self-titled LP, his new album is a rich, textured listen. And don’t be fooled by the pleasing production wrapping it all together. Morimoto uses his album to critique how the music industry commodifies trauma and identity to push sales, a sinister tale of capitalism that just won’t die. As singles “Diagnosis” and “If the Answer Isn't Love” demonstrate, picking that bone is as nuanced as it is entertaining in Morimoto’s hands. –Nina Corcoran
Shabazz Palaces: Robed in Rareness
Ishmael Butler’s Shabazz Palaces project has always had dual citizenship with outer space; he describes his latest album—the first in a series—as “hydroplaning over molten asphalt on a cloud of arctic vapor, distilling a sparkling vintage too complex for amateur palates.” Yup. The album features OGs (Camp Lo’s Geechi Suede), local heroes (Seattle favorite Porter Ray), and even Butler’s son, Lil Tracy. It’s a “Hustler’s Convention” for the Space X Age. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz
Slauson Malone 1: Excelsior
Jasper Marsalis, who records under the name Slauson Malone 1 and came up with the Standing on the Corner collective, signed with Warp Records earlier this year. The label is releasing Excelsior, which features the singles “New Joy” and “Voyager.” The new album follows A Quiet Farwell, 2016–2018 (Crater Speak), and in a statement, Marsalis described “Voyager” as a fraught period following his move from New York to Los Angeles. “I wanted to write something in the state of being sick of being sick, annoyed with being annoyed,” he said in a statement. “This verse documents my first steps of refusing the indulgence of trauma and grief. With each movement, the feeling returns but different, weirder.” –Evan Minsker
Sofia Kourtesis: Madres
Madres is the debut full-length from Sofia Kourtesis, the Peru-via-Berlin producer who last crafted a set of inviting electronic songs for her 2021 EP, Fresia Magdalena. She announced Madres with “Si Te Portas Bonito” in July, having shared the album’s title track earlier this year. The record is dedicated to Kourtesis’ mother, a cancer survivor, and Peter Vajkoczy, the neurosurgeon who operated to save her life. Kourtesis appealed to Vajkoczy for help with the promise that she’d dedicate a song to him, and she later took the doctor on his first visit to Berghain when he met her in Berlin. –Allison Hussey
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Sparkle Division: Foxy
For their second LP as Sparkle Division, composer William Basinski, engineer Preston Wendel, and new member Gary Thomas Wright dreamt up a drug-soaked soiree in late-1960s Hollywood, where brawls break out and the punchbowl gets dosed with acid. This trippy scene underpins Foxy, an eight-song instrumental record that winds between lounge, exotica, and smooth jazz. The new album follows Sparkle Division’s vibey 2020 debut, To Feel Embraced. On Foxy, Basinski’s saxophone still reigns supreme, particularly on opener “Have Some Punch” and the creeping “Here Comes Trouble.” Set over the course of one outrageous night, Foxy is meant to evoke a party that will be talked about for decades. –Madison Bloom
Sufjan Stevens: Javelin
Sufjan Stevens returns to stripped-down, solo songwriting on Javelin, which arrives three years after its elaborate predecessor, 2020’s The Ascension. Even so, several friends join him on the new LP, among them Bryce Dessner, who plays acoustic and electric guitars on a song titled “Shit Talk.” Stevens announced the record with the single “So You Are Tired” not long after the premiere of a stage adaptation of Illinois at Bard College earlier in the summer. In addition to the songs, Stevens assembled a 48-page Javelin companion book of art collages and 10 essays. Stevens also made the cover image for the album himself. –Allison Hussey
Taylor Swift: 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
In a world swept up by the Eras Tour, the words “Taylor’s Version” are music to many ears. The next album Taylor Swift will re-record and release is 1989—the full-fledged pop embrace with hits like “Bad Blood,” “Blank Space,” and “Style.” She teased the new version back in 2021 with “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version).” Earlier this year, Swift released a re-recorded version of her third album, Speak Now. –Hattie Lindert
Titanic: Vidrio
In tandem with a new album from her experimental ensemble Amor Muere, cellist Mabe Fratti joins multi-instrumentalist Hector Tosta under the moniker Titanic. Their first album together, Vidrio, is an eight-song collection of bright, airy compositions that dip into jazz sensibilities. The artists completed the record across three different studios in their home base of Mexico City, occasionally joined by drummer Gibran Andrade and Jarrett Gilgore on saxophone. Titanic announced the record with “Anónima” and “Hotel Elizabeth,” and they’ve since shared “Cielo Falso.” –Allison Hussey
Tkay Maidza: Sweet Justice
Sweet Justice is the sophomore album from Tkay Maidza, following the rapper’s 2016 self-titled debut, as well as a trio of EPs from her Last Year Was Weird series. The new record includes the Flume-produced single “Silent Assassin,” as well as the Two Fresh collaboration “Ring-a-Ling.” Maidza also enlisted guest vocalists Lolo Zouaï, Amber Mark, and Duckwrth for Sweet Justice, as well as producers Stint and Kaytranada. Maidza, who is the first female rapper to be signed by 4AD, called Sweet Justice a “diary of things and thoughts I’ve kept to myself” in recent press materials. She added that making the project in the wake of shattered friendships was “a healing experience.” –Madison Bloom
Troye Sivan: Something to Give Each Other
It’s been five years since Australian pop star Troye Sivan released his sophomore LP, Bloom. In the meantime, he dropped 2020’s In a Dream EP, shared singles like “Could Cry Just Thinkin About You” and “Angel Baby,” and starred in Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s critical flop The Idol. In July, Sivan returned with “Rush,” a steamy summer club cut complete with a buns-baring music video. The song is an ode to party-hopping and spit-swapping; it’s also the first taste of Sivan’s third album, Something to Give Each Other, which the singer has called a “celebration of sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship.” –Madison Bloom
Wilco: Cousin
Just over a year after their last album, Cruel Country arrived, Wilco are already back with their next one. Cousin was produced by Cate Le Bon, whom the band befriended at the Solid Sound Festival in 2019. Wilco’s last album was a country album; this new one is not. It’s a quality of the indie rock institution that the producer admires. “They’re so mercurial, and there’s this thread of authenticity that flows through everything they do, whatever the genre, whatever the feel of the record,” Le Bon said of the collaboration. “There aren’t many bands who are able to, this deep into a successful career, successfully change things up.” –Evan Minsker
Yeule: Softscars
Glitch Princess was both a broad introduction to Yeule and a deceptive descriptor of the avant-pop artist. Toying with breakbeats, whispered vocals, and belted falsettos, Yeule creates music that’s meant to feel like an enigma. Their new album, Softscars, keeps that mysterious momentum going with singles like “Dazies,” “Sulky Baby,” and “Fish in the Pool,” the latter a cover of a piece from the Japanese film Hana and Alice. –Nina Corcoran
