Haley Blais’ first LP Below the Salt dropped August 25 (her 26th birthday, of course) and HAIM/Feist/Angel Olsen fans are exploding. Blais has three EPs to her name and countless demos that she uses alongside quirky royalty-free music in her equally-quirky YouTube “vedios” (vlog fans stand UP), but Below the Salt levels up those ukelele tracks of 2016’s Late Bloomer, for example. Let’s go through some of the things that made Below the Salt what it is. Haley grew up in Kelowna, B.C., and she for a hot sec thought she’d pursue opera. She traveled to Canada, Europe and New York with a girls’ opera group, then graduated high school and couldn’t quite relate to foreign arias anymore. While opera’s behind her, Blais’ unbelievable range, vibrato and control are still present in her indie-pop. See “Ready or Not” or “Firestarter” especially for proof. It took a cumulative three years for her to write the LP’s nine songs, but most of them were only written in 20 minutes. As Blais has been disclosing in multiple interviews during the leadup to release day, she either finishes them in one sitting or they get lost in space forever. The lyrics themself are ripe with humility, humorous self-deprecation, and moody takes on mental health (see third single “Rob the Original”) and relationship confusion (see “Ready or Not”). Still others display some pride ‘n’ dignity that one might expect from Blais’ impassive comedy and witty sketches on YouTube (see “Too Good” and “On a Weekend”). To blow your mind, members Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore of Tennis contributed production alongside Louise Burns. Blais’ ukelele bedroom-pop melodies are replaced with synth and heavy drum tracks characteristic of tennis, and there’s some more shoegazey influence in tracks like “Ready or Not” that comes from the darker Burns. Other influences of Blais’ are seen throughout the album: buildups at the backend of “Too Good” and “Asleep” like that of Angel Olsen’s “Sister”; peppy piano reminiscent of fellow-Canadian Feist in “Someone Called While You Were Out” and “So Funny”; and mellow four-piece rock in “Asleep” that depicts some classic formative influences. Of course, Blais kept core aspects of her earlier work in BTS, i.e. the way she effortlessly harmonizes with herself in every single song (see: entire album). Some songs took on new meanings as the years passed. “On the Weekend”, the album’s second single after “Too Good”, originally was a song about confidently staying home alone while others were out. After the coronavirus pandemic set in early March, the song became a comforting anthem for those in quarantine. While you’re listening to the album, you may wish to pull up the lyrics. No big deal: you can do both using handy lyrics videos uploaded to Blais’ YouTube. Yes, they depict the album cover (Blais holding her neice, Alma) with the lips of multiple friends placed over Alma’s mouth. Oh, and you wanted an actual music video? Funny, Blais’ partner Jake Pascoe both directed and produced one for “Be Your Own Muse” that is both hilarious and stunning. The lyrics are delightfully core- Haley Blais: “Iwanna be the one that youkiss Stroking my cheek ‘Haley, You’re hilarious’ And you’re joking around You’re joking around, too Oh why can’t I be, why can’t I be both to you … I’m gonna be the one that you read Front page of the paper, flung at your feet And I’m doing fine, I’m doing fine on my own And it turns out, it turns out that I can be both I guess sometimes it’s a hit or a miss and you lose I guess sometimes you just have to be your own muse” As a final cherry on top, the name of the album comes from Blais’ obsession with salt (i.e. yes, NaCl). During some salt research, Blais came across the phrase “below the salt”, which means peasant-status, basically, or not good enough. Boy, would the peasants be laughing now. – Reed Winckler

美国波特兰女歌手Alexandra Savior带来全新专辑《The Archer》，主打歌曲《But You》。新专辑由Sam Cohen操刀制作，他此前曾为Kevin Morby, Danger Mouse, and Karen O等歌手制作过专辑。

Your Hero Is Not Dead is an album about empathy and compassion, struggle and release, and all the ways we contradict and battle within ourselves. The project is full of supremely crafted, groove-hinged songs about moral, political, and ethical grey areas, that find Westerman attempting to resolve external issues by looking inward.

《冀西南林路行》为总标题，以此延伸出三段独立作品，为泥河，采石，山雀

Recorded at La Ferme records on a farm in the Arcachon region of France the band settled down to a live work/rhythm and routine for over a week, sleeping in the studio surrounded by chickens and an agriculture farm with a honey bee plantation, the ocean and pine trees. Recording all hours of the day and night when the mood was right they recorded 1 batch of songs with drums and drum machine layered live and 1 batch of songs, all playing live in 1 room….the difference in the sound, feel and aesthetic of the songs made them decide to split these in to two separate EP’s. Overdubs were done back in Paris The songs represent a collection of the first songs written by Lewis & Chris & Juilia arriving in Paris from Scotland, New York and Helsinki.

Produced by Jessica Dobson and Andy D. Park Engineered by Andy D. Park Assistant Engineer Samuel Rosson Mixed by Darrell Thorp Mastered by Joe LaPorta Vinyl Mastering Levi Seitz at Blackbelt Album Cover Art by Mr. Babies Album photos by Matt Wignall Art direction and design by Jordan Butcher

One of our very most favourites. The Ascension is the eighth solo studio album from singer, songwriter and composer Sufjan Stevens. It is the long awaited follow-up to Carrie & Lowell and is set for release September 25 on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

From her early punk recordings alongside sister Allison to her quietly devastating solo albums, Katie Crutchfield is always steadfast in her truth. With Saint Cloud, Crutchfield’s fifth album as Waxahatchee, she climbs to solid ground, emerging from the storm self-assured. The album reflects her newfound ease, all big skies, wide open spaces, and Americana twang. It’s both the country album she was destined to make and an acknowledgment that self-acceptance is hard-won; Saint Cloud reckons with addiction, sobriety, imperfect romance, trauma, and trying to navigate it all. Now, Crutchfield gazes into the mirror and doesn’t shy away from the reflection. “I have a gift, I’ve been told, for seeing what’s there,” she sings on “The Eye,” and her perspective has never sounded so clear. –Quinn Moreland

American Head is the best and most consistent studio album from The Flaming Lips since the release of their most successful brace of albums The Soft Bulletin and Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Similar to those albums, the 13 songs on American Head are classically structured and features the same sonic and production qualities. Kacey Musgraves (a fan who covers “Do You Realize” in her live set) is featured on “God And The Policeman”.

Long in the Tooth represents the culmination of a 15-year journey by a band that has consistently carved its own distinct path through the grooves of history. Celebrating 15 years from the release of their debut album, Daptone's Royal Court from Staten Island delivers a truly epic collection of new material that finds the group further bridging the gap between the farfisa-fueled Ethio-Funk stylings of their early recordings, with the psychedelic, Sabbath-inspired hellfire of late. “In some ways, it’s reminiscent of our first two albums The Budos Band and Budos II,” says Tom Brenneck. “We branched off on Burnt Offering and V. Now, we’re still moving forward. You can play these songs on the dance-floor. We knew the horns had to stand out too. Thinking about hip-hop allowed us to put the bounce back into The Budos.” This is evident from needle drop to final rotation. Heavy drum breaks, reminiscent of the B-Boy approved grooves of their early output reign supreme, setting the stage for the pulsating, hallucinatory wall of organ, menacing horns, and rugged guitar riffs to permeate your soul - leaving the listener in a rhythmic wash of Budonian rapture.