This Week's Notable Releases (May 1): American Football, Kacey Musgraves, Emily Nenni and More

This week we got New York Times ‘ much-discussed list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters; Thursday’s “Full City Devolución” tour finally hit NYC; The Menzingers and Citizen announced new albums; and more. Hear us talk about this week’s news, new albums, and classic albums from Bikini Kill and Sloan on today’s episode of BV Weekly .

We highlight seven albums below, and Bill discusses 10 more in Indie Basement , including Weird Nightmare, Kneecap, Seefeel, and Laibach. In addition to those, this week’s honorable mentions include Bonner Kramer & Thurston Moore, Tori Amos, Hiss Golden Messenger, Oddisee & Heno, youbet, Toadies, Venom, Sevendust, The Black Keys, Taj Mahal, Melanie C, Noveller, Jesca Hoop, Octo Octa, Maya Hawke, Gemma, Fentanyl, Sub*T, Jump Source, Psychobuildings, BLARF (Eric André), Suicidas, Genre is Death, Pope, Eli Moore (LAKE), Paisley Fields, White Beast, Pigeon, Valley Boy, Ana Roxanne, B.o.B., The Klezmatics, Ana Roxanne, Hekt, -(16)-’s covers album, RZA & Tyler Bates’ One Spoon Of Chocolate soundtrack, the Zara Larsson remix album, the Tomorrow Woman EP, the Lorelle Meets the Obscure EP, HEALTH’s Addendum EP, and the extended version of Jenny on Holiday’s Quicksand Heart .

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?

American Football – LP4 (Polyvinyl)

The Midwest emo pioneers return from hiatus and inner-band tension with their darkest, grandest music, and some of Mike Kinsella’s most personal songwriting, yet.

Mike Kinsella is a master of turning unfiltered, diaristic sadness into beautiful music, and as outlined in Grayson Haver Currin’s lengthy new GQ feature on American Football , he still has a lot to be sad about–a failed marriage, struggles with alcoholism, inner-band tension, and some very dark personal demons. As Kinsella memorably puts in on LP4 standout “Blood On My Blood,” “The story of my life is a murder mystery.” LP4 , American Football’s first album in seven years and first since drummer/trumpeter Steve Lamos’ temporary departure forced the band into a two-year hiatus, is some of Mike Kinsella’s darkest, most wounded songwriting ever, and that’s saying a lot . It’s just as personal and soul-baring as his solo material as Owen, but no one could accuse LP4 of sounding like it could have been a solo album. The subject matter is matched by the band’s grandest, most majestic music yet–a far cry from the humble, skeletal approach that made their 1999 debut album so legendary. It’s even grander-sounding than 2019’s LP3 , which boasted guest vocals from Hayley Williams, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, and Land of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell and the most lush arrangements of American Football’s career. On LP4 , the band teamed up with producer Sonny DiPerri (who’s best known for working with Animal Collective, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, and more) and brought in mountainous post-rock climaxes, layers of vibraphone (by longtime touring member Cory Bracken) and violin (by Ben Russell, whose credits include Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsom, Dirty Projectors, and The National), and even more guest vocalists, including Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, rising shoegaze artist Wisp, and American Football’s old friend Caithlin De Marrais of Rainer Maria. In some ways, it sounds miles apart from the debut album that every American Football album will always be measured up against. But in even more ways, this could not be the work of any other band in the world.

Pick up one of multiple color vinyl variants in the BV shop.

Kacey Musgraves – Middle of Nowhere (Lost Highway) Kacey’s countrified new album is a return to form and a maturation all at once.

After making forays into pop , psychedelia , and stripped-back folk music , and going through a highly-publicized divorce, Kacey Musgraves has come full circle with Middle of Nowhere . It’s her most straight-up country album since she delivered the one-two punch of Same Trailer Different Park and Pageant Material over a decade ago, and it finds her finding comfort in solitude. (Or, as she cheekily puts it on lead single “Dry Spell,” in “loneliness with a capital ‘H.'”) It’s a return to form and a maturation all at once, and with everybody going country lately, it’s good timing for Kacey to remind the world that she’s been there, done that, and still does it very, very well. And though the lyrics often reflect the theme of solitude, some of Middle of Nowhere ‘s biggest standouts are its collaborations. She sings with fellow country-singer-with-a-famous-divorce-album Miranda Lambert on–what else?–“Horses and Divorces,” and right after that song includes a big lyrical nod to Willie Nelson, the legend himself sings on the album’s very next song, “Uncertain, TX.” She also welcomes fast-rising bluegrass star Billy Strings on “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy” and Gregory Alan Isakov on “Coyote.” The guests fit as perfectly within Kacey’s original comfort zone as the lyrical innuendos and the twangy arrangements; given how effective her last few genre explorations have been, Middle of Nowhere feels like an old friend you didn’t realize you missed.

