featuring Squid, SPELLLING, Mac Miller, clipping. & MORE
An overwhelming amount of music is released daily, and we're here to help you weed through it all. Every week, we share select releases we are all looking forward to and personalized picks from a few of our editors.
Welcome to our New Releases to Check Out guide featuring the most notable music released the week of January 10.
BLIGATORY Picks
SPELLLING - "Portrait of My Heart"
Post-Punk Revival, Art Rock
via Sacred Bones
write-up by Dominick Baglivo
With the album’s titular track, Bay Area artist SPELLLING—real name Chrystia Cabral—announces her fourth album. The anxious avant-pop of “Portrait of My Heart” and its accompanying video explore the idea of creative obsession: “If this is what I'm supposed to be doing, and that I’ve chosen this life path, why does it cause me so much discomfort all the time?”
“When the lyrics for the title track came together, it really started to morph everything in this more energetic direction, instead of this more whimsical landscape that I’ve worked with before. It started to become more driven, higher energy, more focused,” Cabral explains. “And I have a big affection for it because of that. I love that it feels like it withstood transformation, which is something I always want to aspire to with things that I make. I want them to have this sense of timelessness. It could exist like this, or like that, or like this, but this is the one for right now.”
Portrait of My Heart is out March 28 via Sacred Bones. Beginning with a special hometown show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on April 4, SPELLLING will tour the US this spring.
Squid - "Building 650"
Post-Punk, Art Rock, Post-Rock
via Warp Records
write-up by Peter Doherty
The seductively sinister sounds of Squid rear their twisted heads once more with the second single in the run-up to album number three. "Building 650" rides the churning, cinematic roller ride and foremost theme of their upcoming album Cowards: evil. The misaligned mind unfolds forth.
"Frank's my friend..."
Cowards, "an album about evil," is out February 7 via Warp Records.
Atticus' Picks
Grant Pavol - "Twin Sized Bed"
Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter
via Accidental Popstar Records
Singer, songwriter, and poet Grant Pavol has returned with his first solo material since 2021’s Reflections EP. “Twin Sized Bed” is the lead single for Pavol’s College EP, due 1/17, which is slated as the first of four short projects to be released this year via Accidental Popstar Records. This label was created by the Philadelphia pop artist Shamir, who Pavol has toured with on bass and co-written songs with in the past.
The track is based around a folksy vocal melody and acoustic guitar, stepping away from the more electronically-involved production of Pavol’s past albums. There is no drum kit or guitar riffs either; only shaker, viola, slide guitar, and soft hand drums. The more natural instrumental, aided by violist Isabella Bustanoby, pairs well with Pavol’s wishes to “remain with the Earth” once he is gone. In contrast to this, the music video shows Pavol and Internet comedian Patrick Doran as dual Homer Simpsons’s that end up ‘double killing’ during a random encounter gone wrong… not sure what exactly to make of it but I was entertained.
Make sure to check out Pavol’s comeback EP College this upcoming Friday, and follow him online for updates on the other forthcoming EPs.
Dominick's Picks
L.A.R.M - Noise
Garage Punk, Garage Rock
Self-Released
Album art is so important. A new find on my end, the cover is what led me to this one. Annnnnd they’re a garage rock band from Sydney, Australia. On brand.
Noise is lo-fi, punchy as hell, and very fun. This 7-track debut EP fits in nicely alongside contemporaries like R.M.F.C., Gee Tee, PLEASANTS (Perth), and the like.
Heartworms - "Extraordinary Wings"
Post-Punk Revival, Darkwave, Gothic Rock
via Speedy Wunderground / Play It Again Sam Records
Gearing up to release her debut album as Heartworms, London-based artist Jojo Orme shares her latest single “Extraordinary Wings.” It is the third single from Glutton For Punishment, following “Warplane” and “Jacked.”
A subdued and moderately brooding cut, “Extraordinary Wings” swirls up a dark and entrancing vortex. As is the case for her entire album, the legendary and longtime collaborator Dan Carey produced the single.
Glutton for Punishment, the first full-length from Heartworms, is out February 7 via Speedy Wunderground / Play It Again Sam Records.
Mac Miller - "5 Dollar Pony Rides"
Neo-Soul, Jazz Rap
via Warner Records
It’s floated around the internet unofficially for a bit now, but Mac Miller’s “5 Dollar Pony Rides” sees an official release this week. It is the first single from Balloonerism, previously announced by the Mac Miller estate in November.
Balloonerism was recorded in 2014, birthed during a time where Miller’s output felt virtually unmatched. Splitting his time between a number of projects that ultimately took precedent, we saw the releases of Watching Movies with the Sound Off, Delusional Thomas, Faces, GO:OD AM, and more between the years of 2013 and 2015.
In addition to the first official offering, the estate also shared the album’s track listing. Aside from a Delusional Thomas (one of Mac Miller’s alter egos) credit, the 14-track project only sports one feature with an appearance from SZA.
Balloonerism arrives next week on January 17 via Warner Records. Accompanied by a Samuel-Mason directed film, the trailer premiered at Camp Flog Gnaw in November. More information about the album and the film is available at macmillerswebsite.com.
Prism Shores - "Overplayed My Hand"
Jangle Pop, Indie Rock
via Meritorio Records
Make this the second of three weeks that Prism Shores has/will appear in our weekly roundup. On December 20, the Montreal four-piece shared the jangly “Southpaw,” their third single of 2024.
This week, the band is back with the fourth and final single leading up to their new record. Another jangly tune, “Overplayed My Hand” is the oldest song written for Out From Underneath, which is out in full next week on January 17 via Meritorio Records.
Sharp Pins - "I Can't Stop"
Power Pop, Jangle Pop, Slacker Rock
via K Records / perennial
With a lo-fi, retro power-pop/early jangle pop specialty, Kai Slater (member of Chicago bands Lifeguard & Dwaal Troupe) has put out three projects under the name Sharp Pins. In May, he released the second of those three with Radio DDR.
Alongside the new track, “I Can’t Stop,” comes the news of an upcoming re-release of Radio DDR. The single is the first of three new songs on the forthcoming expanded edition.
About the track, Slater says:
"Well The song was written and recorded in about 35 minutes cuz i had to go to band practice and just wanted to get everything down but ended up getting super tied to it, i think its kind of inspired by home-punk music like laurice or peter jeffries or cleaners from venus, more dubby + dancey, video was done in my room with a clip on lamp and some fabrics from joanne and a guitar i stole from jack in answering machines.”
Radio DDR is out March 21 via K Records & perennial.
Peter's Picks
clipping. - "Change the Channel"
Industrial Hip-Hop, Breakbeat Hardcore
via Sub Pop Records
clipping's latest single "Change the Channel" runs a craze akin to The Prodigy—bleep-y, bloop-y spheres of technological territory. The Cyberpunk aesthetic set on previous singles runs right through "Change the Channel." The gutters are rife with steamy sludge and running over. The city is in lockdown and the sirens are sounding.
Rick Deckard's 21st Century soundtrack.
clipping.'s upcoming album, Dead Channel Sky, releases March 14 via Sub Pop.
DARKSIDE - "S.N.C"
Neo-Psychedelia, Indietronica, Alternative Dance
via Matador Records
DARKSIDE march towards their upcoming full-length through the alley-stepper "S.N.C." The ruggedness of the fire exits through the discotheque's glitz-and-glam appeals to the psyche in indescribable ways. DARKSIDE has welcomed longtime friend and collaborator, drummer and instrument designer Tlacael Esparza to become a full-time member, filling out their already fairly full sound in the process. Yet, the place is still sparsely packed.
“There's nothing on my mind.”
DARKSIDE's Bandcamp reads, with relation to their upcoming project: "Nine transmissions of negative space, telepathic seance, and spectral improvisation."
DARKSIDE's third studio album, Nothing, arrives February 28 via Matador.
Eyesore & the Jinx - "Marcel" / "A Career In Show Business"
Indie Rock, Art Punk
Self-Released
Liverpool trio Eyesore & the Jinx release a double single in the form of "Marcel” and “A Career in Show Business." A dog named Marcel faces a psychological analysis and the slow, seeping reality of a career in show business comes into full view. Spike-y tones perk up the songs as sharp, jittery, discordant digs of guitar get under the skin of the tracks.
"There's a dangerous dog in next door’s front garden; I think his name's Marcel."
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