Without fail, every year the Grammy Awards cause an uproar across one genre or another. Although fans’ chatter about snub is still at the top of online forum, the 2025 Grammys nomination list sparked another interesting question. What qualifies an artist as “new?”
“Every year, the #GRAMMYs Best New Artist category acknowledges rising stars who are shaping the future of music through their own artistry,” read the post (viewable here). “Little does it matter if they have just a few singles or 10 studio albums under their belts. The Best New Artist Category is all about highlighting how an act pushes creative boundaries and challenges a saturated industry with outstanding — and sometimes surprising — music.”
Khruangbin’s debut album, The Universe Smiles Upon You, was released nearly a decade ago. The same goes for Sabrina Carpenter’s Eyes Wide Open. But based on the Recording Academy’s post, an artist’s breakthrough is weighed more heavily. Maybe the Recording Academy will reconsider their three submission rule for the category to allow Uproxx cover Tate McRae a chance to compete based on this logic.
Well, the official Best New Artist winner won’t be announced until February 2, 2025, which is bound to cause yet another online teasy.
Texas trio Khruangbin continues the rollout for their new album A LA SALA with a psychedelic animated video for the project’s second single, “May Ninth.” The video evokes impressionist pencil sketches, environmentalism, and the works of Studio Ghibli to tell a funky short story about the circle of life and the interconnectedness of all things.
The band is also due to hit the road for their A LA SALA Tour, beginning with a pair of performances at Coachella and continuing through early October. You can see the tour dates below.
Watch Khruangbin’s “May Ninth” video above.
A LA SALA is out 4/5 on Dead Oceans. Get more info here.
Khruangbin 2024 Tour Dates
04/14 — Coachella @ Indio, CA
04/18 — Alex Madonna Expo Center @ San Luis Obispo, CA*
04/21 — Coachella @ Indio, CA
04/23 — Brooklyn Bowl @ Las Vegas, NV*
04/24 — Brooklyn Bowl @ Las Vegas, NV*
04/26 — Revel @ Albuquerque, NM*
04/27 — Revel @ Albuquerque, NM*
05/22 — The Met @ Philadelphia, PA^
05/23 — The Met @ Philadelphia, PA^
05/25 — Boston Calling @ Boston, MA
05/26 — Saratoga Performing Arts Center @ Saratoga Springs, NY^
05/28 — Rockin’ At The Knox @ Buffalo, NY^
05/29 — Jacob’s Pavilion @ Cleveland, OH^
05/31 — History @ Toronto, ON^
06/01 — History @ Toronto, ON^
06/02 — History @ Toronto, ON^
06/04 — The Masonic Temple Theatre @ Detroit, MI^
06/07 — The Salt Shed @ Chicago, IL
06/08 — The Salt Shed @ Chicago, IL^
06/09 — The Salt Shed @ Chicago, IL^
06/11 — Red Hat Amphitheater @ Raleigh, NC
06/14 — Bonnaroo @ Manchester, TN
08/15 — Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, CA%
08/16 — Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, CA%
08/18 — Edgefield @ Troutdale, OR%
08/19 — Edgefield @ Troutdale, OR%
08/21 — Kettlehouse @ Bonner, MT%
08/22 — Kettlehouse @ Bonner, MT%
08/24 — Granary Live @ Salt Lake City, UT%
08/27 — Red Rocks @ Morrison, CO&
08/28 — Red Rocks @ Morrison, CO%
09/20 — Forest Hills Tennis Stadium @ New York, New York+
09/21 — Forest Hills Tennis Stadium @ New York, New York+
09/23 — The Anthem @ Washington, DC$
10/02 — The Factory @ St. Louis, MO$
10/03 — The Factory @ St. Louis, MO$
10/09 — Saenger Theatre @ New Orleans, LA$
10/10 — Saenger Theatre @ New Orleans, LA$
* with Hermano Gutiérrez
^ with John Carroll Kirby
% with Peter Cat Recording Co.
+ with Men I Trust
$ with Arooj Aftab
Sure, you’ve been doom-scrolling through your share of year-end Best Albums lists, but there are some deep cuts out there that might not be getting the shine they deserve. While we stand by the diverse offering of the year’s best on Uproxx’s Best Albums of 2022’s round-up, these picks represent the ones you may have missed. From post-punk and global sounds to West Coast hip-hop and IDM, check out the best albums of 2022 that you might have missed below.
