Also on the shelves this week are the new records from Dinosaur Jr., Floating Points, and Mike D.
Erykah Badu & The Alchemist Before the World Blows (Control Freaq Records/Young/Wagram)
The sixteen tracks underline the extraordinary magnetism of these multiple personality traits with which Erykah Badu has always loved playing. That is what gave her previous albums their spiritual, sensual, mystical, or confessional dimensions. Today, it is what allows Before the World Blows to possess such depth, heightened by The Alchemist behind the boards, a legend of hip-hop production. It’s to him that we owe Mobb Deep’s The Realest or Jadakiss’s We Gonna Make It. It’s also to him that we owe some of the best albums by Larry June, Freddie Gibbs, or Earl Sweatshirt released recently.
Read the review of Before the World Blows by Maxime Delcourt
Dinosaur Jr There Near (Jagjaguwar/Modulor)
Masters of distortion, feedback, and ragged riffs, the Americans of Dinosaur Jr. have been operating since 1984 for a distinct vision of alternative rock. Their split between 1997 and 2005 stands as a tiny interlude in comparison to their colossal career that has inspired generations of guitar-slinging musicians, from Kurt Cobain to Kurt Vile, from grunge to slacker rock. Beyond that legendary aura, how did the power trio adapt to the 2020s? The secret is simple: staying firmly anchored in what they do best, not deviating an inch from their timeless sound, without stagnating or sinking into nostalgia.
Read the review of There Near by Noémie Lecoq
Floating Points Mere Mortals (Deutsche Grammophon/Universal)
This time, Sam Shepherd offers a ballet he composed for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra around the Greek myth of Pandora—the one who, once opened, pours misfortune onto the Earth. Created in January 2024 but re-recorded, Falling to Earth sees orchestral and synthetic sounds pair and collide in a complex sonic dance that remains evocative of the eternal threats. In Rage of Gods, strings and brass paint a war-scape, accompanied by a machine-gun tempo driven by percussion. You can hear explicit influences (Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians), taut electronica rhythms (the diptych Gift from the Gods–Falling To Earth), and quieter, more intimate moments such as Her Gift with harpist Miriam Adefris.
Read the review of Mere Mortals by Vincent Brunner
Interpol This Mirror Weighs a Ton (Partisan Records/PIAS)
A new label, two recruits, a new producer (Andrew Wyatt, darling of pop stars), a new era and a new tone: the source of this creative revival remains unclear, but one can only be delighted listening to these twelve unexpected tracks that push their horizons far. Paul Banks’s voice has never exhibited such nuance (as on the hypnotic title track that opens the set). This balance between high tension (the venomous Bird and the Serpent, a future classic) and salvific release (Sudden, an airy closer) proves perfect. One of the tracks is titled Wings on Fire: discarding dogma and solemnity, Interpol unfurls its wings and rekindles the flame.
Read the review of This Mirror Weighs a Ton by Noémie Lecoq
Mike D Thank You (Capitol Records/Universal
If solo, Thank You is clearly the fruit of a collective process, as if Mike D stubbornly refuses to take the cake alone… Among other sessions, he booked the legendary Shangri-La in Malibu, where he now resides, to record in the bus-studio that once belonged to Bob Dylan, and he enlisted the strings of Aaron Paris (Rosalía, Geese) and the brass of CJ Camerieri (Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver).
Read the review of Thank You by Sophie Rosemont
