3 New Albums You Need: james K, Fleshwater, and more

A long-standing secret weapon for the indie underground, james K showcases the breadth of her talents on her new album Friend. Don’t be fooled by its glitchy dream-pop exterior: the songs here are forceful, enveloping things, individual currents in one gathering tsunami. Though only 13 songs long, Friend has enough detail, tonal shifts, and genre collisions to give it the feeling of an epic in both emotion and sonics. There’s an effective focus on hooky moments across the record, like the Beach House–meets– ’90s electronica of “Play” (is that a Moby allusion I spy?) or the similarly weirded-out slacker rock of “On God.” But the more elusive moments like “Idea.2” or “Lung Slide” are where K’s heavenly vocals come closest to earth, and the deep longing that marks her lyrics condenses in your brain. — Jordan Darville

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Since their 2022 debut We’re Not Here To Be Loved as a side project of hardcore band Vein.fm, the more melodic and sprawling Fleshwater have arguably surpassed their parent band as beneficiaries of Gen Z discovering Deftones and a world of brooding and heavy guitar bands (Fleshwater have opened for Deftones in the past). At a time when increasing numbers of hardcore bands have drifted into shoegaze and grunge territory, Fleshwater’s adherence to stellar songwriting means they have avoided falling into the thicket of vibes-led guitar music. This is largely down to singer/guitarist Marisa Shirar, the only member of the band not also in Vein.fm — her soaring hooks elevate “Jetpack” to epic heights, while the way she delivers the desperate refrain of “Last Escape” makes the mix of scuzzy guitar and breakbeats feel more widescreen than it otherwise would. While Fleshwater undeniably evoke a nostalgic ’90s sound, it is their commitment to going all out in their songs that appeals. 2000: In Search Of The Endless Sky isn’t an album enamoured with the past, it’s one that wants to make an impression on the now.

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Mexico City-based cellist/singer Mabe Fratti and guitarist Héctor Tosta (aka I. La Católica) first demonstrated their alchemy on Vidrio, their excellent 2023 debut as Titanic, and took it up a notch on Fratti’s 2024 LP Sentir que no sabes. Hagen is on another plane entirely. It’s an album of rare brilliance, 10 tracks that each do something entirely different but coalesce perfectly as a body of work. Every song is its own melodrama: “Lágrima del sol” (“tear from the sun”) starts off sing-songy, hints of chaos peeking out behind a simple, hand-clapped rhythm before exploding into a stadium-sized ’80s pop ballad. “Gotera,” introduced by nails-on-glass percussion, is a mini horror flick about a leak no one can find. Mid-album standout “Libra” builds up to a euphoric climax in which Fratti repeats “Te tuve que dejar atrás” (“I had to leave you behind”) as if she’s just dropped a 300-pound dead weight. Later, she uses a decapitated hen as a metaphor for her worst fears (“Gallina degollada”), obsesses superstitiously over traps (“La trampa sale”), and bids us goodbye with the tragic tale of a man who falls into quicksand when he tries to lift a trophy (“Alzando el trofeo”). — Raphael Helfand

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp