The best part of new music is that you’ll never have heard it all. That’s why, every few months, our writers and editors round up a list of generally overlooked recent releases deserving of your attention. None of these albums were named Best New Music, and some weren’t reviewed on Pitchfork, but they’re all worth a listen. From goofy Texas dance rap to avant-garde woodwind experimentalism, here are 26 records you’ll be glad not to miss.
(All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, however, Pitchfork may earn an affiliate commission.)
4s4ki: Here or Hell EP
If you’ve found yourself bored by the narcotized pop-punk vocals and generically glitchy production overwhelming American hyperpop these days, it might be worth turning your attention overseas. Here or Hell, the latest EP by Japanese rapper and singer 4s4ki, is a full-on stimulant rush. Hooky opener “Hell phone” pairs neurotic jibber jabber with high-intensity beats that rebound off the walls, like a bout of drug-addled mania. “KILL MYSELF, I tried” is an eerie suicide song whose crystalline pop lands somewhere between Bladee and ecco2K’s Crest and Yeule’s cyborg electronica. It’s a project of frantic delights, filled with gnarly guitar riffs, woozy synths, and explosive drum’n’bass drops. –Cat Zhang
Listen: Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
Amber Mark: Three Dimensions Deep
Amber Mark is an imperfect existentialist on her debut studio album, where she looks into the vast unknown and exhales her deepest anxieties. Over a patchwork of delicate yet spacey percussion, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter copes with the sort of loss mended only by burrowing deeper into her internal world. Amid the soul searching, her voice is at turns breathy and raspy, her problems ranging from the expansive (what is life’s purpose?) to the specific (what do you do about trash men?). For the perpetually anxious, grieving, and broken-hearted out there, Mark makes uncertainty feel like a blessing. –Clover Hope
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Babehoven: Sunk EP
Sometimes, it’s liberating to stop struggling against life’s currents, and allow yourself to be carried away. Inspired by the raw modesty of Elliott Smith’s Either/Or, Maya Bon and Ryan Albert explore this concept across six quietly lush tracks that touch on themes of heartache, regret, and healing. “It is a cruel sensation, remembering I am human/And I’m prone to accidents of heart,” Bon murmurs on the stunning seven-minute closer “Twenty Dried Chilies.” As Bon’s words unspool atop a tightly wound guitar loop, Babehoven embrace the swirling impermanence of life itself. –Quinn Moreland
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BÖRN: Drottningar Dauðans
Even if your post-punk cup runneth over, the biting, gothic sound of Reykjavik’s BÖRN is a compelling argument to save room for more. The title of the band’s first record in nearly seven years translates to Queens of Death, a designation reinforced by vocalist Alexandra’s harrowing, full-throated bark. Performing in Icelandic, Alexandra’s voice is urgent and paranoid while she shouts about drowning in hair over pummeling drums and a guitar tone that’s as dreamy as these melodies are dour. It’s an album that alternately simmers at a gradual crawl and barrels forward recklessly—in short, a must-cop for ’80s death rock stans. –Evan Minsker
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Carmen Villain: Only Love From Now On
Carmen Villain’s Only Love From Now On is a rich sensory experience, where acoustic instrumentation meets painterly electronics and ambient textures in one seamless blend. Inspired in part by ’70s video art and feminist works, the Mexican-Norwegian artist’s fourth album uses wind instruments, gently pattering percussion, and the occasional thrumming sub-bass to weave abstract, enveloping compositions. Only Love From Now On moves with careful precision, deploying each element slowly to reveal lucent beauty at its core. –Eric Torres
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Claire Rousay: sometimes i feel like i have no friends
“What would happen if everyone turned their back on me one day?/Am I ready for that?” When the Texas composer Claire Rousay asks herself this question on “sometimes i feel like i have no friends,” she sounds like she’s pondering the existence of salt deposits on Mars, not total social exile. All around her, field recordings—passing buses, crinkling-wrapper noises, murmured conversations—provide comfort. “I basically record my whole life,” Rousay has said, and she uses the flotsam of the scary world to build a security blanket. –Jayson Greene
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DJ Python: Club Sentimientos Vol. 2
Brian Piñeyro steers his reggaeton-infused club rhythms skyward on Club Sentimientos Vol. 2 (there’s no Vol. 1), an all-too-brief three-track collection that hits like a cool breeze on a hot day. Easing up slightly on the low-end wallop of past releases, Piñeyro calls on melodic percussion, muffled vocal samples, and percussive trills that evoke distant bird calls. Beneath these glittering surfaces lies surprising textural depth, as in the malleable fizz of 11-minute anchor track “Angel” or the earthbound shuffle of “Club Sentimiental Vol Three.” As evocative as they are nonspecific, the Sentimientos don’t feel designed to provoke one particular emotion so much as a familiar sensation of naturalistic equilibrium. You’ll want to save space on your beach playlist. –Anna Gaca
