Editors' Picks: Best New Releases

SPACE 2

by Marlon Craft

Oscar Ross, Editor

The sequel to Craft’s 2021 album, SPACE, SPACE 2 is well, more of the same. For those who don’t know, Marlon Craft is an east coast singer-rapper combining rusty sample beats with hard-spat and sang bars with old-school ows. While Craft’s earlier work was closer to Action Bronson than Jack Harlow, SPACE 2 sees Craft move more towards the sound of Mac Miller, and before you spit your iced latte all over your ‘Swimming’ merch, please take this comparison with the smallest pinch of salt. Craft is moving towards conscious, less sample-focused work, drawing more attention to his vocals and his songwriting, with the closing track ‘Human First’ showing this move the most. Give it a listen and see if you agree.

This Stupid World

by Yo La Tengo

Josh Templeman, Co-Deputy Editor

Their rst full-length studio release in ve years, Yo La Tengo return with This Stupid World, a project that deftly demonstrates the band's versatile abilities. The album is both crisp and concentrated, with instrumentals and lyricism that are undoubtedly some of their best in a long time. This Stupid World can only be described as a musical triumph. The album was released February 10 2023, and is arguably the livliest album they've produced in a while, which is saying something given that they've produced 17 studio during the time .

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

by Caroline Polachek

Jake Paterson, Co-Deputy Editor

So captivating in immense detail, Caroline Polachek turns the simplest refrain into something outrageously irresistible. The album’s far-reaching pop ambitions are grounded in the personal longing for hopeless romance (see ‘Smoke’ and ‘Blood And Butter’), and tracks like ‘Bunny Is A Rider’ take tens of listens to fully work out just how it manages to send you into a trance. Polachek doesn’t sit still, shifting from avant-garde pop to amenco between tracks e ortlessly, including features from Grimes and Dido whilst upstaging them completely, and Desire is a career highlight. the most. Give it a listen and see if you agree.

Fragments Time Out of Mind Sessions

(1996-1997): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17 by Bob

Dylan

Sam Cox, Digital Editor

Bob Dylan’s bootleg series has been rolling out steadily for over thirty years at the time of writing, and gold from the deep, dark Dylan mine shows no sign of letting up yet. The latest addition contains over ve hours of remixes, outtakes, and live cuts attached to 1997’s Time Out Of Mind. The appeal of these over-stu ed bootlegs is that between one take and another Dylan’s delivery can change his songs’ meanings so drastically that they become unrecognisable from their more familiar counterparts. Sure, you won’t sit down with this thing in one listen, but at this point, the bootleg series serves as an important archiving project for one of America’s great writers.