Best New Music

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/tracks/13099/homepage_large.65f99e49.jpg" alt=""Interstellar"" />

Frankie Rose

"Interstellar"

As we already know from recent album cuts "Know Me" and "Night Swim", the ex-C86 punk Frankie Rose moves from jangly garage textures into the realm of sparkling dream-pop on her upcoming album, Interstellar. Rose has never presented a more ...
<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/tracks/13104/homepage_large.47b78b79.jpg" alt=""I Get Paid" [ft. King Louie]" />

Lil Durk

"I Get Paid" [ft. King Louie]

Sometimes, a beat is enough. Such is the case with Lil Durk and King Louie’s "I Get Paid", which beats the door down thanks to mind-bending snare programming from producer Fya Starta. Both rappers acquit themselves quite nicely: Durk is ...
<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/tracks/13089/homepage_large.bb5a4c44.jpg" alt=""In the Same Room"" />

Julia Holter

"In the Same Room"

The dense thickets of sonic fog that clouded Julia Holter's Tragedy have dissapated on "In the Same Room", our second taste from Holter's forthcoming follow-up, Ekstasis. The song is a perfect distillation of her strengths, from the harpsichord that adds ...
<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/tracks/13082/homepage_large.4ad67ad5.jpg" alt=""Destiny" [ft. Pional]" />

John Talabot

"Destiny" [ft. Pional]

Spanish dance producer John Talabot is a master of the slow-build. His sense of pacing is uncanny, timing the point of release just so, for maximum release of pure pleasure, whether it be the ecstatic chants that unfold on his ...
<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/tracks/12074/homepage_large.1fbb18dc.jpg" alt=""Bad Girls"" />

M.I.A.

"Bad Girls"

Update: the complete version of "Bad Girls" premiered today; here's Molly Lambert's write-up of the Vicki Leekx version of this song when we made it Best New Track a year ago. Like Bruce Springsteen's The Promise, which came out this ...
<img src="http://cdn3.pitchfork.com/albums/17374/homepage_large.5e85cf9d.jpg" alt="Habits & Contradictions" />

Schoolboy Q

Habits & Contradictions

Schoolboy Q is the most promising foot soldier in Kendrick Lamar's Black Hippy crew, a small circle of talented rappers currently reinventing West Coast hip-hop. His dark and moody second LP is a sumptuously produced and deeply enjoyable hour-plus slab of weed-clouded rap, but it's more than that.

<img src="http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/albums/17319/homepage_large.6d5f6176.jpg" alt="Attack on Memory" />

Cloud Nothings

Attack on Memory

Now a roaring, technically adept band rather than Dylan Baldi's bedroom solo project, Cloud Nothings undergo a total overhaul on their bracing Steve Albini-recorded second LP.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/albums/17208/homepage_large.bbdb3f29.jpg" alt="Sepalcure" />

Sepalcure

Sepalcure

On their full-length debut, the New York duo of Praveen Sharma (Percussion Lab, Braille) and Travis Stewart (Machinedrum) nimbly incorporate current bass music trends and arrive at a sound that's familiar and rich.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/albums/17212/homepage_large.36d6cabc.jpg" alt="50 Words for Snow" />

Kate Bush

50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush's second album of original material in the last 17 years is haunting and gorgeous. Like so much of her best music, it's filled with deep story-songs that have the effect of putting one in the kind of treasured, child-like space-- not so much innocent as open to imagination-- that never gets old.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/albums/17183/homepage_large.c693ab1b.jpg" alt="Take Care" />

Drake

Take Care

With his penchant for poetic over-sharing, Drake is an apt avatar for the era of reality television and 24-hour self-documentation. Backed by lush and moody beats, Take Care finds him putting his talents to use on his strongest set of songs so far.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/albums/17331/homepage_large.c5707099.jpg" alt="Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller I" />

Drexciya

Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller I

From 1992 until 2002, the mysterious electro outfit Drexciya created not only some of Detroit's most original, enduring electronic music, but one of techno's greatest myth systems. This compilation-- the first in a planned four-volume anthology-- serves as a crucial introduction.

<img src="http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/albums/17297/homepage_large.8adad276.jpg" alt="OvalDNA" />

Oval

OvalDNA

This remarkably consistent, 25-track collection of bits and bytes from assorted past Oval eras flies by in an easygoing blur, rendering sounds in a fluid and volatile technicolor that's missing from even the project's classic records.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/albums/17314/homepage_large.b82a91a4.jpg" alt="Box Set" />

Neutral Milk Hotel

Box Set

This lavish vinyl-only box set collects the two proper Neutral Milk Hotel albums along with two 10" EPs and three 7"s. Taken together, it's a rewarding, carefully constructed tribute to Jeff Mangum's distinctive songwriting voice.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/albums/17270/homepage_large.47475a91.jpg" alt="HDCD Box Set" />

This Mortal Coil

HDCD Box Set

4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell's This Mortal Coil-- a band that never toured, that never really was a band at all-- is the subject of this comprehensive box set, one that offers remastered versions of their three LPs along with a fourth disc consisting of non-album tracks.

