New Music Reviews (7/27)

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 IAN SWEET, Syd, atmos bloom, and more. 

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IAN SWEET - Shiverstruck (Polyvinyl)
The fifth studio album from Jilian Medford’s IAN SWEET project is a triumphant set of sweeping indie rock. Written during her second year in New York City before returning to Los Angeles, Shiverstruck marks a turning point for Medford, reflecting on struggling to make ends meet, the end of a long-term relationship, and navigating the challenges of today’s music industry. Anchored by her honeyed, expressive vocals, these gripping arrangements feature melodic guitars, shimmering keys, and propulsive percussion, moving seamlessly through anthemic rockers, acoustic guitar-driven ballads, and dreamy pop gems, ushering listeners along the journey that brought her back to herself. –CS

Syd - Beard (Free Lunch/Warner Records)
LA-based singer, songwriter, and producer Syd returns with her seductive third studio album, her first in over four years. With her smooth, sweet, and airy vocals as its centerpiece, Beard unfurls its nuanced arrangements featuring bright keys, engaging bass grooves, flourishes of horns, and guest appearances from Blu June, Jordan Ward, Cube, Big Sean, and James Fauntleroy. Exploring self-acceptance, yearning, and love, this sultry set of alt-R&B documents her personal growth while showcasing her immaculate artistry and inventive production skills. –CS

atmos bloom - Everythingness (Spirit Goth Records) 
South London duo atmos bloom, composed of partners in life and music Tilda Gratton and Curtis Paterson, bring their irresistible dreamgaze to new heights on their stellar sophomore album. Blending ethereal dream pop textures with shoegaze, psych, and jangle pop, their dazzling soundscape feels like a bright light piercing a dense haze. With radiant guitars, grounding basslines, atmospheric synths, captivating drum patterns, and Gratton’s magnetic vocals, Everythingness is, well, everything. –CS

Body Type - Tally (p(doom))
The third album from this Sydney-based four-piece band is a strong collection of smartly-crafted garage rock songs inflected with touches of punk, post-punk, and jangle-pop. It’s a notable evolution from Body Type’s incisive punk roots towards a more expansive rock palette that was assisted by album producer (and Warpaint drummer) Stella Mozgawa. –AR

Curió Curió - Curió Curió (Mr Bongo)  
The self-titled debut album from Curió Curió, the duo composed of Rio-born, Austria-based singer and actress Luiza Monteiro and German producer Dustin Braun, is a groove-forward set of Brazilian MPB. Featuring an alluring blend of samba, bossa nova, psych, and disco, the pair craft a transportive soundscape that bridges past and present, honoring the Brazilian musical traditions they both love while infusing them with a vibrant, modern edge. –CS

Josaleigh Pollett - If I Let It Quiet (Audio Antihero)  
The fourth full-length album from Salt Lake City-based singer-songwriter Josaleigh Pollett, co-written with producer, creative partner, and best friend Jordan Watko between Salt Lake City and Japan, is a boundless collection of folk-tinged electronic pop. Guided by Pollett’s emotive vocals, If I Let It Quiet boasts richly textured arrangements featuring layered synths, guitar, percussion, samples, and cello, artfully building and releasing tension across nine breathtaking tracks. Thematically, Pollett and Watko examine “what it takes to quiet the noise of geographical and emotional distance in order to hear ourselves and the ones who see us,” ultimately celebrating music’s unifying power, no matter the distance. –CS

Lockimara - Only Sun, Only Moon (Play Dead)
The sophomore album from NYC-via-Toronto project led by Nicholas Gay, Lockimara, is a dizzying set of experimental delights. Defying genre through an expansive fusion of art rock, art pop, electronic, freak folk, and more, Only Sun, Only Moon, ebbs and flows with a kinetic, frenetic energy, commanding listeners’ attention as they eagerly await the next intriguing left turn. Exploring themes of instability, fear, and determination, this dynamic, textured collection is a gripping, surreal listen that feels both urgent and approachable. –CS

Louie El Ser - Cerebral (Text Me Records)
The debut album from Bay Area singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Louie El Ser is an adventurous collision of alt-pop, electronic, experimental, darkwave, and reggaeton. Sung in both English and Spanish, Cerebral explores identity, desire, and sexual freedom through immersive, nocturnal soundscapes. Balancing hook-forward pop songs like “Perra (i wanna be your dog)” and more fluid explorations like “deportistA,” El Ser announces herself as a singular new voice.  –CS

