With so much good music being released all the time, it can be hard to determine what to listen to first. Every week, Pitchfork offers a run-down of significant new releases available on streaming services. This week’s batch includes new albums from Charli XCX, Tems, Kaytranada, Actress, Tashi Wada, Margaux, Marina Allen, Goat Girl, J.P., and Bonny Light Horseman. Subscribe to Pitchfork’s New Music Friday newsletter to get our recommendations in your inbox every week. (All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our affiliate links, however, Pitchfork earns an affiliate commission.)
Charli XCX: Brat [Atlantic]
Charli XCX isn’t just ready to hit the club with her it-girl clique; she’s got enough energy to build her own venue from the ground up. On Brat, the English pop star turns to trusted collaborators like A. G. Cook and Easyfun to produce thumping, warped, devilish pop bangers for partying at whiplash speeds. As singles “Von Dutch,” “Club Classics,” and “B2B” suggest, Charli XCX’s commitment to lighting up the dance floor has synthesized into an immediately recognizable and alluring sound. The same holds true even during the album’s moments of honest reflection. To match Brat’s high-octane songs, best not forget to pack a plastic baggy—with sandwiches, that is.
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Tems: Born in the Wild [RCA/Since ’93]
Tems has been making hits for years, but, remarkably, Born in the Wild is the Nigerian singer-songwriter’s first studio album. The project includes the singles “Me & U” and “Love Me JeJe,” along with guest turns from Asake and J. Cole. Tems also worked on Born in the Wild with producers GuiltyBeatz, London, Sarz, P2J, Spax, DameDame*, and Nsikak David.
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Kaytranada: Timeless [RCA]
Kaytranada worked with familiar faces—such as Channel Tres, Charlotte Day Wilson, Anderson .Paak, and his brother, Lou Phelps—on new album Timeless. The main album spans 17 tracks, and there are also four bonus songs, including the single “Stuntin.” Timeless follows 2019’s Bubba.
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Actress: Statik [Smalltown Supersound]
Statik, the new album from Actress, “is imbued with a sense of freedom and stillness,” according to press materials. The electronic music producer shared just two singles ahead of the full-length’s release, “Dolphin Spray” and “Static.” The new album arrives less than a year after LXXXVIII.
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Tashi Wada: What Is Not Strange? [Rvng Intl.]
A consistent presence across Tashi Wada’s new album is the Los Angeles composer’s longtime collaborator and partner, Julia Holter—fitting since Wada worked on Holter’s latest, March’s Something in the Room She Moves. Wada also recruited Ezra Buchla, Devin Hoff, and Corey Fogel to contribute to his debut. A portion of proceeds from What Is Not Strange? will benefit Doctors Without Borders.
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Margaux: Inside the Marble [Massif]
The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Margaux showed a great deal of promise on her first EP, More Brilliant Is the Hand That Throws the Coin. “Her songs often deal with the sort of first love that feels devastating in its purity,” Sophie Kemp wrote in 2019, “the kind that leaves you crying on the couch not because anything bad happened but because one day the joy will dissipate.” On her full-length debut, Inside the Marble, Margaux continues with tracks that straddle art-rock and indie-folk, calling to mind Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear. Highlights from the album include “DNA” and “Picture It.”
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Marina Allen: Eight Pointed Star [Fire]
Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter Marina Allen lifted anecdotes in stories from her past to construct her third full-length album, Eight Pointed Star. Over airy alt-folk and hearty Americana, she explores themes of discovery, hope, and ancestry until all nine tracks begin to resemble the tiny directional arrows of a compass. Steering Eight Pointed Star are the singles “Red Cloud,” “Deep Fake,” and “Swinging Doors.”
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Goat Girl: Below the Waste [Rough Trade]
There’s an unsettling undertone to Goat Girl’s third album, Below the Waste, that’s not unlike taking a shortcut through the shadowy alley: slightly dangerous, a little thrilling, and something that’ll heighten your senses. The south London trio confidently strides through alt-rock with mathy guitar bridges, electronica outros, and noisy beats, sacrificing what works on paper for experimentation that flourishes in execution. As portrayed by singles “Ride Around” and “Words Fell Out,” Below the Waste is worth wandering into the dark.
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J.P.: Coming Out Party [Equity Distribution]
J.P. broke out this year on the strength of “Bad Bitty,” a “feel-good ditty” that is so unique that it “feels like it’s from a different planet,” Alphonse Pierre has written. “Bad Bitty” is one of the 12 songs on the Milwaukee lowend rapper’s debut album, Coming Out Party. Check out the video for another of the project’s singles, “Come and See.”
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Bonny Light Horseman: Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free [Jagjaguwar]
On their new double album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free, Bonny Light Horseman channel two distinct, but not disconnected, records over the course of 20 songs. The Americana trio of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman use their third studio LP to cast a warm glow of vocal harmonies as rich as their twangy folk. Tracks like “Old Dutch,” “I Know You Know,” and “When I Was Younger” paint an accurate picture of the comfortable and lived-in sound that the full double album constructs.
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