Khruangbin and Vieux Farka Touré – Ali
Much like how Khruangbin’s Texas Sun/Moon collaboration with Leon Bridges wonderfully melds together each artist’s sound while aiming for the essence of Texas, Ali is a sonic journey into West Africa with Vieux Farka Touré. The son of the great Malian desert blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré, Vieux joins forces with Khruangbin to honor his late father on the album. The Texan trio elevates Touré as a vocalist and guitarist, and together they tap in deeply to the spirit of West African blues and folk. One that can finally be felt in widespread fashion well outside of the continent.
Greentea Peng – Greenzone 108
The British rapper’s latest mixtape sees her spitting metaphysical rhymes over jazzy psychedelic soul beats and dancehall riddims. “Stuck In The Middle” showcases her sly wordsmithery over a groovy twang, while “Your Mind” lays down lush strings and funky horns for Peng to flow over with impeccable cadence: “I see you still, cower at your power. I see you still, doubt the world is ours / But I’m here to shower you, with messages from higher you, in spite of you, inside of you, there’s light in you, and fight in you.”
Widowspeak – The Jacket
On their sixth album, Brooklyn’s Widowspeak have found their highest form. Straddling shoegaze and cowboy pop, The Jacket is a calming, extremely pleasant, and flat-out gorgeous display from a band that’s aging gently and gracefully. Through standout tracks like the kaleidoscopic “While You Wait,” the balmy “Everything Is Simple” and the brilliantly arranged “The Drive,” singer Molly Hamilton’s vocals are a salve throughout one of the best evening companion albums of the year.
Ela Minus & DJ Python – Corazón
Before the arresting dance music pulse of Ela Minus’ breakthrough 2020 album, Acts Of Rebellion, the 2017 Adapt EP was a more playful, vocal IDM essay on synth mastery from the Colombian artist. Corazón harkens back to that early release through the earthy tonalities of New York-based producer DJ Python. As its title suggests, Corazón is a collection of love songs — only three of them to be exact — that leave a lasting feeling of sweet longing, tinged with palpable hope and nostalgia for sweet moments of romance. None do it better than “Pajaros en Verano,” one of the best songs of the year which brims with starry-eyed adoration wrapped in Ela and Python’s warm embrace of synths.
Thee Sacred Souls – Thee Sacred Souls
In the spirit of retro-soul-minded acts like Durand Jones & The Indications and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the self-titled debut from SoCal’s Thee Sacred Souls is a display of lowrider soul tunes. Singer Josh Lane, drummer Alex Garcia, and bassist Sal Samano channel vintage ’60s soul and ’70s R&B vibes on the twelve-track Daptone Records release. But it’s in their full seven-piece setup where you get transported to a scene right out of that sock hop in Back To The Future, only this time, it’s the full Thee Sacred Souls touring ensemble commanding the stage for [radio DJ voice] alllll the lovers out there.
George Fitzgerald – Stellar Drifting
Domino Records really had their finger on the pulse of melodic IDM this year and George Fitzgerald’s Stellar Drifting was it’s most accessible offering. Breakneck soundscapes bloom everywhere, often making way for lasting vocal collabs like the glorious “Passed Tense” with Panda Bear and the magic carpet ride that is “Rainbow And Dreams” featuring Soak. For the album, Fitzgerald synthesized the literal sound of the cosmos and moments like “Cold” — featuring a pitched-down (and uncredited) Ellie Goulding — are downright interstellar.
Tim Bernardes – Mil Coisas Invisíveis
Brazilian singer-songwriter Tim Bernardes opened for Fleet Foxes on tour this year and recently collaborated with them on the track “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen.” He even recorded a version of “Baby” with Brazilian legend Gal Costa before she passed this year. His trajectory is certainly on the rise and his solo album, Mil Coisas Invisíveis, is one of the finest modern Brazilian folk albums released in recent memory. Look no further than “BB (Garupa De Moto Amarela)” for a prime example of how Bernardes presents his elegant and poetic Portuguese-language lyricism, alongside bohemian arrangements that feel inspired by the flower child era of the Summer of Love.
Larry June & Jay Worthy – 2 P’z In A Pod
While San Francisco’s Larry June Spaceships On The Blade drew considerable attention this year (including from Uproxx’s Best Albums of 2022), June’s collaboration with Compton rapper Jay Worthy was likewise a standout. 2 P’z In A Pod is nothing short of a titanic West Coast rap release, bringing together two distinct voices from NorCal and SoCal. The record is produced entirely by Sean House and “Leave It Up To Me” doesn’t just show two rappers complementing each other with a distinct symbiosis, it might just be the best track June put out this year. There are even features from a slew of OGs in The Diplomats’ Jim Jones, West Coast rap fixture Suga Free, and then NYC’s Roc Marciano on the cognac-soaked “Leave It Up To Me.”
