7 Albums To Check Out This Friday, May 30
From a fresh, ambitious mixtape by Conductor to the relentless wordplay of Aesop Rock's Black Hole Superette to the pummeling, punishing noise of Swans, here are X albums worth checking out this week.
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.
Abul Mogard - Quiet Pieces (Soft Places)
Don't let the name fool you. Arch-synthesist Abul Mogard's Quiet Pieces is like being buried alive in echoes, endlessly and aimlessly wandering an ancient corridor that never ends.
Aesop Rock - Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers Entertainment)
25 years on from his debut album, Aesop Rock doesn't show any sign of slowing down on Black Hole Superette. It's still some of the deftest, razor-tongued hip-hop you'll hear, backed by relentlessly restless, adventurous production. Denser than a modern novel, you'll need to spend some time with Black Hole Superette to truly take it all in.
New Candys - The Uncanny Extravaganza (Fuzz Club)
Italian psych rockers New Candys return with an especially trippy, zoned-out update on Madchester. Music for hashish and lollipops.
Rome Streetz & Conductor Williams - Trainspotting (Mass Appeal)
Two of Griselda's finest show up for a raw, immediate mixtape, perfectly balancing ambition and grit from two of the freshest voices in the game.
Swans - Birthing (Young God)
Two years on from 2023's monumental The Beggar, Michael Gira's mighty Swans descend with an album of graceful, surprisingly delicate beauty and swirling, mesmerizing power.
Ty Segall - Possession
Psychedelic music's perpetual motion machine returns with an album of Beatles-esque psychedelic pop after a particularly experimental swerve. It's an absolutely great look for Segall, silhouetting his idiosyncratic hookiness with dayglo sunrises behind rose spearmint clouds.
Matthew Young - Undercurrents (Drag City)
After the successful re-releases of 1981's Recurring Dream and 1986's Traveler's Advisory, Drag City return with another Matthew Young LP. Recorded over the span of decades, Undercurrents displays a wondrously eclectic range of ambient music styles showcasing Young's endlessly adventurous and experimental ears.
This post originally appeared on Micro Genre Music.
Obsessed with all things "dark," experimental, and avant-garde, J. Simpson idealistically believes that great art makes the world a better place to live. You can find him on Instagram, Bluesky, Letterboxd, and Goodreads.