 Welcome back to Weekly Releases, in which we list a wide variety of upcoming releases from an even wider variety of genres. Will your most anticipated record make the grade, or will it be a crushing disappointment? Only one way to find out! As always, please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. Cheers! – List of Releases: September 20th, 2024 –  The Black Pacific – Here Comes Our Wave Genre: Punk Label: Dine Alone  Blossoms – Gary Genre: Indie Rock Label: ODD SK  Bright Eyes – Five Dice, All Threes Genre: Indie Folk / Indie Rock Label: Dead Oceans  The Calamatix – The Calamatix Genre: Reggae / Rock Label: Epitaph  Charlotte Wessels – The Obsession Genre: Symphonic Metal Label: Napalm  Crimson Veil – Hex Genre: Gothic Metal / Progressive Metal Label: Reigning Phoenix  Haujobb – The Machine in the Ghost Genre: Industrial / IDM Label: Dependent  Hippo Campus – Flood Genre: Indie Rock Label: Psychic Hotline  Honeyglaze – Real Deal Genre: Indie Rock / Alternative Rock Label: Fat Possum  Jamie xx – In Waves Genre: Electronic / Garage Label: Young  JJ… Hey Sputters— Welcome back to Neek’s 1st Listen, where I listen to an album for the very first time while my fingers fly across the keyboard, generating near-thoughtless spur-of-the-moment takes. It’s messy, stream-of-conscious, and only very lightly edited. You’ve been warned! FOXING Foxing  Full disclosure: I love Foxing. Well, for brevity’s sake, I love Nearer My God, and most of their other stuff with the occaisional asterisk. Perhaps I shouldn’t have heard “Hell 99” first but it left just a bad taste in my mouth that ran through “Greyhound” and it never left. Still, I don’t expect this to be the first Foxing album I’m not into, I’m just worried that their scattershot freneticism might be more frustrating than captivating this time around. Without further ado… “Secret History”:The scratchy record vocal sample playing under Conor’s voice suddenly makes me realize why Sowing cites “Vices” in his opening paragraph, but I wonder if it’ll have the same “surprise explosion.” And there we go. Ok and it’s already gone! So like, I’m not sure that counts as a surprise after “Hell 99.” Alternating between two very disparate sounds and genres and melodies on the same track is an interesting opening statement for sure, but I fail to see this having the same lasting impact as, say, “737” did for both me and its parent album. 6/10 “Hell 99”:Ok well that… Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists: **Bjork |
Bon Iver |
Chelsea Wolfe |
Kanye West |
Metallica |
Mastodon** **mewithoutYou |
** My Chemical Romance ** |
Queens of the Stone Age |
The National** **Say Anything |
** **Swans |
Taylor Swift |
Tim Hecker** ** |
** Thrice |
Yellowcard  David Bowie’s impact is cohesive and powerful when assessed within conventional metrics like “innovation” and “longevity”—some call swan song BLACKSTAR (2016), released 49 years after his first LP, the best work he ever did, generally without much objection from those who think his magnum opera issued forth decades rather than days before his tragic, shot-heard-round-the-world-style departure from this Earth. As for innovation, innumerably more people will testify to how consistently Bowie pushed against the generic boundaries of radio music throughout his long, long career, despite rooting his practice in familiar traditions of chords-and-melody drawn from British folk, Gershwin showtunes, 1950s rhythm-and-blues—lots of stuff people had already heard whose emotional contracts with global audiences had new life breathed into them by a guy whose relationship with tradition was purer for its lack of self-surveillance. Bowie forged his own path by not caring how he’d come off seemingly _at all_—his career takes on an unpleasant shape if you fetishize either tradition or subversion, and so he’s the kind of artist who teaches us to be better listeners, to latch less often onto shit that ultimately doesn’t matter. I don’t know if I believe Nietzsche when he