With so much good music being released all the time, it can be hard to determine what to listen to first. Every week, Pitchfork offers a run-down of significant new releases available on streaming services. This week’s batch includes new albums from Alex G, Beth Orton, Makaya McCraven, Marisa Anderson, Sofie Royer, Lucki, and the Wonder Years. Subscribe to Pitchfork’s New Music Friday newsletter to get our recommendations in your inbox every week. (All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our affiliate links, however, Pitchfork earns an affiliate commission.)
Alex G: God Save the Animals [Domino]
Alex G’s new album was written at home and recorded at various studios across Philadelphia. “I would just call different studios the day of and see which one was available,” he told Pitchfork. In the build-up to the release, he’s shared the singles “Runner,” “Cross the Sea,” and “Miracles”—a largely acoustic standout with lyrics about God, drugs, and the future. Read Pitchfork’s interview “Alex G Is Building a Mystery.”
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Beth Orton: Weather Alive [Partisan]
More than 25 years since her breakthrough album Trailer Park, Beth Orton continues to defy expectations. Her first album in six years, Weather Alive, also has the distinction of being her first as a lead producer. The album—featuring singles “Forever Young,” “Friday Night,” “Fractals,” and “Weather Alive”—was written after Orton left Los Angeles for London, and documents the challenges of motherhood and her search for inspiration after years spent away from the music industry. Read Pitchfork’s recent interview “Beth Orton on the Music That Made Her.”
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Makaya McCraven: In These Times [International Anthem/Nonesuch/XL]
Makaya McCraven’s 2021 album Deciphering the Message was a deconstruction of jazz made from disparate parts of the Blue Note archive. His follow-up, In These Times, finds the drummer and self-proclaimed “beat scientist” joined by a sprawling cast of live musicians that includes guitarist Jeff Parker, harpist Brandee Younger, and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart of Ohmme. Ahead of the full release, McCraven shared a single called “Seventh String,” which pairs his drumming with lush orchestral elements.
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Marisa Anderson: Still, Here [Thrill Jockey]
Just over a year since she teamed up with fellow instrumentalist William Tyler on the collaborative album Lost Futures, Marisa Anderson returns with Still, Here. Another study of the disparate landscapes of the American West, the album takes inspiration from the guitar itself, with Anderson letting the instrument guide her compositional process. “I don’t get ideas and then turn to the guitar, rather I turn to the guitar to find out what my ideas are,” she said.
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Sofie Royer: Harlequin [Stones Throw]
Sofie Royer’s indie pop songwriting is miles away from the classical music she studied as a teenager—not to mention the funk and hip-hop with which she’s been involved as an A&R for Stones Throw Records. Harlequin, Royner’s second album with the label, looks inward to tell personal stories about her time in New York, Los Angeles, and Vienna. “Feeling Bad Forsynth Street” is an ode to being young and broke on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, while “Klein-Marx”—which takes its name from the Klein-Marx Bridge in Vienna—offers escapism amid a moment of general dread.
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Lucki: Flawless Like Me [Empire]
After teaming up with Philadelphia producer F1lthy for Wake Up Lucki at the end of last year, Lucki is back with Flawless Like Me. The Chicago rapper has been teasing the release in some capacity since 2018, when he shared its title on Twitter without any other details. The new full-length includes the single “Geeked N Blessed,” as well as contributions from Future, Babyface Ray, Cash Cobain, Bhristo, Flansie, Plu2o Nash, and more.
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The Wonder Years: The Hum Goes On Forever [Hopeless]
During the pandemic, Dan Campbell became a father. The Hum Goes On Forever, his new album as frontman of the Pennsylvania pop-punk band the Wonder Years, is a concept record about the challenges of raising a child in a difficult historical moment. Revisit “The Wonder Years Go Where Pop-Punk Rarely Has: Parenthood” over on the Pitch.
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