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 and EPs from Jana Horn, Years & Years, DJ Python, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Ché Noir, and Yard Act. 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.)
Jana Horn: Optimism [No Quarter]
Optimism is the debut album from Jana Horn, a Texan musician who grew up in a small town and found herself entranced by Christian screamo shows in Dallas as a young person. She started her serious undertaking of songwriting during her time as a college student in Austin, and after nearing completion of another version of a first album, she scrapped it in favor of the gentle and understated songs that she delivers on Optimism.
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade
Years & Years: Night Call [Interscope]
Night Call arrives three and a half years after Olly Alexander’s previous record as Years & Years, 2018’s Palo Santo. Between the two projects, the English pop artist joined Pet Shop Boys for the collaborative single “Dreamland.” Alexander announced Night Call in September, sharing “Crave” ahead of “Sweet Talker” and “Sooner or Later.”
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Buy at Rough Trade
DJ Python: Club Sentimientos Vol. 2 EP [Incienso]
Following 2020’s Mas Amable, New York–based producer DJ Python returns with Club Sentimientos Vol. 2. The three-part project features the 11-minute “Angel” alongside two other pieces. DJ Python shared another new track titled “Rosada” on a compilation after Mas Amable, and remixed Braids’ “Young Buck” early last year, too. Revisit Pitchfork’s Rising feature “DJ Python Will Make You Feel Good.”
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Jake Xerxes Fussell: Good and Green Again [Paradise of Bachelors]
Good and Green Again is the fourth album from Durham, North Carolina–based folk artist Jake Xerxes Fussell. The record includes contributions from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Joe Westerlund, Casey Toll, Libby Rodenbough, and others. It was produced by James Elkington, who has worked with the likes of Jeff Tweedy and Steve Gunn. Good and Green Again follows Fussell’s 2019 LP Out of Sight.
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade
Ché Noir: Food for Thought [DMG]
Food for Thought is the latest from Buffalo-based rapper Ché Noir. She produced much of the record, and 38 Spesh, Ransom, and 7xvethegenius make guest appearances. Prior to Food for Thought, Noir released three projects in 2020: Juno, After 12, and As God Intended with Apollo Brown.
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Yard Act: The Overload [Island]
The Leeds outfit Yard Act make taut post-punk songs, and The Overload is their first full-length album. Reviewing The Overload, Brady Gerber writes, “Their Coachella-safe take on the Fall—clever, jittery, and unapologetically British—has the humor, polish, and character-driven storytelling of classic Britpop.”
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Buy at Rough Trade