says that we’re losing some essential element of experience in grouping together as “leaves” the individual green things that issue forth from… Welcome back to another on-time edition of the Weekly Releases, where “mediocre sputpilled artists are repped” and more will probably be added in the comments hmm lfg ifg – List of Releases: September 13th, 2024 –  Agrypnie – erg Genre: Melodic Black Metal / Atmospheric Black Metal Label: AOP  Allegra Krieger – Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine Genre: Indie Folk Label: Double Double Whammy  Babyface Ray – The Kid That Did Genre: Trap / Cloud Rap Label: Empire  Bill Leeb – Model Kollapse Genre: Electro / Industrial Label: Metropolis Records  BONES UK – Soft Genre: Electropop / Industrial Rock / Blues Rock Label: Sumerian  Chastity – Chastity Genre: Shoegaze / Melodic Hardcore / Emo Label: Deathwish  COIN – I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore Genre: Indie Rock / Indie Pop Label: 10K Projects  Colin Stetson – The Love It Took to Leave You Genre: Post-Minimalism / Avant-Garde Jazz Label: Invada  Cursive – Devourer Genre: Indie Rock / Post-Hardcore / Emo Label: Run for Cover … Below is a smattering of new releases for September 6th, 2024. Exclusions not intentional because seeing new comments is a dopamine hit. Feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors, inform the people about what’s unintentionally missing from the list, and let us know what you plan on jamming this release week. – List of Releases: September 6th, 2024 –  40 Watt Sun – Little Weight Genre: Slowcore Label: Fisher’s Folly  A Swarm of the Sun – An Empire Genre: Post-Metal / Atmospheric Sludge Metal Label: Pelagic  The Airborne Toxic Event – Glory Genre: Indie Rock Label: Little Tokyo  Amy Allen – Amy Allen Genre: Indie Pop Label: Kenny + Betty  Ashe – Willson Genre: Alt-Pop / Americana Label: [independent]  Black Sites – The Promised Land? Genre: Progressive Metal / Heavy Metal Label: [independent]  Bleachers – A Stranger Desired Genre: Acoustic renditions of 2014’s Strange Desire Label: Dirty Hit  blink-182 – ONE MORE TIME… PART-2 Genre: Pop-Punk / Alternative Rock Label: Columbia  Boston Manor – Sundiver Genre: Alternative Rock / Post-Hardcore Label: SharpTone  Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Releases feature, where everything is made up and the points don’t matter! That’s right — the points matter as much as pants to a toll booth operator or why your obscure Transylvanian dungeon synth band with 3 bandcamp followers didn’t make the list (because it will probably be in the comments). Feel free to request reviews from staff and/or contributors and let the people know what’s missing from this intentionally-not-thorough list. – List of Releases: August 30th, 2024 –  Alora Crucible – Oak Lace Apparition Genre: Chamber Music / Neoclassical New Age Label: House of Mythology  Anciients – Beyond the Reach of the Sun Genre: Progressive Metal / Sludge Metal Label: Season of Mist  AWOLNATION – The Phantom Five Genre: Alternative Rock / Indietronica Label: Better Noise  Bent Knee – Twenty Pills Without Water Genre: Art Rock / Chamber Pop Label: Take This to Heart  CHELSEA WOLFE – Undone (EP) Genre: Darkwave / Witch House Label: Loma Vista  Deliver the Galaxy – Bury Your Gods Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Massacre  Destroy Lonely – LOVE LAST FOREVER Genre: Trap / Southern Hip-Hop Label: Opium /… Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 23rd, 2024. