In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on March 1, 2024:
Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven
- Listen / Buy
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Mannequin Pussy are back with their new album, I Got Heaven, out now via Epitaph. The follow-up to 2019’s Patience and 2021’s Perfect EP was produced by John Congleton and features the advance tracks ‘Nothing Like’, ‘I Don’t Know You’, ‘Sometimes’, and the title track. “There’s just so much constantly going on that feels intentionally evil that trying to make something beautiful feels like a radical act,” Marisa Dabice said in a statement. “The ethos of this band has always been to bring people together.” She added, “We’re supposed to be living in the freest era ever so what it means to be a young person in this society is the freedom to challenge these systems that have been put on to us. It makes sense to ask, what ultimately am I living for? What is it that makes me want to live?” Read our inspirations interview with Mannequin Pussy.
Yard Act, Where’s My Utopia?
- Listen / Buy
- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Yard Act have released their sophomore album, Where’s My Utopia?, via Island. Gorillaz’s Remi Kabaka Jr. co-produced the follow-up to 2022’s The Overload, which was preceded by the singles ‘When the Laughter Stops’, ‘Dream Job’, ‘Petroleum’, and ‘We Make Hits’. “In 200 years time, no-one will know what Yard Act is and what Where’s My Utopia? was, but I read in Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being that making things is a service to the universe, to explore and give and just put it out there,” frontman James Smith reflected. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine. But for whatever reason, we’ve obviously tapped into this emotional web that exists above it all. And for me creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”
Faye Webster, Underdressed at the Symphony
- Listen / Buy
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Faye Webster has come out with a new LP, Underdressed at the Symphony, out now via Secretly Canadian. The follow-up to 2021’s I Know I’m Funny Haha includes the previously shared songs ‘But Not Kiss’, ‘Lifetime’, ‘Feeling Good Today’, and the Lil Yachty collaboration ‘Lego Ring’. The title of the album was inspired by Webster attending a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, buying a ticket at the last possible second. “Going to the symphony was almost like therapy for me,” she explained. “I was quite literally underdressed at the symphony because I would just decide at the last moment that that’s what I wanted to do. I got to leave what I felt like was kind of a shitty time in my life and be in this different world for a minute. I liked that I didn’t feel like I belonged.”
Pissed Jeans, Half Divorced
- Listen / Buy
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Pissed Jeans have returned with Half Divorced, their first album since 2017’s Why Love Now, out now via Sub Pop. Ahead of its release, the Philadelphia punks previewed the LP with the singles ‘Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt’, ‘Moving On’, and ‘Cling to a Poisoned Dream’. “Half Divorced has an aggression within it, in terms of saying, I don’t want this reality,” frontman Matt Korvette explained in a statement. “There’s a power in being able to say, I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter. I’m already looking elsewhere.” He added, “We’re not the kind of band that bangs out a new record every two years. Pissed Jeans is truly like an art project for us, which is what makes it so fun.”
Liam Gallagher & John Squire, Liam Gallagher & John Squire
- Listen / Buy
- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Liam Gallagher and John Squire have joined forces for a collaborative self-titled album. Featuring the early singles ‘Just Another Rainbow’ and ‘Mars to Liverpool’, the LP was produced by Greg Kurstin, who also played bass on it. “I can’t wait for people to hear the album. I think the people that are into The Stone Roses and Oasis and that kinda thing, I think they’ll fucking love it,” Gallagher said in a press statement. “It’s spiritual, it’s crucial.” Squire added: “I like the way that in some parts, it’s quite melancholic and it can make you well up, but there are other parts that are kind of irreverent, rude or crude. There’s a little bit of everything in there, I think it’s a really good mix. I had a hunch that we’d sound good together, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be such a good fit.”
Sheer Mag, Playing Favorites
- Listen / Buy
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Sheer Mag have dropped their third album and first for Third Man Records, Playing Favorites. The follow-up to 2019’s A Distant Call was preceded by the singles ‘All Lined Up’, ‘Moonstruck’, and the title track. Introducing the LP, vocalist Tina Halladay said in a statement: “Those first few records felt like a personal coming out party; they felt like they were an introduction to me and my life story. With these new songs, I feel like I’m finally able to move past that—there are parts on this record that I couldn’t imagine being able to sing ten, five, or even three years ago.”
Schoolboy Q, Blue Lips
- Listen / Buy
- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
Schoolboy Q has dropped his latest project, Blue Lips. The 18-track album, which follows 2019’s Crash Talk, features guest spots from Rico Nasty, Devin Malik, Lance Skiiiwalker, AzChike, Freddie Gibbs, Ab-Soul, Jozzy, and Childish Major. A trailer for the record highlighted several dictionary definitions of the album title: “speechless, especially as the temporary result of shock or some strong emotion,” “(of a person or mood) shocked, speechless, or embarrassed,” “a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something,” and “become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly.”
Coco, 2
- Listen / Buy
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Coco – the project of Maia Friedman (Dirty Projectors), Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo), and Dan Molad (Lucius) – have released 2, the follow-up to their 2021 self-titled debut. They previewed the LP with the singles ‘Mythological Man’, ‘Do This Right’, and ‘Moodrings’. “When we started, we were all either single or in old relationships, living in different places, with different haircuts, priorities and perspectives,” the band shared in a statement. “Though it’s only been a few years, the band has seen us through fundamental transformations in each of our lives, which we are fortunate enough to process together.”
Another Sky, Beach Day
- Listen / Buy
- TIDAL
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Physical
Another Sky have unveiled their new album, Beach Day, via Republic/Fiction. It features the previously unveiled singles ‘Psychopath’, ‘A Feeling’, ‘Burn the Way’, and ‘Uh Oh!’. “We thought we’d finished our second record back in 2019 when we released I Slept on the Floor. But time is a complicated beast,” vocalist Catrin Vincent said in a statement. “And in the depths of lockdown, a completely new vision arose, one that we all knew we needed to follow instead. That vision was Beach Day. It’s a story about moving through personal winters and finding the light. It’s about acknowledging your whole self; your shadow side, your anger, your sadness… and learning to love those parts of yourself in order to move through it. We hope you can hear the beginnings of transformation in it.”
Other albums out today:
Jahari Massamba Unit, YHWH Is LOVE; Bruce Hornsby & yMusic, Deep Sea Vents; Everything Everything, Mountainhead; Kaiser Chiefs, Easy Eighth Album; Bruce Dickinson, The Mandrake Project; Squarepusher, Dostrotime; Ben Frost, Scope Neglect; Beans, Boots N Cats; Sheherazaad, Qasr; Jacob Collier, Djesse Vol. 4; Tyla, Tyla; Gulfer, Third Wind; STRFKR, Parallel Realms; Late Bloomer, Another One Again; Teens in Trouble, What’s Mine; Savak, Flavors of Paradise; Ministry, Hopiumforthemasses; Brittany Davis, Image Issues; New Years Day, Half Black Heart; Daniel Romano’s Outfit, Too Hot to Sleep; Amaro Freitas, Y’Y; Big Big Train, The Likes of Us; Nils Frahm, Day; Staś Czekalski, Przygody.
