New Music Drops: October 2022

​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. In the October edition, you'll find eccentric new wave, scuzzy garage punk, desert deathgrind, and so much more.

New Music Drops gets posted on Bandcamp Friday, so if you enjoy any of these releases, purchase today so that all proceeds go directly to the artist!

All selections from this list written by Parisa except for where otherwise noted.

Rock/Pop
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Excess - Automatic
Genre: New wave
The post-punk album of the year, in my opinion. Driving rhythm, deadpan delivery, metallic synths with a lot of variation in between. “Skyscaper” has a grandiose atmosphere with its siren-like synths, “Automation” dips into the more sensual side of synth pop with feathery “oohs and ahhs” sung over a deep bassline, and my favorite song, “NRG”, has that slightly off-kilter singing in the chorus that’s just so goddamn catchy. You’ll want to get an asymmetrical bob by the time you’re done listening to this.
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Dungen - En Är F​ö​r Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Just released today! Swedish psych rock band Dungen’s first album since 2015, playing less into the extreme prog side and more into the subtleties of psychedelic pop music. Some very interesting surprises in here - like combining swooshing psych melodies onto a jungle beat in “Var Har Du Varit?”, but the best surprise of all is hearing frontman Gustav Ejstes’ dazzling voice at the top of the mix and being a true highlight of the album. For fans of Kikagaku Moyo.
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Preoccupations - Arrangements
Genre: Post-punk, art-punk
A new post-punk release from one of the genre’s current frontrunners, Calgary’s own Preoccupations. For fans of the more gloomy, goth side of post-punk (i.e. Joy Division), this album balances melodic compositions with sardonic and cynical lyricism. Not my favorite Preoccupations release, but definitely worth a listen.

Henry Franklin, Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad - Henry Franklin JID014
Genre: Jazz
Bassist and jazz icon Henry Franklin, who  has performed with Miles Davis, Roy Ayers, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and so many more, teams up with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammed for the newest Jazz Is Dead series. As stated in the release notes, “His swooping, languid style gave the bass a new emotive range, and has become a point of reference for the several generations that have followed.” This release showcases, and continues on, his masterful legacy.
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Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam - The Comet is Coming
Genre: Jazz rock
How aggressive do you like your saxophone? If you answered yes, then you’ll love the new The Comet is Coming album. An exploration into more electronic sounds that pushes their music into a futuristic realm, but always keeping their masterful improvisational jazz at the forefront. 
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Etcetera - Rhizome
Genre: Experimental, jazz 
Need more improvisational, experimental free jazz/psychedelic rock recommendations?!  Of course you do! Here’s another great release from Slovenian experimental trio Etcetera (saxophone, electronics, and drum) that ebbs between free jazz, dub, krautrock, Afro-centric polyrhythms and modular experimentation. Only the first single is out, but the album will be available in a couple weeks and is available for pre-order (and after listening to the preview, I can tell you that it does indeed r u l e !)

“Diosito” - Sgt. Papers
Genre: Garage rock
A new single from Hermosillo garage rock brothers Sgt. Papers. Distorted, fuzzy, with a great pop melody. Not sure when their new album is dropping, but glad to have this killer single to carry us over in the meantime.
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“No Quiero Ser Madre” - Margaritas Podridas
Genre: Grunge
Another killer single from Hermosillo. I hadn’t heard of Margaritas Podridas until I saw them live a few weeks ago, but this song was a highlight of the weekend. A scuzzed out garage punk, pro-abortion anthem. Their earliest releases have more of a shoegaze influence, and while that still reflects in this song, they’re coming in with more speed and aggression than ever before. Looking forward to their next release, coming out on Suicide Squeeze!
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​MICHELLE - After Dinner We Talk Dreams
Genre: Pop
Another group I discovered during HOCO Fest in Tucson. Feel-good harmonizing pop music with ‘90s girl group vibes, the kind of music I imagine I would do a sweet choreographed dance to at a talent show with my bff girlfriend. Normally this style of pop music doesn’t do it for me at all, but seeing MICHELLE live made me realize how infectiously joyful and endearing this album is.

