More than two decades have passed since Paula Kelley, a co-founding singer-guitarist of Boston shoegazers Drop Nineteens, came out of the studio with a solo album. “It took getting sober, learning how to exist as maybe not a whole person or a well person, but a person who is on the way to becoming those things,” she says of the writing process. A couple of years after Drop Nineteens’ own comeback, Kelley’s new LP, Blinking as the Starlight Burns Out, pulls up her shoegaze roots and fashions them into vaporous, alt-rock gems that shimmer all the way to the stars.
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Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit [Mom+Pop]
In the realm of garage rock, Courtney Barnett is one of the more existential practioners—whether she’s kicking back into pure butt rock or leaning towards post-punk, she’s always on the hunt for greater meaning and generative purpose. Recorded largely at a Joshua Tree sublet, her new album Creature of Habit has a worn-in, dusty feel worthy of its title, courtesy of clanging guitars, sharp bass and blown-out drum loops. Barnett taps Waxahatchee for a guest verse and John Congleton for co-production duties.
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Chief Keef: Skeletor [43B]
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Three years after the critically acclaimed Almighty So 2, Chief Keef returns with the surprise release of Skeletor. The Chicago-grown rapper, now 30, is at his most mature here, continuing the polished sound of Almighty 2 while leaning into horror-show aesthetics—ominous bells, mischievous piano flourishes, bass you can feel in your chest. His deadpan humor is still intact too. Just listen to the outro from “Harry Potter”: “Niggas chasin’ like Ron Stoppable, Kim Possible.”
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