Every Friday is new music release day. I dig through new release lists from sources like All Music, Metal Injection, Pitchfork, and Bandcamp to put together a queue of releases from bands and labels that might interest me. As I listen through the list, I add the stand out albums to a playlist for revisiting. This list is what I refer to as the First Pass. Some of the albums make it to my best of the month playlists. Others get tossed upon further review. Below is a list of albums from this week that made the first pass.

Sammi Lanzetta
Ceiling Mirror
Indie Rock
If you cannot tell from the cover, this album is a lot of fun.

Frail Body
A Brief Memoriam
Post-Hardcore, Screamo
If you like the genre, I think you will like this.

Rational Anthem
It’s Only Permanent
Punk Rock
An immensely solid punk rock album.

Cartel Madras
Age of the Goonda
Hip-Hop
Twelve minutes of excellent hip-hop, and a cool backstory to the group.

Une Misère
Sermon
Hardcore
Heavy and exciting. Plus the cover is beautiful.

Ahem
Try Again
Dream Pop, Indie Rock
Short, but sweet. I dig the vibe of this album.

Counterparts
Nothing Left to Love
Melodic Hardcore, Metalcore
Consistent energy and aggression.

Garden Centre
A Moon For Digging
Indie Pop
The vocals might be too strange for some, but a solid album overall.

Sleeping At Last
Atlas: II
Indie Rock
This is a collection of previously released singles, but if you have never heard the band, the songs are beautiful.

Black Kirin
秦淮
Folk Metal
The majority of this album is a re-issue of an old EP, so I am not sure it belongs in this list. However, the new song is great, and the mixture of metal with Chinese instruments is damn cool.