Ari Lennox, Vacancy
With Vacancy, her first album in nearly four years, D.C. R&B singer Ari Lennox (nee Courtney Shanade Salter) continues her personal neo-soul musical journey—something she’s been doing since she began uploading her music to the internet in 2009. Keeping up with the originators of the genre, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Lennox doesn’t merely mimic the masters. If anything, she shows with this release that she’s one of the few artists of her generation who understands the history of the genre and its potential for where it could go musically. Opening with a muted trumpet on “Mobbin in D.C.,” Lennox sings, “2 a.m. on the ’Gram feeling crazy” (who hasn’t been there). Thus launches Vacancy’s 15 tracks (all of which were cowritten by Lennox) where control is the general theme. (Whereas Janet Jackson opened up her 1986 blockbuster album, Control, stating, “This is a story about control,” Lennox’s version would be “This is me realizing I can have control.”) Control of relationships. Control of her music. After battles in both her personal (a newfound sobriety) and professional (new record label) life, the 34-year-old has seemingly found her footing in these areas and this album reflects that. On the title track, Lennox offers a man the comfort of hot cocoa and Etta James but since he’s there, she sings, “Got some walls that need painting rearranging/ See them legs on the table kinda shaky.” Basically, make yourself useful in more ways than one. “Under the Moon” contains an interpolation of the Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You,” while Lennox practically bays at the night sky while singing, “Under the moooooooon/ With yooooooooou” over a soft shuffle beat. “Horoscope” runs down problems with each sign of the zodiac, the funniest being “Sagittarius are some fuckin terrorists” (as a Sagittarius, I can neither confirm nor deny this allegation). With the remainder of the album being a collection of assured musical statements with the confidence of a woman who is coming into her own, Vacancy fills a vacuum that is currently missing in the neo-soul genre. Vacancy was released on Jan. 23. soundcloud.com. Ari Lennox plays on May 30 at the Theater at MGM National Harbor. livenation.com. —Christina Smart
Cryptid Summer, Where the Earth Has Teeth
“Nothing quite feels like it did when we were young,” laments Cryptid Summer’s singer Lizz Mazer on Where the Earth Has Teeth’s opening track, “Healthcare, Plz.” This world-weariness lingers throughout the band’s first full-length, each song evoking a feeling that the passage of time has largely yielded disappointment and heartbreak. Cryptid Summer’s moody death rock on Where the Earth Has Teeth has shown itself to be the perfect companion to the icy, bleak beginning of 2026. In a scene mostly associated with angular Dischord acolytes and breakneck political hardcore, Cryptid Summer’s brand of post-punk plays like a breath of fresh (frigid?) air. The band’s mission statement isn’t oblique; titles like “Disappointing,” “Violent (and just a little numb),” and “Unreliable” speak to an overall aura of disaffection and disillusionment. All nine tracks would easily find a natural home on the latest volume of Killed by Deathrock (complimentary). And while the album coheres as a singular statement, “Don’t Look Now” might be the record’s most immediate—a slow build that eventually leads to a brooding, cacophonous conclusion.
It won’t surprise anyone who listens to Where the Earth Has Teeth that Cryptid Summer were initially a Halloween the Cure tribute band. And while the long-standing mope rock legends are a good enough reference point to describe the band’s sound—especially in their Seventeen Seconds and Faith era—Cryptid Summer’s clearest influence is likely Siouxsie and the Banshees. The comparison can be partly attributed to both band’s sonic diversity—neither are as one-note as goth-adjacent bands often get tagged—but also how Mazer’s forceful and soulful croon evokes Siouxsie’s dramatic flair. The band’s debut is being put out by à la Carte Records, a local bicoastal label whose penchant for all things post-punk make signing Cryptid Summer an intuitive fit; the label will also be releasing the new album by D.C.’s Seclusion, which is equally excellent, in March. Where the Earth Has Teeth comes out Feb. 13. cryptidsummer.bandcamp.com. Cryptid Summer’s album release show starts at 10 p.m. on Feb. 20 at Comet Ping Pong. rediscoverfirebooking.com. $18.87. (You can also find them on this year’s Liberation Weekend lineup, playing April 25). —Matt Siblo
Cash on the Nail, The Gauntlet