Emily Nenni – Movin’ Shoes (New West)

The California-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter embraces a love of Southern rock, soul, outlaw country, Paul Simon, and Cass Elliot on this new LP.

If you’re excited about Kacey Musgraves’ return to country, then you should make sure you hear Emily Nenni’s new album too. It finds her branching out from her honky tonk roots into Southern rock, Southern soul, outlaw country, and Paul Simon and Cass Elliot covers, and the result is a lovely mix of the familiar and the new. Regarding the album’s themes, Nenni had this to say: “When I was writing these songs, I was thinking about just how hard it is to live in this world. How are we leaving our mark in this world? How are we interacting with other people and with ourselves, too? The world is scary, but there’s so much beauty to it. And so much of that beauty comes from how we treat each other and ourselves. That’s the album’s entire message.”

Lip Critic- Theft World (Partisan)

The NYC industrial-punks follow their hyped breakthrough LP with an even more intense album that comes with an insane backstory.

Following a hyped breakthrough album as NYC-based industry darlings is never an easy task, and Lip Critic have decided the best path forward is to up the intensity. They also say that Theft World followed a different batch of songs that the band scrapped after vocalist Bret Kaser’s identity was stolen by someone who believed there were hidden codes to a scavenger hunt contained within Lip Critic’s music. Whether or not that story should be taken at face value, it sets a perfectly demonic stage for the cyberpunk thrill ride that is Theft World . They’re still stirring the industrial/punk/hip hop melting pot of Hex Dealer on these songs, and this time they’ve got added bursts of metallic fury that remind me more of Portrayal of Guilt than any of the bands that Lip Critic were compared to in the past (which is already a musically-diverse list that includes Death Grips, Show Me the Body, IDLES, and The B-52s). It’s faster, harsher, and even more urgent–not a bad way at all to keep us on our toes.

duendita – existential thottie (10k)

The lo-fi R&B artist’s latest is a full-band album with songs that toe the line between unfinished sketches and fleshed-out statement pieces.

duendita refers to existential thottie as “personal, like a diary,” and says “these songs started with me, sometimes just me and my Digitakt, alone, late nights and early mornings, pure expression,” but it also ended up being a very lively, collaborative album that she and her band fleshed out with harp, keys, drums, bass, and additional vocalists. The result sounds grand and intimate all at once, a lo-fi mix of R&B, jazz, bedroom pop, and neo-soul with songs that toe the line between unfinished sketches and fleshed-out statement pieces. It’s a more restless record than last year’s a strong desire to survive , and some of duendita’s best work yet.

Isaiah Rashad – It’s Been Awful (TDE)

The TDE rapper/singer changes things up on this trippy, melodic, genre-defying new album.

For Isaiah Rashad’s third album in a 10-year span, the TDE-signed Chattanooga, TN rapper embraces his melodic side more than ever. The announcement of It’s Been Awful promised that the album would “[expand] his sonic world beyond hip-hop into cosmic jazz, psychedelic guitar rock, Soulquarian neo-soul, and flashes of genre-blurring experimentation,” and these songs live up to that description. It’s trippy, it’s gorgeous, and Rashad’s vocals are pillowed by layers of lively instrumentals. He delivers his verbose rap songs with as much confidence as his pop and R&B jams, something that really comes across on a song like “Boy In Red,” the latest in Rashad’s long line of collabs with his TDE labelmate SZA. Her past appearances on Isaiah Rashad songs brought a dose of soaring melody to his pensive rap songs, but here the two duet on a dose of full-blown alt-pop. That it fits perfectly on an album that swings from trunk-rattling trap to woozy jazz-rap to sentimental piano balladry really speaks to It’s Been Awful ‘s range.

The Claypool Lennon Delirium – The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy (ATO) An intricately detailed prog/psych concept album from the duo of Primus’ Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon.

In the seven years since 2019’s South of Reality , both halves of The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Les Claypool and Sean Ono Lennon, have been busy; Les with Primus, and Ono Lennon with solo music and production work, among other things. Work for The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy has been ongoing for over three years though, with Les calling it “the most labor intensive recording I have ever been involved in.” The result is an intricately detailed prog/psych epic, a concept album that deals with AI, morality, and sustainability, set in a fully-realized world detailed in an accompanying comic book. Ono Lennon calls the album “a cautionary tale of what could be in store for humanity if we continue to favor machines over men,” adding, “It is a tale of a technocracy eclipsed by paperclips; a young man destined to unravel the fabric of his father’s folly, and a sacred feathered Goddess (played by WILLOW), who holds the egg-shaped key to their future.” [BrooklynVegan Staff]

pick this one up on green vinyl

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Modern Woman, The Boo Radleys , and Martin Carr .

Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases and Indie Basement archives.

Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out the latest episodes of our weekly music news podcast BV Weekly and the BV interviews podcast .

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_Originally reported by [Brooklyn Vegan](https://www.brooklynvegan.com/american-football-kacey-musgraves-emily-nenni-reviews/)._