4 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, we’ve highlighted records by slowthai, The Lathums, Dry Cleaning, and Mimi Webb.

slowthai – UGLY

True to the kind of subversive form that has marked him out as one of Britain’s most exciting hip hop voices in recent years, Tyron Frampton’s third full-length was inspired by a desire to turn his back on rap and, instead, delve into other genres for inspiration. Accordingly, everything from punk to art rock informs the sound of UGLY, whilst lyrically, he switches focus from firebrand takes not he world around him to a more personal thematic palette, on which he tries to reconnect with pre-fame levels of contentment. No wonder, then, that it’s an album he’s described as “completely me”.

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

The Lathums – From Nothing to a Little Bit More

Strikingwhile the iron is hot, this second record from the Wigan upstarts arrives just 18 months after they sealed a meteoric rise by topping the UK album charts with their debut, How Beautiful Life Can Be. This follow-up, From Nothing to a Little Bit More, arrives with the obligatorily swaggering statement that it represents “an act of rebellion, having seen the rules of the game”; singles including ‘Sad Face Baby’ and ‘Say My Name’ suggest that the festival main stages and ever-bigger venues they’ve graduated to have been a major consideration in the expansion of the four-piece’s sound.

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

Dry Cleaning – Swampy

Fresh from an extensive UK tour last month, the country’s most lovably sardonic post-punk outfit return with a companion EP to last year’s rapturously received second album, Stumpwork. At the core of the five-track release are two new songs, ‘Swampy’ and ‘Sombre Two’, which were cut during the sessions for Stumpwork but ultimately didn’t make its sprawling track listing. Pleasingly, they showcase different sides to the band, with the former’s queasy guitars the backdrop to some characteristically abstruse lyricism from Florence Shaw – “bean bags, bingo and a PlayStation 5” – while the latter is a sludgy instrumental that nods to Yo La Tengo. Rounding tut the release are remixes of Stumpwork cuts ‘Gary Ashby’ (by Nourished by Time) and ‘Hot Penny Day’ (by Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul) as well as a previously unreleased demo, ‘Peanuts’.

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

Mimi Webb – Amelia

Bearing in mind that she’s been racking up tens of millions of streams ever since the release of ‘Before I Go’ in April of 2020, it feels as if it’s taken an age for Mimi Webb to release this debut album. That she had the maturity to know that taking her time with it would pay dividends suggests a wisdom beyond her 22 years; Amelia has come together over the course of three years that have seen her become a singles chart staple, travel the world and perform for the Queen. As the title, which is her full first name, suggests, this is a personal affair, showcasing both Webb the newly-minted pop star and Webb “the girl from the UK countryside who loves to be at home with her family, friends, and dogs” – her words.

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