D.C. punk trio Cash on the Nail’s new EP, The Gauntlet, sounds like a handful of bands, most obviously Minutemen. Like Minutemen’s classic Double Nickels on the Dime, the Gauntlet is so party-popper-packed with ideas that hitting play on any given track feels like lighting the fuse on a fireworks display. (Track four, “Accelerator,” illustrates this especially well.) There are also shades of the Dead Kennedys’ iconoclastic politics and moments of sonic playfulness that recall Devo or the B-52s, but upon closer inspection, the band Cash on the Nail resemble most are one you may have never heard of: the Rock Bottom Remainders, which were a side project for a rotating roster of authors, including Stephen King, Scott Turow, and Amy Tan. There’s this famous, possibly apocryphal anecdote that has Bruce Springsteen playing a set with them. The group were pretty good … but shouldn’t get too much better, according to Springsteen. Otherwise they would “just be another lousy garage band.” What the Remainders were to writers, Cash on the Nail are to D.C wonks. Drummer Lydia Homovich is a health policy analyst. Bassist Josh Freed works at a centrist think tank. Alex Dent lives the dream, shredding guitar by night and teaching anthropology at George Washington University by day. The band describe themselves on social media as “heavy, melodic, quiet, and screamy, like life in the 2020s.” This is half correct. Recorded at Tonal Park Studio, The Gauntlet is heavy and screamy more frequently than it is quiet and melodic. It’s easy to see why opener “Copper Wires” was selected for the EP’s foundation. Undergirded by a percussive, driving riff and named for a base-level, layer one technology, the song is such a success that there must have been a temptation to fill out the EP’s run time by reworking it five times over into hooky clones of itself. Instead, from track two (“The Shoes You Wear”) things fall apart, in a ceremonious, Yeatsian sort of way. That’s not to say that The Gauntlet is bad—it just isn’t setting out to be good in the way most rock records are. There is no perfectly constructed track with an irresistible, streambait melody that will take Spotify by storm. Instead, every song is jammed frantically with riffs and ideas that seem to spill out of the speakers in a tumbling torrent. There’s not much to grab onto after “Copper Wires,” so you might as well just let it all wash over you. By the time the final track, “Politics Does Strange Things” (which, side note, has a cadence that’s a bit reminiscent ofSystem of a Down’s “Science”), rolls around, attentive listeners will be on board with what has proven to be something more like an auditory art project than a rock album. Anything it lacks in accessibility The Gauntlet makes up for in jagged originality. Kudos to Cash on the Nail for having the good sense not to trim the sharp edges off their music. Maybe they suspect that, if they did, they might end up sounding just like any other lousy garage band. The Gauntlet was released on Jan. 3. cashonthenail.bandcamp.com. —Will Lennon
Massie, “Poggers”
Massie’s biggest mistake was setting such a high bar. Thanks to the trio’s Grady Says Serotonin EP and a live show that locals have come to adore, expectations for their new single, “Poggers,” were stratospheric. Although it doesn’t quite hit the heights of the 2023 EP, “Poggers” is a solid addition to the canon. It’s more refined and well-produced than their previous music, but it still has heaps of the band’s brash charm. Whereas the Grady EP is a more emotional experience, “Poggers” is more textured and tactile. Massie teased the song’s release with an Instagram post that paired footage of rolling waves with a waterlogged sample of Samantha Collings’ thudding drums, Will Salzmann’s thrumming bass, and Emily Yaremchuk’s snarling guitar. That imagery was perfect. The rhythmic crashing of “Poggers” really is evocative of heavy, sloshing water. One minor drawback to the distinctive mixing is that Yaremchuk’s vocals get drowned out. The lyrics are half incomprehensible, which is not necessarily a problem for a heavy rock song (nobody’s understood a word from Eddie Vedder’s mouth since Temple of the Dog) but worth mentioning if only to demonstrate how hard it is to find a critical word to say about Massie, one of the coolest bands doing the work in D.C. right now. “Poggers” dropped on Jan. 31. linktr.ee. —W.L.
Unity for the Outcasts, “Save Me”
It’s been too long since Unity for the Outcasts’ last release. Their previous single, “Space in your Heart,” came out at the end of 2023. Before that, their debut EP, The Land of Make Believe, came out in the Spring of 2022, back when they were still a College Park band led by founder Rohit Nutalapati. Luckily the wait is finally over—the pop-punk band released “Save Me,” a new single, on Feb. 6. Pop-punk is what the band used to be, but this new track is a sign that the band are heading in another direction. Songs from The Land of Make Believe like “Tell the World” were full of lyrics such as “They better tell the world we’re alive/ They better tell the world we’re coming” and a 2000s punk sound that felt uplifting and nostalgic. “Save Me,” on the other hand, begins with immediate use of synths in an almost sinister tone that is likely to conjure up futuristic dystopian imagery in the mind of its listener. Even the lyrics take a bleaker turn, with lines like “You walked the other way/ We’re falling with the rain” in the chorus.