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. – List of Releases: August 23, 2024 –  Alleviate: _DMNS_Genre: Metalcore/Deathcore Label: Arising Empire  Cassyette: _This World Fucking Sucks_Genre: Alternative Label: Rough Trade  Fleshgod Apocalypse: Opera Genre: Symphonic Death Metal Label: Nuclear Blast  Fontaines D.C.: _Romance_Genre: Post Punk Label: XL Recordings  Gift: _Illuminator_Genre: Indie / Psychedelic Label: Omnian Music  Illuminati Hotties: _Power_Genre: Lo-fi / Indie pop Label: Hopeless Records  Kingcrow: _Hopium_Genre: Progressive Metal Label: Season of Mist  Kishi Bashi: KantosGenre: Indie Pop / Psychedelic Label: Joyful Noise Records  Lainey Wilson: _Whirlwind_Genre: Country Label: Broken Bow  Lisa Loeb & The Hollow Trees: _That’s What It’s All About_Genre: Folk / Alternative Label: Independent  Meer: _Wheels Within Wheels_Genre: Alt Prog … Ulver: A Sputnik Guide This feature is part of a hopefully ongoing series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why this is wrong! Get going! Previously covered discographies: Stereolab・Sweet Trip・Blonde Redhead・Slowdive The news broke today that Tore Ylwizaker, member of Ulver since 1997, died three days ago on his 54th birthday. Though credited as a ‘keyboardist’, Ylwizaker was absolutely essential to everything the group made since he joined: without his contributions, it’s unthinkable that Ulver would have emerged from their early years as a metal band as a such a stunningly proficient juggling act between IDM and downtempo — and then onto drone, onto classical, onto full-tilt synthpop, and anything they could fold into the margins of their umpteen strong suits. Ulver’s name has practically become a by-word for versatility, but for me this was always underpinned by a rigorous sense of competence, which, in turn, I viewed as practically synonymous with Ylwizaker. His passing marks a great loss for forward-thinking music as a whole, and we are privileged to be able to hear his talent across so many guises. … Here’s a list of major new releases for the week of August 16, 2024. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. – List of Releases: August 16, 2024 –  Blind Pilot: _In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain_Genre: Indie Folk/Rock Label: ATO Records  Charly Bliss: _Forever_Genre: Indie Rock/Pop Rock/Pop Punk Label: Lucky Number  Dark Tranquillity: _Endtime Signals_Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Century Media  dayaway: g host beach (EP, Aug 14th release) Genre:Dream Pop Label: Turn To Wind  Falling In Reverse: _Popular Monster_Genre: Post-Hardcore/Pop Rock/Pop Punk Label: Epitaph Records  Foster The People: _Paradise State Of Mind_Genre: Indie Pop Label: Atlantic  Hamish Hawk: A Firmer Hand Genre:Sophisti-Pop/Post-Punk/Indie Rock Label: So Recordings/Fierce Panda  Hozier: Unaired (EP) Genre:Soul/Pop/Folk Label: Rubyworks  Morgan Wade: Obsessed Genre:Country/Americana Label: Sony Music Entertainment and Ladylike Records  Pom Poko: _Champion_Genre: Indie Pop/Rock/Punk Label: Bella Union  Ray LaMontagne: _Long Way Home_Genre: Indie Folk Label: Liula Records  Post Malone: F-1 Trillion Genre: Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop Label: Mercury Records and Republic Records  Rosie Lowe: _Lover, Other_Genre: Alternative R&B/Neo-Soul Label: Blue Flowers  Starflyer 59: _Lust For Gold_Genre: Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Indie Rock Label: Velvet Blue  Thermality: _The Final Hours_Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Black Lodge  Tinashe: Quantum Baby Genre: R&B/Pop Label: Tinashe Music/Nice Life  Wishy: _Triple Seven_Genre: Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Indie Pop Label: Winspear  Yours Truly: _Toxic_Genre: Alt-Rock/Pop Punk Label: UNFD  Follow us on… Facebook Twitter  State Faults – Children of the Moon State Faults’ newest album Children of the Moon is so immediately classic that it’s hard to put into words. The evolution of this band from the lofi, unhinged sound of Desolate Peaks to where they are in 2024 is staggering. At their core they’re still that emotionally draining band, hitting you with songs fueled by distorted riffs and banshee shrieks such as (my personal favorite) Divination and Transfiguration, but now also being able to pull off a 10+ minute behemoth such as No Gospel. A track that takes you through every high and low, every desolate peak (pun?) to every epic mountain top with influences from prog rock to post-hardcore. Or a ballad