9 albums you need to hear this week
With albums from Easy Life, Flohio, Sorry, 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 Easy Life, Flohio, Sorry, and more.
Alvvays, Blue Rev
After more than half a decade away, Alvvays return with a record that both wears the band’s signature sound proudly on its sleeve, yet shows off a new sense of ambition. Their knack for sugary break-up bangers is present and correct on tracks such as ‘Pharmacist’, but amped-up guitars show they’re now gunning for the big leagues. Elsewhere, ‘Very Online Guy’ shows off Molly Rankin’s brilliant wit as she takes aim at an enemy who “types his cool replies”. It’s the perfect step up for the Canadian group.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Easy Life, Maybe in Another Life…
On 2021 debut Life’s a Beach, Easy Life offered a woozy ode to the joy of carefree summer days spent with friends before the demands of adult life truly arrived. The follow-up, then, sees the band exploring what happens when the party stops. It’s in the same sonic ball park as their debut, but as Murray Matravers urges listeners to “just try to keep your head above water” on ‘OTT’, it’s clear that bigger issues are at hand. It’s hardly subtle, but enough to keep fans of the Leicester group firmly satisfied.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Flohio, Out of Heart
After a few years building her reputation as a rapper, Flohio delivers her debut album Out of Heart. Produced by longtime collaborators God Colony and Speech (with a guest feature from New York rapper Hawa), Out of Heart sees the UK rapper look back to her childhood for sounds — the sometimes coarse, sometimes bubblegum sound palettes of video game soundtracks — and combines this nostalgia with a forward-thinking rap delivery and lyricism.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, N.K-Pop
Former Beautiful South members Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott return with their fifth album together, a follow-up to their chart-topping 2020 release Manchester Calling. N.K-Pop’s title is a play on North Korea — K-pop “from the wrong side of the border”, as Heaton put it — though the album doesn’t take this theme too literally, instead showcasing their vocal pop songs with a storytelling bent that belongs to the UK shores.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Sorry, Anywhere but Here
On their second album, Sorry shake off the shackles of their London DIY origins to experiment with an unexpected yet thrilling sonic palette. There is club-primed production on the stunning ‘Let the Lights On’ — perhaps a result of enlisting Portishead’s Adrian Utley on co-production — while ‘There’s So Many People That Want to Be Loved’ is a melancholic ode to perennial millennial angst.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music
TSHA, Capricorn Sun
TSHA follows a string of successful singles and EPs with her debut album. Released via the Ninja Tune label, Capricorn Sun sees TSHA hone her distinct style of dance music, evoking both club terraces and home listening, peak-time moments alongside quiet and contemplative moods.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Vukovi, NULA
On their third album, Scottish rockers Vukovi fully lean into all the time-honoured madness that a concept album allows. The titular NULA, for instance, refers to the album’s central hero and their high-stakes mission to escape a human testing facility onboard a distant space-ship. While that might seem a daunting listen to some, shimmers of otherworldly guitar rock and the commanding delivery of singer Janine Shilstone allow the record to shine.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Willow, <COPINGMECHANISM>
Willow Smith continues to explore angsty rock music on her fifth album. More ambitious if less stylistically consistent than her last records, <COPINGMECHANISM> veers from metal to lo-fi guitar-based songwriting to goth-rock, with a notable guest appearance from avant-garde rock star Yves Tumor.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Wunderhorse, Cub
Jacob Slater might have made his name as the snarling face of teenage punks The Dead Pretties, but solo project Wunderhorse repositions him as the latest in a long lineage of powerful rock storytellers. Debut single ‘Teal’ shows him to be a dab hand in Springsteen-esque Heartland rock, while the rest of the record sees him successfully dabbling with the sonics of Zeppelin and Elliot Smith. A powerful and accomplished debut.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music