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AraabMuzik

Instrumental University

By Carrie Battan

Following on last year's hypnotic Electronic Dream, this set collects beats made for rappers including Lloyd Banks, Fabolous, Jim Jones, Cam'ron, Vado, and others.

Blondes

Blondes

By Eric Grandy

The Brooklyn outsider house duo's debut LP collects three previously released 12"'s, a pair of new songs, and a second disc of remixes by Andy Stott, Teengirl Fantasy, and Laurel Halo, among others.

Trailer Trash Tracys

Ester

By Hari Ashurst

After surfacing three years ago with a fresh, powerful sound, the London dream-pop quartet release their debut LP.

Prinzhorn Dance School

Clay Class

By Stuart Berman

Five years after Prinzhorn Dance School's self-titled debut, the UK post-punk duo of Tobin Prinz and partner Suzi Horn remain defiantly un-evolved.

Pop. 1280

The Horror

By Stuart Berman

The N.Y. noise-punk quart's debut LP is an unabashedly grim collection, one that conjures the dystopian futurism of an early David Cronenberg film delivered with merciless brute force.

Wilco

iTunes Session

By Stephen M. Deusner

This eight-song EP, comprised primarily of tracks from Wilco's most recent album The Whole Love, also finds them unearthing older song-oriented material that suggests they're getting back to the business of being a pop band.

Windy & Carl

We Will Always Be

By Nick Neyland

The Michigan-based husband and wife dream-pop duo's newest resembles an orderly dissection of the relationship cycle, making it feel as if the usual barriers between audience and performer simply aren't there.

The Twilight Sad

No One Can Ever Know

By Ian Cohen

The Scottish trio's frigid, militant, rhythmic Andrew Weatherall-produced third LP is more about obsession than release.

Various Artists

Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits

By Aaron Leitko

The influential New Zealand label put together a 2xCD with songs from across its varied catalog to honor its 30th birthday.

Benjamin Damage & Doc Daneeka

They!Live

By Tim Finney

On paper, these bass-driven house producers seem like such a perfect match you'd expect any musical collaboration to mirror their work apart. It's surprising, then, how unlike their former selves They!Live turns out to be.

Leonard Cohen

Old Ideas

By Mike Powell

Leonard Cohen's 12th studio LP is a spare, low-key album rooted in blues and gospel-- maybe the closest thing he's made to "folk" music since the early 1970s.

Black Bananas

Rad Times Xpress IV

By Stuart Berman

Black Bananas boasts the same personnel as Jennifer Herrema's other post-Royal Trux band, but she fashions it as an alternate-universe RTX, one that isn't afraid to absorb modern influences like synth-pop, hip-hop, French-touch house.

Jason Urick

I Love You

By Marc Masters

Since the dissolution of his band Wzt Hearts, Jason Urick has made a series of records for Thrill Jockey that have moved through drone and dub-inflected atmosphere. This could be his best solo LP yet.

Waka Flocka Flame / French Montana

Lock Out

By David Turner

Produced mostly by Southside and Lex Luger, the collaboration between Waka Flocka Flame and French Montana sounds more well-grounded in the streets of Atlanta than the East Coast rap scene.

o F F Love

Probably Love

By Andrew Gaerig

Stylized to abstraction, it is impossible to imagine Probably Love, o F F Love's debut LP, dropping any time but the present. One year ago it would've seemed obscure; one year from now, it will sound archaic.

Sharon Van Etten

Tramp

By Rachael Maddux

The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter's powerful third album, produced by the National's Aaron Dessner, features guest spots from Beirut's Zach Condon, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, Julianna Barwick, and Dessner's brother Bryce, among others.

Underworld

Anthology: 1992 to 2012

By Jess Harvell

This 25-song "best of" compilation collects two decades of Underworld's widescreen progressive house at 12"-mix lengths, rather than the highlight reel-style radio edits.

Peaking Lights

936 Remixes 12" / 936 Remixed EP

By Jenn Pelly

Following their excellent psych-pop breakthrough 936, Peaking Lights return with two very different remix EPs.

Wymond Miles

Earth Has Doors

By Martin Douglas

The Fresh & Onlys lead guitarist has produced a dramatic, high-concept solo EP that taps into 1960s and 1970s prog bluster, complete with song titles long enough to require commas.

Laura Gibson

La Grande

By Matthew Solarski

The Oregon songstress spreads her wings and tries a few new styles on for size while keeping her earthly vision intact.

Lana Del Rey

Born to Die

By Lindsay Zoladz

After last year's hit "Video Games" and the endless remixes, leaks, think-pieces, and controversy that followed, it's finally here: the major-label debut from Lana Del Rey.

Porcelain Raft

Strange Weekend

By Josh Love

The Italian-born pop artist Mauro Remiddi has covered an impressive amount of physical and aesthetic terrain in his years as a working musician. On his bleary, atmospheric Porcelain Raft debut LP, he sounds like he no longer exists on this planet.

Shlohmo

Vacation EP

By Andrew Ryce

The L.A.-based beatmaker follow's last year's album, Bad Vibes, with a brief and beautiful three-song EP that shows an expanding mastery of sound manipulation.

The 2 Bears

Be Strong

By Joe Colly

This side project from Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Raf Rundell make a goofy and big-hearted homage to the club-friendly pop they love.

Future

Astronaut Status

By Jordan Sargent

With a handful of hits, placements on albums by Young Jeezy and Rick Ross, and a major-label debut on the horizon, the Atlanta rapper's new mixtape is his first big move of the year.

Pitchfork.tv

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/tv/videos/R1bHBpMjqFSDcTNOrMMA7BNQAJKSJkLU/homepage_header.8d58157c.jpg" alt="Oya Festival - Oslo, Norway" />

Daytripping

Bon Iver

Oya Festival - Oslo, Norway

We follow the folk rockers around picturesque Oslo, Norway during this year's Øya Festival. The 12-minute all-access doc includes candid interviews, live footage, and Scandinavians.

Features

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/featuretypes/the-out-door/8d830395.jpg" alt="Regression Is a Virtue" />

The Out Door

Regression Is a Virtue

We discuss how noise has gotten quieter, meet black metal experimentalists Sutekh Hexen, explore Austin multimedia factory Monofonus Press, and look at the methods of "punk rock" lute player Jozef Van Wissem.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/features/8769/holter210.jpg" alt="Julia Holter" />

Rising

Julia Holter

This Los Angeles music-school grad makes bedroom pop that's ethereal enough to fill a church. Larry Fitzmaurice talks to her about balancing intuition and theory, puking into microphones, and L.A.'s mystery.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/features/8764/air210.jpg" alt="Air" />

5-10-15-20

Air

The French electronic pop duo talk about the music of their lives-- David Bowie, Sly Stone, Philip Glass-- and recount stories of harrowing car rides with George Clinton and seeing the Strokes try to beat each other up.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/features/8761/snm210.jpg" alt="Death to Black Metal" />

Show No Mercy

Death to Black Metal

Liturgy and Deafheaven have gained many fans-- along with some enemies-- by fearlessly expanding the idea of what black metal can be. Brandon Stosuy talks to both bands' frontmen about where the genre's going next.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/features/8763/SOPA_2_210.jpg" alt="Shades of Grey: Anti-Piracy Legislation and Independent Labels" />

Articles

Shades of Grey: Anti-Piracy Legislation and Independent Labels

Despite sharing concerns about the perils of internet legislation such as SOPA and PIPA, some top independent labels express frustration over an issue that's anything but clear-cut.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/features/8762/factory105.jpg" alt="Factory Floor" />

Rising

Factory Floor

This dark and synth-y UK act has worked with members of New Order and Throbbing Gristle, and now they're primed to make their biggest impact yet. Carrie Battan talks to the trio about getting lost in their own sound.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/features/8758/homepage_large.header.jpg" alt="Disco Inferno" />

Articles

Disco Inferno

Marked by innovative sampling and a sense of pop wonder, 90s cult act Disco Inferno have inspired the likes of MGMT and the Avalanches. Ned Raggett talks to the band for this oral history covering their most beloved work.

<img src="http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/features/8759/homepage_large.e3aa9873.jpg" alt="The Men" />

Rising

The Men

This Brooklyn rock quartet are DIY in the old-fashioned sense of people doing something on their own terms. Brandon Stosuy talks to them about not fitting in and trying to stay positive.

<img src="http://cdn.pitchfork.com/features/8757/rf210ss.jpg" alt="Permission to Avalanche" />

Resonant Frequency

Permission to Avalanche

Mark Richardson uses fragments about Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, Skrillex's favorite Aphex Twin song, sonic "accuracy," and jungle music to explore the different ways bass can affect our minds and bodies.

<img src="http://cdn2.pitchfork.com/features/8755/gil210.jpg" alt="Gil Scott-Heron: More Than a Revolution" />

Articles

Gil Scott-Heron: More Than a Revolution

Andrew Nosnitsky combines archived quotes from Gil Scott-Heron and original interviews with those who knew him to present a full picture of the late icon.

Staff Lists