New Music Reviews (2/9)

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 Ellur, Ratboys, Charlotte Day Wilson, and more. 

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Ellur - At Home In My Mind (Dance To The Radio)
The debut album from Halifax-based Ella McNamara, aka Ellur, is a spectacular collection of folk-inflected indie rock. With emotionally charged lyricism, dynamic arrangements, and her rich, pristine vocals, At Home In My Mind is an impressive first outing. Across ten enrapturing tracks, she warmly and confidently showcases her craft while offering “an arm extended out looking for people who need a hand to hold.” –CS

Ratboys - Singin’ to an Empty Chair (New West)
On their sixth studio album and first for New West, Chicago quartet Ratboys are at the top of their game. With deliciously twangy guitars, big hooks, propulsive percussion, and Julia Steiner’s singular vocals, their blend of indie rock and Americana on Singin’ to an Empty Chair is all killer, no filler. Balancing longer jams and playful arrangements that allow the band to stretch out with more concise, melodic rockers, Ratboys reaffirm themselves as one of today’s most solid and consistent indie rock bands, unafraid to grow and evolve. A true triumph.  –CS

Charlotte Day Wilson - Patchwork (Stone Woman Music/XL Recordings)
Toronto’s Charlotte Day Wilson doesn’t miss. Born out of a collection of demos, her latest project, Patchwork, plays like anything but, unfolding as a seamless, fluid set of spellbinding soul and R&B. With her rich, smooth, emotive vocals as the centerpiece and a couple of choice guest appearances from Saya Gray and Yukimi, restrained arrangements of keys, bass, programming, vibraphone, and sax add just the right amount of flourish and flair, while allowing her magnetic voice to claim the space it deserves. –CS

Dina Ögon - Människobarn (Playground Music)
The fourth album from this Swedish outfit fronted by singer/songwriter Anna Ahnlund settles cozily into their distinctive lane of colorful, psych-tinted, 70s-soaked soul-pop bursting with dreamy melodies, soaring harmonies, and lush, kaleidoscopic, lightly groovy backdrops. There’s a transportive and quietly magical quality to Dina Ögon’s sound that’s all accented by Anna’s hypnotic voice and lyrics entirely in Swedish floating in union with the band’s warm, nostalgic, analog-rich productions. –AR

Dream Nails - You Wish (Marshall)
The third studio album from London-based Dream Nails is a bold step forward for the trio. While staying true to their punk, queer, riot grrrl roots, You Wish finds them moving deeper into melodic post-punk and indie rock territory. With fierce, feminist lyrics, killer guitar riffs, driving percussion, bouncy basslines and flourishes of keys, You Wish is a “punk album about resilience” the confronts the realities of the modern age with both angst and hope. –CS

Mandy, Indiana - URGH (Sacred Bones)
Enter: Mandy, Indiana with the chaotic catharsis all listeners need in 2026. With urgent, menacing synths, explosions of industrial noise, and pointed lyricism confronting assault, indifference, and pain, the English-French four-piece weaves a frenetic web of electronic, experimental, and post-punk intensity. The result is URGH, a record that serves as a salve of salvation in dark and violent times. –CS

Owelu Dreamhouse - Owelu Dreamhouse (Hopestreet Recordings)
On Owelu Dreamhouse’s debut album, the new outfit composed of Melbourne’s Nkechi Anele and Nic Ryan-Glenie weaves an enticing sonic tapestry built on Afrofunk, cinematic soul, psych, and jazz. Named in honor of Nkechi’s grandmother's village of Owaelu in Nigeria, the duo explores themes of cultural heritage, belonging, and transformation through brilliantly textured, lively arrangements that span genres and generations.  –CS

Ulrika Spacek - EXPO (Full Time Hobby)
The fourth full-length from London outfit Ultra Spacek is a gripping exploration of post-punk and krautrock. The daring arrangements on EXPO feature spacey electronics, angular guitars, expressive vocals, densely layered percussion, sparkling keys, and moody saxophone, resulting in a mesmerizing collection of experimental art rock. –CS

vegas water taxi - long time caller, first time listener (PNKSLM Recordings)
The second full-length album from this East London band led by singer/songwriter Ben Hambro cruises through a wonderful intersection of jangly indie rock, poetic alt-country, and nuanced slacker rock. While it’s technically a jumbled combination of their delightful 2025 EP long time caller with the new first time listener EP added in, the LP cohesively showcases vegas water taxi’s wry, memorable, melodic sound that recalls the likes of MJ Lenderman, Pavement, David Berman, and Fazed on a Pony. –AR

Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Laughter In Summer (Transgressive)
The new collaborative album from Beverly Glenn-Copeland and his wife Elizabeth Copeland is a beautiful snapshot of a loving couple walking tenderly through life hand in hand, embracing whatever challenges come their way. With gentle piano, angelic vocals, and flourishes of woodwinds and a choir, Laughter In Summer moves at its own pace, allowing the heartfelt lyricism to resonate deeply. As they navigate Glenn’s advanced dementia, this intimate gift bursts with love, inviting listeners to join them in their “dance down the road.” –CS