A.O. Gerber – Meet Me At The Gloaming
There’s a lot more than meets the eye on Los Angeles singer-songwriter A.O. Gerber’s latest album. If meticulously constructed and impassioned tunes like “You Got It Right” and “Walk In The Dark” remind you of Wye Oak, perhaps it’s because Gerber co-produced the album with Wye Oak collaborator Madeline Kenney. Out on the workhorse Father/Daughter Records label, melancholy strings permeate this beautiful album about staying optimistic in difficult emotional standstills. And even experimental jazz saxophonist Sam Gendel pops up at a couple turns, flashing ambitious layouts from Gerber and company that leave you wanting more.
Cola – Deep In View
While Montreal post-punk trio Ought disbanded recently, Cola immediately arose from the ashes. Most importantly, deep-voiced singer Tim Darcy is still at the helm lyrically on an album that easily slotted among the best post-punk releases of the year. Album opener “Blank Curtain” sets the stage with Darcy’s perfectly-paced vocals, sleek riffs, and a devious bass line from Ben Stidworthy. “Water Table” brings back Darcy’s signature callouts of our growing technocratic state, over drums from Ben Cartwright that thump like a tell-tale heart. And for a moment, it feels like Ought never left, they only got better.
Archibald Slim – Worldly Ways
While Archibald Slim is still rubbing elbows with Atlanta’s left-of-center Awful Records crew that he first came up with (including on Father’s “Let’s Kick His Ass!” along with Zack Fox this year), he’s found new life with LA’s P.O.W Recordings after a lengthy hiatus. Now Worldly Ways immediately slots him among the upper crust of the label’s eclectic roster of emerging rappers. The Boldy James comparisons are inescapable as Slim weaves stories with the hard-earned wisdom of a man who’s traversed many roads, but with the South as his recognizable point of origin. And he puts it down on the standout title track over a breezy thump, rapping: “I ain’t proud of some of the things that I had done. But my folks proud I stand my ground and I don’t run unless there’s time on the line.”
Los Angeles State Historic Park is located on a stretch of downtown road that you’d likely miss if you weren’t looking. Surrounded by Chinatown, the downtown skyline, and the LA River, it’s most notable for long-time residents as the former home of FYF Fest. Back when that now-defunct event was held there, it felt like new problems plagued it annually. Sometimes, it was insane lines that kept people waiting for hours to get in. Other times, it was just the massive dust clouds that the crowds of people would create over the unkempt terrain. When FYF moved to Exposition Park near USC in 2014, it was both for literally greener pastures, more space, and a more grown-up, professional presentation. Until its founder was removed and its 2018 attempt to relaunch was canceled, FYF was the premier multi-genre event in the city.
FYF in many ways was inspired by Barcelona’s Primavera Sound — FYF founder Sean Carlson had frequently spoken about his travels to Spain for both inspiration and education on events. The Spanish staple, running strong since 2001, has long been considered one of the most adventurous and innovative music festivals in the world. From its all-night running time to its recently enacted 50/50 gender parity, Primavera Sound has always been on the forefront of taste and the right side of history. And with a long-planned, pandemic-delayed LA bow, it was ready to spread that vision to a new market.
So taking to the now-renovated, grassy, pristine park that is known for legendary debacles — and even more legendary performances — felt fitting for Primavera. Though the footprint and capacity remain modest at the site, the lineup still felt pretty massive, with arena-level artists Lorde, Nine Inch Nails, and Arctic Monkeys headlining and support from the likes of Khruangbin, James Blake, Fontaines DC, Mitski, Pinkpantheress, Darkside, Arca, Tierra Whack, Cairo, Giveon, and many more. But the overwhelming feeling was a sense of nostalgia for what the park had meant to so many who considered those FYF years crucial to their musical journey. With the skyline towering in the distance, it’s about as LA as an LA outdoor event can feel. It’s the perfect spot for new memories to be made, and a new generation to develop their own sense of nostalgia.
