The Chronicle’s guide to notable new music.

NEW ALBUMS

Third Eye Blind, “Our Bande Apart” (MegaCollider)

When lockdown orders were issued in early 2020, Third Eye Blind canceled the second leg of its tour and frontman Stephan Jenkins went into seclusion to write the songs that would end up on “Our Bande Apart,” the San Francisco band’s seventh album.

“Box of Bones” is a take on the pressures that the pandemic put on relationships. It opens with subdued sorrow, before unfurling into a beautiful choral hymn. “Again” is an anthemic power-pop jam featuring Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino, yearning for the joys of pre-pandemic life.

To accompany the album’s release, Third Eye Blindalso filmed a new documentary, “How We Hold Each Other Right Now: The Making of Our Bande Apart,” with premieres in Los Angeles and New York City (but curiously, not in the band’s hometown).

Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine, “A Beginner’s Mind” (Asthmatic Kitty)

When singer Sufjan Stevens and multi-instrumentalist Angelo De Augustine stole away to a friend’s cabin in upstate New York for a songwriting retreat, they found themselves unwinding with a different movieeach night. They soon realized that thethemes of the films they watched seeped into their songwriting, leading them to explore the structure throughout the 14 tracks of their first collaborative album.

Stevens and De Augustine play nearly every instrument on “A Beginner’s Mind,” which featuresa bevy of different strings, including acoustic guitar, ukulele and guitalin, as well as numerous Prophet keyboards and different pianos. There’s an inherent beauty to the resulting tracks, especially “Back to Oz” and “(This Is) The Thing.” Both rank among the finest songs Stevens has penned in years.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Theo Croker, “Blk2Life || A Future Past”(Sony Masterworks)

Enacting jazz with a hip-hop mind-set, the Florida-born Croker is one of the most intriguing modern trumpet players. The follow-up to the spectacular “Star People Nation,” which was nominated for a Grammy Award in the best contemporary instrumental album category, “Blk2Life || A Future Past”is a cosmic journey into the origins of blackness.

“I’m making a statement with the title and project,” Croker said in a release. “‘I can be an artist first before I am a Black artist.’ I can be a musician, creator, and producer without category.”

装饰的孙子小号手,医生安德拉,Croker (who completed a three-week residency at San Francisco’s Black Cat jazz club in August) makes a powerful impression at every turn, especially on the mantra-like “Soul Call || Vibrate” and on the dizzying African tribal-drum driven “Hero Stomp || A Future Past.” Produced by Croker, the album also features guests like Wyclef Jean, Ari Lennox, Gary Bartz, Kassa Overall and more.

SONG OF THE MOMENT

Adia Victoria, “You Was Born to Die” (Atlantic)

It was a rainy February night in 2017 when I stumbled upon the piercing gothic blues of Adia Victoria’s Noise Pop Festival performance at Bottom of the Hill in Potrero Hill. She’s been steadily releasing new music ever since and has established herself as one of the most unique acts in contemporary blues music.

From her latest album, “Southern Gothic,” released on Sept. 17 and executive produced by T Bone Burnett, “You Was Born to Die” breathes new life into the existential 1933 original by Piedmont bluesman Blind Willie McTell. “You made me love you, and you made me cry/ You should remember that you were born to die,” Victoria sings on the song’s chorus, backed by vocalists Margo Price and Kyshona Armstrong.

Victoria said in a statement that the song is “a celebration of the impermanence of any imprint we hope in vain to leave on this world. Like any blues worth the name, it is an invitation to stand apart and stare askew back on a world that has become ridiculous.”

It also features Jason Isbell, whom Victoria says “makes a guitar talk like it can speak to the devil.”

LOCALLY MINDED

Planet Booty, “Yes”(self-released)

Like a more glam version of Chromeo, San Francisco’s Planet Booty has been one of the sweatiest, most raucous live acts in the city for the past 10 years. With its fourth album, “Yes,”the band has renewed its focus on bridging the gap between what it creates in the studio and what it puts down on stage.

“We want the songs we make to be a captivating soundtrack to life and a reminder to be joyful and irreverent when you’re at home, by yourself, as much as when you’re out again with your people on a Friday night,” singer Dylan CharlesGermick told The Chronicle.

The album is a high-energy explosion of pop, funk, rock and R&B. On “You’re a Star,” it’s Germick’s sensual delivery that shines alongside Josh Cantero’s trombone. On “Connoisseur,” it’s Rob Gwin’s funky bass and Cantero’s talkbox that pump up the volume. And on “Ghostin’,” the group cheekily tackles the sometimes inexplicable realities of dating in San Francisco.

There are more than a dozen musicians on the album — most of whomare from the Bay Area — helping Planet Booty put forth its body-positive, confidence-boosting, inclusive, and often hilarious sexy tunes. But it’s the live show and Germick’s magnetic stage persona that fans have really come to embrace. The band is set to close out its tour at the Independent in San Francisco on Nov. 26 for what will surely be a wild Friday night.

FROM THE VAULT

Johnny Cash, “Bear’s Sonic Journals: Johnny Cash, Live at the Carousel Ballroom, April 24, 1968” (Renew Records/BMG)

Named after famed Grateful Dead soundman and LSD pioneer Owsley “Bear” Stanley, the latest entry in the “Bear’s Sonic Journals” series is a brilliant performance by Johnny Cash recorded shortly before the release of theiconic 1968 album “At Folsom Prison.”

The performance happened at the Carousel Ballroom, which would soon become Bill Graham’s Fillmore West concert hall. Stanley was the house sound engineer in the room where the Dead and Jefferson Airplane were regulars. He often recorded live tapes from his mixing board of the performances and this one from Cash is particularly special. The distinct channel separation of Cash on the right and his backing band, the Tennessee Three, on the left gives the listener the feeling that they’re right in the middle of it all. Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, said in a statement that this is “one of the most intimate and connected shows I have ever heard.”

Highlights include duets with June Carter (his then bride of less than two months) on “Jackson” and “This Land Is Your Land,” where Carter playfully calls Cash a “sex maniac” on stage. There’s a masterful version of “Ring of Fire,” a previously unheard recording of “Cocaine Blues,” a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” and the set closer “I Walk The Line.”