5 albums you need to hear this week

In the age of streaming, it’s never been easier to listen to new music — but with over 60,000 new songs added to Spotify every day, it’s also never been harder to know what to put on. Every week, the team at Rolling Stone UK will run down some of the best new releases that have been added to streaming services.

This week, to kick off 2025, we’ve highlighted records by Ethel Cain, Lambrini Girls, Franz Ferdinand, Moonchild Sanelly and Ringo Starr.

Ethel Cain – Perverts

Most projects between ‘proper’ studio albums come in the form of short EPs or one-off singles, giving hints at where an artist is going next. For Ethel Cain, Perverts – which she has made clear is not the follow-up to 2022 debut album Preacher’s Daughter – bucks the trend thrillingly. The mixtape/project/delete as applicable is 90 minutes of thrillingly dark and weird music that takes her far from the track set by her debut album. Here, there’s spooky elongated instrumentals, horror soundtrack-worthy spoken word segments and a few moments closer resembling ‘proper’ songs. Whatever Perverts is, it’s a strange and fascinating next step from an artist determined to challenge.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out

No-one is safe from the wit and rage of Lambrini Girls on Who Let The Dogs Out. Over the past few years, the punk duo have lit up stages worldwide with their incendiary noise and politically scything lyrics, and all that energy and anger is distilled perfectly on the debut album.  “It’s just a big punch in the face,” the band’s Lilly Macieira accurately says of the record, but it’s also heaps of fun, as confirmed by their almost consistently drunken state while recording it. “You know how Fleetwood Mac almost dedicated Rumours to their cocaine dealer?” they say. “I think we should dedicate this album to all the booze we bought at Tesco.”

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear

20 years after igniting indie discos across the land with their debut album, Franz Ferdinand return with The Human Fear – this sixth effort from the Scottish stalwarts. There’s exhilarating thrills of old to be found on ‘Audacious’, while ‘The Doctor’ leans into the arty, character based surrealism that Alex Kapranos and co always did so well. It doesn’t always land with the same thud, but there’s enough here to remind you of why Franz became one of the UK’s most beloved bands in the first place.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Moonchild Sanelly – Full Moon

Moonchild Sanelly’s music aims for, in the South African musician’s own words, “liberation for women, in the bedroom, in the boardroom, knowing your power…”. This mission statement gives debut album Full Moon its power, but doesn’t stop it from being absurdly fun too. The singer was a consistent festival highlight last summer, playing nine(!) sets over four days at Glastonbury, and her debut album is just as fun as her raucous live show. “It’s your god given duty / To appreciate my booty,” she sings on opening track ‘Scrambled Eggs’, starting an album that’s serious in its ambition and thrilling in its execution.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Ringo Starr – Look Up

Giddy up! Ringo goes country is essentially the top line of this latest effort from the Beatles icon. But instead of following in the vein of a country resurgence set off by the likes of Post Malone and Beyoncé, this is the sound of Ringo exploring the music he first loved before the Fabs took over the world. Collaborating with celebrated country producer T.Bone Burnett, Ringo offers up eclectic duets with the likes of bluegrass guitarists Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings, but there’s real emotion too. The rousing ‘Time On My Hands’ is a beautiful ode to ones that got away. This new, late-career reinvention suits him like the snuggest of Stetsons.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music