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First Listen Enjoy select, upcoming albums, in their entirety.
First Listen

First Listen

Hear upcoming albums in their entirety

Sunday

First Listen: Japandroids, 'Celebration Rock'

Japandroids' new album, Celebration Rock, comes out June 5. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Japandroids, 'Celebration Rock'

Celebration Rock is the sound of a band streamlining its boundless energy in an effort to craft the awesomest possible moment, in the moment, only to top it seconds later.

Hear 'Celebration Rock' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Big K.R.I.T., 'Live From The Underground'

Big K.R.I.T. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Big K.R.I.T., 'Live From The Underground'

Live From the Underground, out June 5, is a personal album by a rapper who's prepared, focused, well-versed. K.R.I.T. has gotten this far under his own power, and with his new record, he's primed to go much farther.

Hear 'Live From The Underground' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Kelly Hogan, 'I Like To Keep Myself In Pain'

Kelly Hogan's new album, I Like to Keep Myself in Pain, comes out June 5. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Kelly Hogan, 'I Like To Keep Myself In Pain'

The singer and prolific go-to collaborator steps into the spotlight for the first time in 11 years, recording songs written just for her by M. Ward, Andrew Bird, Stephin Merritt, Vic Chesnutt, Robyn Hitchcock, and more.

Hear 'I Like To Keep Myself In Pain'

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First Listen: Liars, 'WIXIW'

Liars' new album, WIXIW, comes out June 5. Zen Sekizawa hide caption

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Zen Sekizawa

First Listen: Liars, 'WIXIW'

Angus Andrews and his band defy expectations with every new album. On their sixth record, WIXIW (pronounced "wish you"), they enlisted help from Mute Records founder Daniel Miller to shape their most electronic art-rock record to date.

Hear 'WIXIW' In Its Entirety

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Sunday

First Listen: Regina Spektor, 'What We Saw From The Cheap Seats'

Regina Spektor's new album, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats, comes out May 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Regina Spektor, 'What We Saw From The Cheap Seats'

Spektor has a remarkable gift for gut-level connection, and for drawing a straight line from her idea-packed head to thousands of bleeding hearts. On her new album, even her weirdest moments come in service of warmth that's as kind and necessary as an old friend.

Hear 'What We Saw From The Cheap Seats'

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First Listen: Sigur Rós, 'Valtari'
Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Sigur Rós, 'Valtari'

Valtari's collection of gorgeous, moody sound-washes fits right into the band's remarkable catalog. Timeless and utterly distinct, it could have come from Iceland circa 2000 or the prettiest spot on Mars circa 2080.

Hear 'Valtari' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, 'Here'

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' new album, Here, comes out May 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, 'Here'

Here finds singer Alex Ebert and company ruminating on and celebrating the aftermath of salvation. It's another collection of sweet songs that search, seek and ultimately revel in the best of what they find.

Hear 'Here' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: The Walkmen, 'Heaven'

The Walkmen's new album, Heaven, comes out May 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: The Walkmen, 'Heaven'

The Walkmen's intriguing evolution continues on Heaven, which sounds big even as the band finds more and more comfort in performing at a whisper.

Hear 'Heaven' In Its Entirety

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Sunday

First Listen: Mount Eerie, 'Clear Moon'

Mount Eerie's new album, Clear Moon, comes out May 22. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Mount Eerie, 'Clear Moon'

In a hypnotically beautiful album about life, solitude and mortality, Phil Elverum ruminates on nature as a means to tangibly address his own life in his experimental folk and ambient black metal.

Hear 'Clear Moon' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Kimbra, 'Vows'

Kimbra. Thom Kerr hide caption

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Thom Kerr

First Listen: Kimbra, 'Vows'

The New Zealander's U.S. debut is a simultaneously booming and spangly concoction — a huge, brash showcase for a voice that soars, squeals and coos over whiz-bang arrangements. These songs fuse modern pop, old-school soul and slick R&B in ways that sound smart and sleek.

Hear 'Vows' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Saint Vitus, 'Lillie: F-65'

Saint Vitus unleashes the slow-mo headbang of a thousand metalheads on its first album in 17 years. Lillie: F-65 comes out May 22. Audry Jarrett hide caption

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Audry Jarrett

First Listen: Saint Vitus, 'Lillie: F-65'

These lifers still unleash the slow-mo headbang of a thousand metalheads on their first album together in 17 years. For a life-unaffirming album appropriately named after a downer, Lillie: F-65 should be swallowed whole.

Hear 'Lillie: F-65' In Its Entirety

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Sunday

First Listen: Best Coast, 'The Only Place'

Best Coast's new album, The Only Place, comes out May 15. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Best Coast, 'The Only Place'

The Only Place doesn't just advance the band's irresistible garage-pop formula. It perfects it, while singer Bethany Cosentino captures countless girl groups' gift for employing sunny pop as a shield for pathos.

Hear 'The Only Place' In Its Entirety

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First Listen: Beach House, 'Bloom'

Beach House's new album, Bloom, comes out May 15. Liz Flyntz hide caption

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Liz Flyntz

First Listen: Beach House, 'Bloom'

The band doesn't stray far from its musical calling card. But Bloom demonstrates subtle evolution through precise refinements to its stirring dream-pop sound.

Hear 'Bloom' In Its Entirety

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