such as Bodega Head that REALLY gets you in your feels with its soft acoustics and melodic vocals. State Faults have crafted a perfect album that will indeed go down as one of the best screamo albums of all time. But to pigeonhole Children of the Moon as just “screamo” would be a huge disservice. This album transcends any genre tag. So get off your ass and jam this beast. You will not regret it! -Hawks OK Fellow Sputters— It’s been years since I’ve last done one of these, and it’s certainly the first since I’ve been a staffer, so welcome to the first official blog post for “Neek’s 1st Listen”! As a reminder for those new to this long-dormant series, this closer to a stream-of-consciousness series of rants that flow from my very very tired brain edit-free onto the page the very first time I hear the album in question. So please forgive my ridiculous comparisons and questionable turns of phrase. THE SMASHING PUMPKINS Aghori Mhori Mei  **Full disclosure:**The Smashing Pumpkins are one of my favorite bands, and while I was an apologist for their post-breakup era a good long while, the most recent run of albums left me completely cold. I didn’t even bother checking ATUM: Act III, and this is someone who ranked all 200-something of their songs in 2018. But after skimming Johnny’s excellent review and peeping the opening track, Edin I decided it was about time to finally break out this blog feature (and all the formatting fun that comes with it). Without further ado… “Edin”:Johnny’s line about Tool and Kyuss is spot on; these fuckin riffs are buttery but sharply wielded. Corgan’s vocals kinda shatter the fun—even on his better moments in these late albums his performance sounds AI-generated. You could predict his cadence by… Guys, gals, and non-binary pals, please find an intentionally non-exhaustive list of new releases for August 9th along with some already-released records. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors; plus, feel free to add to the not-full-scale list by letting the people know in the comments what else should be on the community’s radar. Please comment. Please clap. Thank you. – List of Releases: August 9th, 2024 –  Acrid Tomb / Tomb of Annihilation – Hermetic Invocations (Split) Genre: Death Metal / Black Metal Label: Iconoclasm Conquest  Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters – The Ones That Stay Genre: Alt-Country / Americana Label: Mule Kick  Amos Lee – Transmissions Genre: Singer-Songwriter / Soul Label: Thirty Tigers  And So I Watch You From Afar – Megafauna Genre: Math Rock / Post-Rock Label: Velocity  beabadoobee – This Is How Tomorrow Moves Genre: Indie Pop / Alternative Rock Label: Dirty Hit  Benny the Butcher – SummerTime Butch Genre: East Coast Hip-Hop / Gangsta Rap Label: BSF  Bleached Cross / The True Faith – Columns of Impenetrable Light [Split] Genre: Darkwave /… Here’s a sampler of new releases set to debut on August 2nd. Please feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors; additionally, feel free to add to the list by letting the people know in the comments what else should be on the community’s radar. – List of Releases: August 2nd, 2024 –  A Night in Texas – Digital Apocalypse Genre: Deathcore / Technical Death Metal Label: Unique Leader  Anberlin – Vega Genre: Alternative Rock / Pop-Punk Label: Equal Vision  Blues Pills – Birthday Genre: Blues Rock Label: BMG  Carnophage – Matter of a Darker Nature Genre: Brutal Death Metal / Technical Death Metal Label: Transcending Obscurity  Chrystabell & David Lynch – Cellophane Memories Genre: Ambient Pop / Ethereal Wave / Drone Label: Sacred Bones  Ella Langley – Hungover Genre: Contemporary Country / Country Pop Label: Columbia  G.O.O.N. – God’s Only Option Now Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Convulse  Gryffin – PULSE Genre: Electropop / Dance-Pop / EDM Label: Darkroom  … Hey everyone! Welcome back to Weekly Releases. Below is a list of notable new releases set to premiere on July 26th, 2024. Feel free to request reviews for any of the following albums from staff and/or contributors. Cheers! – List of Releases: July 26th, 2024 –  Abbie Ozard – Everything Still Worries Me Genre: Indie Pop / Bedroom Pop Label: House Anxiety  A Wake in Providence – I Write to You, My Darling Decay Genre: Deathcore / Blackened Death Metal Label: Unique Leader Records  Category 7 – Category 7 Genre: Heavy Metal Label: Metal Blade  Crack Cloud – Red Mile Genre: Post-Punk / New Wave / Experimental Label: Jagjaguwar  Cults – To the Ghosts Genre: Indie Pop / Indie Rock/ Dream Pop Label: Imperial 
