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, EPs, and projects from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Medhane, Shanti Celeste, TNGHT, DJ Shadow, and Margaux. 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 may earn an affiliate commission.)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy: I Made a Place [Drag City/Palace]
I Made a Place is Will Oldham’s first album of new material under his Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker for Drag City since 2011. Since then, his other projects have included an album of Merle Haggard covers, re-working old songs, a collaboration with Bryce Dessner and Eighth Blackbird, and more. The new album features Oldham’s Kentucky-based comrades Joan Shelley and Nathan Salsburg.
In his Pitchfork review of the album, Sam Sodomsky writes that Oldham’s “work remains defined by its complexity, as many of these 13 songs take the form of advice delivered like riddles.”
Medhane: Own Pace [self-released]
Own Pace is the debut solo full-length from Brooklyn rapper Medhane. It follows 2018’s Ba Suba, Ak Jamm EP and 2017’s Do for Self EP, as well as his Slasuson Malone collaboration Poorboy. In his review of the project, Matthew Strauss writes, “Own Pace is Medhane’s non-stop constant trip to the center of his inner self, filled with the imperceptible detours and contours of the mind.” Check out Medhane’s “WHISPERS / WALK WITH ME” music video.
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Shanti Celeste: Tangerine [Peach Discs]
Before writing her debut album, English DJ and producer Shanti Celeste felt limited by shorter formats like EPs. “I would think too much about creating the moments on the dancefloor I love,” she said. Celeste now stretches out across 10 songs on the full-length Tangerine. She previewed the album in October with the instrumental track “Voz.”
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TNGHT—the creative team of Lunice and Hudson Mohawke—have returned from a seven-year quiet period to release their second EP. Lunice said that even though the new EP “doesn’t sound the same as the first record—the energy is.” Read Pitchfork’s track review of the EP’s “Serpent.”
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DJ Shadow: Our Pathetic Age [Mass Appeal]
Our Pathetic Age, the first new album from DJ Shadow since 2016’s The Mountain Will Fall, is split into two halves. The first is fully instrumental and, along with the song “Rosie,” features a new orchestral piece from DJ Shadow. The other features guest vocalists like Nas, Run the Jewels, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring, and De La Soul, who join for “Rocket Fuel.”
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Margaux: More Brilliant is the Hand that Throws the Coin EP [Massif]
Though her background is in jazz, Margaux Bouchegnies takes a turn toward indie rock on her debut EP, More Brilliant is the Hand that Throws the Coin. The 20-year-old singer-songwriter is a Seattle native who’s now based in Brooklyn. She released the songs “Cave In” and “Palm” ahead of the Sahil Ansari-produced EP’s release.
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