Sam and Louise Sullivan - Love & Devotion (Historic New Jersey Recordings)
The third album from this Philadelphia-via-Oregon brother-sister duo is a delightful set of melodic, buoyant, classic-tinged folk-pop that carries a loose, playful, winsome charm. With steady help here from their Philly pals Emily Moales (aka Star Moles) and Kevin Basko (aka Rubber Band Gun) accenting the album’s feel-good camaraderie, Love & Devotion delivers a wonderful, cheerful summertime soundtrack. –AR

Suki Waterhouse - Loveland (Island) 
The third studio album from London-born, LA-based Suki Waterhouse is a captivating, nuanced set of alt-pop. Marking her major-label debut following previous releases with Sub Pop, the singer-songwriter delivers a luminous, expansive collection of lush, densely layered compositions with contributions from a wide cast of producers including Aaron Dessner, Dan Wilson, and Jules Apollinaire. Effortlessly moving between playful pop cuts, to raw, confessional reveries, Loveland beautifully captures Waterhouse’s essence while offering an intimate snapshot of her life as a mother, partner, and working artist. –CS

Swapmeet - Mount Zero (Winspear)
The debut album from Australian four-piece Swapmeet is an impressive collection of brooding indie rock, inflected with tinges of jangle pop, shoegaze, slacker rock, and indie folk. Boasting soaring, intricate guitars, syncopated drum patterns, and melancholic lyricism traversing tales of love, heartbreak, regret, and uncertainty, Mount Zero makes for a stellar introduction to this thrilling new outfit. –CS

WILLOW - The Thread (Three Six Zero) 
The eighth solo studio album from singer, songwriter, and producer Willow Smith, simply known as WILLOW, is a sophisticated set of soulful, jazz-inflected indie rock. When discussing the goal for The Thread, her second album of 2026, she shares: “I went into this album wanting the official genre to be 'devotional.' Each and every song, I'm singing to the holy mystery and giving praise." This reverence for her craft resonates across the ten tracks, showcasing intricate guitar work, acrobatic vocals, and a wide array of moods and tempos. Co-produced with frequent collaborator Chris Greatti and featuring a guest appearance from indie darling Mei Semones, The Thread is a confident statement from an artist who refuses to stand still. –CS

Cat Nap - Free In Anarchy (Cassette Culture)
The debut album from this Amesbury, Massachusetts-based band fronted by Jenna Bantjes is an impressive set of smart, scrappy, DIY indie rock with a classic left-of-the-dial touch. Jenna’s relatable, vulnerable, gut-punch lyrics and catchy hooks shine bright over the band’s dynamic mixture of propulsive indie rock, garage punk, and shoegaze for a consistently solid collection of songs that “hit hard, linger long, and feel like waking up in the middle of a beautiful mess.” –AR

Darkswoon - Antivenom (Viasonde)
The fourth album from this Portland trio led by Jana Cushman continues to refine dark, propulsive, goth-tinted intersection of darkwave, post-punk, and shoegaze. Bolstered by analogue synths, steady basslines, ominous textures, and Jana’s soaring vocals, Antivenom is both mechanical yet human, with lyrics that confront “loss, anxiety, fear, and inequality with unflinching honesty.” –AR

Edgar - Pavor (Dark Entries)
The debut album from this solo alias of veteran Bay Area artist Luis Gutierrez is a cool set of adventurous underground club music that blends sleazy disco, icy darkwave, warped synth-pop, dizzying industrial, shadowy EBM, and gothic cumbia in fascinating fashion. With its heavy dose of old-school drum machines, analogue synths, and slightly spooky vocoder vocals, Pavor carries a mysterious retro-futuristic sheen that sounds like a long-lost gem from the 80s leftfield electronic/club scene. –AR

Josh da Costa - New Wave Graveyard (Stones Throw)
The debut solo album from LA-based musician Josh da Costa is a consistently sweet set of warped psych-pop, smeared art-pop, and romantic New Wave that he’s appropriately envisioned as a “greatest hits from a parallel universe, classic songs from an alternate reality.” –AR

kelz - A Sweet Passerby (Bayonet)
The second album from LA-based Vietnamese-American vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Truong (aka kelz) is an impressive set of dreamy, effervescent, electro-acoustic bedroom pop songs that blend warm electronic production, meditative guitar picking, and her airy hushed vocals to magnetic effect. There’s an undeniable early 2000s “indietronica” vibe to these introspective and kinetic anthems that’s wonderfully reminiscent of Morr Music’s influential early catalog. –AR

