8 New Albums You Should Listen to Now: Diiv, Queens of the Stone Age, and More

Apesar de ter escrito o novo álbum do Diiv em um período de caos—recebendo seu segundo filho em meio às consequências da destruição de sua casa nas queimadas de Altadena—Zachary Cole Smith entrou em ZIRP.

in a spirit of unbridled, determined fun. Buoyed along by an unlikely producer in A. G. Cook, the band compacts its trademark shoegaze sound into nuggets of electro-pop joy, the smothering haze coexisting with effervescent hooks that go down as easily as pop-punk alcopops.

Listen on Apple MusicListen on SpotifyListen on TidalListen on Amazon MusicListen/Buy at BandcampBuy at Rough Trade.

Andy Stott: Late Loop [Modern Love].

For Andy Stott’s music to hit hardest, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and envision the world in slow motion. The electronic producer moves carefully through every song, as if reducing listeners’ heartbeats is the trick to making them see everything around them.

Em seu primeiro álbum em cinco anos, Late Loop, Stott transformou o drone experimental em músicas de trance downtempo ao contar com as vocalistas Alison Skidmore e Elaine Howley para articular algumas observações—como a pressão leva à fuga, ou espelhos podem se estender para sempre—que se transformam em mantras.

Do you miss when rock bands were mostly teenagers pissing off their parents by practicing too loud in the basement? If the answer is yes, you’re primed to love the debut album of 23-year-old Heath Michael Thomas, who performs under the name Heathers.

Thomas has been making music since he was 11, and recorded the bulk of his 14-track debut at home in Missouri. Driving and dextrous garage rock riffs get their hooks in quick and deep, and that’s before Thomas even graces the mic, whether he’s screaming, snarling, or whispering.

Brat Star: Southern Ontario Gothic [Pre Lapsarian].

Head-to-toe Aritzia. Kill Bill murder techniques. Dirty Hokas. The notorious crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford. All these influences and more converge on the Toronto-based artist and reformed Berlin DJ Brat Star’s debut album Southern Ontario Gothic, which pairs the deadpan chatter-sing of Sidney Gish and Frankie Cosmos with muted Drain Gang swagger and 2010s pop radio production courtesy of collaborators Loukeman and Dyltwosix.

Dream Unending: Certain Uncertainties [20 Buck Spin].

Dream Unending, o duo formado por Derrick Vella, da Tomb Mold, e Justin DeTore, da Innumerable Forms, faz doom metal de maneira um pouco diferente. Seu terceiro álbum, Certain Uncertainties, costuma passar minutos soando como um disco prog perdido dos anos 70, trilha sonora de velho western ou EP demo de roots rock antes que as vozes retumbantes de DeTore e as linhas de bateria death-drop desçam sobre os solos de guitarra prolongados de Vella como um Balrog.

Although they get assists from trumpeter Leila Abdul-Rauf, percussionist Benny Grotto, and vocalist Brendan Radigan, they primarily go toe-to-toe, underscoring their delightfully odd-couple pairing.

Lydia Loveless: Accolades [Bloodshot].

Last year, Lydia Loveless began releasing a song a month on Bandcamp, challenging themselves to stick to a steady routine and stay creative at the same time. This attention to craft resulted in a number of songs featured on their new EP Accolades, a collection of alt-country and classic rock tunes backed by a sturdy enough band—get a load of that Farfisa organ on “What We Learned”—to let Loveless really flex as a songwriter.

There‘s a touch of Billy Joel to “Avoiding Highways,” and some Tom Petty optimism on the title track “Accolades,” resplendent with little lyrical gems like “I guess I'm just looking for a way to be as bored as the good old days.”.

Queens of the Stone Age: Perfecth [Matador].

In the world of Queens of Stone Age, nobody’s perfect, but you can be perfecth. For a band that’s been around for three decades—and spent much of their 2023 album, In Times New Roman…, discussing how twisted, messy, and dark life can get—coming to terms with the inevitability of your own blemishes seems like the logical next step.

On Perfecth, you can hear the band loosening their shoulders after a long, grueling battle with acceptance. In some of the stoner-rocker’s most relaxed and spacious music in years, they muse on heartbreak, sex, and purifying catharsis.

Kali Malone: Canção Ardente [Ideologic Organ].

J. S. Bach spent the last 27 years of his life working as the music director at Thomaskirche, a Lutheran church located in Leipzig, Germany. It’s the same location Kali Malone recorded music on two late nights in August with cellist Lucy Railton and Stephen O’Malley, who joined on bowed acoustic guitar.

A sessão agora se tornou Burning Song, um álbum ruminativo que revela sua beleza silenciosa camada por camada, como a água do oceano lentamente desgastando a rocha.