There’s really no better word to describe the new single than “cyberpunk.” On the surface, Unity for the Outcasts might look like a completely different band than they used to be during its College Park days: only two of its five members are from the original lineup: Diana Corzo has replaced previous lead singers Nutalapati and Claire Mical, and her voice strays from the pop-punk origins. But for those who knew Unity for the Outcasts in 2022, there are still hints of the old band throughout the new release. Punk still breathes in the lyrics and the desire to tell a story through sound is still there. “Save Me” is a perfect introduction to this new version of Unity for the Outcasts for both old fans and new listeners, and it’s exciting to see where future releases take them next. “Save Me” dropped today, Feb. 6. music.apple.com. Unity for the Outcasts play a fundraiser for DC Migrant Mutual Aid at 7 p.m. on March 1 at the Garage in Boyds. instagram.com. —Dorvall Bedford
Jeff Draco, “Excess”
In a 2023 interview with City Paper, keyboardist and synth player Josh Poggioli said, “We’re … in an almost postmodern era of Jeff Draco.” If he was right, then that phase just ended and we’re about to see the dawn of a new Draco era. The indie-pop darling of D.C. released “Excess,” a new single, on Feb. 6 that shows the band’s never be gonna be the same (again). If we were to split Draco’s music career into two time periods, there would be a pre- and post-“Dreamgirl” era—that 2021 single still remains his most popular song with more than 800,000 streams on Spotify. “Dreamgirl” marked a shift in Draco’s music from dream pop to indie pop (an admittedly subtle but definitely noticeable change).
“Excess” feels almost like a return to form—harkening back to that West Coast-inspired sound conjures looking at starry skies and falling in love for the first time. But the song differs from the pre-“Dreamgirl” era with its lyrics, which show a level of maturity more similar to his 2023 breakup song “Letters.” The same feeling of heartbreak is evoked, but “Excess” has an added element of self-reflection when Draco sings, “She set me free/ Cause I’m the youngest son/ Is this the price I gotta pay the fee.” Although it might sound dreamy like Draco’s early work, the lyrics show he isn’t living in paradise anymore. “Excess” marks Draco’s first real release since the 2024 EP Attitude. In a music career that goes back to 2018, 2025 was the only year that was never graced with a song or an EP. Hopefully it’s true that this is the start of a new Draco era—we’ve waited long enough. “Excess” dropped today, Feb. 6. music.apple.com. —D.B.
RDGLDGRN (featuring Kash’d Out), “X Games”
While most of us are counting down the days until spring, Reston band RDGLDGRN jumped ahead to summer with the release of their new single, “X Games.” Teaming up with Florida-based reggae-rock band Kash’d Out, the laid-back Rastafarian reggae musical bed, which sounds most suited for poolside listening, belies the personal conflict that’s going on in the song. Telling the push-pull story of a relationship that hasn’t ended but probably should, lead singer Green (aka Pierre Desrosiers) recounts “Used to be the one I wanna be with/ Now I’m like the lightning to your seizure/ Know I told you that I didn’t need ya/ But everything I said I didn’t mean it.” The other party isn’t exactly innocent though and Green admits the situation is untenable, landing with the terrific line “We both looking for payback/ Cause things rocky like ASAP.” Kash’d Out lead singer Greg Shields jumps in mid-song, continuing the angst with “Baby baby what we doing?/ Try and try again but who we foolin’?/ I feel like I’ve been training all season long/ Just for you to tell me 10 reasons I was wrong.” From a production standpoint, my only qualm with the song is the use of Auto-Tune. Neither singer needs it and flattening the tones of each voice drains the emotional dread of the subject matter. So while we all wait for warmer days, RDGLDGRN can take us there right now, even if it is a cruel summer. “X Games” was released on Jan. 9 (and the band dropped another single, “Virginia Beach,” on Feb. 6). RDGLDGRN play at 7 p.m. on March 22 at Union Stage. unionstagepresents.com. $34. —C.S.
Other notable new releases:
Broke Royals, Campr, released Feb. 6. brokeroyals.bandcamp.com. The band play an album release show on Feb. 21 at Songbyrd.
Fields & Forests, Maybe Next Year, released Jan. 20. fieldsandforests.bandcamp.com.
Rico Nasty, LETHAL-ER, the expanded edition of April 2025’s Lethal, released Dec. 12. soundcloud.com.
Dylan Rockwell, The Window’s Closing (But It Still Lets in the Light) EP, released on Dec. 10. soundcloud.com.
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