10 New Albums to Stream Now: Rolling Stone Editors’ Picks
Foo Fighters, Concrete and Gold
Writes Jon Dolan: “Musically and emotionally, Concrete and Gold is their most balanced record yet, from punk-Zep dive-bombers like ‘Run’ and ‘Make It Right’ to the acoustic soul that opens ‘T-Shirt,’ in which Grohl gets his Nina Simone on, singing, ‘I don’t want to be queen/I just wanna sing love songs.’ ‘Sunday Rain’ is a guitar weeper so late-Beatles great it even has Paul McCartney playing drums on it.”
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Ringo Starr, Give More Love
The latest solo offering from the Beatles’ drummer “is a well-timed all-star candygram,” writes Will Hermes.
Read Our Review: Ringo Starr Brings Unfadable Rock & Roll Optimism, Just When We Need It
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Rostam, Half-Light
The first solo LP from Vampire Weekend MVP turned pop auteur Rostam Batmanglij, who’s worked with the likes of Solange Knowles and Carly Rae Jepsen, hybridizes “his former group’s Ivy League-aesthete indie rock and modern vernacular electro-pop” on “gorgeously inventive tracks,” writes Will Hermes.
Read Our Review: Vampire Weekend Auteur Rostam Batmanglij Channels Worldly Vision
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Michael McDonald, Wide Open
The gruff yet smooth soul singer’s first album of original material in 17 years places his singular voice amidst stretched-out soul. On the opening track “Hail Mary,” he asks, “After all this time … does the sound of my voice still carry any kind of message to you? Or should I just let it die?” “I’m almost posing [that question] to the listener,” he told Rolling Stone. “What do you think [about my return]? Is this nuts?”
Read Our Feature: Inside Michael McDonald’s Unlikely Comeback
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Antibalas, Where the Gods Are in Peace
The Brooklyn-based afrobeat believers have been keeping the spirit of Nigeria’s Fela Kuti and his orchestras burning since the early ’00s, through the triumphant musical Fela! and various side gigs (including work on Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk). On their latest, frontman Duke Amayo walks convincingly in Fela’s footsteps, balancing politics against mighty, crosshatched horn squalls and kinetic grooves. It ends in the three-part epic “Tombstown,” featuring polyglot vocal outfit Zap Mama – a cosmic-funk journey that rockets past afrobeat formalism into provocative new regions. Will Hermes
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Lee Ranaldo, Electric Trim
The 12th solo album from the former Sonic Youth guitarist was inspired by the studio wizardry behind albums like Pet Sounds and Revolver. “I’ve been involved in a lot of amazing records over the years,” Ranaldo tells Rolling Stone, “and this record goes right up there as one of the most fun ones I’ve ever worked on. That’s a good place to be right now.”
Read Our Feature: Lee Ranaldo on Beatles-Inspired New Solo LP, Life After Sonic Youth
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Musiq Soulchild, Feel the Real
Philly-born hip-hop/soul singer Musiq Soulchild stretches out on this double album full of languid grooves and world-weary, yet pointed lyrics. “Hard Liquor” spins a fuzzed-out guitar line into some real talk about the ever-present conflict between old heads and the youth; the string-laden “Start Over” brings the weight of time to a long-dormant relationship. His expansive vision is rounded out by guests like the honey-voiced Marsha Ambrosius (who brings heat to the luminous opener “Feel the Real”), the pop astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson (who adds a bit of scientifically minded romanticism to the sweetly open-hearted “The Moon”) and Musiq’s own alter ego MC the Husel. Maura Johnston
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Open Mike Eagle, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream
Motor-mouthed rapper Open Mike Eagle has gotten raves for albums that explore the comedy of neurosis and the neuroses of comedy. His sixth album, and headiest yet, is a concept album built around Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes, a famously mismanaged housing project opened in 1962 and destroyed in 1998. Here, he intertwines his own psyche with real and imagined events of decades ago, masterfully adding a “historical” circle to hip-hop’s powerful Venn diagram of the personal and political. Christopher R. Weingarten
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Gary Numan, Savage (Songs From a Broken World)
The New Wave pioneer combines the harsh and the hooky on his 22nd album, which is set on a near-future Earth that’s been ravaged by global warming.
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Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet, Ladilikan
This warm, mournful, minimal collaboration joins some modern-traditional sounds of Mali – the soaring voice of Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, the chiming balafon of Lassana Diabaté and the leisurely complex bass ngoni of Mamadou Kouyaté – with San Francisco’s boundary-crossing string crew the Kronos Quartet. Together its a cinematic mix of pluck and bow, percussive lope and waves of string. Highlight “God Shall Wipe the Tears Away” is a gorgeous mix of soul ballad, drone and a phenomenal gospel-style vocal performance. Christopher R. Weingarten
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