New Music Reviews (9/8)

Each week, Music Director Chris Sanley and Associate Music Director Alex Ruder share brief insights on new and upcoming releases for KEXP's rotation. These reviews help our DJs decide on what they want to play. See what we added this week below (and on our Charts page), including new releases from Big Thief, Curtis Harding, Cut Copy, and more. 

Big Thief - Double Infinity (4AD)
The sheer artistry and magnetism of Big Thief is, well, incomprehensible. With lush, layered soundscapes, their folk-tinged indie-rock soars across nine essential tracks, whittled down from over a hundred at the start of the album’s creation. Now a trio, Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek and James Krivchenia have taken the shift in stride, continuing to expand their intricate sound with Adrienne Lenker’s airy, emphatic vocals and intimate lyricism as their true north. Double Infinity, their sixth studio album, ushers in a new era for Big Thief, one that embraces change, growth, collaboration, and as always, a whole lot of heart. –CS

Curtis Harding - Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt (ANTI-)
On his fourth full-length, Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and producer Curtis Harding delivers an inventive concept album about a traveler that gets lost in space and time. Coupling his classic soul sound with an elaborate sci-fi narrative, Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt transcends genre, incorporating elements of psych, funk, and orchestral rock, all carried by his signature buttery vocals. Speaking about the album, Harding shares: “Sometimes when you’re feeling lost, hearing from someone else who’s felt the same way can let you know you’re not alone — that’s really the whole sentiment of the album. I hope these songs help people to recognize that feeling lost is all part of the journey, and that the journey is what’s most important anyway. And once you realize that, you’re on the right path. You’re already on your way home.”  –CS

Cut Copy - Moments (Cutters)
The beloved Australian band’s seventh album is a wonderful return to their warm, colorful, buoyant, New Wave-tinted synth-pop anthems. Five tumultuous years have passed since their relatively brooding 2020 album Freeze, Melt, and the band’s tone has undeniably brightened with Moments finding beauty in the present through a matured blend of glorious synths, infectious grooves, melancholic melodies with a touch of optimism, and lyrics that reflect upon “the joy of being here at all.” –AR

David Byrne - Who Is The Sky? (Matador Records)
On his first album in over seven years, rock’s renaissance man David Byrne teams up with New York-based chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra for twelve vivid, dynamic, and infectious tracks. Led by his perfectly imperfect vocals, Byrne’s brilliant and bizarre art rock feels wholly engrossing as he explores universal themes of humanity, from joy to inevitable doom. Who Is The Sky? is yet another treasure from one of music’s most beloved creators. –CS

Shame - Cutthroat (Dead Oceans)
Raw, urgent, and potent as hell. That’s Cutthroat in a nutshell. Shame’s fourth studio album finds the UK quintet firing on all cylinders, expanding their post-punk sound with touches of Americana and electronic music. Featuring ripping guitars, driving basslines, a theatrical vocal performance from Charlie Steen, and masterful production from John Congleton, the band strikes a perfect balance between melodic and ferocious. Cutthroat feels like a pivotal moment for this indispensable outfit. –CS

Forty Feet Tall - Clean the Cage (Le Cèpe Records)
The new album from Portland’s Forty Feet Tall positively rips. With swaggering vocals, fiery guitars, and menacing bass lines, their fusion of post-punk, indie rock, and psych is gripping across ten bombastic tracks, showcasing a band brimming with confidence and momentum. –CS

Ivy - Traces of You (Bar/None)
NYC trio Ivy return in brilliant fashion with Traces of You, their first new album in 14 years and their first since the tragic passing of founding member Adam Schlesinger – also a founding member of Fountains of Wayne and a super talented film/TV writer – from COVID-19 in April 2020. Built from demos and song fragments written by all three founding members between 1995 to 2012, Andy Chase and Dominique Durand worked with Ivy's backing keyboardist and guitarist, Bruce Driscoll, and the blessing of Schlesinger’s family, to bring these ideas to the finish line. The result is a consistently sharp collection of nostalgic gems that provide a refreshing time capsule back to the stylish, catchy, clever indie pop that characterized their adored late 1990s and early 2000s output. –AR

KIRBY - Miss Black America (self-released)
On her first album in four years, KIRBY serves up an irresistible collection of Southern soul, Americana, and blues. Honoring her ancestors while exploring the complexities of being Black in the American South, these twelve tracks run the sonic gamut from lively, funky arrangements to string-fueled ballads, all anchored by her commanding vocals and vulnerable lyricism. Miss Black America walks the line between personal and inviting, powerful and entertaining, resulting in a magnetic and deeply engaging body of work. –CS