Punk and Metal
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Eddie and the Subtitles - Skeletons in the Closet
Genre: Garage punk
A re-release of an essential Orange County punk band from the ‘80s, “an unusual and rare artifact in the ashtray world of punk, DIY and outsider music.” Includes covers of “Louie Louie '', “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place”, and a slew of original music spanning from scuzzy garage punk to rockabilly to weirdo new wave rock. Eddie and the Subtitles (which features Mike Patton and Matt Simon of The Middle Class btw!) had toured with Circle Jerks, Black Flag and so many others, a really interesting history that I wouldn’t have discovered if it weren’t for Slovenly Recordings putting out this rad reissue.
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Fallujah - Empyrean 
Genre: Atmospheric Death Metal
San Francisco-based death metal band Fallujah have had quite a journey this past decade. With members being swapped and occasional stylistic shifts, the band’s future trajectory was hard to predict in terms of what the fans would get. With the band now packing virtuosic talent like Evan Brewer (The Faceless, Entheos) on bass, as well as new vocalist, Kyle Schaefer to boot, to say that this album had a lot of anticipation behind it would be the understatement of the year. Thankfully, it did not disappoint. In fact for many, Empyrean is seen as a triumphant return-to-form after experimenting with their sound over the past few releases. An effortless fusion of cavernous reverbs, powerfully clean vocals and guttural screams, and some of the most technical instrumental performances from the band to date. Empyrean is sure to be the perfect gateway drug for new fans and long-time loyalists alike. - Brandon Biallas
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Tribal Gaze - The Nine Choirs
Genre: Death metal
Chugging hardcore riffs meet gutteral death metal vocals in the debut full-length album from Dallas group Tribal Gaze. Guitarist Quinten Status notes that “The [album] touches on the possibility of extraterrestrial anxieties – be it angels, demons, aliens, or otherwise – being on the same side and not being a friend of humanity. It’s ultimately humans failing an unimpressed higher power.” A great concept with impressive tempo variation to carry the story through. For fans of Municipal Waste, Creeping Death, or really anything on the Maggot Stomp label.
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Languish - Feeding The Flames Of Annihilation
Genre: Deathgrind
Just released today! Obliterating new deathgrind album that’s twenty-five minutes pure misanthropy. Carries death metal influences of Morbid Angel, but with a more gnarly grind and, at times, hardcore overtone. Whether you live in Tucson or not, this is a band to keep your eyes on.
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Acephalix - Theothanatology
Genre: Death metal
Bludgeoning death metal with doomy riffs exploring the study of theothanatology, the idea or belief that God is dead. A recent favorite release from the 20 Buck Spin roster, an album that’s as heavy as the concept would allude. RIYL: early Cannibal Corpse, Autopsy, killing God, and so forth.
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TSYGUN - Х​В​О​Р​Ь (HVOR')
Genre: Death metal, powerviolence
Fast and aggressive death metal from Russia that leans heavily into grind, d-beat and pummeling powerviolence influences, with lyrics inspired by Russian folktalkes. (Shout out to my buddy Ryan for sending this my way!)

NGC Prod - AAK
Genre: Experimental black metal
Some DIY, underground expeirmental funeral doom/black metal from two Hungarian musicians from the Bakony mountain. Just the right amount of cheesy, spooky soundscapes with some raw black metal instrumentation. They previously were both in powerviolence bands, which is evident from the vocals.

Rodehetten - Die Narren zerschnitten den K​ö​nig
Genre: Black metal (ish?)
Another weirdo underground black metal demo that I first heard on Gimme Metal radio. It's categorized as black metal, which is evident in its atmosphere, but it's so synth heavy that it almost feels like VGM or some 80s synth rock cassette that went through a garbage disposal. I love this so much.

