Another big release day in the books! Not many more of those coming up, but some real buzz-worthy and attention-worthy things came out today, and we have pulled together eight releases to draw your eyes and ears and hearts to.

Please check 'em out and explore!

Ba bam!

Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Mercy [Backwoodz Studioz]

Billy Woods and Elucid – aka Armand Hammer – tackle their subjects like no other rappers, from art-house camera angles and termites-eye-views of dilapidated neighborhoods full of surviving, working people just trying to navigate an increasingly suffocating capitalist society. The Alchemist, who’s now overseen major projects by Earl Sweatshirt, 2 Chainz, Erykah Badu, and Kendrick’s vicious “Meet the Grahams” (and that’s only the last couple years), gives them paint-peeling beats to match, which can be as loud and unwieldy as the psychedelic squall of “Laraaji” or creeping around the negative space of “Glue Traps.” They’ve spent the 2020s on a world-historic roll worthy of the grandiose tiger-in-NYC cover art of Shrines, and they’re not getting any closer to showing, well, mercy. – Dan Weiss

Danny Brown - Stardust [Warp]

Danny Brown’s newest album was shrouded in a bit of Twitter controversy when the tracklist was first revealed. Absent were familiar names like JPEGMAFIA, The Alchemist, Run the Jewels, and Ab-Soul. Instead, Brown opted to lock in with a fresh roster of alternative and hyperpop collaborators, including Quadeca, Jane Remover, underscores, Frost Children, and Femtanyl. Beyond the surprising lineup, the album also marks a major personal shift — it’s his first recorded entirely sober, a stark contrast to past projects largely defined by drug-fueled chaos. Brown has even admitted to some apprehension about this change, saying, “I’ve seen so many artists get sober, and their music sucks.” Still, despite the new sound and clear-headed approach, it’s still a Danny Brown record: unpredictable, unfiltered, and bursting with the kind of unhinged brilliance only he can deliver. – Drew P. Simmons

Faouzia – FILM NOIR [Self-released]

More than 7 years in the making, this debut album from Faouzia is a testimony to the triumphs and disasters behind the Moroccan–Canadian artist’s journey into her mid-20s. Liberated from an ill-fitting label deal with Atlantic Records, FILM NOIR arrives exactly how its creator intended: a grandiose vision of multilingual, cinematic pop that broods and bewitches as smoothly as it soars. Over 10 original tracks, plus a winning update of the Sting and Cheb Mami hit “Desert Rose”, Faouzia’s chic monochrome world proves to be surprisingly stuffed full of nuance and color. – Alan Pedder

Hayley Williams – Ego Death At a Bachelorette Party [Post Atlantic]

Ever since July's end, when Paramore songstress Hayley Williams splattered a bunch of music onto her website, the singer's third album has been ever-evolving – hidden behind a code, then released as individual singles, and only formally sequenced later on. Now, we've reached its final, physical form, self-released on Williams' new Post Atlantic label. The original 17-track dump is accounted for, plus the addition of "Parachute", plus the additional addition of "Good Ol' Days", plus the additional-additional addition of "Showbiz" (new to today's release). Hayley x20, what could be better? — Tyler Roland

Juana Molina – DOGA [Sonamos]

Argentine producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Juana Molina is back with her first new LP since 2017. On DOGA, we get treated to some typical synth and soundscape wizardry from Molina, alongside her cool and feathery voice. This time, though, the songs were borne more largely out of improvisation and time spent with analog synthesizers, as opposed to strictly pre-programmed keys and beats. Sculpted namely from dozens of hours of recordings made with Emilio Haro and Mario Agustín de Jesús González, DOGA is a dizzying display of what Molina does best, crafting worlds of sound and mysterious sonic paths that sound like they could only have been crafted under her hand. We follow these paths, led by her dulcet coo. This LP is also one of her most accessible; at only ten tracks, DOGA goes down smoothly, asking to be played and mined over again and again. (And also features fantastic cover art. I mean... c'mon!) – Jeremy J. Fisette

Rosalía – LUX [Columbia Records]

Thirteen languages, baroque classical arrangements, Catholic imagery, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo credited as one producer, and fusions of techno, classical, flamenco, pop, hip-hop, and reggaeton, LUX by Rosalía flaunts some divine combinations. Inspired by the lives of the saints, particularly women who've immersed themselves in total love through music or art, the Spanish artist's latest aims to explore love beyond romance, seeing how it pours into other feelings of desire, ecstasy, spirituality, and renewal. (Personally, I'm just excited that Hildegard von Bingen is now a common topic of conversation. Thank you, Rosalía!) LUX is purposefully intense, as the operatic lead single "Berghain" — which touts verses from Björk and Yves Tumor — might have already shown. This LP might not be the raucuous, plucky, reggaeton banger-after-banger of its predecessor MOTOMAMI, but it's definitely and delightfully pushing many boundaries in pop, cementing Rosalía as a powerhouse in music. – Victoria Borlando

Stella Donnelly – Love and Fortune [Brace Yourself]

Today, Australian singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly has releases her long awaited third album. Love and Fortune is a tender, piano driven exploration of virtue and heartbreak. Donnelly's distinctly confessional songwriting remains the record's focal point, as she finds her own way to turn trauma into something beyond herself. “These songs wouldn’t leave me alone,” Donnelly noted. “Like seagulls, they screamed at me when I rode to work, they pecked at me while I wrote essays, and they stole my chips the second I thought I was happier without music.” Take some time today to extend gratitude to those seagulls. – Leah Weinstein

Sorry – COSPLAY [Domino Records]

If you're looking for something on the quirkier, more left-of-field side of indie pop, the UK band Sorry deliver with their third sudio record under the Domino label (and their fifth overall), COSPLAY. Its sound is fuzzy, goth, and punk, with vocalist Asha Lorenz gliding through the lyrics of identity crisis like an eerie violin. In earlier tracks like "Echoes", "Jetplane", and "Love Posture", the band brims with youth and malaise, treating sex and intimacy as something to pass the time, not as a way to foster deep connection with a loving partner. But then toward the end, "Into The Dark" and "JIVE" slow down the tempo and strip off the sonic layers, focusing instead on a chilly, feedback-heavy guitar or a bedroom pop-esque industrial beat. Some songs build their thrummy, new wave-y sound from colorful pop samples and interpolations, with "Waxwing" weaving in Toni Basil's "Hey Mickey" into Lorenz's chorus about reckless fun. Unlike with a bunch of other albums that came out this year focused on the "jaded youth," one feels cool listening to COSPLAY, mainly because the people that made it actually are. – Victoria Borlando