Friday, oh, Friday, the best day of the week, the release day we've been waiting patiently for since last Friday. It's a vicious cycle the album and single rollout, truly. The weekend rolls around, you're bombarded with brand new offers to finally curb the cravings, then you blow right through it all. Then you have to wait, wait, wait for the next crop to arrive, it's just plain cruel. Lucky for us, January 12 was a particularly special day for new releases, with some of our Tonitruale staffs' personal faves releasing new music, the grooviest of the pack finally emerging from their hiding places, and a few dark horses bursting onto the dance floor to completely steal the show. Without further ado, here are a few of the best albums and singles out this week to get your weekend off to a good start.
ORQUÍDEAS, Kali Uchis
If you’re refusing to listen to this album, you’re probably one of the unfortunate majority that found out about Kali Uchis and Don Toliver’s pregnancy. Suck it up y’all, you never had a chance anyways. ORQUÍDEAS is the f*cking moment and you’re missing it. 2024 is going to be the year to resurrect proper “I’ll dance until I fall in love in this club” baby-making music, and I’m more than willing to violently jump the DJ if I don’t start hearing “Igual Que Un Ángel” and “Labios Mordidos” in rotation starting yesterday.
"yes, and?," Ariana Grande
I would kindly refer you to our very own Faith Logue's coverage of Ari's new single, she said it better than I ever could have. Fantastic song. Dig it down below!
"Lego Ring", Faye Webster, Lil Yachty
As far as indie rock goes, Faye Webster is arguably one of the most interesting and unique voices on the scene today. Pair that with Lil Yachty's predisposition for innovation, you get delightfully strange poetry like "Lego Ring." Turns out they're just the right mix. Yachty, Faye, if by some miracle you see this, please make an album together. The world needs it.
"Moving On," Pissed Jeans
In times like these, we must ask ourselves, "how many chorus pedals is too many?" As far as Pissed Jeans is concerned, you can never have too many, make that shit sparkle. High-octane and about as Pennsylvanian as one can be, the Allentown Four's new single, "Moving On," is good ol' fashioned dad punk fun. If their upcoming album is even half full of songs like this, then maybe there's still room at the table for divorced dad rock.
Matt's Missing, Matt Martians
Some of y'all were clearly not paying attention during The Last Party and Butterfly Don’t Visit Caterpillar otherwise we’d be making a helluva lot more noise about this. House party hosts and boiler rooms across the country are breaking down with tears of joy for the king hath returned. Matt Martians' fifth studio album, Matt's Missing, is another dazzling example of why you should always let your drummer participate in the song writing process; Martians' surprise album catches grooves previously thought unobtainable, so deep in the pocket you could call it precious cargo. If we can get a solo project as good as this from each member of The Internet this year, we might finally be able to stop saying "2016 was the best year for music" and maybe, just maybe get a new Internet album (please, we're dying out here without y'all).
"J CHRIST," Lil Nas X
Lil Nas X, it isn't too late to be saved, repent yourself now! You are fooling no one with your faux repentance and supposed "return to J. Christ's light." You simply must be up to something only I know, I pray you don't hit us with the high note, save your soul before you hit us with something viral! Save Nas! Save Nas!
"Beautiful People (Stay High),"
The Black Keys
The Black Keys have been on a helluva hot streak the last few years, and "Beautiful People (Stay High)" is no exception. Give a man a beer, a groove, and a spliffy or two and you've successfully converted a new Black Keys fan. It's a dangerous pipeline, it is. One moment, you're a normal, upstanding citizen, the next, you're drowning in credit card debt because of your addiction to Levi's denim and 70's blues records. But that's the price you pay to be one of the beautiful people.
"Further From My Start," Prize Horse
Y'all know we love our midwest punk rock warlords here at Tonitruale, and Prize Horse is a necessary inclusion to that fact. The Minneapolis grunge rock outfit delivered the second single from their upcoming debut LP, Under Sound, on Wednesday, January 10; a slower burn than their previous single, "Your Time," but showcases more of the band's instrumental prowess and songwriting capabilites, as well as their ability to absolutely bring the f*cking house down. Under Sound is set for release on February 16, 2024.
How Do You Sleep At Night? With You, Teezo Touchdown
If you know me, you know I am a vehement, board-certified pop punk hater. I firmly believe the resurgence of the 2000s and 2010s emo and pop punk bands is a grave misstep we will not soon recover from. There are a few exceptions, of course; Paramore’s This Is Why was easily one of last year’s best albums, but for every one (1) Paramore, you get hundreds of TX2's peddling falsities and concealing controversy. Teezo Touchdown’s How Do You Sleep At Night?, however, stuck out last Fall as deviation from the rule, the outlier and next stage in the evolution of the pop punk, prog pop rock and new wave R&B sounds. This weekend, Teezo Touchdown’s How Do You Sleep At Night? With You, the deluxe edition of his September 2023 debut album, offered up three new follow-up tracks that are equal parts unapologetic outburst and melancholic retrospection, offering up a silver lined caricature of the original release's individualism that will assuredly set the standard for Teezo clones and imitators to unsuccessfully capitalize on. I do think, however, that the additional tracks could have stood on their own as a short EP or extended single.
"OMG," Suki Waterhouse
Suki Waterhouse is shaping up to be the Queen of the Disco we didn't realize we were in desperate need of. She has earned every bit of the Joni Mitchel-Lana Del Ray comparisons she garnered from "Brutally," but she's very quickly cemented herself as more than a derivative one-off. If "OMG" is indicative of anything, it's that the 80's style guide from 2019 we've been unable to tear our collective consciousness from has finally been put to rest and we have finally hit the 2020's funk-disco-rock club niche we've been teetering over the edge of for years.
"When She Call," DRAM & Ellis Quinn
It's that gotdamn, smooth-ass, beautiful Big Baby DRAM. You would think that'd be enough said, but I'm wordy like that. Everyone likes to credit Drake as the Certified Lover Boy, but where's the credit for the original? DRAM f.k.a. Shelley f.k.a Big Baby DRAM has been the original, board certified, do-anything-because-you-asked, drop-everything-because-you-called lover boy. Study up and listen well, heed this reminder, and let us cross every finger that this is the start of a new album cycle and the start of another two year hiatus.
Down There!, Folly Group
Indie sleaze needs a new figurehead; Arctic Monkeys have successfully migrated into haunting power ballad territory, Julian Casablancas is way out of touch, and let's face it, “Sex On Fire” is not as good the billionth time around. However, from deep within the grotto of less-than-mediocre comeback records, East London dance punk quartet Folly Group may finally be dragging us out into fresh open air. The groups first full-length LP, Down There!, finds itself in a unique new sector of innovative post punk music, calling to mind the early Clash years and intermittent King Gizzard influences, while still finding niche uses for electronica sounds and styles throughout the album; the use of which blends flawlessly with the organic instrumental elements. Listen, learn and innovate, Folly Group will take us to greater heights.
And that concludes this week's New Music Friday! But don't be sad, dear readers, don't cry that it's over, for this is not the end. In fact, this was hardly half of all the amazing tunes thrown out to us this weekend. To hear all the new music that matters and the grooves we couldn't quite fit here, check out the official Tonitruale New Music Friday Playlist down below!
Rob Lucchesi