Primavera’s commitment to musical discovery was on display, as a casual attendee could walk from metal icons Mayhem to post-punk trailblazers Fontaines DC to the instrumental retro funk of Khruangbin without skipping a beat. Tierra Whack wins the award for most playful hype DJ, who managed to pump up the crowd with not only the expected Kanye drop but also Panic! At The Disco and Vanessa Carlton selections, speaking directly to Whack’s sharp, left-field sense of humor. And maybe the unintentionally funniest moment came as Stereolab tried to begin their set but couldn’t get the house music to stop playing “Low Rider.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t without its logistical hiccups. The biggest of which was a baffling decision to make the front of its two biggest stages almost exclusively 21+. For anyone outside of California, because of some strict liquor laws, many festival sites are not zoned for people to be able to carry around their drinks — Goldenvoice’s preferred site of Pasadena Brookside at the Rose Bowl is a notable exception. For Coachella and fests at Exposition Park, this means designated beer gardens, usually with a view of the stage from a little distance. Primavera decided to make almost the entire front of its biggest stages beer garden territory, with small slivers of standing room to the side for its under-21 patrons.
When this news spread the week before the show, there was an outcry on social media, especially for a Friday night slate that featured Lorde, Mitski, Clairo, and Pinkpatheress, all with notably young-leaning fans. The festival defended the decision, noting that 99% of its attendees were 21+, which feels like it can’t possibly be true in the American festival landscape. If they were using data from their previous Euro runs, that didn’t apply here.
It played out as expected. For an early artist like Pinkpantheress, the 21+ section was sparsely populated while young fans pushed in the all-ages side to get closer to the stage Families with children bemoaned barely being able to see the artist while huge swaths of real estate remained open. As the night went on, Mitski and Lorde both addressed the issue and had to ask the young fans to step back to avoid crushing the people up front. The reasoning behind this decision feels like it must have been financial, as the fest appeared to lack somewhat in attendance and festivals are struggling across the board these days due to a waning economy and tons of competition. But if you need to sacrifice inclusivity and safety to make ends meet, that’s a serious problem.
On this note — and this is not something that’s unique to Primavera, but something I’ve seen at Goldenvoice and Live Nation events since festivals returned last year — is an unwillingness for the beverage vendors to sell sodas. Who cares, you might ask? Well, considering the number of people who don’t drink for various reasons as well as the idea of sober drivers that still very much exist in the age of Uber, saving readily available soft drinks exclusively for cocktail mixers feels both financially manipulative and unsafe. Despite rows of Cokes and Sprites sitting at each beverage vendor, I was repeatedly told that they weren’t for sale, and were reserved for cocktail mixers.
Beverage vendors wouldn’t even give out a cup with ice without alcohol in it. At Outside Lands last year, I was refused a soda purchase even though they were on the menu because they were running low, and wanted to maximize the earning potential of each can. Again, this is a decision that is made with profits being put over safety and feels counterintuitive to the ethos that many of these festivals are supposedly founded on.
Now, that was several paragraphs of critique for a couple of things that should be easily fixed. And, it almost felt like a tradition for a festival on these grounds to have issues. But that’s not to say that Primavera Sound wasn’t an awesome addition to the LA — and American — festival landscape. Lorde and Nine Inch Nails both delivered iconic, visually stunning displays that took listeners through their artistic histories. Lorde would go on to tease new music coming soon and Trent Reznor waxed poetic about his love for Primavera Sound’s Barcelona iteration and the no-brainer decision to headline their LA debut.
Of the non-headliners, Mitski and Clairo were the most impressive, though. Mitski’s theatrical interpretive dancing would have been hard to imagine five years ago, while Clairo’s ’70s soft rock aesthetic brought a level of loose musicianship rarely seen in artists so young. They were as good as any non-headliner LA festival performance has been over the past decade, cementing Primavera’s legacy in its new home. Hopefully, it’s a legacy that is still being written, and the festival moves beyond Barcelona, Porto (where it has been since 2012), and LA to San Paulo, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Madrid. And if Primavera can grow and improve in the manner of FYF before them, LA might have found its next great festival.
Check out some exclusive photos from Primavera Sound LA below.
So it turns out that at the moment, the climate could be doing better. There are some people out there trying to do something about that, including the folks at Climate Control Projects and Brian Eno’s EarthPercent with their latest endeavor: the first-ever The Big Climate Thing festival.
The inaugural event, intended to raise awareness and take action about the climate crisis, is set to go down at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium from July 16 to 18 and the lineup features The Roots, Haim, Khruangbin, The Flaming Lips, Gary Clark Jr., Courtney Barnett, Sheryl Crow, The Weather Station, Sunflower Bean, Bonny Light Horseman, Guster, Pom Pom Squad, and others.
