6 albums you need to hear this week
With music by Fall Out Boy, Black Country, New Road, Depeche Mode, Kele, Lana Del Rey and Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA
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 Fall Out Boy, Black Country, New Road, Depeche Mode, Kele, Lana Del Rey, and Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA.
Fall Out Boy – So Much (for) Stardust
On their eighth album, these emo icons have gone all out to prove why they still matter. Tracks such as ‘Love from the Other Side’ show a welcome return to their earlier rock leanings, while ‘Hold Me Like a Grudge’ offers a funkier edge. Twenty years after their debut, these rockers still have something to say.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Black Country, New Road – Live at Bush Hall
When frontman Isaac Wood left Black Country, New Road in early 2022, the band found themselves at the trickiest of crossroads. With a slew of festival shows and dates at Bush Hall already booked, splitting up wasn’t an option. Instead, they crafted a setlist of entirely new songs – which are displayed in all their glory here. While it takes a while to get used to Wood’s absence, vocals from members such as Tyler Hyde and Lewis Wood prove a more than capable replacement. Most importantly, the band’s unmistakeable quirkiness and chameleonic musical spirit remains too.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Depeche Mode – Memento Mori
On their first album since the death of their beloved bandmate Andy Fletcher, Depeche Mode deliver a record that feels inspired by the fragility of life on one hand and, on the other, a celebration of a life well-lived by their late friend and band member. The beautifully melancholic ‘Ghosts Again’ stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the album.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Kele – The Flames Pt.2
Over glitchy guitars and electronic instrumentation, this sixth solo studio album sees the Bloc Party frontman casting his targets far and wide. The powerful ‘Vandal’ discusses British identity, while the brooding ‘Kerosene’ could easily be a Bloc Party off-cut. It doesn’t all work, but it’s a varied listen.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Lana Del Rey – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd
A veritable labyrinth of tunnels runs underneath this sprawling ninth full-length from Lana Del Rey, as she turns her gaze inwards to paint complex portraits of both herself and modern America. Thematically, there is focus on concepts both intimate – like family and friends on ‘The Grants’ and ‘Margaret’ – and far-reaching, with meditations on faith, heartbreak and womanhood. Disarmingly, it’s the album’s musical looseness that ties everything together, as she wanders restlessly from sweeping balladry to gospel to piano pop to the Laurel Canyon of the 70s – sometimes, as on the thrilling ‘A&W’, all within the same song. More than ever, there appears to be no ceiling to Del Rey’s songwriting ambition.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA – Scaring the Hoes
“How are we supposed to make money off this shit?” queries JPEGMAFIA on the title track from Scaring the Hoes, in the process acknowledging that this utterly wild collaboration with fellow hip hop rule-breaker Danny Brown is unlikely to achieve platinum status. It pushes too many boundaries to achieve that kind of mainstream recognition; so often, team-ups between established artists end up feeling like less than the sum of their parts, but this lurid, thrillingly weird crossover is the sound of two highly idiosyncratic rappers trying furiously to outdo each other. Witty, ambitious and frequently overwhelming, Scaring the Hoes will prove too much for some, but for those able to tune into its wavelength, a genuine rap rollercoaster awaits.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music