Album review
In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on July 19, 2024:
Los Campesions!, All Hell
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- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Los Campesinos! are back with All Hell, their first album since 2017’s Sick Scenes. The LP was produced by the band’s Tom Bromley and features contributions from Holly Carpenter on violin, Eileen McDonald Sparks on cello, and Jon Natchez on saxophone. In a statement, the band said: “All Hell is an album on… drinking for fun and drinking for misery // adult acne // adult friendship // football // death and dying // love and sex // late-stage capitalism // Orpheus // day dreaming // night terrors // the heart as an organ and as a burden // suburban boredom // Tears of the Kingdom // the punks on the playlist // increments of time // climate apocalypse // the moon the moon the moon /// It’s All Hell.”
Childish Gambino, Bando Stone & The New World
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- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
Bando Stone & The New World, which is billed as Donald Glover’s final album under the Childish Gambino moniker, has arrived. The record also serves as the soundtrack to his upcoming film of the same name, which he began working on after completing the final season of the TV series Atlanta in 2022. The singles ‘Lithonia’ and ‘In the Night’, a collaboration with Amaarae and Jorja Smith, preceded the album, which also features Steve Lacy, Fousheé, Flo Milli, Khruangbin, Kamasi Washington, Yeat, Chloe Bailey, and Glover’s son. It was produced with Max Martin, Michael Uzowuru, and Ludwig Göransson.
Jessica Boudreaux, The Faster I Run
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- Apple Music
- Physical
The Faster I Run is the debut solo LP by Jessica Boudreaux, formerly of Summer Cannibals. Boudreaux recorded and produced the album at her own Pet Club Studio, previewing it with the songs ‘Be Somebody Else’, ‘Back Then’, ‘Main Character’, and ‘Cut and Run’. “I know a lot more about myself now than I did when I was with Summer Cannibals and it was exciting to write because I suddenly have access to all these different parts of myself that I didn’t before,” she explained. “Every song was a necessary part of healing, it’s genuinely the most that I have leaned on music to work through things. The whole record reflects on my past through an entirely new lens.” Read our Artist Spotlight interview with Jessica Boudreaux.
Denzel Curry, King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2
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- Spotify
- Apple Music
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Denzel Curry has dropped King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2, a sequel to his 2012 mixtape King of the Mischievous South Vol. 1 Underground Tape 1996. Paying tribute to the musical heritages of the South, the 15-track record features guest appearances by Maxo Kream, A$AP Ferg, 2 Chainz, Project Pat, Ty Dolla $ign, Juicy J, and more. “I tried to do this thing multiple times,” Curry told GRAMMY.com. “I remember revisiting a [social media post] from 2015 that was like, ‘KOTMS Vol. 2055 is now going to be called Imperial.’ I’ve been trying to do this for the longest.”
Lava La Rue, STARFACE
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- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
London artist Lava La Rue has dropped their debut album, STARFACE. Produced by Karma Kid, the 17-track LP is described as “a conceptual psychedelic sci-fi romance album” centered around “an eponymous gender-fluid musical space alien sent to planet Earth to study the reasons why humans are so self-destructive.” It features collaborations with Cuco, Audrey Nuna, tendai, and more.
Soft Play, Heavy Jelly
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- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Soft Play have returned with Heavy Jelly, the punk duo’s first album in six years. It’s also their first LP since changing their name from Slaves in 2022. “We’re not gonna be the band that leads your protest march really eloquently, but we might be the band that motivates you to go down the gym or start doing something productive and that’s important, too,” Laurie Vincent said in a press release. “What we can do is sing about relatable things and share that with people.”
Other albums out today:
Glass Animals; I Love You So F***ing Much; Deep Purple, =1; Major Murphy, Fallout; Beachwood Sparks, Across the River of Stars; Dr. Dog, Dr. Dog; Gum & Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Ill Times; Shugo Tokumaru, Song Symbiosis; Oneida, Expensive Air; Blxst, I’ll Always Come Find You; Oruã, Passe; The Raveonettes, Sing…; Elori Saxl, Drifts and Surfaces; Only Twin, It Feels Nice to Burn; Ivan Cornejo, Mirada; Olivier Cong, Tropical Church; Lilacs & Champagne, Fantasy World; Alberto Boccardi, Apnea; Orcas, How to Color a Thousand Mistakes.
