In this segment, we normally showcase the most notable albums out each Friday. But at least a couple of records worth highlighting came out on different days of the week, so we’re including those in our January 10, 2025 roundup, too.
Ethel Cain, Perverts
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Perverts is technically not a studio album – press materials variously refer to it as a “project,” a “body of work,” or even an “EP,” despite its 90-minute runtime. These, of course, are merely semantic distinctions. The follow-up to Ethel Cain’s 2022 debut full-length Preacher’s Daughter is significantly more esoteric, even alienating in its embrace of sprawling drone and noise experiments. In a statement, Cain wrote: “Poke a hole in yourself and see what comes out. Don’t tell anybody what it is but keep a little in a tiny glass jar under your bed. Cover all the windows and walls with dark fabric and slice yourself into a circle, multiple circles in the middle of the room. Make it hot and suffocate yourself. Go into the woods and look at how many lines there are. The entire world is about lines and where they intersect. There is still time to go into the room where there is nothing and stay there forever but know that while you retain freedom of action, so does the world retain freedom of retaliation. You are not immune to consequence. You can do whatever you want if you can handle the return. And if you cannot, then you should hide away so no one sees how hard you cry if you can’t. It’s ok to be weak. You were born like this for a reason.”
Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos
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Debí Tirar Más Fotos is a love letter to Bad Bunny’s homeland not only in theory, but in its assemblage of musical styles – from música jíbara, salsa, and bomba to his trademark reggaeton – and guests. Following 2023’s Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana, the global superstar recorded all of the album’s 17 tracks live in Puerto Rico, enlisting artists like RaiNao, Omar Courtz, DeiV, Pleneros de la Cresta, and Chuwi. Bad Bunny’s anticolonial activism is far from absent in his lyrics, too, as evidenced by the foreboding centerpiece ‘Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii’.
Lambrini Girls, Who Let the Dogs Out
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Who Let the Dogs Out, the debut LP from Lambirni Girls – the Brighton duo of singer-guitarist Phoebe Lunny and bassist Lilly Macieira – is virulent and unrelenting. They recorded the album – which includes singles like ‘Big Dick Energy’ and ‘Cuntology 101’ – with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox, while mixing was handled by Seth Manchester. “You know how Fleetwood Mac almost dedicated Rumours to their cocaine dealer?” the band remarked. “I think we should dedicate this album to all the booze we bought at Tesco.”
Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear
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Franz Ferdinand are back with their first album in seven years. The Human Fear, the follow-up to 2018’s Always Ascending, was previewed by the singles ‘Audacious’, ‘Night or Day’, and ‘Hooked’. It’s as lean and invigorating as you’d expect from the band, but there are a few surprising turns, like ‘Black Eyelashes’, which dives into Alex Kapranos’ Greek identity. “Making this record was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve had, but it’s called The Human Fear,” Kapranos said in press materials. “Fear reminds you that you’re alive. I think we all are addicted in some way to the buzz it can give us. How we respond to it shows how we are human. So here’s a bunch of songs searching for the thrill of being human via fears. Not that you’d necessarily notice on first listen.”
Other albums out today:
Ringo Starr, Look Up; Moonchild Sanelly, Full Moon; Zeta, Was It Medicine To You?; Tremonti, The End Will Show Us How; zzzahara, Spiral Your Way Out.