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Drames Rurals: Drames Rurals
You might call Drames Rurals, which is Catalan for “rural dramas,” bubble music. The project’s genesis was 2020’s first Covid lockdown, when two couples—Hivern Discs founder John Talabot and Futura Artists co-founder Meri Bonastre; Hivern artist Oma Totem and Juns Castella, also of Futura—holed up together at a remote spot in Catalunya. With nothing else to occupy their days, they cooked up this set of dubby analog jams, in which processed vocals drift lazily over brittle drum programming and rubbery synths. There’s a curiously timeless quality to their psychedelic downtempo; though they’re not exactly retro, it would be easy to mistake these brooding, absent-minded tracks for some lost DAT from the ’90s. But that makes sense: Drames Rurals is, more than anything, the document of a period when time seemed to stand still. –Philip Sherburne
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Duwap Kaine: A Dogg’s Influence
Listening through A Dogg’s Influence, you could probably guess what the 20-year-old Duwap Kaine’s daily rotation sounds like. One second the Savannah, Georgia crooner is putting his spaced-out spin on drill; the next he’s wailing punchlines on production that sounds like the computer effects from a sci-fi flick. On one occasion he drops the Auto-Tune altogether, and starts plainly rapping on an East Coast club beat. The less focused a Duwap Kaine mixtape is, the better it turns out to be—and A Dogg’s Influence is a thrilling mess. –Alphonse Pierre
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Emily Wells: Regards to the End
Emily Wells’ orchestral pop teems with grandly despairing gestures—synth tones as thick and black as crude oil, woodwinds like fluttering wings in the upper reaches of a condemned building. The atmosphere is so ripe it seems to generate its own dry ice and wintry backdrop. Hopelessness and rebirth are pervading themes, and the New York City-based composer drew inspiration from the activist communities that sprung from the AIDS crisis and the climate emergency. But you don’t need outside information inside the whirling, perfect snow globe she’s built. –Jayson Greene
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Esty: Estyland EP
A rollerskating influencer and Sailor Moon obsessive, the Dominican-American artist Esty makes music that’s equally as colorful as her hobbies. Her bilingual Estyland EP mixes the hard and sweet: “I’m delicate but I cut like a knife,” she stunts on standout “pegao!!!,” which pairs a scorching dembow rhythm with breathy, soaring melodies. Elsewhere, Esty rides a funky, Kaytranada-like groove, segues from moonlit balladry into dark trap and R&B, and raps with impeccable cool. –Cat Zhang
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Hook: From, Hook
Lots of rappers claim to be unique, but California oddball Hook really proves it all the way through her recent tape, From, Hook. She’s bratty one minute, demonic the next: On “different,” she talks about having crooked teeth and only occasionally smoking weed over farting horns that could have backed the Beastie Boys in 1986. Then “PUNISHER” has her threatening a woman for nearly three minutes straight—at one point Hook forces the poor sap to lick up her vomit, and things only get more unhinged from there. It’s impossible to tell what Hook will do next, and just as impossible to turn away. –Ryan Dombal
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Joy Guidry: Radical Acceptance
Bassoon player and sound collagist Joy Guidry learned about the concept of radical acceptance—where one honors their whole self, imperfections and all—in therapy, where they also began to process some of their questions about body image, queer community, mental health, and gender identity. On February’s Radical Acceptance, the interdisciplinary artist pulls together spoken-word pieces with quivering electronic soundscapes, freeform woodwind blasts, and rich rhythmic spirals. It’s an intense, vulnerable work that demands equally thoughtful attention and engagement. –Allison Hussey
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JWords: Self-Connection
JWords loves a good groove, regardless of genre. The New Jersey producer has become known for her rap production for artists like Maassai and Nappy Nina, but her work within the worlds of electronica and house is just as foundational—and with the mostly instrumental Self-Connection, JWords offers the most complete look into her mind yet. Across its eight tracks, her synths and drums morph through different emotions and feelings while maintaining an irresistible groove. It’s a brief yet energetic odyssey through the synthetic soul of one of the underground’s most exciting producers. –Dylan Green
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Lea Bertucci / Robbie Lee: Wind Bells Falls
