New Music Reviews (9/21)

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 Dabda, ACTORS, Boy Harsher, and more. 

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Dabda - On(百) (Electric Muse)  
The sophomore album from South Korean outfit Dabda is positively exquisite. With an enticing fusion of math rock, dream pop, and psych, the four-piece tears through a delightfully frenzied, cinematic set of rippers boasting intricate guitar lines, explosive percussion, and Jiae Kim’s supremely dreamy vocals, with lyrics sung in both Korean and English. With a nuanced pop sensibility tempering the chaos of their math rock edge, Dabda showcase their exceptional musicianship and singular sound across nine expansive, wholly engrossing tracks. BRB - pressing repeat now. –CS

ACTORS - Our Love Will Live Forever (Artoffact)
The third album from this Vancouver, BC outfit is another potent set of goth-tinged darkwave and synth-heavy post-punk full of anthemic hooks, big beats, ringing guitars, yearning vocals, and brooding atmospherics. Written against the backdrop of frontman Jason Corbett experiencing a serious cardiac emergency and uncertainty around his ability to finish the album or be able to perform again, his dramatic, soaring, gripping vocals and the band’s propulsive backdrops give Our Love Will Forever a consistently absorbing emotional pulse and a heavy dose of invigorating highlights. He shares, “I was given a second chance to cherish every experience and live in the moment. My goal was to bring that energy to the album.” –AR

Boy Harsher - GET MEAN (Atlantic)
The new studio album from Northampton-based duo Boy Harsher is a masterclass in infectious darkwave and electropop. Featuring moody synths, bouncy basslines, and Jae Matthews’ seductive vocals, GET MEAN is an intoxicating “meditation on love, loss, and survival.” The result is an effervescent set of pop gems that transform a period of grief and pain into dance-forward catharsis. –CS

Echo & the Bunnymen - Apples For Isaac (BMG) 
Liverpool legends Echo & the Bunnymen return with their thirteenth studio album, their first in twelve years. While displaying their signature guitar-driven post-punk and neo-psych sound led by Ian McCulloch’s unmistakable vocals, the mood has taken a decidedly buoyant turn, incorporating touches of glam, flourishes of strings, keys, and saxophone, and a few “sha la las” for good measure. Apples For Isaac is hooky, immediate, and timeless, marking a solid, welcome return from the beloved outfit.  –CS

Emma Ruth Rundle - These Killing Times (Errant Child)
The sixth studio album from Portland-based multi-disciplinary artist Emma Ruth Rundle is an epic, beautifully textured, wistful fever dream. Transcending genre, each track traverses stunning peaks and valleys, with dynamic arrangements of guitars, keys, horns, strings, and percussion building with emotional tension and release. At the core of These Killing Times are Rundle’s commanding, expressive vocals as she explores community, feminism, horror, and rage in a raw, urgent manner distinctly her own. –CS

Empress Of - Dream House (Giant Music/Major Arcana)
The fifth studio album from LA-based singer, songwriter, and producer Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, is an incandescent set of shimmering, intimate pop. Written in the wake of the 2025 California wildfires, during which she lost her family home, Dream House finds Rodriguez searching for meaning, identity, and what it means to feel at home. Across fourteen vibrant tracks, she builds layers of sound and emotion with expansive arrangements, propulsive rhythms, and her bewitching, airy vocals.  –CS

Frankie Rose - HILA (Born Losers/Night School Records)  
The eighth solo album from NYC-based singer, songwriter, and producer Frankie Rose is a riveting, moody set of dark wave, post-punk, and electropop. Featuring glimmering synths and introspective lyricism, this is a self-described “record about loss. What persists beyond the range of ordinary perception? The place mourning keeps returning to — not quite transcendence, not quite doubt. The edge of what we can see.” Rose guides listeners to that edge through ten mesmerizing tracks. –CS

