The Rotation: Albums We’re Listening To Right Now

Every month, we try to keep up with the daily onslaught of new music, and every month we highlight the best new artists. But what about the albums? Even in the non-stop streaming economy albums still matter to most music fans, and since we’re usually focused on sharing all our favorite new singles, we realize that we don’t talk about albums enough. So we started The Rotation as a place for Pigeons & Planes contributors to speak on some albums they're currently into.

But first, we have to acknowledge that 2021 is already shaping up to be a generous year for music. With so many artists unable to tour in 2020, a lot of energy has been redirected toward creating in the studio (or at home), and we’re just starting to hear the results of that now.

This feature just highlights a handful of current favorites, but there are so many other great projects out now. To name a few:

Kenny Mason – Angelic Hoodrat: Supercut

Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams

Caleborate – Light Hit My Skin

Jimi Somehwere – Nothing Gold Can Stay

Crumb – Ice Melt

AG Club – F*ck Your Expectations PT. 2

The Alchemist – This Thing Of Ours

Jorja Smith – Be Right Back

ssgkobe – KO.

Shelley FKA DRAM – Shelley FKA DRAM

AJ Tracey – Flu Game

Van Buren Records – Bad For Press

JAHMED – ARMANI

MAVI – END OF THE EARTH

Read on for some other recent standouts that we’ve got in rotation.

Favorite songs: “9 5 . s o u t h,” “a m i r i,” and “my . l i f e”

As we prepare to hear J. Cole for the first time on the opening track of The Off-Season, his first album since 2018’s KOD, the anticipation is palpable. The piano and horns swell on “9 5 . s o u t h” as we wait to hear his first words but then instead of Cole we hear… Cam’ron? The man who went platinum with no features opens his highly-anticipated third album with a feature? 

From the jump, this project isn’t like any other J. Cole album we’ve heard. The tone is different—the mood is different. A comfortable, confident, and braggadocious J. Cole weaves his way through 12 tracks, rapping like he’s putting in his application for best rapper alive but also somehow not taking himself too seriously. “If I’m bettin’ on myself, then I’ll completely double down,” he says on the album’s opener.

Cole has found his groove on The Off-Season. From taking all the shots himself on the stellar “a m a r i,” to throwing an alley-oop to Lil Baby on “p r i d e . i s . t h e . d e v i l,” to kicking it out to 21 Savage on “m y . l i f e,” Cole is a force all over the court. On The Off-Season Cole is like Larry Bird raising that #1 finger up in the air before the ball is even in net. He’s on the top of his game right now and he knows it. “Just know these verses is some shit they gon’ forever playback,” he states on “a p p l y i n g . p r e s s u r e.” And right now, it’s hard to doubt him.—John Walaszek

Favorite songs: “SITUATIONS,” “HEAVY METAL,” and “CASINO”

Paris Texas had our full attention ever since their skull-cracking debut single “HEAVY METAL.” It was a visceral introduction impossible to ignore, but what came next showcased the South Central duo’s greater potential. With follow-up “SITUATIONS” they displayed a knack for unconventional song structure and indelible hooks, and with third single “FORCE OF HABIT” they cemented the formula: slightly out-of-tune guitar, unhinged vocal performances, and flourishes of sturdy rapping that hold it all together.

If you’re reading this, chances are you hear about a new “genre-blending” artist every week, but Paris Texas is really on a different wave, in a whole other body of water from most artists who clumsily smash a couple of unexpected sonic elements together. Despite the unpredictability, their first eight-song offering BOY ANONYMOUS is remarkably cohesive, with the raw, human imperfections and charming blemishes acting as a through line. The duo’s first three singles set it up nicely, but project cuts like “CASINO” hint at the possibilities for a more rap-focused future—and then “AREA CODE” brings back even more uncertainty.

BOY ANONYMOUS offers a look at the many sides of this dynamic duo, but it certainly doesn’t attempt to provide something for everybody. The project is unpolished, experimental, and at times abrasive—it feels as though they’re doing exactly what they want, and not what might play well with others. Even at Paris Texas’ most accessible moments, a lot of listeners are probably going to be left scratching their heads and creasing their faces. At this stage in the game, that reaction is 100 times more powerful than indifference, and it’s only going to make the fans (including us) even more invested.—Jacob Moore

Favorite songs: “midnight love,” “Rue,” and “Serotonin”

After she emerged in 2018 with lo-fi indie rock songs like the self-produced “i wanna be your girlfriend,” girl in red’s rise was swift. Her deeply personal songs about mental health, queerness, and the pains of growing up resonated all over, and she racked up millions of streams and a dedicated community of fans who sell out her shows and share messages of support in the comments of her YouTube videos.

2020 should have been filled with live shows and festivals for girl in red, but then the pandemic happened and it turned into a year of writing at home in Oslo, Norway and recording in Bergen, an eight-hour drive away. “Every time I left the studio from Bergen, I would listen to hours and hours of my own tracks, and just be like, what can I do better? What can I refine?” girl in red says. “Driving is a cathartic thing; it gives this amazing feeling of freedom. I love to talk to myself, so most of the time, if I didn’t listen to my songs, I would just reflect in the car.”

