7 albums you need to hear this week
With music from St. Vincent, Pet Shop Boys, Porij, Justice, Sega Bodega, Adult Jazz and The Zutons.
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, we’ve highlighted records by St. Vincent, Pet Shop Boys, Porij, Justice, Sega Bodega, Adult Jazz and The Zutons.
St. Vincent – All Born Screaming
“It’s a record about life and death and love and it’s just very close to the bone and just close to my heart,” St. Vincent’s Annie Clark told Rolling Stone UK of All Born Screaming. “It’s not a deconstruction of persona or anything like that. It’s just me.” This stands in direct opposition to her last two albums – Daddy’s Home and MASSEDUCTION – which came with striking visual looks and consistent narrative threads. On the new album, we get to see something closer to the real and unfilitered St. Vincent.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Pet Shop Boys – Nonetheless
“We wanted this album to be a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human,” Pet Shop Boys say of Nonetheless, an album that traverses soaring synth-pop and downbeat ballads and serves as somewhat of an overview of their entire career. For a band many decades into their career, it’s a satisfyingly ambitious and wide-ranging new statement.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Porij – Teething
On their debut album, Porij deliver a record that feels like it could be a defining sound of the dancefloor for the rest of the year. The group masterly blend pulsating dance beats with more alternative indie-primed sounds, resulting in a heady sonic mix. ‘Marmite’ is nothing short of an all-out banger, while the more blissful laid-back stylings of ‘Slow Down’ show the group’s undeniable range and talent. A stellar debut.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Justice – Hyperdrama
Sacre Bleu! This first album from the French duo in eight years is so good that you’ll immediately forgive them for making us wait so long. Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé have delivered a record that immediately goes shoulder to shoulder with their 2007 debut Cross and could well herald in their second golden era. The stand out ‘Generator’, for our money, is one of the greatest tracks they’ve ever delivered.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Sega Bodega – Dennis
In his work alongside Shygirl, Charli XCX and more, Irish-Chilean producer Sega Bodega has become an in-demand collaborator for the future-facing wing of British pop music. On new album Dennis, he dives deep into folklore – ‘Deer Teeth’ is inspired by a 7000-year-old Mesolithic burial in Denmark – and presents a weird and wonderful world of sound.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Adult Jazz – So Sorry So Slow
In titling their new album So Sorry So Slow, the Leeds-formed, London-based art-pop band Adult Jazz may be apologising to their fans for the decade-long break since lauded debut album Gist Is. In creating the new record across almost that entire period, they’ve emerged with a deeply rich and textured album with impeccable depth. Across its hour-long runtime, they dip into ambient soundscapes, leftfield pop music and orchestral beauty, anchored by its stunning highlight ‘Suffer One’. That decade was put to good use.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
The Zutons – The Big Decider
Sixteen years after their last album, the latest album from The Zutons is a cosy, if not somewhat predictable, affair. The presence of producer Nile Rodgers can be felt on the resplendent funk of ‘Creeping On The Dancefloor’, but there is, at times, the sense that – music wise at least – little has changed for this lot in those intervening years.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Best of the rest:
PartyNextDoor – ‘PARTYNEXTDOOR 4’
On his fourth album in four years, Canadian R&B star PartyNextDoor offers one of his most complete efforts to date – an alluring record steeped in romance and glamour. ‘Lose My Mind’ feels fit to slay stadiums, while the closing track ‘A Mother’s Prayer’ delivers a real personal edge.