NEW ALBUMS RELEASED IN APRIL, FROM MAGGIE ROGERS, EMMA DONOVAN, VAMPIRE WEEKEND AND MORE

Despite what this Friday's upcoming ARIA charts might suggest, there are other artists in the world besides Taylor Swift. 

Even though we have the entire history of music at our fingertips, it can be difficult to figure out the best new music worth your time.

So, every fortnight, our team of music-obsessed experts will bring you a handful of new releases that are well worth your attention.

If you're sick of staring blankly at your streaming service search bar, and those same old playlists are sounding a bit tired, here are five recent releases to liven up your listening habits.

Maggie Rogers – Don't Forget Me

Maggie Rogers broke the internet when rap impresario Pharrell Williams first heard the then-22-year-old's song Alaska in a viral 2016 video.

For better or worse, that clip set up a certain expectation about the music we'd expect from Rogers: pop with an adventurous, left-field bent. So, Don't Forget Me comes as something of a surprise.

It's a breezy collection of straightforward pop-rock songs that might have made FM radio playlists in the 70s and 80s, with very little in the way of sonic experimentation. Some fans may find this disappointing, but most music lovers will find enormous charm in these sleek, rock-solid songs.

"I wanted to make an album to belt at full volume alone in your car, a trusted friend who could ride shotgun and be there when you needed her," Rogers said before the album's release.

Mission accomplished: These songs are loose and approachable, and also have an intimacy that feels like a long chat with a close friend.

For fans of: Fleetwood Mac, boygenius, HAIM

— Dan Condon

Emma Donovan – Til My Song Is Done

No hyperbole here: Emma Donovan is truly one of the best vocalists in the country.

After a string of brilliant soul albums with Melbourne's The Putbacks, she goes back to her family's country roots on her first solo album in 20 years.

Rather than replicating the classic country she grew up on, this is mostly a modern take on the genre packed with as much soul as it has twang.

Paul Kelly duet Sing You Over – written for Donovan's mother – and closing track Yibaanga Gangaa (Sweet By & By) – a tribute to her grandparents – are exceptions; they're traditional fireside country beauties that balance nicely with the richer arrangements.

These songs and Donovan's voice makes the album an immediate delight. Delve into her family's rich history in the realms of Australian country music and it will take on even greater meaning.

For fans of: Bonnie Raitt, Vika and Linda, Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter

— Dan Condon

Grace Cummings – Ramona

Melbourne/Naarm singer-songwriter Grace Cummings is blessed with one of those voices that can stop you dead in your tracks.

Cummings's voice is capable of soaring to ecstatic heights, or utterly dismantling you — with an emotionally devastating growl or intense turn of phrase. Her striking singing was the centrepiece of her first two self-produced solo records.

Where those albums were starker, folkier affairs, Ramona (this week's Double J Feature Album) instead goes big, staging Cummings's powerful pipes against luxurious arrangements.

There's swooning strings, rolling timpani, stately choirs, textural organ, piano… and that's just the opener Something Going 'Round.

Work Today (and Tomorrow) is a weepy torch song that ignites into a full-throated howl of operatic resignation, while early highlight On and On builds from soft rock ballad into searing affirmation.

And do remember to breath by the time it's snatched away by the climax of towering ballad A Precious Thing.

Recorded in Taponga Canyon, California, with producer Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty, Margo Price), the album's ornate, orchestral grandeur fulfils Cummings's bombastic potential.

You'll hear shades of the classics – Patti Smith, Scott Walker, Chrissy Amphlett, Nick Cave at his most fire-and-brimstone – but Cummings takes those inspirations and augments them with a flavour and attitude that's uniquely her own.

For fans of: Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Nick Cave

— Al Newstead

Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

Fizzy Afropop guitars, baroque music flourishes, intellectual lyrical nods. Vampire Weekend always stood out from the indie rock crowd in the late 00s.

Those same idiosyncrasies, a commitment to zig when others zag, means the New Yorkers have aged a lot better than many of their millennial peers. And Only God Was Above Us, the group's fifth album and first in five years, is the proof.

It manages the devilishly tricky balancing act of harking back to everything that was great about the band to begin with while also pushing towards uncharted territory on songs that are noisier, less prim, and thrive on adventurous choices.

Fuzzy melodies and breakbeats tumble toward a blustering sax solo on Classical while Capricorn lulls you in with delicate ivories and gentle rhythms before a malfunctioning guitar enters the fray.

Dusty drum loops meet stately choirs on Mary Boone (named after the disgraced art dealer); Prep-School Gangsters sounds like a refugee from Vampire Weekend's self-titled 2008 debut; while The Surfer sounds unlike anything they've ever done before.

Just at the band's thirst for innovation remains, so too does frontman Ezra Koenig's gift for melody and razor-sharp lyricism. His preoccupations with history, legacy and the march of time are given a greater depth of complexity and poignancy now that he's a father, aged 40.

The college kids have all grown up and Only God Was Above Us proves that – as Koenig once sagely sung – wisdom's a gift you trade for youth. 

If you ever dropped off the Vampire Weekend fan train, this is your first-class ticket back on.

For fans of: The Strokes, St Vincent, Fleet Foxes

— Al Newstead

1300 – GEORGE

Searching for the sound of the future? Gaze into the sonic crystal ball that is 1300, the Korean Australian collective who've been quietly reshaping the local hip hop landscape since they emerged a few years ago.

Their debut mixtape, Foreign Language, was an unapologetically inventive collection that made them taste makers' favourites and scored the J Award for the music video to their bilingual banger Oldboy.

George, their explosive new project, brings a darker, acidic edge to their hyperactive sound. A Jeongol hotpot of cutting-edge trap, K-pop, industrial music and gabber beats, the result is a trailblazing fusion of fascinating flavours.

By the end of its 28-minute run time, you'll feel like you've done a workout. But wipe yourself down because there's something new for your ears to discover with each spin.

The five-piece's synergy is positively electric, with rappers rako, goyo and DALI HART snapping over Nerdie and pokari.sweat's imaginative production. But they also tag in cross-cultural exchanges with Korean rappers EK (on the kinetic GANTZ), sokodomo (the suitably titled Ape Shit) and duo oddeen & Easymind (the jittery Wire).

Building a rep as a must-see live act (following festival performances including Golden Plains, Spilt Milk and the Aussie BBQ in New York City) 1300 are touring George around Australia in June. Find those dates and details here.

For fans of: Genesis Owusu, Tkay Maidza, BROCKHAMPTON

— Al Newstead