10 New Albums to Stream Now: Rolling Stone Editors’ Picks
Mavis Staples, If All I Was Was Black
The gospel legend’s latest collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is “an object lesson in collaborative activism, with Staples tilting away from Sixties R&B formalism but doubling down on topicality,” writes Will Hermes.
Read Our Feature: Inside Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy’s New Trump-Era Protest LP
Read Our Review: Mavis Staples and Producer Jeff Tweedy Fight the Powers That Be
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Bandcamp | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Soul of a Woman
The final album from R&B belter Sharon Jones, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2016, is a “strikingly indefatigable farewell,” writes Will Hermes. “Recorded over her last two years with longtime sidemen, genre-masters all, Jones meets darkness with hope on this denouement.”
Read Our Review: Soul Queen Sharon Jones Offers a Powerful Posthumous Farewell
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Bandcamp | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal
Bob Seger, I Knew You When
The heartland hero’s 18th album pays tribute to the memories of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen with covers of “Busload of Faith” and “Democracy.” It also honors the late Glenn Frey with “Glenn’s Song,” a recollection of their first meeting. “I always kind of thought of [Frey] as my baby brother, a little bit,” Seger said in 2016. “He was fucking brilliant. He was a joy to be around. I always looked forward to seeing him. It was always memorable. He had an amazing sense of humor and was just smart, whip-smart.”
More Bob Seger: 15 Songs You Can Stream Now
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, The Rest of Our Life
The married country titans pair up for their first album as a duo (and Hill’s first studio release since 2005’s Fireflies), which showcases their sweet harmonies on the hooky anthem “The Bed We Made” and the flirtatious “Break First.”
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Bandcamp | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal
Morrissey, Low in High School
The Brit miserablist’s eleventh solo album is full of punchlines and camp while also showing a politically charged empathy toward its subjects, writes Will Hermes: “As philosophical alt-rock standup goes, the man is still peerless.”
Read Our Review: Morrissey, Alt-Rock’s Greatest Stand-Up, Still Has It on Album Number 11
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Tove Lo, Blue Lips [Lady Wood Phase II]
The second part of the Swedish pop thrush’s Lady Wood series is “admirably uncensored, but may leave you craving a shower, however close to home it lands,” writes Will Hermes.
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal
Jaden Smith, Syre
The long-marinating debut full-length from the 19-year-old actor and MC features guest spots from A$AP Rocky, Raury and Pia Mia.
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rest
On her first album since 2011’s Stage Whisper, the French singer and actress “exudes the same droll, distracted sense of uneasy whimsy she’s brought to her screen performances and previous music projects,” writes Jon Dolan. Gainsbourg’s collaborators include Paul McCartney, Owen Pallett, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and producer Sebastian (Frank Ocean, Fall Out Boy).
Hear: Amazon Music Unlimited | Apple Music | Spotify | Tidal
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Polygondwanaland
Polygondwanaland is the Australian psych-rock collective’s fourth album to come out this year. Polygonwanaland channels the band’s 2017 catalog – the twitchy energy from February’s deliberately dissonant Flying Microtonal Banana, the proggy grandeur of June’s dystopian hellscape Murder of the Universe, and the chilled-out strumming of August’s breezy Sketches of Brunswick East – into a hyperactive whole, while details like beamed-in synths and sludgy riffs hint at where they might be headed before their wildly fruitful year ends. Maura Johnston
Hear: Bandcamp
The She’s, “All Female Rock and Roll Quartet”
Hooky and harmony-heavy, the She’s craft indiepop that recalls the fanzine era’s peaks while also being mindful of 21st-century concerns. “Ashes” pairs a circular, steam-gathering riff with bassist-vocalist Sami Perez’s withering observations; the sweetly sour “Sorry” and “Anywhere But Here” recall bubblegrunge’s highest moments. The title’s an eye-roll at the San Francisco foursome being slotted into “women” as a genre, but the song named after it is simmering mood music – an even more potent warning against taking this upstart band lightly. Maura Johnston
Hear: Apple Music | Bandcamp | SoundCloud Go | Spotify | Tidal