New Music Reviews (11/4)

Each week, Music Director Chris Sanley and Associate Music Director Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases for KEXP's rotation. These reviews help our DJs decide on what they want to play. See what we added this week below (and on our Charts page), including new releases from ALVILDA, Flying Lotus, The Cure, and more. 

ALVILDA - C’est D​é​jà L’heure (Static Shock)
The debut full-length album from Paris outfit ALVILDA is an irresistible fusion of power pop, garage rock, punk and ‘60s pop. Through their infectious hooks, timeless melodies and captivating arrangements, C’est D​é​jà L’heure is both inviting and memorable, enticing listeners to come back for more. –CS

Flying Lotus - Spirit Box EP (Warp)
On his first non-soundtrack project since 2019’s Flamagra, Flying Lotus soars with his new surprise EP Spirit Box. These textured, cinematic tracks weave worlds of their own, fusing elements of hip-hop, R&B and jazz into his distinct electronic soundscape, featuring vocals from Dawn Richard, Sid Sriram and FlyLo himself. Each hypnotic beat and shimmering synth draws the listener in deeper, as these intricate, transportive compositions leave their mark. –CS

The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World (Fiction/Capitol)
Well, it’s official: The Cure have unveiled one of their finest records to date. Their fourteenth album, and first in sixteen years, has truly been worth the wait. Bursting with intense emotion, Songs Of A Lost World features their signature new wave inflected moody post-punk, featuring layered keys and guitars atop dynamic percussion, with Robert Smith’s unmistakable vocals at the helm. This immersive and impassioned collection, rich with dark undertones and plenty of peaks and valleys, is one for the books. –CS

deary - Aurelia EP (Sonic Cathedral)
The sophomore EP from the London duo composed of Ben Easton & Rebecca 'Dottie' Cockram is another dreamy set of shoegaze and bedroom pop. Featuring Dottie’s gorgeous, ethereal vocals, and lush, atmospheric soundscapes, these six transfixing tracks further demonstrate their vision and musicianship. I already can’t wait to hear what’s next. –CS

GARDENS - Flaws (Siluh Records)
The debut album from Vienna quartet GARDENS is a warm, hazy, kaleidoscopic fusion of garage rock, psych folk and dream pop. With their incandescent vocals, rich guitar tones, shimmering synths and confessional lyricism, they weave an irresistible sonic tapestry, as Flaws showcases the allure of imperfection. –CS

Haley Heynderickx - Seed of a Seed (Mama Bird Recording Co.)
The highly anticipated sophomore album from Portland’s indie-folk darling Haley Heynderickx is as charming, insightful and heartening as one could hope. With her signature vocals, acoustic guitar and poetic lyrics at the forefront, she expands her sound with strings, horns, and upright bass, fully realizing these dynamic, intimate, and timeless tunes for listeners to hold near and dear. –CS

Mount Eerie - Night Palace (P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.)
We are all just “adrift in the right now.” On his first album in six years, Phil Elverum offers a dense, immersive collection of 26 songs that blend distorted guitars, field recordings and intriguing experimental arrangements, all showcasing his distinct vocals and stream-of-consciousness lyricism. The tracks range from sparse to complex and delicate to jarring, reflecting the essence of his Pacific Northwest surroundings as he aims to “bring forth a fresh exhale, a big picture glimpse, small beneath the sky, clear water trickling.” –CS

One True Pairing - Endless Rain (Domino)
Tom Fleming’s second solo album, following his work with the now-defunct Wild Beasts, is an invigorating and complex listen–one that can both tense and relax the muscles. Intimate, haunting and breathtakingly beautiful, Endless Rain fuses artful, cinematic pop with orchestral rock and classical influences while showcasing his incomparable, theatrical vocals and songwriting talent, resulting in a truly unique and spellbinding listen. –CS

Red Ribbon - Red Ribbon (Danger Collective)
The third album from Emma Danner as Red Ribbon, her first since moving to LA from Seattle, is a raw, gritty blend of indie-rock and bedroom pop that feels perfectly rough around the edges. Danner’s emotional vocal delivery ranges from aggressive to ethereal, layered over big guitars, sparking keys and dynamic drums, resulting in a compelling and cathartic listen. –CS

