Ever feel like you’re drowning in new releases? You’re not alone. Several times this year, I’ve discovered that one of my favorite artists had released a new album that I hadn’t even heard of.

American Thrills – Parted Ways

The Connecticut punk rock band releases their debut record, Parted Ways, this Friday. The record offers up a powerful brand of rock and roll filtered through punk ethos that’s perfect for arenas and dive bars alike. Their album release show has enlisted Hot Rod Circuit’s Andy Jackson, which is a huge stamp of approval. The band is also emphatic that Scott Stapp of Creed does not appear on any of the tracks.

Badlands – Call to Love

The Swedish composer/producer is back with another collection of her trademark “outlaw country.” Her sound incorporates elements of electro, trip-hop, warehouse dub, disco, and more, all augmented with orchestral instruments. Fans of Portishead and Massive Attack won’t want to sleep on this one.

Billy Strings – Me/And/Dad

Before he was a Grammy-Award-winning bluegrass guitarist, Billy Strings was a young boy learning how to play guitar under the tutelage of his father. Now, Strings has offered up a collection of covers that he grew up playing with his dad—featuring his old man alongside him.

Brockhampton – The Family (11/17)

The self proclaimed “boy band” is putting their illustrious decade-plus career to rest this weekend with one final offering. The Family is an homage to the hip hop albums of their youth, of which their shared appreciation was the foundation of the collective.

Caitlin Rose – Cazimi

It’s been eleven years since Caitlin Rose’s last album, but the Nashville singer/songwriter hasn’t missed a step. Cazimi finds Rose offering confessional stories of her own self-destructive tendencies and lack of self-control put to an infectious brand of folksy pop with elements of New Wave and pop that calls to mind Bright Eyes.

carpetgarden – wtf is even going on EP

The eccentric bedroom pop artist offers up a new collection of infectious, surrealistic tunes that ride the line between desperation and imagination. Expecting wiggly guitars, lo-fi beats, breezy melodies, and bittersweet love songs.

Honey Dijon – Black Girl Magic

Melissa Carper – Ramblin’ Soul

Melissa Carper seeks to reclaim what made Country music great before it went all pop. And she just might do it. Ramblin’ Soul is an ode to the open road, recounting Carper’s love of travel. Not only do the songs sound like old Country-western tunes, but the production sounds like it was recorded before any digital recording equipment, which makes the lap steels, fiddles, and upright bass sound even more traditional.

Read Kat Dobay’s review here.

Neil Young with Crazy Horse – World Record

At close to sixty years as a professional musician, Neil Young shows no signs of slowing down. On his forty-second record—not including Buffalo Springfield or albums with Crosby, Stills, and/or Nash—Young returns to frequent collaborators Crazy Horse and producer Rick Rubin. This record finds Neil Young reflecting on the gifts Earth has given us and how we have squandered them. Neil’s never been one to pull punches, so expect plenty of knockouts.

POLE – Tempus

German electronic producer Stefan Betke returns with Tempus, an exploration of time and our relationship with it. The sonic landscape fits this theme to a T, incorporating jazz, dub, electronica, glitch, and more anachronistic sounds together in a way that still manages to feel unified.

Röyksopp – Profound Mysteries III

The Norwegian electronica duo are set to release the third and final chapter of their Profound Mysteries series, which started this April. This entry includes a myriad of guest features, including Goldfrapp, Jamie Irrepressible, Pixx, and more. NME has called the first two parts the duo’s best work since Melody AM, so hopes are high for part three.

WEYES BLOOD – And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

Natalie Mering has been offering up eclectic, introspective music as Weyes Blood for almost two decades—the first of those decades to little attention at all. I say this to point out that isolation is no stranger to her. However, on And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, the second part of a trilogy that started with 2019’s Titanic Rising, she focuses in on the negative aspects of hyper-isolation—not just as a byproduct of the pandemic, but as a symptom of the ever-increasing online-ification of our lives.

The Wombats – Is This What IT Feels Like To Feel Like This? EP

British indie rock trio trade their typical synth-polished sheen for stabbing guitars and big choruses on their new EP, Is This What It Feels Like to Feel Like This? The EP follows their last full length, Fix Yourself, Not the World, which was the band’s first number-one debut on the British charts. Taking this kind of left turn after such a triumph is a big risk, but the Wombats didn’t get where they are by being risk averse.

Did we miss your most-anticipated record of the decade that’s finally coming out this week? Or something a little less exciting? Let us know in the comments!