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 from Kae Tempest, Kesha, Nilüfer Yanya and Katie Gregson-Macleod.

Kae Tempest – Self Titled

On Kae Tempest’s fifth album, we get a deeply personal insight into the transformative journey that the south London rapper/poet has undertaken in the last five years. On the soaring opener ‘I Stand On The Line’, he reflects on coming out as non-binary in 2020 before medically transitioning and announcing earlier this year that he now identifies as a trans man. The powerful ‘Know Yourself’, meanwhile, offers a powerful back and forth between the voice of Kae now and the voice of Kae many moons ago, which is described as “a dialogue between selves across time, in real time”. The result, as is the case with most of Tempest’s material, is a set of deeply honest tunes that are nothing short of a complete triumph.

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

Kesha – Period

On her first album since leaving former label Kemosabe, Kesha delivers a record where freedom (a word she bellows on this record) and fun are the order of the day. It’s messy at times and it doesn’t always hit with the intended power, but it’s unrepentantly her – as shown on the soaring ‘Joyride’ – which offers her own spin on hyper pop and never lets go.

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

Nilüfer Yanya – Dancing Shoes EP

Following a Glastonbury appearance and ahead of US tours in support of Alex G and Lorde, Nilüfer Yanya shares new EP Dancing Shoes, a post-script to last year’s My Method Actor LP. Written alongside longtime creative partner Wilma Archer, these four tracks see Yanya softly expanding her sound. ‘Where To Look’ is a deeply atmospheric track led by acoustic guitar, while first single ‘Cold Heart’ employs icy synthetic drums and sweeping strings.

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

Katie Gregson-Macleod – Love Me Too Well, I’ll Retire Early EP

Scottish singer-songwriter Katie Gregson-Macleod described new EP Love Me Too Well, I’ll Retire Early to Rolling Stone UK as “the perfect re-entry and sonically a chance to experiment with the world that I wanted to work within”. With an album in the works, she describes these gorgeous and heartfelt quintet of songs as “my first step towards that album world” and the first step of reclaiming her creativity after a period of stagnation caused by a major label split.

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