Daphni - Butterfly (Jiaolong)
The fourth album from beloved Canadian-born, London-based artist Dan Snaith (aka Caribou) under his club-focused alias Daphni is a masterclass in cerebral, adventurous, hypnotic house music. Propelled by kinetic earworm loops that are minimal in nature yet designed for maximum dancefloor action, Daphni’s body-moving productions burst out, build, brew, and blossom into anthemic, euphoric club jams. There’s some well-placed breathers, like the vaporous downtempo of “Lucky” and the shadowy psych/jazz/hip-hop beats of “Napoleon’s Rock” and “Miles Smiles,” but Butterfly is mainly focused on losing yourself to a steady four-on-the-floor groove. –AR

Dirt Buyer - Dirt Buyer III (Bayonet)
The third studio album from Dirt Buyer, Joe Sutkowski’s long-running project, is a solid set of indie rock, emo, and indie folk. Employing both electric and acoustic guitars, Dirt Buyer III highlights his diaristic lyricism and emotive vocals, which often feel on the verge of cracking under the weight of the words as he reflects on struggles of past and present. –CS

Emanuela Hutter - Goose Bumps (Hi-Style)
The second solo album from this Swiss artist and lead singer of Shake the Shack-approved outfit The Hillbilly Moon Explosion is a sharp set of vintage rock that touches upon rockabilly, surf rock, classic country, doo-wop, roots rock, and twangy soul. –AR

Natural Magic - II (Optimo Music)
The second album from this Portland-based duo composed of Michael McKinnon and Matthew Quiet is a stellar set of celestial instrumental jams that roam around a trippy, spacy blend of Krautrock, psych, dub, drone, shoegaze, ambient, and techno. Sometimes blossoming and bursting out like a locomotive, as on side openers “Galaxy Builder” and “Skyward Eye,” while often otherwise settling into a sweet soupy groove, II is a “west coast road trip soundtrack for the fading summer” that takes “inspiration from the majesty and myths of their home in the Pacific Northwest.” The album also marks the final vinyl release that the late, great Keith McIvor (aka JD Twitch) put into production for his Optimo Music label before his untimely passing in September 2025. –AR

plantoid - Flare (Bella Union)
The second album from this UK trio is a sprawling, rumbling, shape-shifting brew of prog, psych, shoegaze, math-rock, and adventurous art-rock that’s all accented by the dreamy, idiosyncratic vocals of Chloe Spencer. –AR

Proc Fiskal - Exchequer (Hyperdub)
The latest EP from Edinburgh, UK-based electronic producer Proc Fiskal (aka Joe Powers) is yet another absolutely mesmerizing set of intricate, inventive, futuristic beats. He’s still touching upon grime, bass, IDM, hip-hop, hyperpop, and other tangential terrain, but here he allows his highly-detailed, dizzying beats a bit more room to breathe, and he injects his adventurous palette with a heavy dose of synthetic strings that adds a cinematic videogame soundtrack vibe to it all. It’s yet another Proc Fiskal top-shelf offering, and he closes out the five-song set with likely his most beautiful song, “she’s veiled.” –AR

Russian Blue - A Modern Analogue (Pegasus Theory)
The second album from this Bremerton-based six-piece band taps into a nostalgic 2000s dance-rock sound that evokes the visceral, soaring, off-kilter rhythmic journeys of early LCD Soundsystem and TV On the Radio. While it wears its influences proudly on its sleeve, A Modern Analogue injects a refreshing throwback energy into the PNW scene and signals a noteworthy act emerging from Kitsap County. –AR

Sébastien Tellier - Kiss the Beast (Because Music)
The latest studio album from the singular French artist and “2000s’ romantic dandy” Sébastien Tellier is another fascinating journey through his epic, peculiar, and uncompromising pop vision. There’s credited boosts from Owen Pallett’s strings and Nile Rodgers’ legendary guitar, as well as guest appearances from Kid Cudi and Slayyyter, but Kiss the Beast is undoubtedly a Sébastien Tellier creation as he weaves through his expressive, enigmatic, and playful blend of French pop, synth-pop, funk, lounge, New Wave, and R&B styles. The vocal-laced, pulsating, orchestral disco anthem “Copycat” and the slinky instrumental groove “Romantic” emerge as a pair of delightful highpoints around the album’s provocative early singles. –AR

Tyler Ballgame - For The First Time, Again (Rough Trade)
The debut album from LA-based, Rhode Island-bred Tyler Ballgame is a remarkable set of soulful, heartfelt Americana. Channeling his inner crooner at times, his compelling yodel and beautiful arrangements are brought to life through masterful production and contributions from multi-instrumentalists Jonathan Rado and Ryan Pollie, alongside drummer Amy Aileen Wood and bassist Wayne Whitaker. The result is a collection where time stands still, worries melt away, and each note cuts straight to the heart. –CS

Yamila - Noor (Umor Rex)
The third full-length album from Granada-born, Madrid/Brussels-based singer, cellist, composer, and producer Yamila Ríos is a brilliant set of adventurous, sweeping, orchestral art-pop. “Born from her time in an ecologist community, where she sought refuge in stillness, learned from animals, and tried to forget the human,” Noor is an often otherworldly journey that boldly blends together classical influences, Spanish folklore, operatic avant-pop inclinations, and Yamila’s celestial vocals with riveting string orchestrations performed by Brussels ensemble Echo Collective. –AR