The new release schedule is finally picking up—here's a few highlights for this week.

There are a ton of new releases tomorrow, but there are a few on the list that have already risen above the bunch, so if you’re looking for recommendations on what to stream of buy first tomorrow, you probably won’t go wrong with any of the album’s below

Franz Ferdinand’s Always Ascending has been in constant rotation over the past few weeks. I’ve yammered about it to anyone who would listen, and now you can finally hear it too. There’s plenty of the ol’ Franz Formula of pop hooks galore, but there’s a new sinuousness to the music that shares even more DNA with club music … without sounding at all like "club music." I’ve also had the one-two punch of “Lois Lane” and “Huck And Jim” that pops up right at the album’s midpoint on constant repeat. In fact, I'm sure Pickle the Kitten is probably sick of me making her dance around the house along to those. Well, the whole album. She might not be a Franz fan, but who cares, she's a cat.




I hadn’t a clue what to expect from MGMT’s Little Dark Age. I still remember when they released an album a while ago(pretty sure it was Congratulations), I took it to a friend’s house, and we spent an hour trying to figure out if it was really MGMT or if I’d mistakenly been given a different download. Well, this is definitely MGMT, and they’re back in the realm of actually writing catchy, dancey songs more in the vein of their debut. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of weirdness and they haven’t jettisoned all their psych tendencies, but this is definitely the most accessible thing they’ve probably ever released. Definitely file this under an unexpectedly pleasant surprise since I was predisposed MGMT would just throw another mind-fuck our way. Well, to be fair, this is a bit of a mind-fuck, but in the pleasurable sense.




I confess it wasn’t even until yesterday that I hadn't heard Fu Manchu even had a new album coming out, Clone of The Universe. I’ve always been a fan of the band, especially their ripping live shows, and a cursory listen to the album shows the band is still in fine form. However it doesn’t quite have some of the wallop of their best work so I’m going to guess this is aimed primarily at existing fans, which is cool since after this many years of being able to be in a sustainable band I’m guessing the group has little interest in leaving the niche they’ve carved out for themselves. To be honest? The lyric video below pretty much lets you know exactly what you're in for, almost cartoonishly so.




And of course Twin Peaks’ Sweet ’17 Singles compilation is out tomorrow, but I’ve already written about that. Same goes for Hockey Dad’s Blend Inn; wrote about that too. Both are worth your time too.

One album I’m super excited to finally hear tomorrow that I haven’t yet? The Kendrick Lamar-produced Black Panther soundtrack. I don’t usually get stoked for soundtracks but I can’t imagine this won’t be amazing.