There’s so much more to a new release than releasing it to the streaming music services. There are retailers to deal with, promotional appearances on late-night shows, marketing campaigns and supporting tours for each album. But with record stores closed, late-night shows coming from the hosts’ living rooms, marketing budgets on hold, and nowhere to tour, it seems prudent to wait until things normalize somewhat.
On the positive side, this opens up runway for artists to attract attention that otherwise might be denied to them by superstar artists who suck all the oxygen out of the market.
1. PUP, Anaphylaxis
Single (Little Dipper/Universal)
Recommended If You Like: EpiPens
PUP’s first new music of 2020 gives us an idea of where they’re going following last year’s Morbid Stuff album. The band’s Stefen Babock says the song was inspired by a cousin who had a bad allergic reaction to being stung by a bee. “His wife, although she was concerned, also thought it was pretty hilarious and started making fun of him even as they were headed to the hospital.” Nice. Oh, and the dude is okay. Cool Claymation video, too.
2. Flamingo Bay, Capiche
Single (Independent)
RIYL: Swamp rock
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This trio claims to have “stumbled out of the Canadian swamps” somewhere on the prairies. Now working out of Toronto, they have some new tunes produced by Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness. You’ll want a beer for this.
3. Car Seat Headrest, Hollywood
Making a Door Less Open (Matador/Beggars)
RIYL: Hating Hollywood
Leesburg, Virginia’s weirdest-named band has only come to widespread attention, but they are already up to their twelfth album in ten years. Longtime fans may notice a change in sound with this record as the band as veered away from their lo-fi feel into something a little more electronic. Note that the digital, vinyl, and CD versions of the album are all slightly different from one another. Collect them all!
4. Cheap Cuts, Check Your Phone feat. Pete Wentz
Single (Crush Music/Lobster)
RIYL: More things to worry about
Obsessed with checking your phone a thousand times a day for your dopamine hits? Then this track (which somehow reminds of me of a cross between Fatboy Slim, Baz Luhrman, and Gil Scott-Heron) will hit home. Damn, it’s been a while since we’ve had a good spoken-word alt-rock track, innit?
5. Yungblud, Weird!
Single (Universal)
RIYL: Commiserating with your anxiety
This song sounds like it could have been written during the coronavirus crisis (check out that chorus), but it is from a time in Yungblud’s life when things took a noticeably big turn for the weird. Given the state of the world, he hustled it out ahead of his sophomore album. He is still working on that, but it’ll be out soon.
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