Multi-instrumental technicians Lea Bertucci and Robbie Lee open their collaborative album Winds Bells Falls with “Glitter and Gleam,” an appropriately bright, scintillating piece that swirls like a snowglobe daydream. From there, the duo deliver a sampler of spacious pieces that draw from a broad palette of electronic tones, relying on a reel-to-reel tape machine and keyboards, as well as wind instruments like a baroque flute and a contrabass recorder. Lee and Bertucci manage to capture sounds that recall sublime hours outdoors, with flutters and flourishes that alternately sound like bird calls, mellifluous wind chimes, and the chatter of the natural world. The two ricochet off each other in graceful rivulets, making for an encompassing listening experience where time and space blissfully dissolve. –Allison Hussey
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Nia Archives: Forbidden Feelingz
The up-and-coming Manchester singer and producer Nia Archives fuses jungle, reggae, breakbeat, and more propulsive music to form a nostalgic, thrilling patchwork. Her debut EP, Forbidden Feelingz, is a breathless burst of energy that’s grounded by a dulcet, almost laconic vocal delivery that keeps listeners on their toes. From the revved-up vocal samples that pump through the title track to the intoxicating, melancholic chorus on standout “Luv Like,” every minute urges you to move. –Eric Torres
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Pan•American: The Patience Fader
On his latest release, Mark Nelson, who has recorded ambient music under the name Pan-American for nearly a quarter-century, turns his attention to a singular instrument: the guitar. The 12 songs on The Patience Fader are built from clean, wintry motifs: On “Outskirts, Dreamlit,” his electric guitar is layered and reverberated, building steadily even as it dissipates into pure atmosphere; on “Nightwater,” he accentuates his acoustic fingerpicking with lap steel to conjure a sense of open-road momentum. Through these solo guitar performances, Nelson embraces the instrument’s melodic qualities as much as its atmospheric potential, lingering in the fragile space between where a note rings out and where it dies. –Sam Sodomsky
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Plosivs: Plosivs
Rob Crow is a songwriting machine. He’s started more than a dozen bands since forming Pinback, but arguably none have sounded as immediately addicting as his latest project, Plosivs. The supergroup unites a who’s-who of San Diego’s old guard—aside from Crow, there’s guitarist John Reis (Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes), drummer Atom Willard (Against Me!, Rocket From the Crypt) and bassist Jordan Clark (Mrs. Magician)—to pursue ’90s punk-rock glory. On their self-titled debut, Plosivs ignite with manic drumming (“Broken Eyes”), nostalgic vocal harmonies (“Rose Waterfall”), and aggressive riffs (“Never Likely”) meant for air-guitaring along. Like the best supergroup releases, the album reminds you why you first fell in love with the individual artists all those years ago. –Nina Corcoran
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Raum: Daughter
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Grouper’s Liz Harris work at complementary extremes. Both are drone musicians with ears for melody: Harris, more of a stark, solitary dreamer; Cantu-Ledesma, a meditative romanticist. Immersing oneself in the vast expanses of their respective catalogs, you might wonder how sounds so simple could make you feel everything. Their second record together as Raum is a striking elegy to their late friend, the filmmaker Paul Clipson—a seven-track suite in which decaying vistas of sound blister like Super 8 film, evoking, to quote one title, “sunlight crying.” –Jenn Pelly
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RealYungPhil: Dr. Philvinci
There’s a subtlety to the soul-infused production on Dr. Philvinci that suits the plain-spoken raps of Connecticut’s RealYungPhil. Compared to the sample-heavy drill wave happening in New York, the beats on Dr. Philvinci are much more traditional. It’s produced mostly by Dylvinci and Evil Giane, who manipulate their flips into something new. On standout “Big Bro,” which smoothly blends diced-up vocals and sputtering drums, RealYungPhil’s deep voice and unbothered delivery feels just right. –Alphonse Pierre
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Tha Retail Simps: Reverberant Scratch: 9 Shots in the Dark
In the grand tradition of Montreal garage rock, Tha Retail Simps’ debut is a lo-fi party platter with a shit-eating grin and some pointedly vintage touchstones. There’s the overwhelming feeling across this driving, scuzzy music that the band have studied Nuggets, Killed By Death compilations, Booker T. & the MG’s, the Velvet Underground, and the Gories—but there are also sloppy heaps of skronking sax, fried breakdowns, and sour notes. It’s a ’60s rock’n’roll house party record made by people who sound like they always know where the secret booze is hidden. –Evan Minsker
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Robert Stillman: What Does It Mean to Be American?
