In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on May 24, 2024:
DIIV, Frog in Boiling Water
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DIIV are back with Frog in Boiling Water, their first album since 2019’s Deceiver. The LP was produced by Chris Coady and was previewed by the singles ‘Brown Paper Bag’, ‘Soul-Net’, ‘Everyone Out’, ‘Frog in Boiling Water’, and ‘Raining on Your Pillow’. The title was inspired by Daniel Quinn’s 1996 novel The Story of B. “If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to clamber out,” the band explained. “But if you place it gently in a pot of tepid water and turn the heat on low, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death.”
Vince Staples, Dark Times
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Vince Staples has dropped a new album, Dark Times. The follow-up to 2022’s Ramona Park Broke My Heart was announced earlier this week along with the single ‘Shame on the Devil’. “Eleven years ago, a young, uncertain version of myself was given an opportunity with Def Jam Recordings,” Staples wrote on social media. “I released my first project under their banner, Shyne Coldchain Vol 2, a year later. I was unsure of what to expect from the world of music, but deeply aware of what I needed: a change in my surroundings and a clear understanding of self. Ten years and seven projects later, I’ve found that clarity. Now, I share with you my final Def Jam release, Dark Times.”
Young Jesus, The Fool
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Young Jesus has released a new album titled The Fool via Saddle Creek. The follow-up to 2022’s Shepherd Head was preceded by the tracks ‘Brenda & Diane’, ‘The Weasel’, ‘Moonlight’, and ‘Am I the Only One?’. Following the release of his last album, the project’s leader John Rossiter decided to quit music to focus on gardening full-time, but after Shahzad Ismaily reached out to him over email, the musicians would improvise whenever they were in the same town. Rossiter went on to record part of the album at Shahzad’s Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn and also worked on the songs with fellow musicians Alex Babbitt and Alex Lappin.
twenty one pilots, Clancy
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twenty one pilots have put out their seventh album, Clancy, via Fueled By Ramen. It follows the Columbus duo’s 2021 record Scaled and Icy and continues the multi-album narrative that started with 2015’s Blurryface and continued with 2018’s Trench. The LP centers on a character named Clancy who comes from the mythical city Dema, which is located on a continent called Trench. The singles ‘Overcompensate’, ‘Next Semester’, ‘Backslide’, and ‘The Craving’ arrived ahead of the release.
mui zyu, nothing or something to die for
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mui zyu – the moniker of London-based experimental pop artist Eva Liu – has released her sophomore LP, nothing or something to die for. The follow-up to last year’s Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century features the early singles ‘the mould’, ‘everything to die for’, ‘sparky’, and ‘the rules of what an earthling can be’, and ‘please b ok’, as well as collaborations with Miss Grit, lei,e, and Pickle Darling. It finds Liu reuniting with co-producer and fellow Dama Scout band member Luciano Rossi, working on the album during a week-long stint at Middle Farm Studios in Devon.
Finom, Not God
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Finom – the band led by Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, formerly known as Ohmme – have returned with a new LP, Not God, out now via Joyful Noise. Following up 2020’s Fantasize Your Ghost, the album was produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Loft studio in Chicago. Ahead of of its release, the duo previewed it with the singles ‘Haircut’, ‘As You Are’, and ‘Cyclops’.
La Luz, News of the Universe
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La Luz – the band led by Shana Cleveland – have released a new LP, News of the Universe, their first for Sub Pop after four albums on subsidiary Hardly Art. It features the advance tracks ‘Poppies’, ‘Strange World’, and ‘I’ll Go With You’. “It’s been a strange and difficult few years, and at moments, I have found myself rushing to move forward in time, to leave the present and escape to whatever is next,” Cleveland explained in press materials. “The best advice a friend gave me during a time when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and battling consecutive panic attacks was to go outside, take my shoes off, and sit with my feet on the earth. This seemed to slow the universe down in a way that made it feel easier to handle. So this chorus is something of a mantra to myself ‘we’ll be fine, just take your time.’”
Girl and Girl, Call a Doctor
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Call a Doctor is the debut album by the Australian band Girl and Girl. Out today via Sub Pop and Virgin Music Australia, the follow-up to 2022’s Divorce EP includes the previously unveiled songs ‘All I See’, ‘Hello’, and ‘Mother’, and ‘Oh Boy!’. It was largely tracked in a two-story industrial complex over the course of two weeks with producer Burke Reid. “That added to the intensity of the album,” frontperson Kai James reflected in press materials. “I can hear the stress in the record, which is good because that’s what it’s about—being tense, tied up, and in your own head.”
Other albums out today:
Andrew Bird Trio, Sunday Morning Put-On; Lionlimb, Limbo; Tiny Habits; All for Something; Gastr del Sol, We Have Dozens of Titles; RM, Right Place, Wrong Person; Bill MacKay, Locust Land; Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light; Say Anything; …Is Committed; Nathy Peluso, Grasa; Nathaniel Russell, Songs Of; Wallows, Model; Samana, Samana; Carlos Niño & Friends, Placenta; Kim Richey; Every New Beginning, Rami Gabriel; That’s what I been sayin’; Richard Chartier, On Leaving.