Full disclosure: I love Foxing. Well, for brevity’s sake, I love Nearer My God, and most of their other stuff with the occaisional asterisk. Perhaps I shouldn’t have heard “Hell 99” first but it left just a bad taste in my mouth that ran through “Greyhound” and it never left. Still, I don’t expect this to be the first Foxing album I’m not into, I’m just worried that their scattershot freneticism might be more frustrating than captivating this time around. Without further ado… “Secret History”:The scratchy record vocal sample playing under Conor’s voice suddenly makes me realize why Sowing cites “Vices” in his opening paragraph, but I wonder if it’ll have the same “surprise explosion.” And there we go. Ok and it’s already gone! So like, I’m not sure that counts as a surprise after “Hell 99.” Alternating between two very disparate sounds and genres and melodies on the same track is an interesting opening statement for sure, but I fail to see this having the same lasting impact as, say, “737” did for both me and its parent album. 6/10 “Hell 99”:Ok well that… Revisit other SputStaff Top 10 Lists: **Bjork
Bill Leeb – Model Kollapse Genre: Electro / Industrial Label: Metropolis Records 
Alleviate: _DMNS_Genre: Metalcore/Deathcore Label: Arising Empire 
Cassyette: _This World Fucking Sucks_Genre: Alternative Label: Rough Trade 
Fleshgod Apocalypse: Opera Genre: Symphonic Death Metal Label: Nuclear Blast 
Fontaines D.C.: _Romance_Genre: Post Punk Label: XL Recordings 
Gift: _Illuminator_Genre: Indie / Psychedelic Label: Omnian Music 
Illuminati Hotties: _Power_Genre: Lo-fi / Indie pop Label: Hopeless Records 
Kingcrow: _Hopium_Genre: Progressive Metal Label: Season of Mist 
Kishi Bashi: KantosGenre: Indie Pop / Psychedelic Label: Joyful Noise Records 
Lainey Wilson: _Whirlwind_Genre: Country Label: Broken Bow 
Lisa Loeb & The Hollow Trees: _That’s What It’s All About_Genre: Folk / Alternative Label: Independent 
Meer: _Wheels Within Wheels_Genre: Alt Prog … Ulver: A Sputnik Guide This feature is part of a hopefully ongoing series aimed at exploring the discographies of interesting and/or important bands whose wider body of work is often overlooked on this site. There will be lots of words and a few pictures, but the main deal is that if a band features here, they are good and you should listen to them! And if you already jam them, hit up the comments and explain where and why this is wrong! Get going! Previously covered discographies: Stereolab・Sweet Trip・Blonde Redhead・Slowdive The news broke today that Tore Ylwizaker, member of Ulver since 1997, died three days ago on his 54th birthday. Though credited as a ‘keyboardist’, Ylwizaker was absolutely essential to everything the group made since he joined: without his contributions, it’s unthinkable that Ulver would have emerged from their early years as a metal band as a such a stunningly proficient juggling act between IDM and downtempo — and then onto drone, onto classical, onto full-tilt synthpop, and anything they could fold into the margins of their umpteen strong suits. Ulver’s name has practically become a by-word for versatility, but for me this was always underpinned by a rigorous sense of competence, which, in turn, I viewed as practically synonymous with Ylwizaker. His passing marks a great loss for forward-thinking music as a whole, and we are privileged to be able to hear his talent across so many guises. … 