“Cherry Ocean,” an eight-minute highlight from Robert Stillman’s latest opus What Does It Mean to Be American?, is one of the year’s most embracing album openers. Floating with a spacious melancholy that recalls Mark Hollis or Robert Wyatt, the slow-moving piano ballad features the UK-based composer singing in languid, double-tracked vocals. As gorgeous as “Cherry Ocean” is, it’s the only thing remotely like it on this record. For the rest of the songs, which are all instrumental, Stillman communicates through layered jazz arrangements, playing most of the instruments himself but conjuring the sound of a full ensemble—one with the ability to mystify, dazzle, and soothe with every twist. –Sam Sodomsky
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Silvana Estrada: Marchita
It’s tempting to romanticize Silvana Estrada’s abilities as a genetic superpower, considering the Mexican singer-songwriter was born to parents who craft guitars and violas by hand. Marchita, her second album, is an elegant folk tapestry woven out of heartbreak, son jarocho, and the Venezuelan cuatro, a four-string instrument that Estrada plays like it’s an extension of her limbs. She could control a banquet hall with her voice alone, its haunting timbre pulsing with loneliness and determination. Instead, she pours her heart out above sparse instrumentation, snapping her fingers and plucking each note as if purging her feelings. Marchita can sometimes sound like Diane Cluck orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks (“Marchita”) or Jessica Pratt singing in Spanish (“La Corriente”), but Estrada’s take on stripped-down heartbreak is singular. –Nina Corcoran
Listen: Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
TisaKorean: 1st Round Pick
TisaKorean is having the most fun, always. On any given day, you can catch him doing his little dances under a gas station’s fluorescent glow, chilling with his stuffed animal friends, or just getting silly at the end of a suburban driveway. He’s a one-man meme who’s no stranger to virality, but he’s also a musician who’s currently taking Texas dance-rap to weird and wonderful new places. His recent 11-minute EP 1st Round Pick sometimes sounds like snap music produced by Oneohtrix Point Never—both wildly unpredictable and as replayable as a TikTok of a 10-year-old nailing a field goal from 40 yards away. The highlight is “Backseat,” an oblong rap ballad beamed in from Pluto’s outermost moon. –Ryan Dombal
Listen: Amazon | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
Wednesday: Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’Em Up
Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’Em Up sure seems disposable: It’s an indie-rock covers album, the kind of thing bands used to release when it was time for new music and the well was dry. But Mowing the Leaves is the best version of the rather lowly genre you can get. From the Pavement-via-Pinkerton take on Gary Stewart’s “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” to the Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore cut “Perfect,” each rendition deepens your understanding of the source material. The Asheville quintet has an intuitive understanding of the slacker-rock sound: the guitars squeaking like broken chalk, the downbeat more theory than fact. It’s a malleable sound, able to stretch like silly putty and take the impression of whatever it touches. –Jayson Greene
Listen: Amazon | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify | Tidal
Wojciech Rusin: Syphon
The UK’s AD93 label got its start as a platform for cutting-edge club music from artists like Avalon Emerson and Minor Science, but in recent years they’ve pushed into increasingly avant-garde terrain. Polish composer Wojciech Rusin’s Syphon might at first be mistaken for Renaissance music, based on the a cappella melody of the opening “Speculum Veritatis.” But the blasts of white noise that follow wipe the slate clean, making way for a mind-bending trip through digital chamber music, post-ambient abstractions, and medieval folk performed on 3D-printed instruments. “Speculum Veritatis” is a reference to the Mirror of Truth, a 17th-century alchemical manuscript; converting acoustic instruments and human voices into silvery electronic textures, Rusin practices his own feats of alchemy. –Philip Sherburne
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