It's nearly September, which means back to school season is officially upon us — and we're about to school you in some great new releases our staffers have been keeping in high rotation. Everyone knows you don't have to actually be going back to school to enjoy the nervous anticipation of its clean slate, topping off your office supplies and perhaps rocking a new 'fit fresh enough for that first-day feeling. And what better way to celebrate than a playlist update?
Keep class in-session all year with more thoughts on the latest new music in our album reviews section.
The Beaches
"Orpheus"
(Independent)
The latest single from the Toronto group is a mythological tale of young love that tones down their usual party rock in favour of a sparkling mid-tempo groove. The Beaches haven't announced an official follow-up to last year's Future Lovers — one of Exclaim!'s 25 Best EPs of 2021 — (yet?), but between this and recent single "Grow Up Tomorrow," whatever they have planned is shaping up to be very promising.
Alex Hudson
Blxck Cxsper
BLXCK CXSPER
(Trans Trenderz)
The Montreal-based founder of the Trans Trenderz collective is a rapper on a mission, but they make one thing clear moments into their self-titled new album: "I don't want to be no hero / I'm a vigilante." The nine-track LP is a full-scale exploration of how powerful it can be to flip off institutions and take things into your own hands. Amid AutoTuned choruses, swift and gritty rap verses and minimalist trap beats, their goals are apparent — and there's a lot of fun on here too, like the French-language dancehall finale of seven-minute centrepiece "dont fk with me, i dont got time," and the guitar-and-drums emo rap of "like a light."
Matt Bobkin
Cheekface
Too Much to Ask
(New Professor)
The tongue-in-cheek lyricism of Cheekface's latest has me wondering where I can also find a combination Jamba Juice and therapist. Following their 2021 album Emphatically No., Too Much to Ask aptly straddles the mundanities of daily life and the neuroses that come with, living in that space where everything seems just a little bit off. The record's flippant vocals and power pop-inflected instrumentation are enough to fuel an angsty commute to work, with intrusive thoughts and simple, poignant guitars going hand in hand — just as they're meant to.
Sydney Brasil
Eliza Niemi
Staying Mellow Blows
(Tin Angel)
The songs on Eliza Niemi's debut full-length, following 2020's Glass EP, sound like the shimmering, desiccated exoskeletons of bigger and beefier songs, each crystalline missive pared to its most essential shape. Niemi's songwriting toggles carefully between quiet tenderness and biting menace; her whispered phrases and diaphanous instrumentation — a wandering clarinet, a creaky cello, a carefully plucked banjo — landing like solid blows.
Kaelen Bell
Julie Title
After the Sun
(Independent)
Toronto-based Americana singer-songwriter Julie Title's songs feel traditional yet well-preserved; film photography miraculously unweathered — save a few fingerprints — but possessed by an unmistakable, moth-eaten ache greater than just her own. Her dusky, crushed velvet vocals envelop easy, homespun poetic clarity: "I guess I'm learning or something / But time is ever slow," she realizes forthwith on "Four Horsemen," her tunes likewise capturing time's suspension while making the doldrums feel meaningful.
Megan LaPierre
PinkPantheress & Sam Gellaitry
"Picture in my mind"
(Warner)
Twenty-two-year-old British producer-singer PinkPantheress has been racking up collabs since popping off late last year — teaming up with WILLOW, Lil Uzi Vert, Mura Masa and more — and now, she's bringing Scottish producer Sam Gellaitry into the fold for one of her most dance-ready singles, "Picture in my mind." Where PP's hyperpop tendencies would paradoxically steer her in the direction of subtlety, such as on last year's mixtape to hell with it (one of Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2021), Gellaitry commands an anthemic turn on this dancefloor-ready one-off.
Allie Gregory
Young Nudy
EA Monster
(RCA)
The moment Young Nudy declares that he's gone "outer space with it" in opening EA Monster, it's an all-clear for the East Atlanta artist and his crew of recurring producers to blast off into a half-hour of his now-trademark liquid language and unearthly production. His rocket fuel is found in continued work with COUPE and Pi'erre Bourne, highlighted by the WOW filter and synth flares of "KitKat" and the alien topline melody on "Fresh as Fuck."