Blind Pilot: _In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain_Genre: Indie Folk/Rock Label: ATO Records 
Charly Bliss: _Forever_Genre: Indie Rock/Pop Rock/Pop Punk Label: Lucky Number 
Dark Tranquillity: _Endtime Signals_Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Century Media 
dayaway: g host beach (EP, Aug 14th release) Genre:Dream Pop Label: Turn To Wind 
Falling In Reverse: _Popular Monster_Genre: Post-Hardcore/Pop Rock/Pop Punk Label: Epitaph Records 
Foster The People: _Paradise State Of Mind_Genre: Indie Pop Label: Atlantic 
Hamish Hawk: A Firmer Hand Genre:Sophisti-Pop/Post-Punk/Indie Rock Label: So Recordings/Fierce Panda 
Hozier: Unaired (EP) Genre:Soul/Pop/Folk Label: Rubyworks 
Morgan Wade: Obsessed Genre:Country/Americana Label: Sony Music Entertainment and Ladylike Records 
Pom Poko: _Champion_Genre: Indie Pop/Rock/Punk Label: Bella Union 
Ray LaMontagne: _Long Way Home_Genre: Indie Folk Label: Liula Records 
Post Malone: F-1 Trillion Genre: Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop Label: Mercury Records and Republic Records 
Rosie Lowe: _Lover, Other_Genre: Alternative R&B/Neo-Soul Label: Blue Flowers 
Starflyer 59: _Lust For Gold_Genre: Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Indie Rock Label: Velvet Blue 
Thermality: _The Final Hours_Genre: Melodic Death Metal Label: Black Lodge 
Tinashe: Quantum Baby Genre: R&B/Pop Label: Tinashe Music/Nice Life 
Wishy: _Triple Seven_Genre: Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Indie Pop Label: Winspear 
Yours Truly: _Toxic_Genre: Alt-Rock/Pop Punk Label: UNFD 
State Faults – Children of the Moon State Faults’ newest album Children of the Moon is so immediately classic that it’s hard to put into words. The evolution of this band from the lofi, unhinged sound of Desolate Peaks to where they are in 2024 is staggering. At their core they’re still that emotionally draining band, hitting you with songs fueled by distorted riffs and banshee shrieks such as (my personal favorite) Divination and Transfiguration, but now also being able to pull off a 10+ minute behemoth such as No Gospel. A track that takes you through every high and low, every desolate peak (pun?) to every epic mountain top with influences from prog rock to post-hardcore. Or a ballad such as Bodega Head that REALLY gets you in your feels with its soft acoustics and melodic vocals. State Faults have crafted a perfect album that will indeed go down as one of the best screamo albums of all time. But to pigeonhole Children of the Moon as just “screamo” would be a huge disservice. This album transcends any genre tag. So get off your ass and jam this beast. You will not regret it! -Hawks OK Fellow Sputters— It’s been years since I’ve last done one of these, and it’s certainly the first since I’ve been a staffer, so welcome to the first official blog post for “Neek’s 1st Listen”! As a reminder for those new to this long-dormant series, this closer to a stream-of-consciousness series of rants that flow from my very very tired brain edit-free onto the page the very first time I hear the album in question. So please forgive my ridiculous comparisons and questionable turns of phrase. THE SMASHING PUMPKINS Aghori Mhori Mei 
**Full disclosure:**The Smashing Pumpkins are one of my favorite bands, and while I was an apologist for their post-breakup era a good long while, the most recent run of albums left me completely cold. I didn’t even bother checking ATUM: Act III, and this is someone who ranked all 200-something of their songs in 2018. But after skimming Johnny’s excellent review and peeping the opening track, Edin I decided it was about time to finally break out this blog feature (and all the formatting fun that comes with it). Without further ado… “Edin”:Johnny’s line about Tool and Kyuss is spot on; these fuckin riffs are buttery but sharply wielded. Corgan’s vocals kinda shatter the fun—even on his better moments in these late albums his performance sounds AI-generated. You could predict his cadence by… 