Thandii - FREE UP (HaloHalo)
The fifth album from this low-key prolific Margate, UK-based duo composed of vocalist Jessica Berry and multi-instrumentalist/producer Graham Godfrey is another sharp set of funky, smoky, arty soul-pop. With Berry’s sultry vocals gliding effortlessly over Godfrey’s analog-rich, breaks-heavy grooves, FREE UP boasts a SAULT-esque magnetism, brings a livelier pulse to their sound than their early 2025 album Halo, and delivers yet another stellar record in their quickly growing catalog. –AR

Venna - MALIK (Cashmere Thoughts)
The debut album from South London saxophonist and producer Venna is a showstopper. With an extraordinary fusion of jazz, soul, Bossa Nova, R&B, and hip hop, his artist vision arrives fully formed on MALIK, the name given to him by his mother. Featuring an all-star cast of collaborators including Jorja Smith and Yussef Dayes, this 17-track album grips from start to finish as Venna unravels his labyrinthian sonic universe. –CS

Anushka - Ancestry (BBE Music)
The third album from this British duo composed of vocalist/songwriter Victoria Port and electronic producer Max Wheeler finds them continuing to evolve their sophisticated electronic soul palette. Victoria’s honeyed vocals and reflective lyrics – inspired here by her love of Ella Fitzgerald, Sampha, Jimmy Cliff, and Georgia Anne Muldrow – mesh wonderfully with Wheeler’s crisp, colorful grooves that touch upon house, 2-step, broken beat, jazz, and dub flavors. –AR

Double Wish - Double Wish (Hit The North)
The debut album from Orange County duo Double Wish is a vibrant blend of dream pop, darkwave, and slacker rock. Featuring shimmering guitars, hazy vocals, introspective lyrics, and infectious hooks, their long-awaited full-length does not disappoint. –CS

El Michels Affair - 24 Hr Sports (Big Crown)
The latest El Michels Affair album from this outfit led by renowned Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, producer, and Big Crown Records co-founder Leon Michels proudly demonstrates his versatility with an amorphous funk, nostalgic soul, and dusty hip-hop terrain. With inspiration stemming from “the fashion and graphic design of ‘80s & ‘90s  Sports Illustrated magazines, MF DOOM’s Special Herbs albums, the sample sources used on them, and gospel music a la Pastor T.L. Barrett,” 24 Hr Sports is a diverse collection of lavish soulful songs that get key assists from an appropriately eclectic crew of collaborators: Clairo, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Norah Jones, Shintaro Sakamoto, Rogê, Florence Adoodi, and Dave Guy. –AR

Go Kurosawa - soft shakes (Guruguru Brain)
The debut solo album from multi-instrumentalist, drummer/vocalist of Kikagaku Moyo, and Guruguru Brain co-founder is a total vibe, equal parts calming and exhilarating. Continuing his journey of blending sounds between East and West, soft shakes fuses ambient, psych, and experimental textures into a distinct, intricate sonic tapestry that’s easy to get lost in. –CS

Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves (RVNG Intl)
The latest from Colombian visionary Lucrecia Dalt is a complex, challenging, and breathtaking listen. Her haunting experimental pop soundscapes envelop the listener as she unveils striking collaborations with Camille Mandoki, Juana Molina and co-producer David Sylvian. Across A Danger to Ourselves, it feels as if Dalt is searching for answers to life’s biggest questions through her compelling rhythms, hypnotic multi-lingual vocals, and lush, layered instrumentation, resulting in a cinematic, all-consuming listen. –CS

Ok Bucko - Ok Bucko (Youth Riot)
The debut mini-album from this Seattle band is a promising set of scruffy DIY power-pop and rugged indie rock with touches of grunge, shoegaze, and garage punk that finds lead singer and guitarist Miranda Hardy delivering soaring hooks over their fuzzy PNW-soaked backdrops. –AR

Steven Bamidele - THE CRASH! (Tru Thoughts)
The sophomore album from Nigerian-born, London-based singer, songwriter, and producer Steven Bamidele finds a perfect harmony of organic and synthesized sound. Blending soul, jazz, electronic, R&B, and indie pop, ‘THE CRASH!’ bursts with vibrant textures, dreamy melodies, and captivating rhythms as Bamidele reflects on personal identity, relationships, and holding onto hope in times of uncertainty. –CS

Weval - CHOROPHOBIA (Technicolour)
Named after the term for an intense and often irrational fear of dancing, the fourth album from Amsterdam-based duo Weval (Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers) finds then ditching their previous outlook of creating more moody albums with a “listening mindset” in favor of a full-blown extroverted dance record propelled by infectious rhythms, pulsating beats, euphoric hooks, and a communal lost-on-the-dancefloor energy. –AR