Don’t Miss New Albums From Gorillaz, Bruno Mars, Mitski & Others

Gorillaz released a new album, The Mountain, via their Kong label. The human musician behind the animated Gorillaz collective, Damon Albarn, created The Mountain with the input of several guest contributors. Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash, Asha Bhosle, Yasiin Bey, Bizarrap, Black Thought, IDLES, Kara Jackson, Johnny Marr, Jalen Ngonda, Ajay Prasanna, Asha Puthli, Gruff Rhys, Anoushka Shankar, Omar Souleyman, Paul Simonon, and Trueno can be heard on the album.

Along with those guests, The Mountain contains posthumous recordings by Tony Allen, Dennis Hopper, Dave Jolicoeur, Proof, Mark E Smith and Bobby Womack.

Bruno Mars released his long awaited fourth album, The Romantic, today through Atlantic Records. Mars’ last full-length solo release was his 2016 album, 24K Magic. In 2021, Mars and Anderson .Paak released the debut Silk Sonic album, An Evening with Silk Sonic. Other recent collaborations include the Grammy Award-winning track, “Die With A Smile,” with Lady Gaga, and his Grammy Award-nominated collaboration with Rosé, “Apt.”

Mitski returns with her eighth studio album, Nothing’s About To Happen To Me, arriving today on Dead Oceans. The singer-songwriter wrote and all 11 songs featured on the follow-up to her 2023 LP, The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We. Mitski recruited her The Land touring band to provide live instrumentation and added an orchestra to give a symphonic feel to Nothing’s About To Happen To Me.

Patrick Hyland produced and engineered the record, which was mastered by Bob Weston, with drumming and logistical assistance from Kris Bulakowski. The orchestra laid down arrangements created and conducted by Drew Erickson at Sunset Sound and TTG Studios.

Big Thief‘s Buck Meek is back with a new solo album, The Mirror, out now via 4AD. Meek tapped Big Thief’s James Krivchenia to produce The Mirror. Contributors on The Mirror include Meek and Krivchenia’s Big Thief bandmate Adrianne Lenker, along with ambient musician Alex Somers and Mary Lattimore who played harp. Drummers include Jonathan Wilson and Kyle Crane.

Buck’s brother Dylan Meek offered keyboards and vocals while Adrian Olsen delivered modular synths. Vocalists include Staci Foster, Jolie Holland and Germaine Dunes. The Mirror was recorded at Dunes and Meek’s Los Angeles log cabin studio, Ringo Bingo.

Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) released Hen’s Teeth, his eight album and sixth for Sub Pop Records. Beam brought back together several musicians who appeared on his last album, 2024’s Light Verse, to record its follow-up at the same recording space, Waystation studio in Laurel Canyon.

Appearing across the 10-tracks making up Hen’s Teeth are drummers Griffin Goldsmith, Beth Goodfellow and Kyle Crane, guitarist David Garza, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, keyboardist Tyler Chester, and Paul Cartwright who played mandolin, violin and other string instruments. Additionally, I’m With Her can be heard on two tracks and Beam’s daughter, Arden Beam, sings on multiple songs.

Denver-based bluegrass quartet Magoo issued their debut studio album, What A Life. The acoustic string band comprises guitarist Erik Hill, dobro player Dylan Flynn, bassist Denton Turner and mandolinist Courtlyn Bills. Among the debut effort’s 10 tracks is the single, “Angel Of Telluride,” which features bluegrass mandolin/fiddle legend Sam Bush.

Minnesota-based string band Pert Near Sandstone released their next their ninth full-length studio album, Side By Side. The foursome – guitarist J Lenz, bassist Justin Bruhn, mandolinist/fiddler Nate Sipe and clawhammer banjo player Kevin Kniebel – recruited Ryan Young, of fellow Minnesota-based string band Trampled by Turtles, to record and produce Side By Side. Young, who was Pert Near Sandstone’s original fiddler, also worked with the band on their 2023 album, Waiting Days. The title track features guest accordion player Patrick Harrison (Patty Buttons).

Acclaimed guitarist Bill Frisell released a new album, In My Dreams, through the venerable Blue Note Records. The virtuoso musician worked with producer Lee Townsend on the album celebrating Frisell’s 75th birthday. The 12-track effort sees Frissell backed by the rhythm section of bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Rudy Royston and a string section made up of Eyvind Kang on viola, Hank Roberts on cello and Jenny Scheinman on violin.

Singer-songwriter Bill Callahan shared his eighth album, My Days Of 58, today through Drag City Records. The LP follows 2022’s YTI⅃AƎЯ and was recorded by the core group who toured that album with Callahan — guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and drummer Jim White. Additional contributions came from fiddler Richard Bowden, pianist Pat Thrasher, bassist Chris Vreeland, trombonist Mike St. Clair, pedal steel guitarist Bill McCullough, vocalist Eve Searls and tambourine player Jerry DeCicca.

Artificial Light is the fourth full-length studio album from Folk Physics, the moniker of guitarist and composer John Nolan. The Boston-based Nolan once again worked with long-time producer and collaborator Dan Cardinal as his Dimension Sound Studios. Artificial Light is the the follow-up to 2025’s Parallels, which they recorded with cellist Mike Block. The 10-tracks on Artificial Light was inspired by “the analog nostalgia of Boards of Canada, the electronic guitars and textures of Ratatat and the experimental rhythmic collages of The Books, the record bridges the gap between structure and experimental synthesis, groove and ambience.”