8 albums you need to hear this week
With music from Loyle Carner, Yungblud, HAIM, Aitch, Karol G, Benson Boone, UNIVERSITY and Hotline TNT
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 from Loyle Carner, Yungblud, HAIM, Aitch, Karol G, Benson Boone, UNIVERSITY and Hotline TNT.
Loyle Carner – hopefully !
The felt-tip pen scrawls that adorn Loyle Carner’s latest album come courtesy of his own two young children. It’s a fitting motif for an album that largely draws on his own happiness as a family man and his reflections on how the magic of parenthood has changed his life (see the heart-rending ‘Poseidon’). There’s also a new Carner of sorts as the rapper sings, emitting a low-pitched croon throughout which lends a new depth to this collection of personal recollections. There’s still moments of tough self-reflection as shown on ‘In My Mind’, but largely it’s a charming snapshot of the lovely familial bubble that the London rapper finds himself in.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Yungblud – Idols
This first half of Dom Harrison’s anticipated double album is his biggest swing for the fences to date, and it’s a gamble that largely pays off. He opens with the sprawling nine minute epic ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’, before offering something that flits between moments of grandiose Queen-esque rock and more swaggering Britpop sounds. Old devotees and new fans – brought in by the broadening sound – will lap it up.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
HAIM – I quit
On I quit, the fourth offering from the LA-based trio of sisters, HAIM create their most self-assured and cohesive project yet. Across the 15-track LP, Danielle, Este and Alana focus on hopeful and bravado-filled beginnings, murky middles and confident endings. In contrast to the melancholy of their third studio album, Women in Music Pt. III, I quit feels like it’s been created with the wisdom of hindsight, even when they delve into tough subject matters.
Read our full five-star review of ‘I quit’ here.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Aitch – 4
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK, Aitch said his latest album era would be defined by setting “good examples and good vibes”. This latest album from the Manchester MC is the perfect reflection of that, with all out bangers and star-studded collabs forming the backbone of this record. That’s reflected in ‘Till L4te’ – a stunning collab with RS UK Future of Music star Pozer – and the euphoric ‘LUV?’ with Anne-Marie.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Karol G – Tropicoqueta
“Traveling the world with my last album, an album that gave me so much, I kept asking myself the same question: ‘What’s the next step?’” Karol G said of the genesis of new album Tropicoqueta. “It wasn’t a matter of looking further, but of looking within.” She describes the music as “back to the roots, to the songs I grew up listening to, to the sounds that made me fall in love with music,” and this carefree and vibes-based approach defines the album’s sound.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Benson Boone – American Heart
In the last eighteen months Benson Boone has backflipped his way to global fame, becoming one of the world’s most magnetic performers in the process. This album is the reflection of that journey so far and one which broadens the parameters of his sound. The infectious ‘Mr Electric Blue’ is an ode to his dad and feels Springsteen-esque in its tribute to blue collar workers, even if the sound is something altogether more bombastic. Elsewhere, the curious ‘Sorry I’m Here for Someone Else’ offers a more personal side and a look into the love life of a burgeoning megastar.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK
Crewe quartet UNIVERSITY make the most frenzied and out of control music around. Inspired by US emo and hardcore, their sound is barely contained chaos, and sounds like very little else out there. “It’s pretty rough writing music here, but also a blessing in disguise,” they said of hailing from Crewe, adding: “You’re less influenced by the sound around you, and more just the sound that you want to create yourself.” The sound they do make, shown best on debut album McCartney, It’ll Be OK, is a raucous and delightful one.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon
Previously the one-man studio project of Will Anderson, Hotline TNT becomes a full band on Raspberry Moon, the follow-up to their breakout 2023 record Cartwheel. The songs here are just as hooky and drenched in reverb, but with a new depth and collaborative spirit. Sounding like noise-pop being played by a shoegaze band, the walls of sound they create are beautifully immersive, punctured only by the best hooks Anderson has written to date.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music