The third quarterly report of 2024 psych pop, art rock, psych prog, indie pop, proto-metal, epic doom metal, noise, sludge metal and more.
The firehose of new album releases shows no sign of slowing down, proving once again that the downward spiral of bad taste of what’s left of music journalism and the horrific offerings on the pop charts need not have any affect on anyone who choose to put even a minimal effort in seeking out music that suits their tastes. I’m still absorbing some of the picks in this list, so things will likely change by the end of the year, but it’s a snapshot of what I rated over the summer. Two of the most “overground” picks are fairly high up, Fontaines D.C.’s fourth album that debuted at #2 in the UK album charts, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, which we’ll soon find out how it performed it’s first week (#5!).
Dream Phases – Phantom Idol (Coconut)
The Other Sun – Daimon, Devil, Dawn (Invictus)
The punters who love the debut full-length of Sweden’s The Other Sun are struggling to describe it, referencing Dick Dale, Ennio Morricone, occult rock and even goth. It’s not rocket science people, it’s clearly psych noir, get with it! The band themselves self-identify as dark rock, but they just haven’t stumbled upon my sexier descriptor yet. Their atmospheric sound has roots that came out of the darker underbelly of garage punk in the 80s with The Cramps, The Gun Club, The Birthday Party, Scientists, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Crime & the City Solution and Swans. Garage, surf and psych noir, these are a few of my favorite things, and it’s gratifying to see new bands continue the thread. While there are stand-out tracks like “Stalking the Stalker” and “A New Dawn,” there are rarely hooks that jump out at you. Rather, it’s a beguiling stack of layered sounds that reveal themselves with close listening, the murky, menacing lyrics evoking, magic, mystery and murder. I sense a crossover buzz about this album with metalheads and others not normally attuned to this subgenre getting excited about this much like they did with Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats thirteen years ago. I hope I’m right.
Fontaines D.C. – Romance (XL)
I have to admit that after the promisingly energetic debut Dogrel (2019) that had just the right balance of piss ‘n’ vinegar and tapping into their Dublin literary history, I’d been disappointed by the band for the following four years. To my ears, even on A Hero’s Death (2020) it sounded like the air had been let out of them. But in anticipation of their fourth album, which hinted that they would be making another interesting evolution, I revisited the second album and Skinty Fia (2022) with growing interest. I don’t subscribe to the theory that’s been floating about that there are no more good bands, and it’s all about solo artists. The pop charts have not been any real indication of what’s actually good since the 60s. So at this point, I’m just happy to see any band, (well, not the 1975), get some commercial success and mainstream attention. The breathless hyperbole of Uncut implying their “apocalyptic sci-fi stadium rock” is the next Ocean Rain, Disintegration or OK Computer is way off the mark, as they largely sound more subdued in comparison. However the new album did debut at #2 in the UK charts, and they do offer a wider variety of pacing and sounds since their debut. String arrangements were added to songs like “In the Modern World” without sounding too gaudy, more Elbow than Coldplay. It’s still a bit sluggish, but with enough sweeping romance and melody to make it a hit. Between “Starburster,” “Favourite” and “Here’s the Thing,” there’s enough hooks and melodies to appeal to the masses amidst the atmospheric goth textures to hold the interest of past fans. I don’t see why they couldn’t at least be as popular as Arctic Monkeys, probably the closest example of a band with some crossover success that most aren’t embarrassed to admit liking. They should add a bonus of their fabulous cover of Nick Drake’s “Cello Song” to future editions.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God (Play it Again Sam)
The self-destructive Dionysian junkie as seen on Ian White’s documentary Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party (2023) has come a long way (baby) in the past 45 years. According to most rock ‘n’ roll narratives, Nick Cave’s artistic peak and popularity should have been behind him back in the early 90s. And yet against all odds, he graduated from playing clubs and theaters to becoming a bona fide stadium rock draw since 2018. Even before the crushing loss of his teenage son Arthur in 2015, Cave seemed to be retreating from the celebrity treadmill, with a five year lag between Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (2008) and the more experimental, ambient Push the Sky Away (2013). The 20,000 Days on Earth (2014) documentary was chock full of unrelentingly pretentious navel gazing. However, Cave’s gift of gab served him well, as the deaths of loved ones (including another son, Jethro in 2022 and his old flame and bandmate Anita Lane) became a multimedia art project encompassing music, film, books, the new age spoken word album Seven Psalms (2022) and even an advice column style newsletter, all deftly avoiding grief porn and bitterness, and achieving what many pay lip service to but usually fail at, becoming a better person. Fans have responded to his emotional directness and honesty and multiplied like gremlins at midnight, seemingly overnight. Swanning about with celebrities like Chris Martin and Sting, Nick Cave has become a sort of post-goth Oprah. I love that!