Even as she explores bigger, bolder, and more polished sounds, girl in red’s fingerprints remain over all aspects of the music. She wrote all the songs herself and co-produced them all with Matias Tellez, with the exception of “Serotonin,” which FINNEAS co-produced. if i could make it go quiet breaks new ground for the girl in red project without ever departing from the intimacy and honesty that has won her so many fans. Even though it’s her debut album, it offers a vision of girl in red’s next steps, as she takes her deepest, darkest thoughts and shares them with the world.—Alex Gardner

Favorite songs: “Herringbone,” “Baba 70S,” and “Black Tame”

Topaz Jones has been building up to this moment for years. He’s been a Pigeons & Planes favorite ever since we started seeing him around NYC venues in the early 2010s. He performed alongside Noname at one of our No Ceilings shows in 2016, spoke to us later that year about his ambitions beyond simply being a good rapper, and even performed on a roof at SXSW for our DIY video series in 2017. He’s always been a great artist, and he’s always had a distinct sonic palette that merges hip-hop with classic funk and effortless charisma.

With his new album Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma, Topaz Jones hit a new level. Musically, it’s his most ambitious work yet and we challenge anyone to stay still when you hear the kick of the drums and the bounce of the bass on tracks like “Black Tame” or “Herringbone.” But this project is so much more than that. It comes with a Sundance-winning film of the same name (watch it here), which gives us the most complex look at Topaz Jones as a human being yet, beyond the body-moving music he’s so good at making.

Through an interpolation of The Black ABCs, the film tells pieces of Jones’ personal story growing up in Montclair, NJ, while it also explores tones, sounds, and nuances of Black identity with graceful power. Both the album and the film could stand up on their own as evocative pieces of art, but together they make for the most moving moment in Topaz Jones’ career so far.

We’re living in an age when albums come and go like text notifications and world-building around projects has been reduced to a pleasant Instagram aesthetic. With Don’t Go Tellin’ Your Momma, Topaz Jones offers a reminder that adding a few layers of depth can make the connection to music resonate so much more strongly. But, if you just want some good music to listen to while you’re outside this summer, this album is great for that too.—Jacob Moore

Favorite songs: “Hyacinth,” “Heart Storm,” and “Fellowship”

Listen to serpentwithfeet’s 2020 EP Apparition, and you might sense a weariness that seeps into songs like “A Comma,” where he sings, “Life’s gotta get easier / Can’t carry a heavy heart into the next year.” Positioned between his 2018 full-length debut and his latest album, Apparition was a transition for the Baltimore-born artist, marking a musical segue from the haunting, eerie sound of soil to the effervescent DEACON. 

Album opener “Hyacinth” is a deep breath out as serpentwithfeet sings, “So glad the soil has yielded something more than bad luck.” Over Take A Daytrip’s punchy production on “Sailors’ Superstition,” he reassures his lover (and maybe himself, too) that their devotion will withstand the test of time. NAO and serpentwithfeet collide in a layering of silken vocals and ambient instrumentation on “Heart Storm.” 

serpentwithfeet spares no words in sharing the joys of his domesticity on DEACON. Each song reveals a new facet of his relationships in an unbridled celebration of Black love and camaraderie. With poignant clarity, serpentwithfeet trades the intricate songwriting on soil for a more universal message. Listening to DEACON feels like reveling in serpentwithfeet’s blessings while simultaneously counting your own. Closing track (and thesis of the album) “Fellowship” sums it up best: “I’m spending less time worrying and more time recounting the love.”—Maddy Quach

Favorite songs: “Windows,” “Count On Me,” and “Don’t Shoot Up The Party”

There will only be one more BROCKHAMPTON album after ROADRUNNER, according to Kevin Abstract, who said on Twitter this week that everyone in the group has a lot to say outside of group projects. “We’ve dedicated the last ten years of our lives to making music together,” he added. It’s been a wild ride from the early days of Kevin Abstract’s mixtapes to now, and if ROADRUNNER really is part of the group’s swansong, it’s a fitting tribute to a band that has never stopped evolving.

The different eras of BROCKHAMPTON have been marked by constant experimentation and the introduction of new collaborators and creative foils. This time, an eclectic cast of characters worked on the album, including certified stars like A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Charlie Wilson, Danny Brown, and Shawn Mendes. Maybe even more exciting are the rising artists who were involved, including Christian Alexander, SoGone SoFlexy, SSGKobe, boylife, and Baird (learn more about those rising stars here). 

From pop songs like “I’ll Take You On” to traditional leaning rap cuts like “When I Ball” to fun, quotable filled tracks like “Bankroll,” ROADRUNNER remains coherent with Romil, Kevin Abstract, and Jabari Manwa handling the bulk of the production. With this unconventional crew reaching the height of their powers, BROCKHAMPTON may be over soon, but the members of the collective will surely be impacting music and culture for years to come.—Alex Gardner