Happy February!

This week, we shout out 8 special releases across the genre spectrum for your ears. Give them a listen while you vibe through the weekend.

Ba bam!

Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter in Summer [Transgressive]

On this second LP since his return to making albums after emerging from relative obscurity, Ontarian legend and beloved trans elder Beverly Glenn-Copeland delivers a handful of new songs and reworked versions of older material, plus a take on the classic folk song “Shenandoah”. Recorded at Montréal’s famed Hotel2Tango studios in just a few days, mostly adhering to Glenn-Copeland’s ‘one-take only’ rule, Laughter in Summer is first and foremost a document of a magical meeting of hearts and minds. Glenn, his wife Elizabeth, musical director Alex Samaras, clarinettist Naomi McCarroll-Butler, and a choir who had never rehearsed with Glenn before. A sense of reverence feels very present in the songs, as if everyone present can hardly believe their luck. “That was exquisite,” someone remarks at the end of the album’s final song, which sums up the Laughter in Summer experience quite perfectly. – Alan Pedder

J. Cole – The Fall-Off [Cole World/Interscope]

J. Cole’s closing chapter is finally here: The Fall Off has dropped. It’s been almost 8 years since Jermaine Cole first teased the album in KOD. Since then, he released a new album, a couple of mixtapes, did some features, and briefly partook in a beef—in very short summary. The latter event, as Cole writes, re-inspired him and “the album slowly blossomed into a double disc as the concept expanded”. This is a double LP with 29 tracks, a tale divided into two parts, each telling a story in the same place but from a different perspective. First, returning to his hometown at 29, when he had released his breakout mixtape The Warm Up and albums like “Born Sinner” and “2014 Forest Hills Drive”, when he was “at a crossroads with the 3 loves of my life; my woman, my craft, and my city.” And then at 39, this time though, “older and a little closer to peace”. A conceptual cap-off to his journey and discography that’s going to be one of the most important and discussed albums of the year, especially if you're a fan of Hip Hop. – Daniel Gonçalves Benítez

Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton – Anata [Puro Fantasía]

A little less than a year after Los Thuthanaka’s celebrated debut dropped, Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton, one half of the sibling duo named Pitchfork’s album of the year in 2025, is following up on his own solo career. Anata takes its name from an Andean ceremony that gives thanks to Mother Earth (“Pachamama”) for the “principle of reciprocity between humans and nature”, as described on its Bandcamp page. If Crampton’s guitar shined through Los Thuthanaka, in Anata it is the star of the show, flirting with noise and experimental rock while weaving in percussive elements of his Aymara heritage — alongside the guitar, he also plays traditional Andean instruments like charango, roncoco, and bombo italaque. No, your headphones are not failing — it’s just Joshua Chuquimia-Crampton tearing at their seams. – Amanda Cavalcanti

Joji – Piss In The Wind [Palace Creek]

Piss In The Wind is Joji’s first album outside of 88Rising and under his new independent label, Palace Creek. It’s a 21-track addendum brimming with different ideas, from rage beats to rock ballads to minimalist cuts of lo-fi alternative R&B. One in particular, the high-octane “Sojourn”, produced by Kenneth Blume and one-half of 100 gecs, Dylan Brady, features an overpowering bass and hard-hitting drums. Joji has said in the past that he likes short songs, so it’s no surprise that only one song in the tracklist surpasses the three-minute mark, nor is it surprising that he explores themes such as heartbreak, longing, vices, and being in the club when you don’t want to be in the club. – Daniel Gonçalves Benítez

Mayhem – Liturgy of Death [Century Media]

Norwegian black metal act Mayhem didn’t invent black metal, but there is no other band that has defined the metal subgenre more than the infamous quartet. Suicide, murder and church burnings made the band known across the world, and seven albums in, the band is still wretched hymns about death. Their first album in seven years, Liturgy of Death is as beautiful as it is vile. "In a way, it's our most commercial record," vocalist and lyricist Attila Csihar told Apple Music. "For all the songs to have the same theme is a bit special for Mayhem," the Hungarian-born vocalist continued. "And it may be the most universal theme."– Nic Huber

Nina Nastasia – Seaside Recordings [self-released]

Released as a Bandcamp exclusive, Seaside Recordings is a collection of songs that Nina Nastasia fans will have heard before, but never quite like this. Originally completed in 2010 at Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge Recording, Nastasia describes these as “experimental versions” of the songs that she’d hoped to release but “got swallowed up in the chaos” of her life – the same chaos that plunged her into a 12-year near-silence that was finally broken with 2022’s Riderless Horse. “It’s one of several lost sessions,” she explains in a note to her fans. “I’m hoping to brush the dust off the others and toss them out into the world.” Nastasia is joined on Seaside Recordings by pianist Steven Beck and violinist Matthew Szemela, two “exceptional musicians” who “created an atmosphere much like walking through a dense forest in a fairytale – looming and beautiful.” – Alan Pedder

Ninush – The Flowers I See You In [The Bird]

Ninush, the art pop project of violinist Nina Lim, makes her long awaited debut after becoming a staple live performer in the London underground. The Flowers I See You In is, to me, twee for aliens: it's soft, melodic, and warm with Lim's measured classical touches, but several instruments — Black Country, New Road's Lewis Evans plays the flute, whistle, and saxophone, and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and partner Sam Tsang handles all the blurry synths — give her five songs a delightful whimsy. (For even more name-dropping, BCNR's Charlie Wayne has a drum feature, and he's the co-founder of The Bird, the record label that signed Ninush.) "Lady In Waiting" highlights the artist's knack for world-building: laying the strings and harpischord-sounding synths on thick, she and Tsang craft a lovely ballad that could either have existed in the Tudor courts or on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. "The End", which starts with backwards audio that slowly unravels into synthetic chants and Lim's gentle soprano, continues the EP's lyrical themes of identity and relationships yet adorns them with buzzing, chirps, and the zaniness one might find in a Cindy Lee track. The Flowers I See You In is a warm studio welcome to this new artist. –Victoria Borlando

Puscifer – Normal Isn't [Puscifer Entertainment/Alchemy Recordings/BMG]

The anything-goes outlet of Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle) has adapted a guitar-centric, goth-tinged aesthetic for its fifth full-length project. There are some sophomoric insults in the lyrics, which aren't for everyone, but the there's moody electronica and the odd, crunchy guitar riff, suitable for fans who only know Keenan from Tool and those who can't believe Carina Round is involved in the trio. The final track, "Seven One", has the tried-and-true rhythm section of Tony Levin from King Crimson (etc. etc. etc.) and Danny Carey from Keenan's "day job." Oh, and narration from the father of Nine Inch Nails' Atticus Ross, Ian. Huh? Is that normal? It isn't. – Tyler Roland