The new album is really excellent, as anticipated. It’s no surprise, as the only Bad Seeds album of wavering quality was Nocturama way back in 2003. I’ve blamed Dave Fridmann for ruining the sound of many bands like Sleater-Kinney and Baroness, but relegated to mixing/mastering duties here, he does a good job in invoking the celestial beauty of peak Mercury Rev (particularly 2001’s All Is Dream). Originally intended as an ode to joy, Cave realized he’s too old for something so simplistic. Any joy experienced at this age is always full of shadows and cracks of regret and mourning, and with the Bad Seeds chuffed and fluffed to be allowed to at least somewhat rock for the first time in over a decade, this balance is communicated with sublime sensitivity. While my favorite Nick Cave project is actually the first Birthday Party (1980) album, I can appreciate Cave’s evolution, and will happily be in the audience the next time he testifies like a preacher to disciples at my local megadome.
Color Green – Fool’s Parade (New West)
When I wrote about Color Green’s 2022 self-titled debut, I predicted interesting developments in their future, and that’s what we’ve got. They’ve expanded their Dead/Allman cosmic Americana and J.J. Cale choogle into a a diverse psychedelic landscape. While the band had expanded from two to a four-piece by the first album’s release with Kyla Perlmutter (bass, vocals) and Corey Rose (drums, vocals), they’ve had time for the chemistry to be established with some live gigs and integrating their input into new songs. I can hear the difference in the new album, as it sounds more like a band playing in a room, resulting in more expansive reach of sounds, presented as a cohesive unit. The band namedropped diverse interests in Canterbury prog (Gong), Madchester era Primal Scream, and an obscure jangle pop/post-punk collaboration between Steve Kilbey (The Church) and Grant McLennan (Go-Betweens) called Jack Frost. Co-produced with Mike Kriebel (Osees, Wand) and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, the nine tracks cover spacey psych to rollicking roots rock, and even a taste of garage punk on the single “God In A $” with beautifully harmonized guitars in the middle eight. Four singers, two guitarists and a load of talent, this band has many reasons to succeed.
The Volcanics – Volatile World (Ghost Highway)
The surprise release of The Volcanics’ sixth album is a fortuitous coincidence as I had just gotten their previous album, Black Door (2019) a couple days before, as I’d totally missed it. Since I wrote Between The Cracks: Aussie Garage Punk in 2018, bands like The New Christs and Hits have been dead silent. Thankfully, the likes of Civic, Stiff Richards, Amyl and the Sniffers, A. Swayze and the Ghosts, Smarts and Perth’s The Volcanics are on hand to carry on the Aussie garage punk tradition rooted in the Stooges, MC5, The Saints, Radio Birdman and Scientists. While they have stuck pretty consistently with the basic Stooges/Birdman formula, learning more toward the Victims than the garage noir of The Birthday Party and Scientists, they seem to be getting more and more tightly wound on the last few albums to the point where their latest features The Volcanics at their most scorching, particularly the molten rock & roll of “Red/Blue Day,” it’s bass ‘n’ tom heavy drumming thunder brings to mind early Screaming Blue Messiahs. Those seeking melodic vocal hooks and complex emotions should look elsewhere. This is fueled by spite and probably a fair amount of Australian lager.
Induction into the Six Album Run Club!
X – Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum)
While X’s ascendance in L.A. starting in 1977 coincided with the punk scene, they would have had their sound and vision with or without a scene. Billy Zoom was a bonafide rockabilly player who had been active since the early 70s, while John Doe and Exene Cervenka were immersed in the literary traditions of Bukowski, Fante and Carver. For their first four nearly perfect albums, they were a contender for best band in America. They lost their mojo from 1985 to 93, took a 17 year breather, then surprised everyone with the vital sounding Alphabetland (2020). Smoke & Fiction was also recorded quickly, but features a step up in songwriting (and riffs, holy crap Billy!), many recalling the energy of their first album, some of the lyrics reminiscing those early days as they close the book on their career, going out on a high note. Farewell X, it’s been a blast.
Bent Knee – Twenty Pills Without Water (Take This to Heart)
This Boston experimental art rock/prog pop band had a great run of five albums from 2011-19. Their sixth seemed guaranteed to further widen their audience if it continued the growth shown on You Know What they Mean (2019). But as a stark reminder that nothing in life is guaranteed, Frosting (2021) was unlistenable, incorporating incredibly annoying production trends like hyperpop. With expectations shattered, I wasn’t even paying attention to Bent Knee’s release schedule, so I was pleasantly surprised that their seventh sounds like what most fans were hoping for previously. Pop elements have still displaced the heavier avant-prog sounds of early material, partly due to a major lineup change, leaving vocalist/keyboardist Courtney Swain as the senior member. The production is cleaned up, and the songs are better, while still retaining the band’s quirky, adventurous persona. “Illiterate” and “Big Bagel Manifesto” are standouts on the first half, while the second revels in slow, dreamy atmospherics, with “Never Coming Home,” “Drowning” and “Lawnmower” (evidence of their namecheck of Phoebe Bridgers in their music) each offering their own flavor of twinkling beauty. “DLWTSB” eventually brings in some satisfyingly clangy percussion and noise. If the band were aiming for a mix of Prince and Radiohead’s In Rainbows, they certainly did it better than any other current band could do.
Anciients – Beyond the Reach of the Sun (Season of Mist)
If the debut from Vancouver sludge/prog metal band Anciients, Heart of Oak (2013) didn’t come with a “RIYL Opeth, Mastodon and Baroness” sticker, it should have. On that front, it delivered big time, as did Voice of the Void (2016). Then the band disappeared for eight years. Amazingly, they sound like they’d been primed for the next step the whole time, adding a bit more death metal into the mix, leaving behind the sludge, with the exception of some crunching, High on Fire worthy riffs. In keeping with the lyrical themes and album art, the production includes a cosmic space rock feel during some of the soaring passages, along with some 70s analog keyboards, such as the ending of “Is It Your God” and four other tracks courtesy of guest Justin Hagberg. While there’s no shortage of impressively brutal and technical metal albums this year, Anciients strikes just the right balance of interesting changes, complexity, memorable melodies and riffs, and heavy parts with death growls that keep me coming back for repeated listens. It took a while, but the students have caught up to the masters.
Causa Sui – From the Source (El Paraiso)
How much jammy psychedelic instrumental rock does one need? When we’re talking about the music of Jakob Skøtt and Jonas Munk, all of it. And not just all thirteen albums of their flagship band Causa Sui, but pretty much everything on their label they jointly run out of Denmark, El Paraiso. Whether it’s collaborations that they’re involved with or electronic, jazz fusion or rock, everything fits in the label’s aesthetic thanks to Jakob’s pristinely lush analog production and Jonas’ cover art. Their last album Szabodelico (2020), a tribute to Hungarian jazz guitar legend Gábor Szabó, may have been the closest the band got to actual jazz-rock, and their body of work could be considered the same way one would listen to a jazz or jazz fusion artist. And yet they are still primarily psychedelic space rock, without a single note being led astray into the hot garbage that is Grateful Dead or Frank Zappa territory, even on the epic length 24:09 final track, “Visions of a New Horizon,” their longest since “Incipiency Suite” on Pewt’r Sessions 3 from a decade ago.