THUS LOVE  - All Pleasure (Captured Tracks)
The sophomore, self-produced album from VT outfit THUS LOVE is an exciting fusion of post-punk, art rock and just the right amount of glam. Frontperson Echo Mars’ theatrical vocal style, occasionally inflected with an enticing vibrato, shines throughout. The dynamic arrangements, featuring delicious melodic guitars, showcase a tight unit ready to make a splash with this collaborative collection. –CS

Wahid - THEY ALL GO MAD! (Innovative Leisure)
On his second EP of the year, Orlando-based rapper Wahid brings some extra flair and heat to his brand of smooth grooves. With his stream of consciousness, personal flows and hypnotic beats, THEY ALL GO MAD! is another strong collection from this MC on the rise.  –CS

Arbes - Counterways (Earth Libraries)
The debut full-length album from this Melbourne/Naarm-based four-piece fronted by singer-songwriter Jess Zanoni is an impressive set of kaleidoscopic psych-pop and sophisticated art-pop that balances warm, dreamy songs with fuzzy, magnetic cuts. -AR

HEEMS - VEENA (VEENA COMPANY/Mass Appeal)
The second album of 2024 from Queens, NY-based Punjabi-American rapper Himanshu “Heems” Suri (formerly of Das Racist and part of Swet Shop Boys) is another testament to his unique lane of honest, comical, sharp hip-hop. Boasting eclectic, worldly, top-shelf beats largely handled by Detroit-born producer Sid Vashi, VEENA is carried by Heems’ trademark wit, lyricism, flow, and unique cross-cultural perspective, with this record taking on a more confessional angle than his February 2024 record LAFANDER with Heems lyrically “confronting trauma across its many forms - generational, familial, and complex.” -AR

Henrik Appel - Shadows (PNKSLM Recordings)
On his third studio album, Stockholm’s Henrik Appel set out to make a raw and human record. With a full band adding flourishes of piano, tenor sax, flute, and clarinet, they craft intimate reflections on the human experience that naturally spiral into thrilling, chaotic numbers. By incorporating jazz elements into his psych-tinged garage rock, Shadows marks an exciting new direction for Appel.  –CS

Judeline - Bodhiria (Interscope)
The debut album from rising 21-year-old Spanish artist Judeline is a strong set of sleek Latin pop that brings an innovative touch to her vibrant sound – a magnetic blend that finds inspiration in her family’s Venezuelan roots, traditional Flamenco music, Arabic Pop, futuristic R&B-tinted club-pop, and the regional sounds of Southern Spain where she grew up – in similar hypnotic fashion as Rosalía. With early co-signs from Rosalía and Bad Bunny, a recent European tour opening up for J Balvin, and a stellar debut full-length that includes collaborations with fellow emerging Madrid-based artists like Ralphie Choo and rusowsky, Judeline is a new artist with an expanding global reach worth getting familiar with. -AR

Lia Kuri - Motherland (Friends of Friends)
The debut solo album from Montreal-based singer, songwriter, and electronic producer Lia Kuri – also a member of the trio Afternoon Bike Ride – is a glistening set of skittering synth-pop and heartfelt downtempo ballads with a passionate, cathartic undercurrent that serves as Lia’s “electrified open letter to our dying planet. A gleaming beacon of urgent light saying, "Breathe. Keep going. Heal. Please.” -AR

Mild Universe - Everything Must Change (self-released)
The debut album from this San Francisco collective is a sweet set of colorful psych-tinted indie dance jams that are jammy and jazzy, dreamy and funky. With the band’s deep grooves accented by trumpet and saxophone flourishes, Everything Must Change is a kaleidoscopic trip with a loose, communal, free-flowing undercurrent. -AR

Molina - When You Wake Up (Escho)
The debut full-length album from Danish-Chilean composer Molina is truly sensational. On When You Wake Up, she crafts delectable, visceral textures through both organic and synthetic dream pop soundscapes which are enhanced by her hypnotic, ethereal vocals. Primarily written during her pregnancy, the album reflects a profound transformation, guiding entranced listeners through the lush and vibrant sonic world she has created. –CS

OMBIIGIZI - SHAME (Arts & Crafts)
Anishinaabe-Canadian outfit OMBIIGIZI return in fine form with their sophomore album, SHAME. Their guitar-driven indie-rock sound explores shoegaze, post-rock, 2nd wave emo and psych territories, featuring memorable melodies and rich soundscapes. Rife with emotion and hope, the album “calls to others to heal and reminds them it’s OK - to feel, to be angry or sad, and that the world we experience can set the drag on high. But always it calls you in and forward." –CS

