Add to playlist: Tracy Nelson’s amazing indie rock and the best new tracks of the week | music

from New York City, New York
Recommended if you like Clean, this is Lorelei, feelings
the next Debut album Hercules will be released on July 10

Tracey Nelson’s 2025 self-titled debut EP was one of the year’s best lesser-known gems: five tracks of slick, slick indie rock reminiscent of classic Antipodean jangle bands The Clean, the Twerps, and Dick Diver. Tracks like New Years Flowers and Just Shoot Me Now signal that Austin Knoll — the New York City-based singer-songwriter behind the project — was a classic with a keen sense of bright melodies and self-deprecating statements.

This July, Noll will release Hercules, his first full-length, on Perennial, an imprint of the beloved K Records label in Olympia, Washington, which in recent years has released great covers of garage rockers Sharp Pins and Los Angeles band Amorphous Dummy. Co-produced by North Carolina musicians MJ Lenderman and Colin Miller — and performed by a killer team that includes Lenderman and Miller along with Landon George, Carly Hartzman Wednesday, Zende Chelmis, Ethan Baechtold and former Hotline TNT guitarist Jack Krause — Hercules plays up the country music elements of last year’s EP while giving Noll and his band more room to breathe.

Tracks like Two Feet and St John’s River riff in a friendly, psychedelic way that makes the record’s summer release date a no-brainer. Lead single “Hercules” is a warm spotlight on Noll’s warbling, distinctive voice. “I’ll carry you with me wherever I go,” he sings, punctuating each word with a faint sense of adoration and assurance. The entire Hercules deftly balances this tightrope between melancholy and sweetness, making Noll an unflashy songwriter with a very clear sense of self. Shad D’Souza

The best new songs of the week

Boozer – Hulk Hogan (with AJ Tracy)
Serving up social realism over Jersey club beats, the Croydon MC falls into one category in the UK scene, and AJ Tracey turns in excellent verse as he blends alongside Pozer’s fast pace. BPT

Zoh Amba – another time
The great free jazz saxophonist turns to an equally great songwriter to record a record that skews its Appalachian roots with staccato indie rock, backed by Jim White on drums. L.S

One leg, one eye – there are many names besides that
A film that takes you back to the harshest depths of winter: Lancôme’s George Brennan and Ian Lynch twist a distorted drone and distorted wail into true horror. L.S

Enter Shikari – dead in the water
One of the highlights of the rocker’s surprise and brilliantly rousing new album Lose Your Self out today: Imagine Everything, Everything is interconnected with Prodigy and Bring Me the Horizon. BPT

James K-Peel (Lloydice Remix)
Loidis (aka ambient techno master Huerco S) turns in a 14-minute remix of James K’s ethereal dancehall-pop tune, turning it into a snappy, Luomo-esque mini-house – and perfect beach sunset fodder. BPT

Ambrose Akinmusire and Mary Halvorson – Soundcheck
You can discern the sound of breathing or a distant siren in Akinmusire’s unsettling trumpet playing, adding to the instability when Halvorson’s guitar arrives – before they both launch into choppy playing. L.S

Max F – Dream Channel (Space Ghost Club Remix)
The kind of piano-centric instrumental that you play as the sun streams through warehouse windows, as everyone gets caught up in its details: life-affirming music. BPT

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