Kareen Lomax - NAJI (music is fun)  
The debut album from Atlanta-raised, LA-based singer-songwriter Kareen Lomax is a brilliant, kaleidoscopic set of hook-laden alt-R&B and neo-soul. Guided by her buttery, expressive vocals, dynamic arrangements, and infectious grooves, NAJI is a beautiful love letter to self-acceptance. She explains: “The album moves through grief, identity, and love, but at its core, it’s about choosing yourself and learning to live in your truth within all of it.” Showcasing her impressive songwriting skills and emotional depth, Kareen Lomax has definitively stepped into the spotlight with this knockout collection. –CS

Sàigòn Soul Revival - Chốn Ta Về (Saigon Supersound)
The third studio album from Vietnam’s Sàigòn Soul Revival is an absolute stunner. With a transfixing blend of traditional and contemporary influences, the five-piece, led by Nguyễn Anh Minh’s enchanting vocals, crafts a unique fusion of pop-inflected Southeast Asian soul and rock infused with a keen nod to the ‘60s and ‘70s alongside Latin American styles. Chốn Ta Về, which translates to “The Place We Return To,” boasts gripping hooks and expansive arrangements that feel simultaneously like a time portal and right at home in the current music landscape. –CS

Ships Of The Pharaohs - Part 1 (First Word)
Ships Of The Pharaohs is a London-based collective led by DJ/producer Last Nubian (aka Tre Wright) that originally came together as an impromptu band to perform Last Nubian material live for a Touching Bass showcase at the We Out Here festival in 2023. Tapping into an exciting and unique chemistry that needed to be more fully explored, their debut EP is a strong set of expansive, soulful, vibrant tunes that filters and fuses their love for house, R&B, jazz, broken beat, bossa nova, and jungle into their own lively, organic, cohesive sound. Ships Of the Pharaohs vocalist Achanté appears throughout alongside guest appearances from Berlin-based vocalist Red Birds and spoken word artist AKEEM who add their own charismatic vocal touch to the crew’s wonderful grooves. –AR

Slow Pulp - Melodie (ANTI-)  
The third studio album from Madison-formed, Chicago-based quartet Slow Pulp is a charming set of tender, atmospheric indie rock. Elevating their craft with each release, Melodie finds the four-piece locked in with producer Elliot Kozel, exploring how they’ve been transformed by relationships, experiences, and self-reflection through a hazy, bittersweet lens. With Emily Massey’s dreamy, expressive vocals at the helm, these eleven tracks are propelled by delicious guitar licks, moody reverb, and driving percussion, stunning at every turn. –CS

Children of Zeus - As the World Burns… (First Word)
The third album from this Manchester, UK duo composed of Konny Kon and Tyler Daley is another solid showcase of their 90s-influenced street soul that combines warm R&B with boom-bap hip-hop. Konny Kons’ husky, charismatic raps and Tyler Daley’s supremely soulful singing continue to pair perfectly with the duo’s largely laidback beats, but they find room to pick the tempo up on standouts like “Water & Vibes” and “Love Fades.” –AR

Chrome Sparks - Ball of Light (Chrome Sounds)
The third full-length album from Brooklyn-based producer Chrome Sparks (aka Jeremy Malvin) is his first in eight years after a steady run of big-name collaborations with artists like Slayyyter, Lily Allen, Mallrat, and Sycco, and it’s a wonderful return to his magnificent world of celestial electronic beats. Intimate, cinematic, and expansive, Ball of Light balances gorgeous downtempo moments (including the stunning opener and lone early single “Sleeper” featuring Jónsi and Khalid) with colorful, hyperactive, zigzagging rhythms, and it’s all held together by his deft melodic touch. –AR

Dos Santos - Es Amor (Otherly Love)
The fourth studio album from Chicago-based Latin alternative outfit Dos Santos is a vibrant fusion of cumbia, psych, and jazz. Marking the quintet’s first full-length in five years, their intoxicating rhythms, built from syncopated percussion, bright keys, bouncy bass, and intricate guitars, create a transportive, groove-forward collection that honors immigrants who came before them, as well as those shaping the present and future. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Alex E. Chávez shares: “Making this album together, each of us bringing our own stories and experiences, I couldn’t help but think of my father, of his melody, of everyone like him, then and now. Of people, immigrants, writing and singing love songs in the most brutal of circumstances, amidst power working to deny them their very humanity.”  –CS

