Photo of Girl Scout courtesy of the artist’s Facebook page
As I said on Wednesday, I’m still playing a bit of catch up from a schedule-altering last-minute work trip, so this column features reviews of four releases from last Friday, March 20. I thought about charging ahead into releases from the 27th, I’ve already written 11 mini-reviews this week and I have another 11(!) releases from the 27th flagged to check out so I figured I’d better stop here. Check back early next week for even more reviews as I (hopefully) get caught up, including (spoilers!) the third great album released so far this year. But for now, here’s last week’s releases, in the order in which I listened to ‘em:
Girl Scout, Brink (Human Garbage Records/AWAL Recordings): I’ve been a huge fan of Stockholm’s Girl Scout since I dug their 2023 single “Boy in Blue“ out of the ol’ email slush pile and it blew my mind. After a trio of absolutely amazing EPs (including Headache, which made my list of the best EPs of 2024), the quartet has finally released their first full-length album. It not only includes everything I loved about their earlier releases, it refines and improves upon them. What an album.
A lot of Brink—particularly songs like “Dead Dog,” “Uh-Huh,” “Ugly Things,” and the soaring single “Crumbs”—offers up swooning, fuzzy dream pop in the style of Alvvays, who Girl Scout opened for on tour, while also bringing to mind the big, buzzy sound of Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail. But Girl Scout have many more tricks up their sleeves, such as the Beths-style sugar rush of “Same Kids,” the almost Olivia Rogrigo-ish acoustic heartbreaker “Homecoming,” and the stomping stop-start, super-catchy “Operator” that plays like Sleater-Kinney meets Courtney Barnett. As my The Arts STL cohort Mike Rengel put it in a Facebook post that I’ll happily plagiarize here, “Sometimes they sound like glossy pop-punk that accidentally went through the wash,” with “sneaky good lyrics that you might miss if you’re taken away by the fizzy melodies.”
What a stellar LP. As we sit here at the end of the first quarter of 2026, this sits alongside Ratboys’ Singin’ to an Empty Chair and Courtney Barnett’s Creature of Habit as one of the top 3 albums of the year so far. Will I Listen Again?: Absolutely.
BTS, Arirang (Big Hit): BTS is, or at least was, arguably the biggest musical act in the world, so I felt obligated to check in on this much-anticipated new album, their first in six years after all of the members had to take a break from music for their mandatory military service. Full disclosure: I’ve never listened to an entire BTS album before and have generally only heard their songs in passing, though I have all the time in the world for “Dynamite,” one of the most effervescent pop songs of the 21st century.
So imagine my surprise when this album turns out to not have any effervescent pop songs on it. Instead, it leans heavily on the group’s hip-hop-inspired side—it’s definitely not for me, though even I can recognize that in the year 2026, the sound of this album is basically the sound of printing money. Occasionally, they slow it down: “Merry Go Round” is a pretty unremarkable plush ballad backed by big beats, “One More Night” is a kind of cool kaleidoscopic R&B jam, and “Into the Sun” wraps up the album on both a sour and sweet note: it starts off with a chorus that’s vocodered to ear-splitting oblivion and the verses feel like something LFO would have left on the cutting room floor, but then the song’s soaring outro with its understated blasts of guitar might be my favorite moment on the album. Will I Listen Again?: No.
Tedeschi Trucks Band, Future Soul (Fantasy Records): Another first for me, the Tedeschi Trucks Band is a band I knew by reputation but had never checked out before now. The band formed in 2010 when Susan Tedeschi, the multi-Grammy-nominated blues singer-guitarist, and her husband Derek Trucks, the second-generation Allman Brothers guitarist, decided to blend their two bands together, creating a 12-person blues rock behemoth that’s been a beloved live music staple ever since. (As luck would have it, they’re hitting the stage at Hollywood Casino Amphitheater on August 23 for their co-headlining tour with Alabama Shakes. While you wait, you can also check out our reviews and photos from their 2024 and 2025 stops through the Lou.)
This album ends up very much scratching the same itch as the Black Crowes did the week before, that good ol’ fashioned classic blues-tinged rock n’ roll sound that never goes out of style. It’s impressive how dialed-in and perfectly arranged these songs are: despite the insane number of cooks in the kitchen that come with having a 12-person band, none of the songs end up feeling overdone. There’s also an impressive variety in song styles, from the funky strut of album opener “Crazy Cryin’“ to the ramblin’ rocker “I Got You,” from folky weepers (“What in the World”) to Beatles-esque bops (“Be Kind”) to gospel-tinged blues (“Devil Be Gone”). Will I Listen Again?: Yes.
The Dandy Warhols, Pin Ups (Beat the World Records/Little Cloud Records): The psych-tinged alt-rock band behind turn-of-the-21st-century hits like “Bohemian Like You” and “Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” unleash an album of inspired covers. The setlist leans heavily on their late ‘70s/early ‘80s alt forebears (Gang of Four, The Cure, The Cramps, The Damned, The Clash, to name a few) interrupted by a set of strummy ‘60s/’70s folk tunes in the middle: America’s “Sister Golden Hair,” Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” the Grateful Dead’s “Ripple,” a twangy take on the Byrds’ “You Ain’t Going Nowhere (Easy Chair),” and a reverb-laden run through the Beatles’ “Blackbird.” The two weirdest songs are the two oddly chosen metal tunes: the Dandies find the heretofore undiscovered connection between Canned Heat’s “On the Road Again” and Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People,” while the Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” swirls like Achtung Baby-era U2.
As one would expect from the Dandies, Taylor-Taylor approaches his vocal delivery with tongue firmly planted in cheek, though it’s clear he appreciates these songs and isn’t just taking the piss. That said, it is a nice change of pace that keyboardist Zia McCabe takes the mic on a few songs, injecting some nice snotty punk energy into the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” and the Violent Femmes’ “Kiss Off.” Will I Listen Again?: Hell yeah. As with all covers, your mileage may vary, but I thought this record was fun as hell. | Jason Green