Wand – Vertigo (Drag City)
After seeing Wand live in 2015, Cory Hanson’s virtuoso guitar shredding quickly put his band at the top of my list of up and coming garage psych bands. However, Hanson’s muse resisted sticking with one style for long, and soon stripped down their sound to more mannered psych pop on Plum (2017) and Radiohead inspired art rock on Laughing Matter (2019). You’d think a live album at least touch on the early explosive energy, but you’d be wrong with Spiders in the Rain (2022), which is extremely mellow. With a shift in expectations, Vertigo will please fans open to similarly languid psych, post-rock and shoegaze vibes. And those craving some of the psych prog leanings of Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) should find plenty to love here, not that anyone would mistake Wand for any other band. Those who appreciate their later albums will certainly find a common thread, as well as some elements of cosmic and desert rock, but with a sense of ebb and flow of the ocean, like The Dirty Three or Neil Young’s Dead Man soundtrack on an L.A. beach.
Redd Kross – Redd Kross (In the Red)
Continuing the tradition of great California brother bands with the Beach Boys and Sparks, Jeff and Steve McDonald formed the band in 1978 as tweens. Not exactly prolific, this is just their eighth album in 46 years, averaging just two albums a decade. But they’ve maintained a high level of consistency, and their self-titled latest keeps it up and then some, likely their best since Show World (1997). While they’ve dabbled in glam punk and garage psych over the years, they’ve largely stuck to their primary strength in power pop, and the latest is a double album stuffed full of noisy, tuneful rockers.
Oneida – Expensive Air (Joyful Noise)
Success (2022) was a comeback of sorts for Oneida. The experimental Brooklyn band formed in 1997 has always had a restlessly innovative approach to psych, noise rock and kosmische, and after Rated O (2009) they engaged in a wide range of collaborations and explorations that made not have made for thoroughly consistent albums, but invested a lot of new knowledge into the band’s creative pool, consolidated into Success and Expensive Air. While the former featured a group of surprisingly catchy and melodic garage punk tracks, the latest maintains the manic energy, while stretching out the experimentation. “Reason to Hide” features a thick chug reminiscent of prime Wipers, and “La Plage” is a hectic, fun carnival ride with squelchy no wave synths. “Stranger” maintains the high tempo but with a darker garage noir feel. “Here It Comes” features some jangly guitars and exuberantly shouty verses. The atmospheric title track is another highlight, and the album ends, unusually, with an eight-plus minute cover of Swell Maps’ “Gunboats.” It’s a moody, smoldering triumph, a perfect tribute to deconstructed garage punk injected with adventurous avant psych textures.
Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction (Peaceville)
The spawn of Lemmy have been doing well. Among the sons of Motörhead, Scott “Wino” Weinrich, Matt Pike and now Ben Ward have all released some of their best work this year with The Obsessed, High On Fire and Orange Goblin. It’s not just the gargling-with-nails vocals that link them, but the steadfast pursuit of a singular vision of gritty hard rock. Some (like Ward) call it heavy metal, others biker or stoner metal, and Lemmy preferred just rock ‘n’ roll. Whatever you call it, Orange Goblin have managed to release their tenth album, 30 years into their career, at the peak of their powers, just like Motörhead did with Inferno (2004). It’s all thanks to deceptively intelligent, clever lyrics, killer riffs and an inexhaustible work ethic to perform and sound the best they possibly can. It’s early days to say how this ranks with the rest of the catalog, but while their last album, The Wolf Bites Back (2018) has recently grown on me, this feels like a progression from that.
Castle – Evil Remains (Black Wren)
I loved Castle since their 2011 debut In Witch Order, and have seen them live several times. The band gives ample opportunities, playing over 700 shows so far. True blue road dogs and heavy metal lifers, this husband and wife team Elizabeth Blackwell (vocals, bass), Mat Davis (guitar, vocals), plus drummer Al McCartney are still at it because they’re damn good at what they do, playing doomy heavy metal with elements of (witch) thrash and occult psych. Evil Remains is their sixth album, a milestone worth celebrating by digging in to their latest offering and revisiting their very consistent catalog. “Nosferatu Nights,” “100 Eyes,” “Cold Grave” all could be taken from classic horror films. Any number of their songs would be guaranteed to liven up a classic hunt and kill scenario. Keep an eye out for their tour schedule and you too could be slayed by Castle.
