6 albums you need to hear this week
With music from Harry Styles, Gnarls Barkley, Shabaka, Book of Churches, waterbaby and the star-studded ‘HELP(2)’
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 Harry Styles, Gnarls Barkley, Shabaka, Book of Churches, waterbaby and the star-studded HELP(2).
Harry Styles – Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.
As our full review explains, here’s an album where Harry Styles leans into dance music, but pairs it with eclectic influences to create a joyous fourth album that’s impossible to pigeonhole. It is the perfect soundtrack for this summer, when Styles’ fans will head to his huge Wembley Stadium shows to, well, disco, occasionally. But with this record’s uniting power, you wouldn’t rule out a few kisses either…
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Various Artists – HELP(2)
Thirty years after War Child’s game-changing Help record, the sequel is an equally star-studded affair which sees big names coming together to help children affected by war. It’s depressing on one hand that such a thing is necessary, but the songs on offer here go some way to making you perhaps feel like change is possible. It’s a majorly star-studded affair, with new songs and covers by Olivia Rodrigo, Cameron Winter, Wet Leg, Sampha, Arlo Parks, Depeche Mode, Big Thief, and many others. The first single from the album, ‘Opening Night,’ is also the first new song that Arctic Monkeys have released since 2022: a perfectly louche anthem-in-waiting with an instant-classic lead vocal from Alex Turner.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Gnarls Barkley – Atlanta
Some 18 years after their last album, Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green come full circle for a record which will also be the duo’s last. Describing the stirring lead single ‘Pictures’, Green said: “‘Pictures’ is like going back to square one, It’s a full circle moment. The spirit of Gnarls Barkley is always self-discovery. The sweet, the sad, and the strange. The universe, the adventure inside of yourself.” It’s a chance for this duo to prove there’s a whole lot more to them than ‘Crazy‘.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Shabaka – Of the Earth
Two years ago, former Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming bandleader Shabaka Hutchings – the country’s greatest modern saxophone player – announced he was leaving the instrument behind. “If I was still playing the sax, it’d be so easy,” he told Rolling Stone UK. After woodwind and flute-based debut solo album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, he returns to the saxophone for Of the Earth, an album that sees him rapping for the first time and bringing the learnings of his recent left-turn back to his primary instrument – not a return, but a bringing together of everything that has got him here.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Book of Churches – Book of Churches
With his Nottingham-based band Divorce, Felix Mackenzie-Barrow showed himself to be an affecting and brilliant alt-country songwriter for one of the country’s most exciting new bands. Now, he emerges with solo project Book of Churches, and a debut album of the same name. On it, he strips things back to just his voice and an acoustic guitar, exposing songs that are stark in their beauty and brave in their composition.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
waterbaby – Memory Be a Blade
On her debut album, Memory Be a Blade, Stockholm-based singer waterbaby reckons with people-pleasing, and how it holds her back. “My favourite version [of myself] is me through someone else’s eye. Is it a good idea to try and live up to that? ” she posits. “The older I get, it becomes more and more painful when you’re not being true to yourself.” Instead, the debut album shows the possibility of a life – and a sound – free from that burden, full of gorgeous vocals and forward-thinking pop music.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music