New Music Reviews (1/12)

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 Dry Cleaning, Fred again.., JJerome87, and more. 

Dry Cleaning - Secret Love (4AD)
The third studio album from South London’s Dry Cleaning finds the post-punk quartet in prime form. Produced by Cate Le Bon, Secret Love features clever, deadpan lyricism, striking guitar lines, and meticulous drum work with flourishes of saxophone and piano. With an ideal balance of repetition and unexpected twists and turns, this delightfully nuanced collection is equal parts social commentary and playful art rock, offering listeners a quintessential Dry Cleaning album. –CS

Fred again.. - USB (Atlantic)
The latest album from celebrated producer, multi-instrumentalist, and DJ Fred again.. is an epic, expansive set of dancefloor bangers. Traversing progressive house, UK garage, jungle, techno, drum & bass, dubstep, and hip-hop, the 2025 installment in his USB series is a no-skips collection of collaboration and innovation that delivers as much movement as it inspires. Featuring an insane guest list, flawless production, and earworm after earworm, Fred again.. proves that he is simply untouchable. –CS

JJerome87 - The Canyon (self-released)
The debut solo album from alt-J’s vocalist Joe Newman is a delicious slice of soulful Americana. Marking a shift in sound and focus after becoming a father and venturing into his first solo endeavor, The Canyon feels curious, free, and playful, with a little bit of doom for good measure. The resulting collection of eleven dynamic, timeless tracks is an endearing introduction to JJerome87.  –CS

Nas & DJ Premier - Light-Years (Mass Appeal)
The new collaborative album from hip-hop legends Nas and DJ Premier finds the iconic duo taking a deep foray into classic boom bap. With smooth, introspective flows from Nas and simple yet refined beats from Preemo, this final installment of Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It… series finds the pair showcasing the craft that made them the influential visionaries that they are. –CS

NATE08 - TWENTY SEVEN (Needwant)
The second full-length album from Mumbai-based musician, producer, and DJ Nathan Thomas (aka NATE08) finds a smooth, soulful, sweet intersection between house, R&B, funk, Afro House, and pop with help from a handful of guest vocalists who help accent his warm, silky, kinetic grooves. –AR

SAULT - Chapter 1 (Forever Living Originals)
The 13th album and latest surprise offering from this enigmatic and super prolific British collective centered around the husband/wife duo of producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Inflo and singer-songwriter Cleo Sol is another strong showcase of their exquisite soul music inflected with heavy doses of gospel, psych, R&B, and funk. Inflo’s analog-rich productions and lush symphonic touches continue to flourish, while Cleo Sol’s golden voice delivers beautiful mantra-like refrains that balances uplifting spiritual pronouncements with brief nods addressing their enemies and haters, the latter deliciously exhibited on the standout title track. –AR

TWEN - Fate Euphoric (Twenterprises)
The third full-length studio album from this American band led by Jane Fitzsimmons and Ian Jones is a strong set of vibrant, lively, expansive indie rock that mines psych, Britpop, New Wave, jangle-pop, shoegaze, and more to create their own confident, catchy, kaleidoscopic guitar-forward DIY sound. The band has described their music as “1965, 1995, and 2025 all at the same time” and it’s a fitting summation as TWEN manages to impressively fuse styles and genres into an amorphous alternative rock lane that feels both fresh and nostalgic.  –AR

CRYYS - Cry Yourself to Sleep (demos) (self-released)
CRYSS – “Cry Yourself to Sleep, but inexplicably pronounced Chris” – is a new alias from LA-based musician Chris Stewart, best-known under his beloved alias Black Marble. His debut release for this “sorta underground and debatably necessary low-fi techno blogcore side piece” project is a fun set of gauzy, propulsive, catchy techno-pop that filters the goth-tinged post-punk and moody electro-pop of Black Marble through a high-BPM dancefloor prism that sounds like the soundtrack to an amazing night out with friends at a small club in the early 2010s. “One Thing” is a sweet rework of Amerie’s classic hit. –AR

DRAMA - Platonic Romance (AWAL)
The third album from this Chicago-based duo composed of producer Na’el Shehade and vocalist Via Rosa (aka Lluvia Rosa Vela) continues to mine a vibrant blend of R&B, pop, and sleek electronic flavors that leans heavily into house and disco tempos. Now 10 years into their partnership, DRAMA are consistently crafting crossover-ready dance-pop rooted in a foundational DIY spirit, with distinctive standout “Yalla Habibi” and its infusion of Arabic elements reflecting upon Shehade’s Palestinian ancestry in addictive fashion. –AR

Euphoria Again & Dogwood Tales - Destination Heaven (Born Losers)
The debut collaborative album from Euphoria Again and Dogwood Tales is a solid set of dusty, lo-fi indie rock and alt-country with a bedroom pop sensibility. Through lively jams built on hazy, layered guitars, driving percussion, vibrant keys, and emotive lyrics, Destination Heaven represents true friendship and teamwork, as the two outfits join forces to form an eight-piece ensemble that brings these folk pop gems to life. –CS

Jimena Ángel - Aguacero (Partyfine)
The latest album from Colombian artist Jimena Ángel is a colorful set of playful, groovy, bouncy Latin-pop. Written while living in the Colombia Caribbean and on tour in Europe, ‘Aguacero’ blends an array of global flavors – Bullerengue, dub, Highlife, disco, Konpa, and more – into her buoyant songs that often touch upon the deep joys and transformational power of love. Captain Planet, Nickodemus, Maga Bo, iZem, Bruno Patchworks, and Daniel Michel make guest appearances. –AR

Johnny Burgos - A Long Short Story (LRK)
The latest album from Brooklyn singer, songwriter, producer, and engineer Johnny Burgos is a consistently solid set of classic R&B and low-rider soul that mines the 1960s and 1970s for its nostalgic, punchy, heart-on-sleeve love jams. -–AR

Júlia Colom - Paradís (La Castanya)
The sophomore album from this Spanish musician born and raised on Mallorca (one of Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean) is a strong set of dynamic Latin alt-pop infused with folk, flamenco, electronic, and Balearic textures that gives her soaring songs an evocative edge. –AR

PLOSIVS - Yell at Cloud (Swami)
The sophomore album from alt-rock supergroup PLOSIVS, composed of Rob Crow, John Reis, Atom Willard, and Jordan Clark, is a high-octane set of melodic rippers. Four years in the making, the record began during a 2020 Winnipeg blizzard and was finished in sunny San Diego, resulting in a “claustrophobic album that searches for an oasis within.” With muscular guitars, potent percussion, and emphatic vocals, Yell at Cloud is an impressive second outing. –CS

Seb Wildblood - Waterworld (all my thoughts)
While best known for his deep discography of warm, sleek, house-leaning electronic productions, the fifth full-length album from British artist Seb Wildblood is a notable stylistic leap in his catalog as he injects a dominant dose of shoegaze, post-punk, indie rock, and synth-pop into his sonic palette and prominently adds his own vocals into the mix. Indebted to the formative indie music he loved as a teenager,“ when new discoveries seemed to resonate impossibly deeply,” Waterworld captures a fascinating early 2000s nostalgia, and it’s undeniably Seb’s most unique and personal record to date. –AR

TEED - Always With Me (Nice Age)
The third album from LA-based British musician TEED (aka Orlando Higginbottom, fka Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs) is a tender yet still super groovy set of shimmery synth-pop that pairs his warm synths, glistening beats, and breezy vocals with lyrics touching upon love, longing, desire, self-awareness, and emotional resilience. –AR