7 albums you need to hear this week
With music from Zayn, Billie Eilish, Shellac, Beth Gibbons, Lip Critic, Cage The Elephant and more.
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 Zayn, Billie Eilish, Shellac, Beth Gibbons, Lip Critic, Cage The Elephant and more.
Zayn – Room Under the Stairs
Zayn’s fans might not be expecting a foray into country music, but this new direction – inspired by his move to rural Philadelphia – suits him like the snuggest of gloves. It’s a record that delivers some
of the most gorgeous songs of his solo career so far as he mines personal pain to deliver something remarkable.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft
Hit Me Hard and Soft, we don’t mind saying, might just be Billie Eilish’s best album yet. The spiky sonic DNA of her earlier work remains, but the title track shows off a brighter sound and an undeniably confident identity too. People say I look happy, just because I got skinny / But the old me is still me, maybe the real me, and I think she’s pretty,” she sings on opener ‘Skinny’. This assured confidence – both sonically and personally – makes for one of the year’s best albums.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Shellac – To All Trains
Shellac’s sixth album, To All Trains, was recorded between 2017 and 2022 and tracks the Chicago trio’s continued musical evolution. It also arrives a week after the sudden passing of their guitarist and production legend Steve Albini, who worked with Nirvana, Pixies and defined the sound of the US guitar rock underground across a distinguished career. It’s bittersweet but somewhat perfect timing to welcome his final work into the world and be able to celebrate a one-of-a-kind creative.
Listen on: Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown
It took 33 years since the formation of Portishead for vocalist Beth Gibbons to go solo, and Lives Outgrown packs in all that change and wisdom into a beguiling album that showcases her singular talent. The album confronts feelings around death, change (both in yourself and around you) and the menopause. Offering a manifesto that is also deeply felt on the album, Gibbons says of her reflections on this change: “Now I’ve come out of the other end, I just think, you’ve got to be brave.”
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense
Look anywhere in the guitar world over the last ten years and the imprint of Talking Heads is impossible to ignore. It’s in the British post-punk boom from south London, the parallel wave of Irish bands and in pop stars incorporating edgier aesthetics. The band’s magnum opus is the concert film Stop Making Sense, and new tribute album Everyone’s Getting Involved, from A24, is a reverent and superbly fun homage to the game-changing film. Highlights include Paramore‘s barnstorming rendition of ‘Burning Down the House’ and Lorde giving ‘Take Me to the River’ her incomparable charm.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
Lip Critic – Hex Dealer
Chaos is the name of the game on Partisan Records signings Lip Critic‘s debut LP, Hex Dealer. With two drummers and two electronics players, they channel Show Me The Body and Death Grips in their unrelenting intensity and roared vocals, but the key to their appeal is not taking themselves too seriously. It’s seen on the album’s absurdist cover art and in the album’s funkier and dancier moments. Make no mistake, this is a dark and intense ride, but there’s lightness and humour to be found as well.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
Cage The Elephant – Neon Pill
“Sometimes in life you need a powerful attention-grabber, and that definitely grabbed my attention,” Cage The Elephant frontman Matt Shultz recently told Rolling Stone about his 2023 arrest for gun charges. That stark incident stemmed from prolonged psychosis issues, and this album is the remarkable sound of a band thankfully coming out the other side of that. ‘Float in The Sky’ is a curious beast of soft rock that evolves into a heavier, proggy creature, while ‘Ball And Chain’ is infectious fun. All considered, it’s a triumph.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music