This Week's Top 10 New Releases

Alright, another Friday, another stack of new records to dig through. Here's what showed up this week, what it sounds like, and whether it's worth your money. Tracklists included so you know what you're getting into.

1. Ariana Grande — petal

Label: BabyDoll Music / Republic  |  Critics: 64  vs  Fans: 74

She wrote this whole thing herself, working again with Ilya, and you can tell she's not in a "nice girl" mood anymore. Less glossy than Eternal Sunshine, more teeth. Critics are lukewarm on it, fans are eating it up — which honestly tracks, because pop records that piss off critics tend to be the ones people actually play on repeat. Not saying it's a classic, but it's more interesting than a "safe" eighth album had any right to be.

Tracklist: 1. Kiss Me · 2. Hate That I Made You Love Me · 3. Petal · 4. Stay · 5. Oh Well · 6. Big Feelings · 7. Freak · 8. Warning Signs (Interlude) · 9. Like I Do · 10. Never Get Over Me · 11. Bad Thing (Bunny Hop) · 12. Nowhere, Nobody

2. Arca — XXXXX

Label: XL Recordings  |  Critics: 75  vs  Fans: 75

Five years since the KICK run and Arca's back doing what Arca does — twisting sound into shapes it shouldn't be able to make. This one's harsher and colder than KICK, more machine than pop. Not an easy first listen, not background music, but if you sit with it, it clicks. Quick heads up: the actual cover art is NSFW, so we swapped in a press shot instead.

Tracklist: 1. No End · 2. Willow · 3. Eidolon · 4. Heart · 5. Syncope · 6. Raver · 7. Cinch · 8. Fxck · 9. Finisher · 10. Taconeando · 11. Futurality · 12. Grip · 13. Enraptured · 14. Throb · 15. Everything · 16. Sueño

3. The Durutti Column — Renascent

Label: London Records  |  Critics: 82  vs  Fans: 69

First new Durutti Column record in FIFTEEN YEARS. Vini Reilly's guitar tone is still one of the most instantly recognizable things in music — that warm, reverb-drenched, almost-crying sound. This isn't a record that grabs you by the collar, it's one that just sits in the room with you. Critics clearly get it more than the fanbase does this time around, but give it a proper headphones listen before you decide.

Tracklist: 1. Echoes in the Memory · 2. Your Shadow at Morning · 3. Time Present and Time Past · 4. Agonistes (feat. Caoilfhionn Rose) · 5. Liars · 6. Vapour in a Matchbox · 7. Your Shadow at Evening · 8. Sargasso Sea (feat. Caoilfhionn Rose) · 9. Scammer · 10. For Friends Everywhere · 11. All They See Is Fire (feat. Lucas Elliott) [CD bonus]

4. Opus Kink — The Sweet Goodbye

Label: SO Recordings  |  Critics: 75  vs  Fans: 73

Debut album, eight years in the making, and it sounds like it. Horns everywhere, unhinged energy, frontman doing his best Nick Cave lounge-singer-having-a-breakdown routine. This is the kind of record that sounds even better loud and a little drunk. If your Friday night needs chaos, start here.

Tracklist: 1. Come Over, Do Me Wrong · 2. Will It Come For You? · 3. I'm A Pretty Showboy · 4. The Sweet Goodbye · 5. Peckham Nocturne · 6. I Have To Shine My Sunday Shoes · 7. The Head Tree (feat. The New Eves) · 8. 448C (The Colour of Love) · 9. Crucify! · 10. Oh, Irony

5. Lil Uzi Vert — Maverick “Almost Forever” EP

Label: Roc Nation / Cor(e)  |  Fans: 74 (critics haven't weighed in yet)

Classic Uzi move — drop a surprise EP on your own birthday instead of, like, having cake. Eight tracks, zero features, back to the melodic trap stuff instead of the weirder Pink Tape era experiments. It's not a big statement, it's a snack. But it's a good snack, and the cover art is hiding "ALBUM AFTER THIS" in it, so buckle up.

