While it’s easier than ever these days to find and get music, it seems like every day it becomes more and more difficult to just get the things you actually want to hear.
With tons of albums getting released each month, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the releases you definitely want to get your hands on and you find yourself just giving up.
In the interest of promoting great music, we’ve decided to give our readers a forecast of the best and most promising releases coming out this month.
Drenge – Undertow
Label: Liberator Music / Infectious Music
Release Date: April 3rd
Pre-Order: www.drenge.co.uk
Their self-titled 2013 debut established Eoin and Rory Loveless as a brilliantly ferocious and angst garage rock duo, with each song from ‘People in Love Make Me Feel Yuck’ to ‘I Want to Break You in Half’ brimming with unbridled youthful aggression. Now, Drenge are making a vie for artistic respectability, proving themselves to be more than just a couple of kids who know how to make angry music. Their sophomore effort, Undertow, promises to be a sterner and more considered effort than their debut, while still bearing all the dynamism that made their debut so exciting.
Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
Label: Inertia
Release Date: April 3rd
Pre-Order: iTunes
The prolific and singular singer-songwriter and visual maverick’s seventh studio album is shaping up to be one of his most acclaimed yet. Taking a step back from the electronically dense Age of Adz, Carrie & Lowell is instrumentally sparse, marking a return to Stevens’ roots. A deeply personal effort, the songs on Carrie & Lowell were inspired by the 2012 death of the songwriter’s mother, Carrie, and the family trips that he took to Oregon during his childhood. With several stellar reviews already in the bag, Stevens’ latest has been hailed as his best.
Blur – The Magic Whip
Label: Warner
Release Date: April 24th
Pre-Order: iTunes
British icons Blur have announced a brand-spankin’ new record, The Magic Whip, which comes out April 27th. In typical Blur fashion, the four-piece unveiled the album in a surprise press conference held in a Chinese restaurant in London last month. This was more than likely an intentional move considering The Magic Whip comprises of material recorded and finalised in Hong Kong. This is Blur’s eighth LP, their first since 2003’s Think Tank, and also marks the return of their original guitarist Graham Coxon who hasn’t featured on a Blur album since 1999’s 13.
Passion Pit – Kindred
Label: Sony
Release Date: April 17th
Pre-Order: iTunes
Following on from 2012’s rapturously received Gossamer, Passion Pit’s eagerly anticipated third studio album, Kindred, is slated to be the band’s most acclaimed effort yet, brimming with energy and a renewed focus on deft songwriting and slick production. Kindred was written and produced by Passion Pit creative force and frontman Michael Angelakos,whose recent collaborations include tracks with Skrillex and Madeon, and recorded in New York City with co-producer input from longtime friends Chris Zane, Alex Aldi, and Benny Blanco.
Andrei Eremin – Recycling EP (2013 – 2015)
Label: Independent
Release Date: April 22nd
Pre-Order: www.bandcamp.com
Andrei Eremin has long been the go-to behind the scenes guy for many of Australia’s best young bands. His name can be found in the liner notes of countless acclaimed Australian records, including releases from Chet Faker, Closure In Moscow, Miami Horror, and more. Now, as he juggles forthcoming releases from the likes of Oscar Key Sung, Hiatus Kaiyote, LANKS, and others, Eremin has completed his own EP of remixed works, including lush reworks of tracks by Rat & Co, I’lls, Milwaukee Banks, Japanese Wallpaper, and more.
Miami Horror – All Possibile Futures
Label: Remote Control Records
Release Date: 24th April
Pre-Order: iTunes
“The new music has been a long time coming and the band were extremely excited to finally be able to share it with everyone,” Miami Horror’s Ben Plant recently told Triple J’s Linda Marigliano. Long time coming indeed, All Possibile Futures is the Melbourne-bred group’s first album in five years. Having spent the last three years living between Melbourne and LA as well as touring the world multiple times over, the group’s return has been ushered in with an album highlighting the group’s diverse range of influences, a newfound identify, and a focus on developed songwriting.
Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too
Label: Inertia
Release Date: April 3rd
Pre-Order: www.young-fathers.com
Critically speaking, Young Fathers are coming into this fight with the opponent already on their ropes. The rap trio from Edinburgh, Scotland won the Mercury Prize in 2014 for their DEAD LP setting a tone of eager, baited anticipation for their forthcoming next effort. That effort, White Men Are Black Men Too, is another tome of genre-bending, inventive hip-hop courtesy of ‘G’ Hastings, Alloysious Massaquoi, and Kayus Bankole, who exercise an utterly devil-may-care attitude towards production, stripping themselves of the often rigid confines of hip-hop to forge a truly unique sound.
Waxahatchee – Ivy Tripp
Label: April 10th
Release Date: Wichita Recordings
Pre-Order: www.mergerecords.com
While Philadelphia singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield’s sublime first release, 2012’s American Weekend, was an album of fear and doubt, as well as deft songwriting and unforgettable soundscapes, her latest effort, Ivy Tripp, is a different beast. The album welcomes Crutchfield, who goes by the moniker Waxahatchee, back with a heightened aggression and sonic expansion, even a newfound confidence that’s brimming with every note played. Her songwriting is as shrewd and analytical as ever, but with a fresh, bold new outlook.
Calexico – Edge of the Sun
Label: Spunk
Release Date: April 10th
Pre-Order: www.spunk.com.au
News that the Tucson, Arizona-based outfit were unveiling their follow-up to 2012’s Algiers was met with even more intrigue than usual once the list of collaborators was revealed. Guests include Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine, Ben Bridwell, Nick Urata, Neko Case, and more. “All in all, this album is about pushing through the blue to brighter days. Calexico has always had that element of hope,” says member Joey Burns. Sounds like the duo’s most collaborative album to date will also be one of their most considered efforts yet.
Squarepusher – Damogen Furies
Label: Inertia
Release Date: April 17th
Pre-Order: www.jbhifi.com.au
Since 1994, Tom Jenkinson, best known as the shapeshifting electronic vanguard Squarepusher, has been surfing his own sine wave, consistently unveiling releases that push the often rigid boundaries of electronic music, incorporating influences as diverse as drum and bass, acid house, jazz, and electroacoustic music. If first single ‘Rayc Fire 2’ is anything go by, Damogen Furies, the prolific producer’s 14th studio album, is slated to be one of the producer’s most in-your-face and challenging efforts yet. Seeing as the recordings were all made in a single take without edits, that’s hardly surprising.
All Time Low – Future Hearts
Label: UNFD
Release Date: April 3rd
Pre-Order: www.alltimelow.com
Recently in the country as one of the main draws to this year’s instalment of Soundwave festival, the Baltimore pop punk outfit are now readying themselves for the imminent release of their long-awaited sixth studio album, Future Hearts, the follow-up to 2012’s Don’t Panic. The album saw the group recruit such pop punk luminaries as Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden as guest artists, and it promises to be a progression on the band’s previous work though, as vocalist Alex Gaskarth explains, not necessarily a departure.