Calum Slingerland
Keep class in-session all year with more thoughts on the latest new music in our album reviews section.
The Beaches
"Orpheus"
(Independent)
The latest single from the Toronto group is a mythological tale of young love that tones down their usual party rock in favour of a sparkling mid-tempo groove. The Beaches haven't announced an official follow-up to last year's Future Lovers — one of Exclaim!'s 25 Best EPs of 2021 — (yet?), but between this and recent single "Grow Up Tomorrow," whatever they have planned is shaping up to be very promising.
Alex Hudson
Blxck Cxsper
BLXCK CXSPER
(Trans Trenderz)
The Montreal-based founder of the Trans Trenderz collective is a rapper on a mission, but they make one thing clear moments into their self-titled new album: "I don't want to be no hero / I'm a vigilante." The nine-track LP is a full-scale exploration of how powerful it can be to flip off institutions and take things into your own hands. Amid AutoTuned choruses, swift and gritty rap verses and minimalist trap beats, their goals are apparent — and there's a lot of fun on here too, like the French-language dancehall finale of seven-minute centrepiece "dont fk with me, i dont got time," and the guitar-and-drums emo rap of "like a light."
Matt Bobkin
Cheekface
Too Much to Ask
(New Professor)
The tongue-in-cheek lyricism of Cheekface's latest has me wondering where I can also find a combination Jamba Juice and therapist. Following their 2021 album Emphatically No., Too Much to Ask aptly straddles the mundanities of daily life and the neuroses that come with, living in that space where everything seems just a little bit off. The record's flippant vocals and power pop-inflected instrumentation are enough to fuel an angsty commute to work, with intrusive thoughts and simple, poignant guitars going hand in hand — just as they're meant to.
Sydney Brasil
Eliza Niemi
Staying Mellow Blows
(Tin Angel)
The songs on Eliza Niemi's debut full-length, following 2020's Glass EP, sound like the shimmering, desiccated exoskeletons of bigger and beefier songs, each crystalline missive pared to its most essential shape. Niemi's songwriting toggles carefully between quiet tenderness and biting menace; her whispered phrases and diaphanous instrumentation — a wandering clarinet, a creaky cello, a carefully plucked banjo — landing like solid blows.
Kaelen Bell
Julie Title
After the Sun
(Independent)
Toronto-based Americana singer-songwriter Julie Title's songs feel traditional yet well-preserved; film photography miraculously unweathered — save a few fingerprints — but possessed by an unmistakable, moth-eaten ache greater than just her own. Her dusky, crushed velvet vocals envelop easy, homespun poetic clarity: "I guess I'm learning or something / But time is ever slow," she realizes forthwith on "Four Horsemen," her tunes likewise capturing time's suspension while making the doldrums feel meaningful.
Megan LaPierre
PinkPantheress & Sam Gellaitry
"Picture in my mind"
(Warner)
Twenty-two-year-old British producer-singer PinkPantheress has been racking up collabs since popping off late last year — teaming up with WILLOW, Lil Uzi Vert, Mura Masa and more — and now, she's bringing Scottish producer Sam Gellaitry into the fold for one of her most dance-ready singles, "Picture in my mind." Where PP's hyperpop tendencies would paradoxically steer her in the direction of subtlety, such as on last year's mixtape to hell with it (one of Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2021), Gellaitry commands an anthemic turn on this dancefloor-ready one-off.
Allie Gregory
Young Nudy
EA Monster
(RCA)
The moment Young Nudy declares that he's gone "outer space with it" in opening EA Monster, it's an all-clear for the East Atlanta artist and his crew of recurring producers to blast off into a half-hour of his now-trademark liquid language and unearthly production. His rocket fuel is found in continued work with COUPE and Pi'erre Bourne, highlighted by the WOW filter and synth flares of "KitKat" and the alien topline melody on "Fresh as Fuck."
Calum Slingerland