#NewMusicFriday: November 2, 2018

Each Friday, Stephen Mejias, AudioQuest’s Director of Communications and former Stereophile and Audiostream.com columnist, will browse through the many exciting albums released that day and select 15 worth a closer listen.

New albums used to be released on Tuesdays. Immediately after work, I would walk the few blocks from Stereophile’s Madison Avenue office to Grand Central Station, take the 6 train down to Astor Place, and practically race into Other Music.

Now new albums are released on Fridays and Other Music is gone. I don’t sleep well. I never have. On Friday mornings, when it’s still too early to get out of bed, I wait there wondering about the new albums in my phone until I give up on sleep entirely.

I probably start with Tidal. Streaming services are today’s record stores. Tidal and Spotify and Bandcamp and maybe eventually Qobuz, too, have, in a sense, replaced my Other Music. (But nothing can replace Other Music.)

From there, I check e-mail. I receive a number of newsletters from record labels and online shops that I admire. They give me more.

And then I make this list. (What have I missed? So much, I’m sure.)


Kelly Moran, Ultraviolet (Warp Records)


Richard Devine: Sort\Lave (Planet Mu)


Reto A Ichi: The Lapse of the Exchange (!K7 Records)


Thought Gang: s/t (Sacred Bones)


Ian William Craig: Thresholder (Fatcat Records)


Moonface: This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet (Jagjaguwar)


Beacon: Gravity Pairs (Ghostly International)


Chromatics: Camera (Italians Do It Better)


Hiss Golden Messenger: Virgo Fool (Merge Records)


Marianne Faithfull: Negative Capability (BMG)


Bill Ryder-Jones: Yawn (Domino Recording Company)

Woven Skull: s/t (Oaken Palace Records)


Guttersnipe: My Mother the Vent (Upset The Rhythm)


Vince Staples: FM (Def Jam)


Colin Self: Siblings (RVNGIntl.)