Tamar Berk – Good Times for a Change
I used to see Tamar’s first band Starball (three Steve Albini-recorded tracks included on Bandcamp purchase) play around Chicago in the late 90s. She was really talented, but they didn’t achieve the success they deserved back then. A couple decades later, and she released four albums in four years starting with The Restless Dreams of Youth (2021) and her growth as a songwriter has now placed her as an equal to the big names back in the day like Liz Phair and Juliana Hatfield, even recent Aimee Mann. While there’s still plenty of power pop and rock energy on many tracks, her softer vocal style places her next to Mary Timony in my mind, one of my all-time favorites, holding up well next to her latest Untame the Tiger. Start at the End (2022) and Tiny Injuries (2023) were a meditation on grief similar to the path Nick Cave took, ending up at an uplifting but still bittersweet emotional place with her latest and best. Cave reached a similar point with Wild God, released just the week before, and while they may be different stylistically, they make perfect listening companions. It features more ambitious arrangements and expanded instrumentation from a long list of guests, including Rob Wrong from Portland doom lords Witch Mountain!
Bubbling Under
delving – All Paths Diverge (Blues Funeral)
The follow-up to Nick DiSalvo’s Hirschbrunnen (2021) solo project focusing on instrumental space rock, post-rock, psych prog and progressive electronic music. Like the last one, and really everything he touches (Elder, Weite, Gold And Silver) mixes 70s kosmische with more modern elements with consistently stellar results.
Emu – Emu (No Groove No Good)
Debut full-length from Australian heavy psych band specializing in ass-kicking proto-metal jams with ripping riffs.
Magmakammer – Before I Burn (Blues Funeral)
Norwegian psych noir/stoner doom band follows up their self-titled 2018 debut with more Uncle Acid worshipping goodies.
Duel – Breakfast With Death (Heavy Psych)
Fifth album from Austin hard rockers, who always add a touch of swingin’ boogie/Southern rock that sets them apart.
Sacri Monti – Retrieval (Tee Pee)
On Waiting Room for the Magic Hour (2019) these Encitas, California heavy psych rockers added some prog to their formula, but on their third album kept it to a more simple hard rock approach.
Ghost Party – Ghost Moves (Outtaphase Musik)
Very promising debut album from Houston Cosmic Americana/country psych band with tasty morsels of garage and surf noir.
Demon & Eleven Children – Demonic Fascination (Demon)
Debut album from killer, evil doom metal from China! They took their name from the title of the 1971 album from Japanese heavy psych band Blues Creation. Pretty low fidelity, but chock full of tasty riffs and nasty atmospherics.
Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats – Nell’ Ora Blu (Rise Above)
I have to admit after waiting six years for the followup to Wasteland (2018), this was a bit disappointing. It’s a sprawling double album soundtrack to an imaginary Italian giallo movie. I like Goblin and horror synth just fine, and this is a fun diversion, but it feels like Uncle Acid (Kevin Starrs) could have made this a side project under a different name.
Guided By Voices – Strut of Kings (GBV)
I don’t know how Bob does it. Since 2019 Guided By Voices has released thirteen albums. I almost wish they were all crap and I could ignore them, but each one contains several great tracks, and I’m compelled to keep up. At some point I need to make an all killer/no filler mix of this stuff. The latest is more former than the latter, with an extra dose of hard rockin’ prog.
Worshipper – One Way Trip (Magnetic Eye)
This Boston band is often identified as doom metal, but to my ears they inhabit that sweet spot when there was little to distinguish hard rock from heavy metal in the late 70s, between twin guitar heroics of UFO and Thin Lizzy, Scorpions and Judas Priest. Riffs, leads, harmonies galore, doom or no doom, I’m in for the third time.
Fake Fruit – Mucho Mistrust (Carpark)
I’m compelled to check out pretty much every post-punk band ever, which can be a blessing and a curse. Fake Fruit’s 2021 self-titled debut wasn’t completely consistent, but had enough gems to hold my interest. The same applies to their second album.
