New Music Reviews (11/2)

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 DIIV, Sampa the Great, Heathers, and more. 

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DIIV - ZIRP! (Fantasy)
Dense, moody, and decidedly more pop, DIIV’s expansive fifth studio album makes one helluva mark. Working with celebrated mastermind producer A.G. Cook, ZIRP! finds the four-piece channeling their signature shoegaze sound through an alt-pop lens, delivering big hooks alongside layered guitars, bright synths, expressive vocals, and propulsive percussion. Self-described as “The New Alternative,” this dynamic shift ushers in a thrilling new era for DIIV.   –CS

Sampa the Great - Nu Zamrock (Loma Vista Recordings)
The third studio album from rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer Sampa The Great is an exhilarating exploration of lineage, identity, and musical legacy. After discovering that her uncle was a founding member of Zamrock pioneers WITCH, Sampa looks to the past to bridge it with the present through an arresting fusion of hip-hop, soul, Afrofuturism, and Zamrock. She shares: “Nu Zamrock is not nostalgia. It is the future remembering where it came from. This album is a reclamation of my lineage and bloodline: it is my homage to the disruptive, rebellious spirit that Zamrock represented at its peak and carried Zambia forward with, reintroducing the genre to the world, in my own way.” Fueled by fierce bars, touching interstitials, and lush instrumentals, these sixteen tracks celebrate Sampa’s incomparable artistry and deep connection to her ancestry. –CS

GRUB - GRUB (Wing Sing Records) 
The debut album from Australian five-piece GRUB is a stellar set of fiery garage punk. Led by singer and guitarist Matilda Beales, these nine tracks deliver tongue-in-cheek lyricism, ripping guitars, propulsive drums, and plenty of swagger, fueled by Beales’ ferocious vocals as she explores anxiety, sobriety, isolation, and cancer treatment. With melodic hooks, cathartic screams into the abyss, and everything in between, GRUB have truly arrived with this knockout debut. –CS

Heathers - Awesome (Warner)
The debut album from Missouri-born, Carbondale, Illinois-based musician Heath Michael Thomas (aka Heathers) is a strong set of infectious, catchy, spirited garage rock and fuzzy, explosive, in-the-red power-pop. With its refreshingly exuberant take on a classic 20th century underground rock sound, Awesome is indeed quite awesome as it’s packed with rowdy, sweaty, nostalgia-soaked jams and it serves as a standout major-label introduction to a budding young artist. –AR

Moses Boyd - Songs For Sinners (Exodus)
The sophomore album from South London-based drummer, producer, composer, and DJ Moses Boyd is a sensational set of jazz infused with gospel, soul, R&B, and electronic elements. With mesmerizing textures achieved through a transfixing blend of organic and synthesized sonics, Songs For Sinners unfurls with an effortless flow. Guest vocalists Raelle, SHANTÉH, and Amber-Simone add richness and emotional depth with their knockout performances, while Boyd’s untouchable musicianship shines throughout. What an essential slice of contemporary jazz fusion. –CS

Nao - Autumn (Little Tokyo Recordings)
The fifth album from East London’s Nao is a wonderful set of warm R&B and sumptuous neo-soul with an earthy, jazzy, feathery touch. Produced by Dave Okumu, a versatile Austrian-born, London-based artist, lead singer of The Invisible, and close collaborator with Jessie Ware, Autumn is the first in Nao’s newly-launched four-part A Soulful Suite series. –AR

Queens of the Stone Age - Perfecth (Matador)
The ninth studio album from this veteran California band led by enigmatic frontman Josh Homme is an expansive set of brooding rock that leans heavily into an eclectic art-rock lane. At times theatrical and bluesy, and often groovy and glammy, Perfecth forgoes the riff-heavy stoner-rock of their influential roots to capture a mature, honest, and authentic sound that reflects a seasoned band now 30 years into their winding career. –AR

RIP Magic - 1,2,3 (section1)
The debut album from London quartet RIP Magic is utterly spellbinding. Dizzyingly unclassifiable, their inventive fusion of experimental, art rock, electronic, hip-hop, and indie pop soundscapes is built from synths, samples, drums, bass, and deadpan vocals. Through innovative arrangements laced with menacing undertones, 1,2,3 marks the official arrival of a boundless new outfit with a clear and enticing vision. –CS

THAO - Show Me (Kill Rock Stars) 
The sixth studio album from Bay Area singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Thao Nguyen, aka THAO, is a lush, intimate journey. Marking her first album in over six years, Show Me, feels like a reintroduction to Nguyen as she explores what it means to be vulnerable, curious, and openhearted through inventive indie pop arrangements and her signature expressive vocals. She shares: “I’ve learned that the point of life is not to emerge unscathed, and that I don't want to operate as I always have — masking fear as indifference.” That sentiment is a common thread through Show Me, both lyrically and musically, as Nguyen artfully forges a new path. –CS

