This Week's Notable New Music (May 8)

This week we got the return of The Rolling Stones and a Beastie Boy, a controversial guitar solo list from Rolling Stone , and a mind-blowing Gelli Haha show and Radiohead exhibit. Hear us talk about that and this week’s news, new albums, and more on today’s episode of BV Weekly .

We highlight twelve albums below, and Bill discusses five more in Indie Basement , including Aldous Harding, The Lemon Twigs, and Cola. In addition to those, this week’s honorable mentions include Croz Boyce (Avey Tare / Geologist instrumental duo), Deb Never, War on Women, sadie, The Flatliners, Future Teens, Jena Malone, Olof Dreijer (The Knife), Black Milk, Jonny Greenwood, Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, JWords, Namasenda, Thaiboy Digital, Tygapaw, Seu Jorge, Neil Diamond, Carín León, Chinese American Bear, the live Laurie Anderson album with Sexmob, the Alabaster DePlume EP, the Runo Plum EP, the Forced Order 12″, the Thin Ice EP, the In 2 Again EP, and the Wounded Touch EP.

Read on for our picks, and listen to the new episode of BV Weekly for more of this week’s new music and music news. What’s your favorite release of the week?

Basement – Wired (Run For Cover) The UK post-hardcore band follow up an eight-year gap and some TikTok virality with one of their best and most unique albums yet.

Anytime it seems like Basement are slowing down, a big comeback is always waiting around the corner. When they first broke up in 2012 right after releasing their sophomore album Colourmeinkindness , the album became a surprise hit and when they returned to the stage two years later they started playing to exponentially bigger crowds. Here in New York, they went from playing to about 50 people at their last pre-hiatus show to selling out the 1500-cap Webster Hall when they returned. Basement slowed down again after signing to Fueled by Ramen and releasing Beside Myself in 2018–an album that was reviewed well but a bit of a dud commercially, especially for the major label that released it–and their plans to go on hiatus coincided with COVID forcing every band to cease touring anyway.

When live music did return, guitarist Alex Henery was suddenly busy with Fiddlehead , the Basement/Have Heart side-project-turned-main-project that started taking off post-COVID, not to mention he was also busy as the touring photographer/videographer for Turnstile, who really started taking off around that same time. So Basement remained on pause, and as they did, another surprise breakthrough happened; Colourmeinkindness ‘ “Covet” went viral on TikTok, introducing Basement to an entire new generation of listeners and making them far bigger than ever. As I write this, that song’s got over 200 million plays on Spotify and it’s always growing. And it’s not a fluke; when Basement returned to the stage again, they started playing even bigger shows (they now regularly headline hardcore festivals ), and the hype for their new album Wired feels louder than the hype for any other Basement album before it. Now the album is here, and I already feel safe calling it one of their best yet.

Wired does not for a second rest on the laurels of any of Basement’s past successes. Instead, it takes a clear leap forward. It’s got sweaty punk energy, dream pop/shoegaze beauty, some Replacements-y alt-rock balladry, emo sentimentality, and some noisy off-kilter studio work that I bet producer John Congleton (PUP, Mannequin Pussy, Cloud Nothings) had a little something to do with. It sounds like no other Basement record, and yet it somehow instantly feels like quintessential Basement. As Ale Henery himself put it, “I never thought Basement could sound like this. But in my head, it’s what I’ve always wanted Basement to sound like.”

Pick up our exclusive green-in-green vinyl variant of ‘Wired,’ limited to 300 copies.

Fire-Toolz – Lavender Networks (Warp) The post-everything artist’s Warp debut combines glitch, screamo, hyperpop, Zola Jesus guest vocals, and so much more in a way that’s shockingly seamless.

Last we heard from Fire-Toolz (aka Angel Marcloid) she was producing one of the best No Joy albums yet, last year’s Bugland , and now she returns with her own new album and her first for Warp, Lavender Networks . She already has a rich back catalog and a ton of past bands (including the cult-classic late 2000s screamo band Age Sixteen), and it feels like she pours a little of everything she’s ever done into Lavender Networks . Her latest bio categorizes Fire-Toolz as “cybergrind, metalcore, emo, screamo, glitch, grindcore, prog, IDM, New Age, post-vaporwave, noise, smooth jazz fusion, avant-garde, etc,” and Lavender Networks lives up to being all of those things in a way that’s shockingly seamless. From gorgeously show-stopping Zola Jesus guest vocals (on “Quintessential Fixed Width Unfoldment”) to the most innovative screamo song of the year (“The Ocean Gratitude Cylinder Peace Necklace Lemonade Flying Free”), Lavender Networks is full of delightful surprises.

Social Distortion – Born To Kill (Epitaph)

Mike Ness returns after 15 years and a cancer diagnosis to do what he’s always done best.

15 years since Social Distortion last released an album and two years since Mike Ness was diagnosed with cancer that he’s since beaten, Social D are finally back with a new album and it finds their trademark Americana-infused punk in remarkably fine, familiar form. Mike Ness has the same unmistakable grit in voice that he’s had for over 40 years, and he still knows how to write a damn song. Born To Kill gives you everything you want from this band–revved-up punk n’ roll (“Born To Kill”), ragged heartland punk (“The Way Things Were”), rollicking cowpunk (“Tonight”)–and a few surprises too. “Crazy Dreamer” finds Mike singing with the equally gravelly-voiced Lucinda Williams (who also put out a worthy new album this year) over some punked-up country balladry, and Born To Kill finds Social D putting their spin on the Chris Isaak’s oft-covered “Wicked Game.” Even with approximately six trillion covers of this song in existence, Mike Ness & co find a way to give it a spin of their own. Like all the original material on Born To Kill , it’s effortlessly enjoyable stuff from a band whose extremely long existence should never be taken for granted.