Streaming Playlists
Video Playlist
Summer Rundown
- Dream Phases – Phantom Idol (Coconut) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Other Sun – Daimon, Devil, Dawn (Invictus) | Jul 23 | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Fontaines D.C. – Romance (XL) | Aug 23 | UK | Bandcamp
- Brigitte Calls Me Baby – The Future is Our Way Out (ATO) | Aug 02 | USA | Bandcamp
- Remina – Erebus EP (Avantgarde) | Jun 21 | New Zealand | Bandcamp
- Chime School – The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel (Slumberland) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- Color Green – Fool’s Parade (New West) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Volcanics – Volatile World (Citadel) | Jul 13 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Coughin’ Vicars – Curses & Prayers (Venn) | Jul 26 | UK | Bandcamp
- Magic Shoppe – Down the Wych Elm (Magic Shoppe) | Jun 21 | USA | Bandcamp
- Wand – Vertigo (Drag City) | Jul 26 | USA | Bandcamp
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God (Play It Again Sam) | Aug 30 | Australia | Buy
- X – Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum) | Aug 02 | USA | Bandcamp
- Bent Knee – Twenty Pills Without Water (Take This to Heart) | Aug 30 | USA | Bandcamp
- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South of Here (Stax) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Anciients – Beyond the Reach of the Sun (Season Of Mist) | Aug 30 | USA | Bandcamp
- Causa Sui – From the Source (El Paraiso) | Jun 28 | Denmark | Buy
- Hamish Hawk – A Firmer Hand (Fierce Panda) | Aug 16 | UK | Buy
- Redd Kross – Redd Kross (In the Red) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Oneida – Expensive Air (Joyful Noise) | Jul 19 | USA | Bandcamp
- Orange Goblin – Science, Not Fiction (Peaceville) | Jul 19 | UK | Bandcamp
- Castle – Evil Remains (Hammerheart) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Tamar Berk – Good Times for a Change (Tamar Berk) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Quivers – Oyster Cuts (Merge) | Aug 09 | USA | Bandcamp
- Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod (Night School) | Aug 30 | UK | Bandcamp
- Sacri Monti – Retrieval (Tee Pee) | Jul 26 | USA | Bandcamp
- Jack White – No Name (Third Man) | Aug 02 | USA | Bandcamp
- Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp) | Sep 06 | Belgium | Bandcamp
- Luke Temple and the Cascading Moms – Certain Limitations (Western Vinyl) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- Klark Sound – What Is Music (Public Access Group) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Ironflame – Kingdom Torn Asunder (High Roller) | Jul 26 | USA | Bandcamp
- Seedy Jeezus & Isaiah Mitchell – Tranquonauts 2 (Lay Bare) | Sep 06 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Grendel’s Sÿster – Katabasis into the Abaton (Cruz del Sur) | Aug 30 | Germany | Bandcamp
- Susan James – Time is Now (SJM) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- Love, Burns – Blue (Calico Cat) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Flying Mausoleum – Sunken Seaport to Atlantis (Boul God) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- The March Violets – Crocodile Promises (Metropolis) | Jul 19 | UK | Bandcamp
- Giant Day – Glass Narcissus (Elephant 6) | Aug 22 | USA | Bandcamp
- delving – All Paths Diverge (Blues Funeral) | Aug 23 | Germany | Bandcamp
- Emu – Emu (No Groove No Good) | Aug 19 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Magmakammer – Before I Burn (Blues Funeral) | Jul 26 | Norway | Bandcamp
- Alcest – Les Chants de l’Aurore (Nuclear Blast) | Jun 21 | France | Bandcamp
- Orb – Tailem Bend (Fuzz Club) | Jul 12 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Mamaleek – Vida Blue (The Flenser) | Aug 09 | USA | Bandcamp
- Neighbours Burning Neighbours – Burning Neighbours (Subroutine) | Sep 12 | Netherlands | Bandcamp
- Duel – Breakfast With Death (Heavy Psych) | Jul 05 | USA | Bandcamp
- Peel Dream Magazine – Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf) | Sep 04 | USA | Bandcamp