Ahamefule J. Oluo - Where Time Does Not Ache (Oak Head)
The latest album from renowned PNW musician, trumpeter, composer, and artist Ahamefule J. Oluo is a sweeping set of lush, vibrant, exploratory jazz arrangements with a spiritual and lightly psychedelic bent that captures a magical earthly quality “rooted in the evergreen mists of the Pacific Northwest coast” and inspired by his current home base deep in the woods on the Olympic Peninsula. A five-year labor of love and obsession, Where Time Does Not Ache was painstakingly composed, produced, recorded, and mixed by Oluo, yet it's also a communal affair with contributions from many fellow PNW luminaries like D’Vonne Lewis, Josh Rawlings, Skerik, okanomodé, and more. –AR

bloococoon - My Favourite Ghost (self-released)
The latest EP from this this Seattle band led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Sharim is a solid four-song set of  dreamy shoegaze, enveloping psych-rock, and PNW-steeped grunge featuring songs that began during the sessions that yielded their 2024 debut album, but needed a bit more time to be fully fleshed out. –AR

Dev Lemons - hunting what we already killed (self-released)
The second album from this solo project of Philadelphia-based artist Devon Vonder Schmalz is a breakout set of captivating alt-pop, gritty trip-hop, angsty shoegaze, trippy dream-pop, and blown-out bedroom pop. Written in close collaboration with album producer Emmett Kai, hunting what we already killed combines Dev’s charismatic vocal style and a lyrical throughline of a devastating break-up with wide-ranging, enveloping, often unexpected backdrops consistently filled with aural delights. –AR

Eels - Cookie Happened (E Works/Play It Again Sam)
The 16th studio album from this veteran LA-based band led by Mark Oliver Everett (aka E) is a solid collection of melancholic indie rock, poignant chamber pop, heartfelt indie pop, and bittersweet folk-pop accented by E’s raw, honest, slightly gravelly delivery. –AR

Ex:Re - Save As (4AD)
The second album (and first in eight years) from this solo project of Daughter frontwoman Elena Tonra is a nice set of moody, arty, dreamy folk-pop with an intimate, delicate, slow-burning quality. –AR

Fenne Lily - Win Win (Nettwerk) 
The fourth studio album from Brooklyn-based, Dorset-born singer-songwriter Fenne Lily is a beautiful set of sweet, supple folk-pop. Across Win Win, lush compositions of guitars, keys, banjo, strings, lap steel and drums complement her dynamic, captivating vocals, which shift between a buttery alto and breathy, soaring upper register. Born out of a period of darkness, including the end of a relationship, the loss of a pet, and starting over in NYC, the album reflects Lily’s desire to “to make music that sounded like the sun was out,” embracing the warmth of growth and new beginnings. –CS

Foot Ox - Topanga Canyon (Lauren)
The latest album from this project led by veteran Portland-based artist Teague Cullen is a lovely set of homespun indie folk with a winsome melodic sensibility and an introspective tenderness. –AR

Goya Gumbani - Bean Pie EP (Ghostly International) 
The latest EP from Brooklyn-born, London-based artist, MC, and producer Goya Gumbani is a cool set of smoky, jazzy, underground hip-hop with a low-key charisma and quiet confidence. –AR

Kelley Stoltz - Writing the Thread (Dandy Boy)
Prolific Bay Area musician, KEXP DJ, and DIY stalwart Kelley Stoltz swiftly follows up his excellent 2026 album If You Don't Know Me, Buy Now! with another impressive collection of kaleidoscopic homespun psych-pop gems accented with touches of power-pop, garage rock, and Krautrock. The album marks his 21st (or maybe 20th??) full-length album in his illustrious career, it arrives amidst a run of live dates across the UK and Europe, and it offers some wonderful evidence that Kelley’s creativity shows no signs of slowing down. –AR

MorMor - No One Alive Will Listen (Promised Land Recordings)
The sophomore album from Toronto-based singer, songwriter, and producer Seth Nyquist, aka MorMor, is a deliciously hazy fusion of neo-psych, alt-R&B, and indie pop. His weightless, ethereal vocals float atop arrangements of sparkling synths, bouncy basslines, delicate guitars, and intricate percussion as he explores the emotional complexities of a breakup. With an expanded cast of musicians and additional producers in the mix, Nyquist moves beyond the bedroom pop realm, broadening his sound while revealing a more raw, intimate side of his storytelling. –CS

Russell Gunn & Blackhawk - Afrikan-Amerikan Book of the Dead (Vanglorious Arts)
Celebrated trumpeter, composer, and producer Russell Gunn and his new band, Blackhawk, serve up an exhilarating fusion of jazz and hip-hop. Through fiery arrangements of sax, trombone, piano, organ, guitars, turntables, and percussion, Afrikan-Amerikan Book of the Dead channels “a space of pro understanding about what my ancestors created and achieved, and how people can proceed in the greatness of that,” Gunn explains. Raw, evocative, and joyful, the album moves with inventive grooves and deep appreciation for Black music. –CS

Twin Temple - Doomed Lovers (Pentagrammaton Records)
The third studio album from LA-based “Satanic doo-wop” duo Twin Temple is a portal to another time and place. With a swoon-worthy blend of ‘50s rock, vintage soul, and country, Doomed Lovers envelops listeners in orchestral arrangements that frame Alexandra James’ rich, commanding vocals as she explores the darker sides of love and loss. Through classic balladry infused with contemporary flair, Twin Temple deliver a landmark release. –CS