Swiss Portrait - Someday (Start-Track)
The third album from this DIY project of Edinburgh-based Scottish musician Michael Kay Terence (aka Swiss Portrait) is another strong set of catchy indie-pop, bright guitar-pop, and jangly surf-pop that marries his airy, dreamy, androgynous vocals with buoyant backdrops. -AR

trauma ray - Chameleon (Dais)
The debut album from this Fort Worth, Texas five-piece band – originally founded by musicians Uriel Avila and Jonathan Perez after bonding over Slowdive at a Texas karaoke bar – is an enveloping and at-times thrilling set of heavy alternative rock that balances a crushing heaviness with euphoric highs through a potent mix of “downer hooks, gauzy melancholia, and bulldozer riffs.” -AR

Underworld - Strawberry Hotel (Smith Hyde Productions)
The 11th studio album from the veteran UK production duo (Karl Hyde & Rick Smith) is another assured journey into their widescreen electronic vision with each of the 15 “rooms” in Strawberry Hotel capturing a unique, unmistakably Underworld tone. There’s the classic epic, euphoric anthem (“denver luna”), some brilliantly luxurious synth chords (“Techno Shinkansen”), squiggly techno-pop (“and the colour red”), slightly absurdist disco-art-pop (“King of Haarlem”),  earthy ambient-folk closers (“Stick Man Test”) and more, all held together by the duo’s versatile talents, distinctive vocals, and abstract lyrical style. -AR

Willie Nelson - Last Leaf on the Tree (Legacy Recordings)
On his 76th solo studio album–and 153rd overall–Willie Nelson reimagines songs from an eclectic mix of artists, including The Flaming Lips, Beck, Tom Waits, Nina Simone and Neil Young. With themes of yearning for a better world and holding onto hope, Nelson and producer Micah Nelson breathe new life into these interpretations, inviting listeners to reexamine them through a fresh lens. –CS

Autre Ne Veut - Love, Guess Who?? (Rebel Bodies)
Brooklyn-based artist Arthur Ashin (aka Autre Ne Veut) reemerges with his first new album in nine years and it further solidifies his singular, emotionally-rich approach to arty, adventurous, dramatic R&B/synth-pop. Serving as the final installment in his decade-long triptych that “seeks to explore dynamics of human intimacy in the contemporary epoch,” Love, Guess Who?? finds the artist in a contemplative and reflective mood, laying bare his soul and honest vocals over epic, cinematic backdrops. -AR

Katrina Ford - H.E.A.R.T. (Violin Films)
The debut solo album from Katrina Ford of Celebration and Mt Royal is lush, dark and theatrical. Featuring menacing synths and expressive vocal gymnastics, H.E.A.R.T. is “an album exploring boundaries. Boundaries of space and time. Boundaries, whether physical, emotional or mental boundaries.” –CS

Kokoroko - Get the Message (Brownswood Recordings)
The latest EP from this London-based collective finds them leaning into a more introspective, gentle, and spiritual lane than their previous works as they infuse their sumptuous jazz compositions with contemplative elements of dub, R&B, soul, funk, and Afrobeat. “Created as an intentional vessel for joy” that serves as a signpost of what's to come from their forthcoming second studio album due next year, Get the Message is a rich, patient, nurturing listening experience filled with themes of community, connection and relationships both romantic and platonic that closes out with standout early single “Three Piece Suit” featuring Nigerian-born, UK-based vocalist Azekel. -AR

Soshi Takeda - Secret Communication (100% Silk)
The latest album from Tokyo-based electronic producer Soshi Takeda is another blissful set of deep, supremely lush, and wonderfully transportive house grooves that delve even deeper into his distinctive rhythmic landscape of “mystery, motion, and liquid dreams.” -AR

World Brain - Open Source (Mansions and Millions)
The second album from this project spearheaded by Brussels-via-Berlin musician Lucas Chantre is a charming set of playful, arty, DIY psych-pop distinguished by its warm, breezy productions and colorful instrumentation that features contributions from flutist Martha Rose and world-class whistler Molly Lewis. Written largely while Lucas was living in Paris, Open Source also carries a distinctive Francophile touch that’s enhanced by Lucas’ sister Noémie singing in French on a pair of album highlights. -AR