Angel Olsen
Forever Means
Baby Pink Vinyl

Last year's Big Time brought Angel Olsen to a deeper, truer sense of self than ever before. Borne from the twin stars of grief and love, the album delivered a beautiful sense of certainty, the sure-footed sound of an artist fully, finally at home with herself. But within that wisdom comes the realization that there is no finish line, no destination or static end point to life while you're living it, and Forever Means collects songs from the Big Time sessions that hold this common theme. They are, in Olsen's words, "in search of something else."

They Hate Change
Finally, New
Doddy Kool Florida Exclusive Limited Edition Clear Orange Vinyl

For anyone who's been feeling suffocated by the sameness that's been afflicting hip-hop and pop-where a small handful of ideas gets recycled endlessly, and a spin through the big new-release playlists quickly devolves into a blur-They Hate Change's Jagjaguwar debut, Finally, New lives up to its name. Finally, a record that can satisfy the geeky headphone trainspotters and the hedonistic ass-shakers, too. Finally, rappers who aren't afraid of actually sticking out from the crowd and saying something new, and who embody the classic quote from Run of Run-DMC that, "The only thing rap music is-there is no music to rap. We just rap over whatever we want."

Lonnie Holley
Oh Me Oh My
Clear Blue Vinyl

'Oh Me Oh My' is both elegant and ferocious, sharpening the work contained on his 2018 Jagjaguwar debut 'MITH'. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Holley's harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point - his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA's Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), 'Oh Me Oh My' features both kinetic, shortwave funk that calls to mind Brian Eno's 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno's ambient works. There are also elements of Laurie Anderson's meditations, elements of Gil Scott-Heron's profound longform soul, elements of John Lurie's grabbag jazz, and yes, elements of Sun Ra's bold afrofuturism. But 'Oh Me Oh My' is a triumphant sonic achievement of its own.

Dinosaur Jr.
Sweep it into Space
Purple Ripple Vinyl

Here is Sweep It Into Space, the fifth new studio album cut by Dinosaur Jr. during the 13th year of their rebirth. As is typical, Lou Barlow writes and sings two of the album's dozen tunes and Murph's pure-Flinstonian drumming drives the record like a go cart from Hell. Lou's songs here are as elegant as always. "Garden" is a mid-paced ballad with genteel guitar filigree giving it a '60 Brit feel in spots. And the album's closer, "You Wonder," is a strangely excellent answer to the question -- "How would Blue Oyster Cult handle a country tune?"

J's tracks flow and flower in the different directions he often follows. Some are guitar howlers, like "I Met the Stones," with a string sound midway between Hendrix and Asheton. Some are power ballads, like "And Me," its lyrics atomized in a manner invented by Mascis, then famously borrowed by Kurt Cobain.

Pitchfork review