Featured Crucial Releases (June 21 edition)

There weren’t too many releases that caught my ear this week, but one in particular is a top 10 contender (as of now) and that one is Scream from New York, NY by Been Stellar (Listen).

Been Stellar combines the sounds of early Radiohead, Catherine Wheel, Ride, Swervedriver, Iceage, and Fontaines D.C. into a blistering sonic wall of 90s/early 2000s era alternative rock. Formed in 2017 in New York City, they also naturally incorporated much of the aura of the early 2000s NYC music scene into their music. Not necessarily anything new or groundbreaking, but it’s a quality album top to bottom and I long for more rock bands like this…

Favorite tracks include: “Passing Judgement”, “Start Again”, “Sweet”, and “All in One”.

Honorable Mentions

• Crash by Kehlani (Listen) – a pretty darn good R&B/Soul album from Kehlani. I’ve dug her last few records and this one is up there as one of her best.
• The Secret of Us by Gracie Abrams (Listen) – guilty please pop music somewhere between Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift. I’d rather listen to either of them over Abrams, but there are a few good tracks here, like “Risk”.