Pick up ‘Born to Kill’ on pink & yellow and black vinyl .

Lykke Li – The Afterparty (Neon Gold/Futures)

The alt-pop veteran goes out with a dark bang on her sixth and supposedly final album.

Lykke Li has been doing alt-pop since before alt-pop blew up about as much a regular pop, but her nearly-20-year career is apparently now coming to a close. She’s calling her sixth album The Afterparty her “final” album, and true to its title, it does indeed come off like a finale of sorts. It has a bittersweet tone, and it’s thematically darker too, as Lykke Li explains: “I find that we’re in an era where everyone is talking about, ‘My higher self.’ Fuck that. This is an album dealing with your lower self: your need for revenge, your shame, despair. It’s a journey through all the disgusting, sticky emotions. This is a journey through the night, hoping to find dawn—and it’s the dawn of yourself, too.”

Frozen Soul – No Place of Warmth (Century Media)

The coldest death metal band around are back for round 3, with help from My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, Machine Head’s Rob Flynn, and Sanguisugabogg’s Devin Swank.

Frozen Soul have been one of the BV staff’s favorite newer death metal bands since the release of their 2019 debut EP Encased In Ice , and we’re clearly not alone. Their third album No Place of Warmth has guest appearances from two absolute giants, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way (who is no stranger to collaborating with extreme metal bands) and Machine Head’s Rob Flynn, plus Devin Swank of Frozen Soul contemporaries Sanguisugabogg. Clearly people see something special in this band, and for the third album in a row, I think the reasons why are undeniable. They rarely stray far from their late ’80s / early ’90s influences, but they somehow just find a way to make it all sound so fresh, so distinct, and so addictive. And getting a stadium headliner on a track has clearly not gone to Frozen Soul’s heads; No Place of Warmth is just as abrasive and subterranean as everything else this band has released.

Broken Social Scene – Remember the Humans (Arts & Crafts)

The Canadian indie rock veterans make multiple returns-to-form and past-collaborator reunions on their first album in 9 years.

Broken Social Scene are back with their first album in nine years. It finds them reuniting with producer David Newfeld, who worked on their classic You Forgot It In People and self-titled albums, and it also reunites them with Feist, who sung on You Forgot It In People before her solo career blew up. Past collaborator Lisa Lobsinger and new collaborator Hannah Georgas are on there as well. BSS are also supporting the album on a tour with Stars and Metric, whose singers were also on YFIIP and/or self-titled, so their classic early-aughts era is clearly in the air for them this year and Remember the Humans offers up more of that familiar charm.

Pick up ‘Remember the Humans’ on cloud vinyl .

Koyo – Barely Here (Pure Noise)

The Long Island emo-torch carriers stick to their guns and do what they do best on this sophomore LP, which features the vocalists of Fleshwater and Drain.

“A lot of bands think their second album has to be this magnum opus epic that sews so many things together,” said vocalist Joseph Chiaramonte of Long Island emo torch-carriers Koyo in the press materials for their sophomore LP Barely Here . “We wanted to do the opposite of that trajectory–we wanted to refine our strengths instead of doing this purposeful departure.” If you’re already a fan of Koyo’s excellent 2023 debut album Would You Miss It? , then that mission statement should give you a very good idea of what to expect from their second full-length. Would You Miss It? found Koyo seizing the moment when the band that these Long Island hardcore kids formed as a side project a few years earlier was suddenly in the spotlight. Their early EPs saw them writing homages to their Long Island emo forebears like Silent Majority, The Movielife, and Taking Back Sunday, and then they put their own stamp on the genre with an album that united nostalgia-craving old heads with emo and hardcore’s new generations. And as Chiaramonte promises, Barely Here finds Koyo sticking to what they do best, with 10 more catchy, fired-up emo-punk rippers that scratch the LI emo itch just as well as all of their other releases. Also along for the ride are two cool guest vocalists: Drain’s Sammy Ciaramitaro brings some welcome aggression to “Saying Vs. Meaning” and Fleshwater’s Marisa Shirar brings some ethereal melodicism to “Oxidize.” Even though Koyo’s music hearkens back to a very specific style, era, and location, collabs like those remind you how much this band also transcends.

Pick up our exclusive clear glitter vinyl variant of ‘Barely Here,’ limited to 200 copies.

Loraine James – Detached From The Rest Of You (Hyperdub)

A guest-filled “IDM popstar album” from the British electronic artist.

Electronic artist Loraine James is back with a new album that she cheekily calls her “IDM popstar album.” She uses her own voice more, and she also brings in guest vocalists like Low‘s Alan Sparhawk, Tirzah, and Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori. If you like ethereal, electronic pop, you shouldn’t miss this.

Darkthrone – Pre-Historic Metal (Peaceville)

Prehistoric vibes from the black metal pioneers.

Black metal pioneers Darkthrone are throwing it back to the early days on their new album Pre-Historic Metal . Or at least black metal’s early days (take the title with a little grain of salt). The band says, “Prehistoric is a loose term. I just figure it’s our VIBE, our take on things and it’s more a statement that we use old style to create something new.”

Action Bronson – Planet Frog (se

_Originally reported by [Brooklyn Vegan](https://www.brooklynvegan.com/basement-fire-toolz-social-distortion-reviews/)._