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 Mac DeMarco, Ice Spice, John Cale, Oddisee, Ladytron, Kali Malone, Strategy, and Mette Henriette. 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.)
Mac DeMarco: Five Easy Hot Dogs [Mac’s Record Label]
Mac DeMarco wrote Five Easy Hot Dogs, his new all-instrumental record and the follow-up to 2019’s Here Comes the Cowboy, while he took a solo road trip from Los Angeles to a cabin in Utah. Each track title corresponds to the city where it was made, with multiple counterparts for Chicago, Portland, and Edmonton. The longtime cigarette aficionado also said that he quit smoking during the trip. DeMarco announced the project in early January, less than three weeks ahead of the album’s release.
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Ice Spice: Like..? EP [10K Projects/Capitol]
After her summer breakout, the Bronx’s Ice Spice has placed her hits “Munch (Feelin U)” and “Bikini Bottom” on her debut EP, Like..? The six-song release also includes “In Ha Mood” and a collaboration with fellow New Yorker Lil Tjay called “Gangsta Boo.”
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John Cale: Mercy [Double Six/Domino]
Mercy is the 17th solo studio album from the Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale, arriving almost exactly seven years after its predecessor, 2016’s M:FANS. The record features several collaborators from the electronic and pop worlds, including Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, and Tei Shi. Weyes Blood joins Cale on a track titled “Story of Blood,” and the album also includes “Night Crawling,” which was released as a single last summer.
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Oddisee: To What End [Outer Note Label]
Washington, D.C., rapper-producer Oddisee returns with To What End, his first album in six years. Exploring the question of “how far are you willing to go, and why?,” he drew heavily from the influence of go-go music from his home city. He recruited a number of friends to join him on the project, among them Phonte, Bilal, Noochie, and Freeway. Oddisee shared “Ghetto to Meadow,” “Hard to Tell,” and the encouraging “Try Again” ahead of the record’s release.
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Ladytron: Time’s Arrow [Cooking Vinyl]
Ladytron return with Time’s Arrow, their first full-length since sharing a self-titled LP in February 2019. The new album was led by the singles “City of Angels,” “Misery Remember Me,” and “Faces.” The group’s own Daniel Hunt, Helen Marnie, and Mira Aroyo produced much of Time’s Arrow, with additional production coming from Vice Cooler and Jonny Scott.
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Kali Malone: Does Spring Hide Its Joy [Ideologic Organ]
Kali Malone embarks on a two-hour sprawl with her latest album, Does Spring Hide Its Joy, with guitarist Stephen O’Malley and cellist Railton joining her on the album. Malone wrote the compositions between March and May 2020, while she was stuck in Berlin due to the pandemic. “Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together,” she said in a statement about the project.
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Strategy: Graffiti in Space [Constellation Tatsu]
Strategy (aka Portland, Oregon, DJ and producer Paul Dickow) follows last year’s Unexplained Sky Burners with the dub techno record Graffiti in Space. It’s his first release for Steven Ramsey’s Oakland label, Constellation Tatsu.
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Mette Henriette: Drifting [ECM]
On her second record, Drifting, Norwegian composer and saxophonist Mette Henriette leads a trio with pianist Johan Lindvall and cellist Judith Hamann. Henriette’s latest compositions vary in length, with some of Drifting’s pieces lasting for less than a minute, and others stretching past six.
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