15 new albums worth your time: Kevin Morby, Drake, Smerz, and more

A packed release cycle

Some weeks the release calendar feels like a waiting room. This is not one of those weeks. According to Pitchfork, 15 new albums are out now and worth your time, with Kevin Morby, Drake, Smerz, and Jeff Parker all showing up in the same breath.

The names on the list

The four artists flagged in the headline cover a lot of ground. Kevin Morby has built a reputation for unhurried, literary folk rock. Drake needs no introduction but continues to generate strong streaming numbers regardless of critical reception. Norwegian duo Smerz operate in a cooler, more cerebral corner of electronic pop. Jeff Parker, the Tortoise guitarist turned solo experimentalist, rounds out a genuinely eclectic selection.

Pitchfork stopped short of ranking the releases, framing them instead as a listening guide, which is the right call when the styles involved have so little overlap.

Why it matters

Roundup pieces like this one are useful precisely because they resist the single-story gravity that dominates music coverage. Not every release gets a standalone review, and a condensed listening guide can surface records that might otherwise slip through. Whether all 15 hold up over repeated plays is another question, but the list at least gives you somewhere to start.