Don’t Miss New Albums From Jay Som, Madi Diaz, Squeaky Feet & More

Jay Som – Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist/songwriter/producer Melina Duterte – released her long-awaited third album, Belong, through Polyvinyl Record Co. In the interim since the release of Jay Som’s sophomore album, 2019’s Anak Ko, Duterte expanded her production credits, working with boygenius, Lucy Dacus, Troye Sivan and beabadoobee, among many others.

Duterte “wrote, composed, performed, produced, engineered and mixed” Belong. The album was recorded with Joao Gonzalez, Mal Hauser, Steph Marziano and Kyle Pulley. Separate tracks feature guest vocalists – a first for Jay Som – with contributions from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins and Mini Trees’ Lexi Vega.

“When you try something for the first time, you’re always going to hold some type of fear, but I had to come to terms with the fact that I had to let go of some control,” Duterte stated. “This record is essentially still me, but a lot of choices were made by friends who helped me, because I trusted them.”

Singer-songwriter Madi Diaz shared a new album, Fatal Optimist, through ANTI-. The “rawest” album of “her heartache trilogy,” Fatal Optimist follows 2024’s Weird Faith and 2021’s History Of A Feeling. Work on the pending LP began at a New Jersey studio, but Diaz decided to scrap those sessions and headed to Southern California, where she connected with co-producer Gabe Wax at his Infinite Family Studio.

“Fatal Optimism is the innate hope for something magical,” said Diaz. “It’s the weird faith that kicks in while knowing that there is just plain risk that comes with wanting someone or something. It’s when you have no control over the outcome, but still choose to experience every moment that happens, and put your whole heart in it.”

Squeaky Feet issued a new studio album, Overview Effect. The record serves as the follow-up Colorado-based psych-prog purveyors’ 2023 debut album, Cause For Alarm. The new LP sees the band — guitarists Colin Shore and Greg King, bassist Jimmy Finnegan, keyboardist Brian Keller and drummer Kevin D’Angelo — taking a “muscular leap into progressive territory.”

“This album is about facing and overcoming adversity, and pushing through problems,” Shore said. “We wanted it to hit hard – emotionally and musically.”

Madison Cunningham shared her new album Ace, which is her third for Verve Forecast. Cunningham co-produced Ace with Robbie Lackritz. The 14-track album, her third for Verve Forecast, follows her 2022 album, Reveler. Last year, Cunningham and Andrew Bird teamed up for Cunningham Bird, a covers album reimagining Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s 1973 debut LP. The Ace single “Wake” features Fleet Foxes Robin Pecknold.

Infinite is the first Mobb Deep album since 2014 and includes vocals recorded by Prodigy prior to his untimely death in 2017. Havoc, the surviving member of the influential hip-hop duo, produced the project with The Alchemist. The 15-track record sees features by Nas, Clipse, Jorja Smith, H.E.R., Big Noyd and Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and Raekwon.

The Life You Save is the third album from multi-instrumentalist and producer Jenn Wasner’s solo project Flock of Dimes. The 12-track effort was produced by Wasner, who recorded at Sylvan Esso’s recording studio Betty’s in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and at Montrose Recording in Los Angeles. Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn provided additional production. Contributors to the album included drummers Matt McCaughan and TJ Maiani, guitarist Meg Duffy, multi-instrumentalists Alan Good Parker and Jacob Ungerleider, saxophonist Adam Schatz and modular processing by Adrian Olsen.

Rhett Miller released his 10th solo album, A lifetime of riding by night, through ATO Records. The Old 97’s frontman’s bandmate Murry Hammond produced A lifetime of riding by night, which was mostly recorded in Los Angeles at Dave’s Room. Murray produced Miller’s debut solo album, Mythologies, which was recorded in 1989 when Miller was 17. The follow-up to 2022’s The Misfit, saw Miller co-writing songs with Turnpike Troubadours’ Evan Felker, as well as Nicole Atkins, Caitlin Rose and Gin Blossoms’ Jesse Valenzuela. The 13-track album was recorded shortly before Miller underwent surgery on his vocal cords.

“There’s a lot of terrifying stories about the type of surgery I received, and I wanted to record the album first because I knew the worst outcomes were on the table,” Miller said. “I was in a lot of physical pain as I was singing these songs; there are moments when you can hear me really struggling. But as much as I thought about going back and re-recording the vocals once I’d recovered, I knew those imperfections were part of the DNA of the record. To me there’s something very human about a singer trying to sing the best he can despite being compromised.”

For their sixth album, St. Paul and The Broken Bones went the self-titled route naming the record arriving today through their Oasis Pizza Records imprint and Thirty Tigers distribution. Frontman Paul Janeway, bassist Jesse Phillips, guitarist Browan Lollar, drummer Kevin Leon, keyboardist Al Gamble, trumpeter Allen Branstetter, saxophonist Amari Ansari and trombonist Chad Fisher recorded the follow-up to 2023’s Angels In Science Fiction at the historic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals in their native Alabama. The group worked with accomplished producer Eg White, who contributing to the songwriting as well.

Peter Silberman returns with his first album from his project The Antlers in four years with today’s release of Blight. Written by Silberman between 2021 and 2024, the album was recorded mostly at his home studio in upstate New York with longtime drummer Michael Lerner. The follow-up to 2021’s Green to Gold was produced by Silberman, who played piano, guitar, bass and synthesizers.

Maggie Rose shared a new EP, Cocoon. The six-song effort follows Rose’s acclaimed 2024 LP, No One Gets Out Alive. The new EP boasts Maggie’s collaborative single with Grace Potter, “Poison In My Well,” as well as recent singles, “Same Way” and “Relentless.” Cocoon will also contain two unreleased cuts. Rose co-produced the record with longtime collaborator Ben Tanner and Davis Naish. Rose detailed the EP, which she recorded during an important time in her life.

“I am so excited to release this EP which is a collection of songs I recorded while pregnant with my son Graham. These are songs that examine growth and all its glory and edges. It was such a creative, beautiful and hopeful time for me and I wanted to seize that moment and unburden myself of feelings I no longer needed moving forward. These songs are a bridge between my last LP and where I’m headed, my old self and my new and I’m so happy that I was able to capture some feelings in these songs that represent that amazing time in my life.”