— TheBigClimateThing (@bigclimatething) June 27, 2022
The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman told Rolling Stone, “I think music, along with all the cultural industries, have spent way too long sitting back on this issue. I believe music plays a primarily emotional role in people’s lives, and as such I think it has huge potential in pushing us to recognize our tangled emotions around this topic. When I imagine a stadium full of people coming together for a climate event centered on music, what I imagine is an enormous opportunity to feel a solidarity that has been so missing here. I truly hope that an enormous in-person event can have some power to bring people together and create some common experience around climate, and push those in attendance to examine their climate feelings and push through them enough to act.”
Sunflower Bean’s Julia Cumming also notes, “I believe that music is one of the most powerful communication tools we have on this planet, way deeper than just words could ever express. Music has to power to influence people’s decisions by touching their hearts and relating to them on the human condition. We are all facing the same problem: this is all our home and it happens to be on fire. If we can figure out how to properly utilize music in this era of the climate crisis, I know more good could be done.”
Texas trio Khruangbin has put forth a pretty strong 2022 year so far. Their four months removed from the release of their Texas Moon project with Leon Bridges, which is the companion release of their 2020 drop Texas Sun. The former project comes after they dropped a remix edition of their Mordechai effort last year. This past weekend, Khruangbin took their talents to Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival which has been ongoing since the beginning of the month. It was here that they performed a special edition of a 2018 song with a hip-hop legend.
During Khruangbin’s set, they invited Yasiin Bey on stage to perform a hip-hop version of “Maria Tambien.” The original song is housed on Khruangbin’s 2018 album Con Todo El Mundo, and the new take of the song is an incredible listen that was a part of a just-as-incredible set from the Texas trio. Khruangbin and Bey also delivered their own renditions of Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache” classic and Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” during Bey’s time on stage with the group.
This is also not the first time that Bey performed the hip-hop version of “Maria Tambien” as he previously did so during a 2019 concert in Chicago.
You can watch Khruangbin and Mos Def perform “Maria Tambien” in the video above.
This past Friday, Leon Bridges and Khruangbin released Texas Moon, the second part of their excellent two EP collaboration project. It’s a spiritual and often psychedelic journey from the artists that should not be missed. In our most recent cover story, Bridges said that “I think my collaboration with Khruangbin is really where my heart is. I love how raw our sound is.” And on “Chocolate Hills,” there’s a distinctly transportive nature to the love song, with the new video takes it a step further.
In the “Chocolate Hills” clip, Bridges is strolling along in an animated choco-dreamworld of sorts. He’s a gentle giant making his way through a portal into hills and valleys of this land of chocolate. Along the way, he finds Marc, DJ, and Laura Lee of Khruangbin in the palm of his hand and they become his pocket-sized companions on the trip. It’s an imaginative vision for the Texas Moon highlight.
Elsewhere, Bridges just announced the Boundless Tour with support from Little Dragon, which begins in late July in Las Vegas. Khruangbin has a slew of tour dates on deck themselves, beginning in early March in Madison, WI.
Texas Moon is out now via Dead Oceans/Columbia/Nighttime Stories. Stream it here.
Back in 2020, psychedelic indie trailblazers Khruangbin teamed up with their fellow Texas native Leon Bridges for the wildly popular, albeit unexpected, collaborative EP Texas Sun. The four-track EP did so well that they decided to join forces yet again for the sister EP Texas Moon. After officially announcing the upcoming project with the groovy number “B-Side,” Khruangbin and Bridges take things in a slower direction with the swooning single “Chocolate Hills.”
The new track “Chocolate Hills” shows Bridges doing what he does best: delivering a sensual-yet-sweet love song. Featuring sparse instrumentation by Khruangbin that opens up space for Bridges’ room-filling vocals to cut through, “Chocolate Hills” is an ultra-smooth serenade. A cascading guitar flows through hypnotizing chords as Bridges sings about getting lost in his partner’s love.
In a statement about the upcoming EP, Khruangbin explained the reason for their toned-down Texas Moon EP, saying they hope to contrast their last release with more languid tracks. “Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow,” the band said. “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?”
Listen to Khruangbin and Bridges’ “Chocolate Hills” above.
Texas Moon is out 1/18 via Dead Oceans. Pre-order it here.
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