Electronic
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Ouri - Self Hypnosis Tape
Genre: Ambient
French-born Canadian musician and producer Ouri blends orchestral composition and electronic music by creating textured loops with vocals, piano, harp and cello. A beautiful album demonstrating the more organic side of ambient and electronic music. 
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LYZZA - Mosquito
Genre: Alt-pop
A fun mixtape from Amsterdam-based, Brazilian born producer and singer LYZZA that traverses club music, reggaeton, and experimental electronica. Moody and ethereal tracks like “Cheat Codes” are where this mix really shines, offering a chance to dance away your heartache. For fans of Shygirl and Kilo Kish.
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Little Dragon - Opening The Door
Genre: Electronic R&B
To be fully transparent, I kinda fell off the Little Dragon bandwagon a while back ‘cause I haven’t dug their last couple of albums, but I really enjoyed this EP. A short 3-track release with minimal yet powerful synthlines that provide a backdrop to Yukimi Nagano’s sublime and soulful vocals, reminiscent of the Ritual Unions era but not feeling like they’ve gone backwards in their career. 
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Blood Rhythms - Horror Pilations
Genre: Drone, experimental
A forty-minute cycling drone, for fans of the darker side of ambient music. Discovered this on Marc Masters’ Best of Experimental Music on Bandcamp list, and as he describes it, “It’s not easy to describe the progress that happens along the album’s 40 minutes, as Zylo and Keffer’s slowly-mutating sound sometimes disguises forward motion as stasis. By the end of Horror Pilation, though, you’ve gone places, whether or not you know exactly where.”
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Mathias Delplanque - Ô Seuil
Genre: Electroacoustic, drone
An immersive electroacoustic composition in nine parts that "is an exhibition of constantly changing sound paintings, alternately simple and complex, constantly oscillating between light and shadow." Instrumentation includes the hurdy-gurdy, veuze, analog synthesizers, field recordings, and much more.  A composer that is criminally overlooked and deserves more attention amongst experimental music fans!

Hip-hop and R&B
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Open Mike Eagle - Component System With the Auto Reverse
Genre: Hip hop
Just released today! A short LP that emulates a mixtape, purposefully creating a random order and quick flow between tracks to pay homage to the tapes Open Mike Eagle would make listening to college radio as a kid. Features a stacked lineup of guest rappers and producers, including Madlib, Quelle Chris, Child Actor, Kuest1, and R.A.P. Fererria. 
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Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
Genre: R&B
By far my favorite new release from the past month, and also my favorite Sudan Archives album since her debut EP. With her most dynamic and genre-bending release to date, Sudan Archives proves that she is limitless as a one-woman band. She still incorporates influences of West African rhythms and Sudanese fiddlers into her music, but creates an incredible take on art-pop that is entirely her own. Favorite track: “Selfish Soul”
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Sélébéyone - Xaybu: The Unseen
Genre: Hip hop
From the underground avant-garde hip hop collective Sélébéyone (comprised of MCs HPrizm (New York City) and Gaston Bandimic (Dakar), and saxophonists Steve Lehman (Los Angeles) and Maciek Lasserre (Paris)) comes a sophomore release that’s unlike anything else in the underground right now. Islamic spiritualism meets free jazz meets hip hop meets experimental music. All spoken in Wolof, the language of Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, and the native language of the Wolof people.
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Butcher Brown - Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey
Genre: Hip hop, jazz
An ode and deconstruction of big band music with a funky and modern approach. MC Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney brings a soulful, personal flow to the larger-than-life instrumentation. This ain’t your grandma’s big band 78s, that’s for sure! For fans of Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, etc.
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Sampa The Great - As Above So Below
Genre: Hip hop
The Australia-based, Zambia-born, Botswana-raised rapper continues her sonic journey of identity in the most tangible context yet. The album was recorded in a two-week period in Zambia for her to connect her origins to her music directly, and while oftentimes I feel this album feels too polished for my liking, it’s been growing on me. Features an incredible lineup of guest appearances, including Denzel Curry, Angeliqué Kidjo and Witch, as well as local Zambian musicians and producers.
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Kae Tempest - The Line is a Curve
Genre: Spoken word
From one of my favorite modern poets, English artist  Kae Tempest releases another emotionally poignant album. Sharp lyrical delivery against a minimal synthy background, one of their most balanced albums yet when it comes to musicality, rhythm and spoken word poetry. 
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Global

I share dozens of new global releases on the Global Rhythm Radio show, which streams right here on T&E! Click "DJ Mix" on the right Categories sidebar to check 'em out. I took a month off in September, but October will return with the annual HORROR edition of the show. Keep your eyes peeled for it! - Parisa

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