10 New Albums Worth Checking Out, August 30 Edition

There's a ton of incredible music to get lost in as the summer slips into the autumn. From the dense, literary art pop of Nick Cave's Wild God to an astounding debut mixape from Doechii!

Aug 30, 2024

Hauntology Now! is the Substack of interdisciplinary artist, designer, musician, academic writer, and cultural critic J. Simpson, where he writes about all things hauntological, atemporal, philosophical, as well as sharing thoughts, reflections, and musings on music, movies, books, and life.

There's a ridiculous wealth of new music coming out today, August 30 2024. As the season begins to turn, with the final weekend of Summer setting sail, here in the Northern Hemisphere, there's all sorts of sound to match your mood and set the tone for the upcoming autumn and winter.

First and most notably is the dense, hyper-literary goth pop of Nick Cave's new one, Wild God, but that's just the beginning. Next up is the highly-anticipated new release from proto-electronic shoegazers Seefeel as well as an incredibly mixtape from rising hip-hop star Doechii. There's some gnarly metal from noisy industrialists Nails and even some straight-up symphonic music from RZA, no less. It's a good thing we're launching into a long weekend as there's a lot to listen to this week!

10 Albums Worth Checking Out Coming Out On August 30 2024

Nick Cave - Wild God

Dense, literary, heartbreaking, hilarious, Wild God is a Russian novel of a gothic/post-punk/alt pop record. With Wild God, Nick Cave takes his rightful place alongside Scott Walker, Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Leonard Cohen.

Markus Guentner - Kontrapunkt

Markus Guentner turns in an album of warm, lush ambient music for A Strangely Isolated Place, aided by some of the most interesting voices in ambient music, including Abul Mogard and Benoit Pioulard.

Nails - Every Bridge Burning

Malevolent industrial technical metal from doomsayers Nails. Like a mixture of early Godflesh and 21st-Century post-hardcore.

Jon Hopkins - Ritual

Another lush ambient record with one of ambient music's brightest lights joined by many of the genre's most interesting voices, in this case Ishq and Vylana. On Ritual, Hopkins and associates sound like a timeless ritual taking place in front of a bronzen bowl, flames reaching to the sky, nestled into the roots of an ancient oak tree, laden down with paper lanterns and starlight.

Duster - In Dreams

The recently rejuvenated Duster returns with another impressively high-quality take on 21st-Century slowcore. Dreamy and dismal, oppressive yet uplifting - a perfect one for the changing season.

Yuko Araki - Zenjitsutan 前日譚

Blistering harsh noise that's still somehow oddly soothing. Discovered via Boomkat.

Tycho - Infinite Health

Chillwave surfer Tycho returns with his immaculative, immersive worldbuilding on Infinite Health. Like taking a cool, refreshing plunge into a pixelated pool of aquamarine.

Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal

Doechii follows up her popular Swamp Sessions with a killer mixtape. Raw, stripped-down, personal, hilarious, Alligator Bites Never Heal will take you places.

Seefeel - Everything Squared EP

Proto-electronic shoegazers Seefeel's time has finally come. Everything Squared is a moody, minimalist EP of questing electronics and dramamine beats sound utterly delicious, crisp as a granny smith album and sweet as ancient honey. Welcome back Seefeel!

RZA - A Ballet Through Mud

Don't expect any of RZA's signature scratchy dusted beats on A Ballet Through Mud. Instead, prepare for a jaw-dropping album of romantic Classical music in the style of Schumann or Strauss. Is there nothing RZA can't do?