10 New Albums to Stream Now: Rolling Stone Editors’ Picks
Sam Smith, The Thrill of It All
The second full-length from the British crooner, Will Hermes writes, “knights one of the mightiest, most expressive vocalists of his generation. … [Thrill is] a potent concept album that universalizes heartbreak from a distinctly LGBTQ point of view.”
Read Our Feature: Inside Sam Smith’s Raw New Album
Read Our Review: Sam Smith Makes His Lonely Hours Feel Universal on a Great LP
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Bob Dylan, Trouble No More: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 13 / 1979-1981
This eight-CD, single-DVD set places the spotlight on Dylan’s tumultuous born-again Christian phase, which resulted in three albums and concerts that were packed with fiery sermons. “Once you strip away all the time and all the uproar it caused at the time,” a source close to the Dylan camp told Rolling Stone, “you can appreciate all this as wonderful, impassioned music.”
Read Our Feature: Bob Dylan’s New Bootleg Series Will Spotlight Gospel Period
Read Our Review: Thinking Twice About Bob Dylan’s Gospel Phase With New Bootleg Box
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Maroon 5, Red Pill Blues
“On the sixth M5 LP, Adam Levine nuances a role he plays well: the Top 40 old-soul navigating whatever the pop-music moment throws his way,” writes Jon Dolan. “He works well alongside young talent, trading playful ‘hey now, baby’s’ with SZA over crisp brunch funk on ‘What Lovers Do’ and ascending into falsetto sunshine with Julia Michaels on ‘Help Me Out.'”
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21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin, Without Warning
For this this surprise 10-track release, ice-cold rapper 21 Savage rejoins producer Metro Boomin (who produced his hit “Bank Account”), as does motormouth MC Offset of Migos (who worked with Boomin on their hit “Bad and Boujee). Casual and cool, the deadly sing-song directness of Savage complements the triplet pile-ons of Offset. Boomin’s production is both huge, narcotic and almost horrorcore in its gloom. Christopher R. Weingarten
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Kelsea Ballerini, Unapologetically
Songs like the sumptuous “Roses” and the showy ballad “I Hate Love Songs” show off the growth this country upstart has experienced since the wild success of her 2015 debut. “I’ve changed and gotten to grow up so much since that last album was written,” she told Rolling Stone. “I’m excited to sing about who I am right now.”
Read Our Feature: Kelsea Ballerini on “Loss, Life, Love” of New Album Unapologetically
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Shamir, Revelations
Shamir Bailey’s latest album – and second of 2017, following April’s self-released, recorded-in-a-weekend Hope – places the singer-songwriter in extreme close-up, pairing catchy lo-fi pop with Shamir’s winsome, airy voice. While the dreamy “90’s Kids” pushes back at manufactured nostalgia and kids-today rhetoric with pointed lyrics (“They say we don’t feel pain, they say we’re gross and vain/Afraid to love ourselves, ’cause we might go to hell”) and chiming guitars. Other tracks, like the reservedly hopeful “Float” and the mournful “You Have a Song,” place Shamir’s falsetto against chunky, distorted riffing in a way that gives the effect of a mash-up between that decade’s dual explosions in indie rock and grand balladry. Maura Johnston
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Converge, The Dusk in Us
Massachusetts’ metalcore heroes balance pummeling tracks like the assaultive “Broken by Light” and the chaotic “I Can Tell You About Pain” with the meditative, slow-burning title track, which crests into a rattling battle cry against despondency.
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Tracy Bonham, Modern Burdens
The alt-rock sparkplug’s 1996 debut The Burdens of Being Upright gets a 21st-century update – featuring guests like Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donnelly and Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis – that results in “a lovingly penned postcard to Bonham’s past self, and a fascinating look at where she’s at right now,” writes Maura Johnston.
Read Our Review: Tracy Bonham Returns to Her Alt-Rock Highpoint With Rebuilt Burdens
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Willow, The 1st
The latest musical exploration from Willow Smith is an emotionally direct album that draws inspiration from Alanis Morrisette and Tori Amos. “I’ve been trying to put myself in more uncomfortable positions musically, and this is really the first step,” she tells Rolling Stone.
Read Our Feature: Willow Smith Talks Coming of Age on Honest New LP
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Rabit, Les Fleurs du Mal
The Houston-based producer and composer juliennes analog-synth blurps, drones, spectral vocals and other found sounds, then turns them into jagged, striking aural collages.
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