El Búho - Hogar (Shika Shika)
The latest album from UK-born, Toulouse, France-based electronic producer Robin Perkins (aka El Búho) is a sublime set of lush, hypnotic, folk-tinted Latin American rhythms that spotlights his exquisite electro-acoustic cumbia beats on their own and as a foundation for a handful of guest vocalists. Spanish for “Home,” Hogar is inspired by Robin putting down roots for the first time with his family, as well as the warmth of being welcomed into the home of old friends, and there’s a calm, comforting, communal energy to these songs that leans heavily into a Latin downtempo soul landscape with a nimble dip into hip-hop terrain on standout track “Adiós” featuring Ecuadorian artists Humazapas and La Mafiandina. –AR

Fakear - a nice place to be (Nowadays)
The latest album from French electronic producer Théo Le Vigoureux (aka Fakear) is a sweet set of colorful electronic grooves heavy on euphoric, emotional, high-energy, bass-heavy house rhythms — often reminiscent of Four Tet, Jamie xx, and 1tbsp — with a sprinkling of more introspective downtempo moments. Jesse Mac Cormack contributes vocals to the Caribou-esque highlight “go away.” –AR

Martin Luke Brown - life & death etc (Bright Antenna)
The third album from this London-based artist is a stunning set of expansive, homespun, expertly-crafted pop tunes with a soulful, folky, groovy, psych-tinted charm. Bursting with creativity, joy, and an emotional sincerity, life & death etc marks Martin’s first album since breaking away from the major label world and going independent, and his elastic falsetto, addictive melodies, smart hooks, and analog-rich productions coalesce to deliver a skip-free gem that contains shades of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Dijon, and Whitney, yet exists in its own timeless soul/folk/funk/psych/pop lane. –AR

Midpak - Stampede EP (Middy P Ink)
The second EP of 2026 from this Seattle-based outfit is another solid display of their “instrumental funk-fueled psychedelic” lane with an enhanced dose of surf-tinted guitars and a more steady, casual psych vibe. The title track fittingly delivers the most lively galloping rhythm for a standout offering amidst some tasty midtempo grooves. –AR

Now Always Fades - Coalesce (Northern Underground)
The second album from this project spearheaded by Melbourne/Naarm-based artist Xavier Bacash is another stellar showcase of his modernized take on 90s-soaked trip-hop, downtempo, and nocturnal art-pop. Three different female vocalists — Alia Seror-O'Neill (aka Alias Error), Lili Hall, and Olive Kimoto (of Locust) — each appear on two tracks, their ethereal deliveries meshing beautifully with NAF’s warm, seductive, hypnotic beats. The final trio of tracks finds Xavier handling lead vocals on a pair of tracks before allowing his production prowess to shine bright on the magnetic closing instrumental piece “2 Clocks.” –AR

O Slow - Antenna (self-released)
The debut album from this solo project of Brooklyn-based, California-raised artist Jacqui Miranda is a super impressive set of mystical art-pop that roams around sultry trip-hop, celestial synth-pop, and gritty alt-pop and it’s all enhanced be her dynamic productions and soaring ethereal vocals. –AR

Rodrigo y Gabriela - OurHome (ATO)
The seventh studio album from this renowned Mexican instrumental guitar duo — Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero — is a vibrant showcase of their intricate, cinematic, labyrinthinian flamenco music inflected at times with hard rock, metal, jazz, surf, and more. It’s a sweeping, soaring, and expansive record, influenced by the duo’s fondness for Japan, where OurHome was recorded, and while it finds them largely returning to their magnetic instrumental roots that helped catapult them to international acclaim, it also includes “Somos Como Tú,” their first-ever song featuring lyrics and vocals. –AR

The Goods - Goodbye Summertime (Dandy Boy)
The second album from this Oakland-based project of Rob Good is a solid set of sun-soaked power-pop with a classic pop touch. Yea-Ming Chen, Cherron Arens, and Ian McBrayer make contributions on this jangly journey into a nostalgic sound that finds heavy inspiration in The Beatles and The Beach Boys, while also recalling throwback contemporaries like The Lemon Twigs and Sharp Pins. –AR