With so much good music being released all the time, it can be hard to determine what to listen to first. Every week, Pitchfork offers a run-down of significant new releases available on streaming services. This week’s batch includes new albums from the Weeknd, Burial, Wadada Leo Smith with Henry Kaiser and Alex Varty, Gunna, and Sis. Subscribe to Pitchfork’s New Music Friday newsletter to get our recommendations in your inbox every week. (All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our affiliate links, however, Pitchfork earns an affiliate commission.)
The Weeknd: Dawn FM [XO/Republic]
The Weeknd started unrolling the follow-up to 2020’s After Hours with “Take My Breath” last summer, later trading his red suit for an elderly visage. In the days leading up to the record’s release, he revealed a varied ensemble of contributors to the project: Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Tyler the Creator, and Jim Carrey. The Weeknd’s frequent collaborator Oneohtrix Point Never also joins him on Dawn FM.
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Burial: Antidawn EP [Hyperdub]
Burial makes a midwinter emergence with Antidawn, a five-song EP announced with a rare new photo last month. The new tracks follow last year’s Shock Power of Love, a collaborative EP with London-based producer Blackdown. Elsewhere in 2021, Burial released “Dolphinz,” the B-side to 2020’s “Chemz.”
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Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade
Wadada Leo Smith / Henry Kaiser / Alex Varty: Pacifica Koral Reef [577]
The unique beauty of underwater worlds around Antarctica and the Pacific Northwest partially inspired Pacifica Koral Reef, an improvised 55-minute piece by celebrated trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith with guitarists Alex Varty and Henry Kaiser. Themes of climate change, spirituality, and the resilience of oppressed people also influenced the composition, which the trio recorded together in 2018.
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Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Gunna: DS4Ever [Young Stoner Life/300 Entertainment]
DS4Ever is the latest, and supposedly final, installment in Gunna’s Drip Season series, arriving nearly four years after its predecessor. Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage, Kodak Black, and Chloë all appear on DS4Ever, as do Chris Brown, G Herbo, and Roddy Ricch. The album cover was created by New York artist Daniel Arsham.
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Sis: Gnani EP [Native Cat]