- God Is An Astronaut – Embers (Napalm) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Nile – The Underworld Awaits Us All (Napalm) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- Nightshift – Homosapien (Trouble In Mind) | Jul 26 | UK | Bandcamp
- Demon & Eleven Children – Demonic Fascination (Demon) | Aug 18 | China | Bandcamp
- Worshipper – One Way Trip (Magnetic Eye) | Jul 19 | USA | Bandcamp
- Chris Cohen – Paint a Room (Hardly Art) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Soundcarriers – Through Other Reflections (Phosphonic) | Sep 06 | UK | Bandcamp
- Coltaine – Forgotten Ways (Lay Bare) | Sep 06 | Germany | Bandcamp
- The Heavy Heavy – One of a Kind (ATO) | Sep 06 | UK | Bandcamp
- Been Stellar – Scream From New York, NY (Dirty Hit) | Jun 21 | USA | Bandcamp
- Dummy – Free Energy (Trouble In Mind) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Fake Fruit – Mucho Mistrust (Carpark) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- Fracture – Chaos Alchemy (Fracture) | Jul 05 | Canada | Bandcamp
- Rich Ruth – Water Still Flows (Third Man) | Jun 21 | USA | Bandcamp
- Parannoul – Sky Hundred (Poclanos) | Aug 03 | South Korea | Bandcamp
- African Imperial Wizard – Mbuya Nehanda (Tesco) | Sep 09 | Angola | Bandcamp
- Deceased – Children of the Morgue (Hells Headbangers) | Aug 30 | USA | Bandcamp
- Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore) | Aug 23 | Canada | Bandcamp
- Pond – Stung! (Spinning Top) | Jun 21 | Australia
- Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk (Mon + Pop) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- Pangea de Futura – War Milk (Sub Rosa) | Jun 20 | Canada | Bandcamp
- Nails – Every Bridge Burning (Nuclear Blast) | Aug 30 | USA | Buy
- Ned Collette – Our Other History (Sophomore Lounge) | Sep 06 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Sumac – The Healer (Thrill Jockey) | Jun 21 | USA | Bandcamp
- Parlor Greens – In Green We Dream (Colemine) | Jul 19 | USA | Bandcamp
- Molchat Doma – Belaya polosa (Sacred Bones) | Sep 06 | Belarus | Bandcamp
- SML – Small Medium Large (International Anthem) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Elkhorn – Other Worlds (Cardinal Fuzz) | Jul 05 | USA | Bandcamp
- Papangu – Lampião Rei (Repose) | Sep 06 | Brazil | Bandcamp
- Guided By Voices – Strut of Kings (GBV) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Jan Esbra – Suspended in a Breath (Spirituals) | Aug 30 | Colombia | Bandcamp
- Osees – Sorcs 80 (Castle Face) | Aug 09 | USA | Bandcamp
- Norna – Norna (Pelagic) | Aug 30 | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Suss – Birds & Beasts (Northern Spy) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Maruja – The Vault (Maruja) | Aug 30 | UK | Bandcamp
- The Red Clay Strays – Made by These Moments (RCA) | Jul 26 | USA
- Noxis – Violence Inherent in the System (Rotted Life) | Jun 28 | USA | Bandcamp
- Uniform – American Standard (Sacred Bones) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- GIFT – Illuminator (Captured Tracks) | Aug 23 | USA | Bandcamp
- Blitzkrieg – Blitzkrieg (Mighty) | Sep 06 | UK | Bandcamp
- Occult Witches – Sorrow’s Pyre (Black Throne) | Jul 12 | Canada | Bandcamp
- Zeal & Ardor – Greif (Redacted) | Aug 23 | Switzerland | Bandcamp
- Tusmørke – Dawn of Oberon (Karisma) | Aug 30 | Norway | Bandcamp
- Mammoth Volume – Raised Up by Witches (Blues Funeral) | Aug 23 | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Jake Xerxes Fussell – When I’m Called (Fat Possum) | Jul 12 | USA | Bandcamp
- Midwife – No Depression in Heaven (The Flenser) | Sep 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Beachwood Sparks – Across the River of Stars (Curation) | Jul 19 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Flying Luttenbachers – Losing the War Inside Our Heads (UgExplode) | Jul 19 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Junipers – Imaginary Friends (Cuckoo) | Sep 05 | UK | Bandcamp
- Young Scum – Lighter Blue (Pretty Olivia) | Sep 08 | USA | Bandcamp
- Patricia Brennan Septet – Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic) | Sep 06 | Mexico | Bandcamp
- Vuur & Zijde – Boezem (Prophecy) | Jul 12 | Netherlands | Bandcamp
- Korrosive – Katastrophic Creation (CDN) | Sep 03 | Canada | Bandcamp
