6 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 Nia Archives, Yard Act, Tricky, Steve Lacy, Gracie Abrams and The Menzingers.

Nia Archives – Emotional Junglist

“It’s called Emotional Junglist, but it’s not a jungle album,” Nia Archives tells Rolling Stone UK of her second studio album in our new digital cover feature. “It’s an alternative record.” While the Bradford-born singer, DJ and producer has been held up as the lead figure behind the 2020s renaissance of jungle, Emotional Junglist sees her spread her wings towards indie, pop and beyond on an album that massively widens her scope. It’s a hugely ambitious and exciting next step for one of Britain’s most dynamic musicians.

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

Yard Act – You’re Gonna Need a Little Music

Yard Act’s eclectic third album is their best too. Here, you’ll find cacophonous symphonies of doom rock paired against apocalyptic disco (as seen on the funky title track). The result is a record which acts as the natural evolution of everything these Leeds stalwarts have continued to do so well across three brilliant records.

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

Tricky – Different When It’s Silent

Tricky’s first album in six years might just be the best record from the Bristol trip-hop star since 1995’s seminal Maxinquaye. Here, there’s stunning duets with rising Bristol star Mitch Sanders, haunting instrumentals on ‘Cannon Fodder’ and on ‘Out Of Place’ – a collab with Marta Złakowska – the sense he’s created something truly special.

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

Steve Lacy – Oh yeah?

After emerging from the group The Internet, Steve Lacy first became a critically adored alt-pop star, then a genuine superstar with the enormous single ‘Bad Habit’. It’s given him a new level of ambition for new album Oh yeah? and the rest of his career, as he told The Guardian: “I didn’t care about going No 1 until I got to No 2,” clarifying that he is doing so “without being super corny about it” or chasing a hit song at all costs. “It’s still got all my quirks and stuff.” These quirks are on full show here, an album that features SZA and Erykah Badu but is jam packed full of the attitude and idiosyncrasies that make Lacy one of our best pop voices.

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

Gracie Abrams – Daughter from Hell

On her third studio album, Gracie Abrams tackles the unspoken realities of being in your twenties, aided by The National’s Aaron Dessner on production.

“This album came from being kind of quiet after we had went our separate ways after tour ended,” Abrams said during her exclusive underplay show at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday. She added: “Being in your 20s is so strange and weird, it can feel lonely in a new way and it can feel like thrilling in a new way. You imagine your future differently all of a sudden and then your adolescence still feels like it’s like right behind.”

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

The Menzingers – Everything I Ever Saw

Over the past 20 years, The Menzingers have become one of punk’s most consistent voices. Inspired both by hardcore punk and heartland rock, their sound and message has subtly evolved over eight studio albums but kept its core in tact. New record Everything I Ever Saw sees them adapting to intense life changes, with vocalist and guitarist Tom May saying: “So much changed in our lives and in the world while we were making this record, and somehow, it all pulled us deeper into the band and deeper into our friendship. Twenty years in and this is the most connected we’ve felt to what we’re doing. I’d always heard ‘bigger kids, bigger problems,’ and there’s truth in that, but there’s also bigger answers and deeper meaning.”

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