New Music Drops: November 2023

New Music Drops is a monthly series on T&E where we share some of our favorite new releases from this year in rock, pop, metal, punk, hip-hop, and global music. For the final installment of the year, this blog shares experimental Americana, huayno folktronica, hardstyle techno, avant-garde death metal, ambient sound collages and more.

Pop/Rock
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​Lathe of Heaven - Bound By Naked Skies
Genre: Death rock, new wave
80s new wave/post punk worship, with strong influences of bands like Killing Joke, that at times goes into the darker death rock sound with warbly, ghoulish vocals. Not reinventing the wheel, but an all around solid release. - PE
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Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter - SAVED!
Genre: Americana, experimental
Kristin Hayter, formally known as Lingua Ignota, explores the next stage of her musical persona via a gospel singing, God-fearing Christian reverend woman. Her music has always been crushing, but something about exploring trauma and survival through the sounds of old Americana folk music is deeply disturbing in a whole new way. It’s primarily a vocal performance album, but the tape manipulation effects truly feel like you are disintegrating along with the music. An album of the year contendor for sure. - PE
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​Teenage Sequence - S/T
Genre: Dance rock    
A lively and energetic synthy dance punk album from UK solo artist Teenage Sequence. For fans of LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Fugiya & Miyagi, with tracks like “Fist Fight (The Drive)” showing Neu! Influences with a proto-house edge - PE
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DAIISTAR - Good Time
Genre: Noise pop
Saw this band open for The Dandy Warhols and The Black Angels, and would definitely recommend this album for anyone a fan of either of those bands. Fuzzed out psychedelic melodies with a '90s shoegaze pop revival sound. 
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Cassia Streb - Marginal Habits
Genre: Experimental 
Electroacoustic improvisational violin music - very minimal, avant-garde, and feels like you’re walking into a sound installation at a museum (which Streb does quite frequently). Includes field recordings from the Joshua Tree National Park where this performance was recorded - PE
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Blonde Redhead - Sit Down for Dinner
Genre: Indie rock
Is there anything more sweet that Kazu Makino’s wispy and fragile voice on top of swirling and warm melodies? Once again, Blonde Redhead has stole my dang heart. One of my favorite releases from them in years. - PE
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Electronic
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El Búho - Strata
Genre: Folktronica
A flowy and gentle collection of songs from DJ and producer El Búho, who combines influences from the Glasgow club scene and amapiano music with huayno folk melodies. There are a couple tracks on this that lend itself a little too much on the commercial electronica sound for my liking, but songs like “Piañuco” are a prime example of why El Búho remains one of the frontrunners of the folktronica scene. Also recommend checking out his Boiler Room set if you’re new to his music. - PE
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​Hidden Orchestra - To Dream is to Forget
Genre: IDM
Orchestral music meets jazz meets turntablism, a heady album that stays rooted in the warmth of its instrumentation. Conceptually revolving around the idea of “dreams reworking everyday experience into new subconscious stories” and executes it beautifully - PE
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Wajatta - Waiting for the Get Down
Genre: Electronica
Wajatta, the duo consisting of comedian Reggie Watts and producer John Tejada, releasing a short, house-laded and liquidy dance EP. Great songs to strut to, for fans of Kaytranada, Jayda G, etc. - PE
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Mark Solotroff - Today the Infinite, Tomorrow Zero
Genre: Experimental 
Analog synth drone, and as noted in the Bandcamp notes “At their foundation, each song was built from multiple layers of synth. Solotroff then wove in loops that sometimes sit more prominently and more melodically and that sometimes appear in a more spectral fashion. Solotroff’s own voice adds further dimension to some songs, but he processed it so it became a layer of sound closer in nature to synth patterns or distorted frequencies.” A great album to sit with for those reasons, comfortable to fall into and peacefully disruptive all at once. - PE
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Loraine James - Gentle Confrontations
Genre: Experimental
Another fabulous release off of Hyperdub. Bandcamp reviewers varied comments give the best impression of this album: “i get scared looking (hearing) into ppl's brains sometimes, especially when it sounds kind of close to the inside of mine”, “It may be a Gentle Confrontation but it's immediate and it's as complex as I like -- more than I can take in.” For fans of Space Afrika, Burial - PE
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Jake Muir - Bathhouse Blues
Genre: Ambient
An electro-concrète sound collage that conceptually revolves around queer sexuality in bathhouses. At times delicate and unwaveringly soft, and transcends to something much fiercer. - PE 
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Judgitzu - Sator Arepo
Genre: Techno, hardstyle, experimental
From the self-described “punk ethnomusicologist”, Judgitzu layers a techno-driven foundation with afrocentric drumming and field recordings of instruments from around the world for a truly comprehensive view of ancient and modern dance forms. Favorite track: “Vitalimetre” - PE

Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
Genre: Electronic
Another incredible OPN record in the vault, building on his signature sound of IDM with a more melodic touch. This album is what he considers his “speculative autobiography”, a sonic system that interconnects hardware with humanity - PE
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Punk and Metal
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Tumultuous Ruin - An Abscess on the Heart of the State
Genre: RABM
A soundtrack for going into battle. Epic and haunting, the sound of disintegration within an apocalypse. And yet, it remains strangely and beautifully hopeful. - S.C.
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Aridus - Serpent Moon
Genre: Black Metal
Brilliant from start to finish, without a single wasted note. Rich, enveloping and relentless. This album is everything I want black metal to be. - S.C.
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Left Cross - Upon Desecrated Altars
Genre: Death metal
Virginia’s Left Cross release a war-charged death metal album that’s merciless from beginning to end. For fans of Bolt Thrower but with more gravely vox - PE
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FLESHVESSEL - Yearning: Promethean Fates Sealed
Genre: Progressive metal, avant-garde death metal
I know I’m going to love an album if I hated it upon the first listen, but didn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. Now I refuse to listen to any prog metal albums that don’t have a glockenspiel. - PE
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Acasual Intrusion - Panpsychism
Genre: Technical death/doom
Capping off a phenomenal trilogy of nightmarish blackened doom records, Panpsychism ends this maze-like journey on a dizzying and unnerving end. This album can be best described by looking at its album art. For fans of Thantifaxath and dissonant metal in general.- PE
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Sick Thoughts - Born to Blitzkrieg
Genre: Garage punk, power pop
What a SHREDDER. Pop hooks, garage fuzz tones, fast, gnarly and mean. As the album name might suggest, an ode to the Ramones but with way more aggression. - PE
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Hip-hop and R&B
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Infinite Love Squared - Firewolves
Genre: Hip-hop/Cult-hop
The debut track from IL2 is darkly mesmerizing, it sounds like a sexy freight train barreling through a nightscape of nostalgia. A gentle yet insistent beat, rich strings & horns, and a trio of voices come together to form a rich sound that feels mythological.  - S.C.
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Jeshi - The Great Stink
Genre: UK hip hop
An EP from one of my current favorite British rappers, Jeshi. The project is conceptualized around the summer of 1858 in London where the hot weather exacerbated the smells of the River Thames and cholera was killing the poorest Londoners. He uses this framework to relay his own illnesses and the grime of his personal surroundings. Favorite song: “Inside Out” - PE
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Skyzoo - All The Brilliant Things
Genre: Hip hop
Conversational storytelling backed by nostalgic sounds of New York’s cultural heritage. Jazzy horns, sparkling keys, an overall uplifting album as Skyzoo traverses narrations of gentrification, legacies, memories, and more. Skyzoo is far too underrated!  - PE
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CARRTOONS - SATURDAY NIGHT
Genre: R&B
A wonderful follow-up to last year’s Homegrown LP, Saturday Night is all feel-good, soulful R&B melodies with a myriad of amazing emcees. The producer x vocalist dynamics are all harmonious, but CARRTOONS work with Rae Khalil once again makes for a stand out cut. They flow so naturally together! - PE 

Butcher Brown - Solar Music
Genre: R&B
Groooooooooooooooves. Nothin’ but grooves! A stacked set of crisp jams from New York’s ensemble collective, Butcher Brown, fusing hip hop with crispy soul jams.  - PE
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Global
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V/A - Oriental Dances Past & Present
Genre: Lebanese dance, instrumental
Been digging into this rerelease label lately and have been really enjoying this recent compilation of Lebanese instrumental pop songs. ‘70s organ-driven grooves with classic Cairo-style orchestration, it’s so fabulous. - PE


More global recommendations can be found by streaming Global Rhythm Radio! Click the “Global” or “DJ Mix” tab for more.

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