4 New Albums You Need: Nick León, Gelli Haha, and more

Stream every standout album released this Friday with The FADER’s weekly roundup.

 

Every Friday, The FADER’s writers dive into the most exciting new projects released that week. Today, read our thoughts on Nick León’s A Tropical Entropy, Gelli Haha’s Switcheroo, Zoh Amba’s Sun, and more.

Nick León: A Tropical Entropy

Nick León’s dark-hued party music has long acted as a reminder that there is more to Miami than speed boats, expensive clubs, and Pitbull cosplay. Inspired by the Joan Didion novel Miami, in which Didion probed racial tensions during the Cold War, A Tropical Entropy is León’s most fleshed-out statement on a city that gives him endless inspiration. From front to back it is a propulsive and compelling listen that explores personal breakdowns and the fracturing of society, feeding the vibrations from both into a suite of songs that kick and tingle at every turn. The heavier end of things include “Millenium Freak,” a warp-speed house track that conjures images of sunlight dappling across the ballroom floor. “Ghost,” meanwhile, arrives with an earthly swagger and tantalising offer of a life-changing experience. Elsewhere, “Broward Boyy,” represents the more frayed end of the album. With a title that references León’s hometown, a vocal sample is chopped up into what sounds like a slide guitar until intricate drum patterns give way to a euphoric techno blossom. Guests and collaborators, including Ela Minus, Casey MQ, and Mediopicky, drift in and out while Erika de Casier appears on “Bikini,” the 2024 song FADER writers voted their favorite of the year. As summer-coded as condensation dripping off a cocktail glass, it acts as a refreshing end to an album that boldly paints the Magic City with a unique palette. — David Renshaw

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Gelli Haha: Switcheroo

Gelli Haha’s initial vibe on Switcheroo seems crafted to fend off the cynical and irony-poisoned: in her press materials she’s dressed as a technicolor Pierrot, the project’s opening song — titled “Funny Music,” naturally — ends with a Looney Tunes bonk, and then there’s the “Haha” in her name, an acknowledgement of her music’s unabashed whimsy. Whether or not Switcheroo was intended to be a musical riposte to the ironic winks and self-serious pursuit of epics that have consumed pop, calculation is nowhere to be found in 10 jaunty, addictive tracks. Inspired, inventive connections are quickly drawn: “Normalize” is Funkadelic-flavored Jessy Lanza, “Bounce House” gives Yellow Magic Orchestra a Human League bounce, and “Gelliverse” is a gothic mall-pop confection, its sweetness dissolving into ash and back again, over and over. Beyond the pleasures of body music, a deep vulnerability cuts across the album. “Johnny” laments the loss of a friendship amidst Space Lady synths and Boney M melodies, and on “Piss Artist,” a voice recounts a pee pee faux pas in the middle of driving electro bass. OnSwitcheroo, Gelli Haha wields her sincerity as expertly as her myriad analogue electronics, and emerges as art-synth-pop’s wiliest new trickster god. — Jordan Darville

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Zoh Amba: Sun

The second studio album from the Tennesseean saxophonist and mainstay of New York’s experimental music scene creates a mesmeric sound that can combust at any moment into screeching squalls of supersonic free jazz. “Gathering,” a lead track that features a soulful interpolation of “Taps,” suddenly gives way to the hellacious maelstrom of “Interbeing,” where atonal keys clash with crash cymbals and frantic stick work on the drums before Amba enters with sacrilegious sax diatribes. Later, we get “Champa Flower,” where a fingerstyle guitar wanders carefree through the rhythm section’s leafy thickets. It’s followed by “At Noon,” a short-form ambient piece that exposes a wide spectrum of emotions within a single tonal center. The record closes with “In Heart,” a tense, drumless, 10-minute sax-and-keys freakout that transports the listener into the terrifying side of Amba’s world before mellowing out in its final minute, granting a modicum of peace to the troubled mind. Of course, Amba can’t let us off that easy; the song ends abruptly, like a mystery destined to remain unsolved. — Raphael Helfand

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

KATSEYE: Beautiful Chaos EP

Hybe and Geffen’s newest girl group KATSEYE embrace their individual differences on their new EP Beautiful Chaos. It’s an idea easier said than done, but one that results in five tracks of potent pop of the highest order that also channel the charms of each girl. The latin sass of “Gabriela” gives Daniela (who’s of Cuban and Venezuelan descent) a chance to melodically seduce in Spanish. The hyperpop, car-crash glory of “Gnarly” is a well for Lara and Manon’s edgier instincts. “M.I.A.” is a cunt-ified bop that feels primed for TikTok, the group’s second home. They might’ve been meticulously constructed by major labels, but KATSEYE prove they’re the glue that holds themselves together. —Steffanee Wang

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music

smut: Tomorrow Comes Crashing

Chicago-based Smut might write songs about the end of the world, or the inevitability of life falling apart at the seams, but they do so with a lot of heart. Vocalist and primary songwriter Tay Roebuck’s sugary melodies on latest album Tomorrow Comes Crashing exude warmth and deep emotion even as she sings about doomsday and gloom amid a mass of distorted guitars and gauzy effects, My Chemical Romance meets The Sundays. The five-piece have never been shy about wearing their influences on their sleeves, be it Gerard Way and Liam Gallagher’s emotive, impassioned vocal delivery to the melodic noise of ‘90s grunge. “Dead Air” takes the open-hearted optimism of jangle-pop and roots it into gritty pop-punk, while “Burn Like Violet” is a cry for help calling to another deity in the hopes of being heard — but accepting that the only person who can save you is yourself, and maybe the four other best friends that you just so happen to make music with. Cady Siregar

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Other projects out today that you should listen to

Barbra Streisand: The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2
Blonde Redhead: The Shadow of the Guest
Bruce Springsteen: Tracks II: The Lost Albums
Elle Barbara: Word On The Street
Frankie Cosmos: Different Talking
HLLLYH: Uruburu
Isabella Lovestory: Vanity
Kevin Abstract: BLUSH
Juan Waters: MVD LUV
Laura Stevenson: Late Great
Lizzo: My Face Hurts From Smiling
Lorde: Virgin
Madison McFerrin: Scorpio
Matthew Herbert & Momoko Gill: Clay
Merzbow: Sedonis
Pi’erre Bourne: Made in Paris
Sean Nicholas Savage: The Knowing
TDJ: TDJ
R&D: I’ll Send You a Sign
Wavves: Spun