Forget the unforgiving Canadian cold for a minute, because there’s something to look forward to as we head into 2024: plenty of new music. The coming year’s release calendar right now only extends a few months, but it’s already promising to deliver everything from arena rock to light funk to dub. Get ready to dive in.
Kali Uchis, Orquídeas (Geffen, Jan. 12)
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In the short few years since her collaboration with Montreal producer Kaytranada, 10%, netted her a Grammy for Best Dance Recording, Colombian-American musician Kali Uchis has become a global superstar. Orquídeas is set to be her second fully Spanish-language album and fourth overall, with features from some of today’s biggest Latin stars – including Peso Pluma, JT, El Alfa and Karol G. The album, she says, will span reggaeton, dembow, bolero and salsa, and “is inspired by the timeless, eerie, mystic, striking, graceful and sensual allure of the orchid” – the record’s namesake.
The Smile, Wall of Eyes (XL, Jan. 26)
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Though it’s unfair to call The Smile a Radiohead side project, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood imbue their newer band with the same tightly wound, twitchy ethos. They’ve found an opportune partner with Tom Skinner of the jazz band, Sons of Kemet, where, as one of two drummers, he’s mastered the ability to wring order from complex and sometimes competing rhythms. The members’ past experiences proved complementary on The Smile’s 2022 debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention. Early Wall of Eyes singles, including Bending Hectic and the title track, turn the subdued into the sublime – with a slight nod to Radiohead’s fuzzy nineties alt-rock days.
Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Perry (False Idols, Feb. 2)
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The dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry was a prolific producer and recording artist. After he died in 2021, it turned out he still had some work in the vault, too. His posthumous collaboration with Vancouver experimental metal band New Age Doom, Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Guide to the Universe, was a fantastic showcase of his range and enthusiasm (and featured musicians from Limblifter! And Sloan!). King Perry promises to hew closer to his historical dub recordings while exploring the worlds of drum-and-bass and electronic – and features what may be his final recorded vocal performance.
Chromeo, Adult Contemporary (BMG, Feb. 16)
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The chill kings of synth-pop are back: The Montreal-formed duo of Dave 1 and P-Thugg are releasing their sixth album six years after Head over Heels secured a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album. Honestly, that was a perfect category for Chromeo, which has been honing its slinky sound for more than two decades now. Dave 1′s description of Adult Contemporary’s lead single Personal Effects reads like a mission statement for Chromeo itself: “We felt like we needed a little breezy funk … something warm and fuzzy to bop to.” The album, he says, “is a meditation on modern, mature relationships, which means: if we gotta sing about curling irons, so be it.”
Bleachers, Bleachers (Dirty Hit, March 8)
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Jack Antonoff has fashioned himself as a kind of elder-Millennial cross between Max Martin, Phil Spector (minus the crimes) and Rick Rubin: the kind of super-producer with a hard-to-define signature sound who also manages to get the best out of the artists he works with. But as a recording artist, he gets the most comparisons with Bruce Springsteen. He’s a guitar-wielding New Jersey guy with a penchant for anthems and saxophones. The early singles from the self-titled fourth Bleachers album, the propulsive Alma Mater and subdued Modern Girl, offer another kind of Springsteenian comparison, channelling the minimalist-maximalist duality of Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. The hitmaker has logged on with his six-string.