All the New Music You Need to Hear Now So You Can Be Cooler Than Your Friends

Why yes, you do recognize Emily Kinney from The Walking Dead, where we saw her sing on the regular before meeting her eventual demise. Her album This is War, out Oct. 2, is a collection of acoustic songs about love and loss. Recommend it to your friends who are fans of old-school Taylor Swift.

Next time a friend of yours blasts "Latch" for the millionth time, casually mention that you can't wait for Disclosure's new album Caracal to drop on Sept. 25. (Bonus points when you just as casually add that a caracal is a cool wildcat native to Africa.) We're already into their Sam Smith collaboration from the new album, "Omen."

If you didn't already know that Janet Jackson is back with a vengeance — and just released the new single, "Unbreakable" off her forthcoming 11th album — we're really not sure what to do with you.

These young guns — no, they're not even old enough to drink yet— have been racking up lots of flattering comparisons to Vampire Weekend. Their new EP, South, is out Oct. 2 and promises more of the dreamy indie rock they've been pumping out on stages from SXSW to Lollapalooza.

We really wish we had a video or track to embed here. We really do. Unfortunately, Frank Ocean's sophomore album is still nowhere to be found after an anticipated July release. His recent last-minute cancellation of his FYF performance and total radio silence on his website has made us skeptical an album drop is truly imminent — but we're not giving up hope.

Metric has been around almost 20 years at this point, but singer Emily Haines's vocals still sound as fresh and youthful as ever. The band's latest album, Pagans in Vegas (out Sept. 18) promises to be full of tracks like "The Shade" that stay true to the band's synth-heavy sound.

Lots of people have probably heard the Phases song "I'm in Love With My Life" by now, but prove your musical bona fides by turning your friends on to some deeper cuts on the LA quartet's upcoming album For Life, out Sept. 18. Our favorite? The glittery, anthemic "Cooler."

Lana Del Rey is already back with an album, just a little over a year after releasing Ultraviolence. Honeymoon comes out Sept. 18, and Del Rey says its sound is more similar to that of her first two albums, which the supermoody single "Terrence Loves You" seems to confirm.

Chvrches is back with a highly anticipated second album Every Open Eye on Sept. 25, and by all accounts, the Scottish trio is poised to achieve the opposite of a sophomore slump. Even Billboard can't contain itself, gushing that the album sounds like it's "going to be bananas." Our favorite of the tracks they've released so far? The confessional "Leave a Trace."