This month’s must-catch, new releases from the artists you already love and the musicians you need to know.
White Reaper
Asking for a Ride
The power-rock band returns with a new record that blends 80s pop, power ballads, and classic rock know-how into one brilliantly fun sound. On single “Pages,” the band puts its fingerprints on the soft rock love songs you’ve heard from the likes of Rod Stewart and Boston, injecting them with a sharpness and 2022 sensibility with a clever guitar line and yelping, Wavves-esque vocals. If you’re looking to bond with a dad who is over Wilco, or a mom that sort of liked Eliot Smith, Asking for a Ride is something to bond over in the new year.
Releases January 27
Fran
Leaving
One of the pleasures of current indie music is getting to see a new generation of woman and nonbinary artists show just how expansive the sounds of St. Vincent and Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs can be. Wunderkind Fran fits in well with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, but is able to lay claim to a wider pop palette on par with what Brandi Carlile conjures at her best. Her latest effort is patient and romantic, swooning and slow in equal measure. While this could describe more than one act, Fran’s voice, honeyed and weary, whiskey-tinged and warm, breaks through as its own bright beautiful thing on tracks like “Limousine” and “So Long.”
Releases January 20 
Margo Price
Strays
It’s tempting to place Margo Price in the same lineage as Dolly Parton, who is an equally formidable artist, but Price is much more textured and off-kilter than she’s given credit for. On “Change of Heart,” a Southern rock guitar lick sidles up next to a bouncing keyboard run that wouldn’t be out of place on a They Might Be Giants cut. The album only gets weirder (and better) from there.
Releases January 13 
King Tuff
Smalltown Stardust
With its lo-fi, fuzzed out production, one could easily mistake Smalltown Stardust for a Beatles b-side compilation or an album from one of the heralded bands off the classic Nuggets garage rock album. The truth is that the album packs so much magic into each song that it’s hard to keep up. “Portrait of God” is undercut by late Queen-esque harmonie and early Queen-esque guitar riffs (seemingly right down to the tone). Other tracks stray into more straightforward pop, folk, and psychedelia until the album fades as one gorgeous, genre-hopping ride.
Releases January 27 
Sam Smith
Gloria
The reigning sovereign of stately pop is back with a collection of songs that are sensual, brooding, and playful in equal measure. “Love Me More,” the album’s opening track, is a Backstreet Boys throwback complete with a skipping lead melody, whispery choruses with echo-y effects, and a beat that threatens to be too hip, but Smith never lets it get away from them. As always, Smith is a great barometer for where pop music stands, and if Gloria is to be believed, its future is ambitious, retro-tinged, and sexy as hell.
Releases January 27 
RuPaul
Black Butta
The controversial superstar is back with a new album that asks the listener to put away any biases and enjoy the winter with some campy holiday verve. “Star Baby” is a gorgeous affirmation built out of the bones of golden-era Daft Punk- and Chemical Brothers-adjacent tracks. Imagine a world where Cartoon Network still streamed anime music videos late at night as part of Toonami. Now, imagine if instead of house DJs and remixed tracks, the songs were courtesy of RuPaul. If this makes you smile, get the whole damn album, and feel good all winter with this as your constant soundtrack.
Releases January 6 