Mock Media - Rat Bastard (Mac’s Record Label)
The third album from this British Columbia band is a wild set of kitschy art-punk and goofy art-rock that throws glam, New Wave, reggae, EDM, hair metal, and a heavy dose of over-the-top 80s rock elements into its zigzagging 10-track run. From the fun, addictive, nostalgic punk anthem of standout album opener “Mock City Rock” to the daring, confounding twist from desert rock to happy hardcore EDM on album closer “Straight Line,” Rat Bastard has a strong tongue-in-cheek wink to it all, and that playful sense of humor makes it feel fittingly at home on Mac DeMarco’s label. –AR

murrph. - WATPRADU EP + WATPRADU, Pt. II (BIRTH UNIT)
murrph. are a Bangkok-based five-piece band creating dynamic instrumental rock that explores a consuming, kaleidoscopic, and frequently magnetic mixture of muscular rock, math rock, post-rock, desert rock, and psychedelic rock. First sharing their debut single in August 2024 and trickling out a handful of singles throughout 2025, they’ve had a fruitful opening half to 2026 with their first two EPs that showcase their confident, bold, tight, and still fledgling sound. –AR

Navy Blue - Sir Render (Freedom Sounds)
Only six months after the release of his excellent 2025 album The Sword & The Soaring, Brooklyn-via-LA rapper, producer, professional skateboarder, and multidisciplinary artist Navy Blue (aka Sage Elsesser) returns with another rock-solid set of reflective, poetic, jazzy hip-hop. His calm delivery and introspective wordplay continue to cooly flow with a razor-sharp focus over woozy, dense, minimal, and often beautiful loop-heavy beats. The album is also graced by notable posthumous appearances from Navy Blue’s friend and mentor Ka (on standout track “Circa”) and his cousin James Earl Jones, the latter serving as the album’s narrator, reading passages from Richard Wright’s Native Son and enhancing the album’s stoic and quietly ambitious vision of “embracing duality and finding peace within uncertainty.” –AR

Nick Hakim - I Can See (Earseed Records) 
The fourth studio album from sonic shapeshifter Nick Hakim is a breathtaking display of his woozy, singular vision. His intimate, atmospheric compositions trickle out with focus and intent, allowing each note and each measure room to breathe. He moves between a delicate falsetto and rich, soulful croon as he wields his intoxicating psychedelic soul and alt-R&B with an ease that nearly masks the complexities woven throughout these twelve tracks. Crafted over the course of five years, I Can See arrives nearly four years after Hakim’s last full-length, rewarding every moment of the wait. –CS

Orquesta Akokán - América! (Daptone)
The fourth studio album from dynamic Cuban ensemble Orquesta Akokán is a vibrant collection of mambo, salsa, Latin soul, and boogaloo. Recorded live to tape to capture their undeniable energy and chemistry, these timeless arrangements burst with infectious grooves, an incomparable brass section, and lively vocals from Kiko Ruiz, Miriam Elhajli and Carolina Oliveros, creating a joyous listen that’s impossible to sit still through. –CS

Quicksand - Bring On the Psychics (Equal Vision)
The fifth album from this veteran New York is another strong set of heavy post-hardcore largely rooted in the influential, aggressive, muscular sound that they helped pioneer over 30 years ago. “Days You Run To” offers a surprisingly tender turn towards timeless indie rock and offers a momentarily mellow standout amidst the pummeling highpoints. –AR

The Garden - Bootleg (Epitaph)
The Garden are an Orange County, California duo composed of twin brothers (and part-time models) Wyatt and Fletcher Shears who have been releasing their own homespun vision of punk rock since 2011 and accrued a passionate, cult-like fanbase along the way. Their 8th studio album is a rowdy, explosive, impressively eclectic, electronic-accented set of DIY punk jams with an unwieldy playfulness that finds them tapping into a relatively more streamlined vision of their off-kilter “Vada Vada” sound, a philosophy which Wyatt describes as "an idea that represents pure creative expression, that disregards all previously made genres and ideals." –AR