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 Mega Bog, Dave, Taphari, Emma-Jean Thackray, and Maxine Funke, but not Kanye West, who’s not formally released his promised record Donda. 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.)
Mega Bog: Life, and Another [Paradise of Bachelors]
Two years after her fifth album Dolphine, Mega Bog’s Erin Birgy is back with Life, and Another. Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia are among her backing band members, and she recorded the project across multiple locations on the West Coast. She shared the songs “Maybe You Died,” “Station to Station,” and “Weight of the Earth, on Paper” from the album ahead of its release.
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Dave: We’re All Alone in This Together [Neighbourhood]
South London rapper Dave delivers the follow up to 2019’s Mercury Prize-winning Psychodrama in the form of We’re All Alone in This Together. In an interview with British GQ, he said the project’s title was inspired by something Hans Zimmer said to him over FaceTime. (The two worked together with David Attenborough on Planet Earth: A Celebration last year.) Stormzy joined Dave on the single “Clash.”
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Taphari: Blind Obedience [Bayonet]
Raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, burgeoning rapper Taphari more directly identifies as a citizen of Earth, he recently told Nouveau York. Blind Obedience is his first album, and it includes production from XL Big Alex, Tony Seltzer, Taphari, and more. The album also includes the single “Table 42,” featuring Pink Siifu and released earlier this year.
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Emma-Jean Thackray: Yellow [Movementt]
London-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, and DJ Emma-Jean Thackray explores the overlap of brassy, ebullient jazz, funk, dance music, and hip-hop on Yellow, her debut album. It arrives on Movementt, her imprint affiliated with Warp Records.
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Maxine Funke: Seance [A Colorful Storm]
Seance is the fourth album from New Zealand singer-songwriter Maxine Funke. Over seven songs, she sings in a lilting near-whisper about nature, heartache, and self-determination, accompanying herself on guitar. Her last full-length record was 2018’s Silk, and she released a few more new songs earlier this year.
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