Tracklist: 1. Maverick Intro · 2. Go! · 3. Poured · 4. 223 · 5. Yoko · 6. Gas. Brake. · 7. Say It Was · 8. London [Bonus]

6. Shearwater — The New World

Critics: 80  vs  Fans: 75

Jonathan Meiburg finished this record and then literally left for Antarctica, which honestly tells you everything about the guy's whole vibe. Big, sweeping, cinematic indie rock, and somehow they got Laurie Anderson to show up on the closer. Nothing here is trying to be a single, it's just a genuinely well-crafted album front to back. Deserves way more ears than it's probably going to get.

Tracklist: 1. Even Song · 2. More and More · 3. Daydream Unbeliever · 4. A Mink in the Dusk · 5. The Only Sound I'm Afraid Of · 6. The High Ranges · 7. Slugs in the Marigolds · 8. Anamnesia · 9. You and Your Dog (feat. Laurie Anderson)

7. Lucia & The Best Boys — Picking Petals

Label: Communion Group  |  Critics: 77  vs  Fans: 72

Recorded at Mogwai's actual studio in Glasgow, and you can hear the Scottish DNA all over this thing — moody, jangly, a little windswept. Lucia's got a great pop instinct hiding under the indie rock, and this is the record where it really comes through. Nobody's talking about this one yet. That's your cue to get in early.

Tracklist: 1. Back Inside My Heart · 2. Lonely Girl (feat. Lauren Mayberry) · 3. Wolf Cry · 4. Better For The Worse · 5. You Look Like Somebody In Love · 6. Picking Petals · 7. Pleasure And A Prayer · 8. Forgot The Arrow · 9. Big Romance (feat. Abigail Morris) · 10. Ephemeral

8. DOMi & JD BECK — WHO ASKED?

Label: Apeshit Inc. / Blue Note  |  Critics: 70  vs  Fans: 66

These two are absurdly talented and they know it. Fifteen tracks, full orchestra on some of them, time signatures that'll make your head spin. It's less about hooks and more about "watch us do something nobody else can do," which is either exactly your thing or a little exhausting depending on your patience for showing off. Either way, put on headphones, not earbuds.

Tracklist: 1. ÉPiPHANiE · 2. HAD ENOUGH · 3. EXiT · 4. SiLHOUETTE · 5. GROWiNG OLDER · 6. SOME THiNGS NEVER CHANGE · 7. RAiN · 8. SMALL EYES · 9. LOVELY MASQUERADE · 10. PUZZLE PiECES · 11. PHANTOM THREAD · 12. OUT OF SYNC · 13. CONCERTiNO (FOR PiANO, DRUMS & ORCHESTRA) · 14. CLiMBiNG HiGH · 15. ÉPiLOGUE

9. Trashcan Sinatras — Ever The Optimist

Label: TCS Recordings  |  Critics: 83  vs  Fans: 75

Our favorite of the bunch this week, no contest. First album from these guys in ten years, and they sound completely unbothered by that gap — just easy, graceful, well-worn jangle-pop from a band that clearly still likes each other. Tracyanne Campbell and Green Gartside both show up for guest spots. We have to say it, though: guitarist John Douglas passed away August 3rd, just days after this dropped, so this one hits a little differently right now. Go put it on.

Tracklist: 1. Ever The Optimist · 2. Games For The ZX Spectrum · 3. Bad Husband (feat. Tracyanne Campbell) · 4. The Bitter End · 5. A View From Nowhere · 6. Hold On To Today (feat. Green Gartside) · 7. The Associated Funk · 8. Rome · 9. Melodramatic · 10. Birds I Couldn't Identify · 11. Learning To Love Your Ghost

10. Shearling — Don't Look at Me the Way a Dog Might Look at Your Leg

Label: Mishap Records  |  Critics: 82  vs  Fans: 78

Best title of the year, easily. Way more compact and song-shaped than their sprawling 2025 debut, but still weird in all the right places. Five tracks, in and out, no filler. If you've never listened to Shearling before, this is a much friendlier entry point than diving straight into the debut.

Tracklist: 1. Three Pebbles (Saltlick) · 2. Believe Me (Dust) · 3. Surely You Know By Now · 4. Young Man In Idaho · 5. Your Reward

That's the stack for this week. Grab whatever's calling to you and we'll be back next Friday with ten more.