Harry Styles, Paramore, Zac Brown Band and 18 More Albums to Hear Now
Rolling Stone Recommends:
Harry Styles, Harry Styles
The searching solo debut from One Direction’s rakish heartthrob “digs so deep into classic California mellow gold, you might suspect his enigmatic new tattoos that say ‘Jackson’ and ‘Arlo’ refer to Browne and Guthrie. … The whole album has the personal yet witty spirit of the cover photo, where a topless Harry has a moment of doubt and pain in a bathtub full of pink unicorn tears,” writes Rob Sheffield in our four-star review.
Read Our Cover Story: Harry Styles’ New Direction
Read Our Review: Harry Styles Is a True Rock Star on Superb Solo Debut
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Paramore, After Laughter
With drummer Zac Farro back in the fold, Paramore “embrace ‘pop’ as a musical vibe with a record that’s so sunshine-bright it gives off a glare at times,” writes Maura Johnston. The album’s big hooks, fleet basslines and intricate detailing – which includes highlife guitar arpeggios and ice-cream-truck-inspired countermelodies – contrasts, however, with the lyrics sung by Hayley Williams, which possess “a weariness that makes the music’s brightness seem garishly empty.”
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Juanes, Mis Planes Son Amarte
The heady concept album by this Colombian rock legend combines “the blues of loneliness with the funk of desire and tripping-rock vibrations in a stark deep-soul music – Juanes channeling the prime solo George Michael and my favorite Seventies records by the American R&B icon Donny Hathaway while facing forward with self-assurance,” writes David Fricke.
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Colter Wall, Colter Wall
It’s a boom time for inspired renegade country acts, but this twentysomething from Saskatchewan is something else. Namechecking Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel #9” and a laundry list of abusable substances in a boomy baritone pitched between Johnny Cash and a smoke-cured Kris Kristofferson, he unspools vivid story-songs about “loners and no-account stoners,” guided by little more than foot-stomp percussion and Travis-picked acoustic guitar. Producer Dave Cobb shows his mastery by mostly staying out of the path of this talented freight train. One helluva debut. Will Hermes
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Pwr Bttm, Pageant
Finally: a great punk-pop anthem with the chorus “answer my text, you dick!” – how did it take so long? The second LP by the upstate New York duo ups the ante on their debut’s genderqueer playfulness with a new sense of mission, right on time for the Trump era. It also varies their sonic palette: The title track is a tender, gender-dysphoric acoustic ballad; “New Trick” is a come-on that crunches like Nirvana. Will Hermes
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Various Artists, The Bob’s Burgers Music Album
Fox’s animated delight Bob’s Burgers derives a lot of its joy from music – whether its characters are throwing down pitch-perfect homages to sleaze-adjacent Quiet Storm (“Lifting Up the Skirt of the Night”) and strummy boy-band balladry (“Coal Mine”) or putting on dueling musical adaptations of Working Girl and Die Hard. This omnibus of songs from the show’s first six seasons has cameos by the likes of St. Vincent and Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt, but for the most part the spotlight rightfully shines on the greasy spoon-themed sitcom’s superlative cast, who take to their roles with an affectionate gusto that gives even the most absurd situations an extra side of heart. And, as befitting a show featuring Dan Mintz’s eternally rear-obsessed Tina Belcher, there are lots of butts, too. Maura Johnston
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Also of Note:
B.o.B, Ether
The Atlanta MC’s indie debut features cameos from fellow Georgians Young Thug and Young Dro as well as “Big Kids,” a swirling ballad with assists from CeeLo Green and Usher.
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Zac Brown Band, Welcome Home
The fifth album by the genre-melding, stadium-filling country act is a “back-to-basics collection of odes to the band’s musically humble roots” that at times comes off “as an anxious defense of fame and fortune, a reactionary right-turn in response to the mixed reviews the band received for their most recent global pop-grab,” writes Jonathan Bernstein.
Read Our Review: Zac Brown Band Anxiously Return to Their Roots on “Welcome Home“
Read Our Feature: Zac Brown Talks New Album, Dance Project: “I’ve Figured Out a Formula”
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Don Bryant, Don’t Give Up On Love
The songwriter behind Ann Peebles’ soul classic “Can’t Stand the Rain” releases his second solo album. “It’s really a joy to have the opportunity to do it again,” Bryant told Rolling Stone. “It feels just as good now as it did then.”
Read Our Feature: How Southern-Soul Survivor Don Bryant Finally Got His Second Chance
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Dreamcar, Dreamcar
No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young hook up with AFI frontman Davey Havok for a full-length that straddles the 1980s and the 2010s. “There are a lot of things on the album that are Eighties-influenced,” Kanal told Rolling Stone, “but I feel like what we’ve created is something very fresh and new, too. You have to find that balance, and I think we’ve achieved that.”
Read Our Feature: No Doubt’s Tony Kanal on “Rebirth” With New Supergroup Dreamcar
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Girlpool, Powerplant
On their second album (and first for Anti-), Los Angeles duo Girlpool shakes the plainspoken Polaroids and innocent melodies of their 2015 debut. They’ve instead evolved into a taut, breezy, mildly shoegaze-y indie rock band in the vein of Throwing Muses, Blake Babies or Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins – with drums and all! Growing up and expanding their palette has ultimately dulled their impact a bit, but their emotion-examining lyrics are still remarkable avant-twee: “1-2-3, will you list it off to me?/How you’re sorry you feel weird in a jubilation dream.” Christopher R. Weingarten
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LeToya Luckett, Back 2 Life
The diva and ex-Destiny’s Child member releases her third album.
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Machine Gun Kelly, Bloom
The third album by the Cleveland-born MC includes the Fastball-interpolating Camilla Cabello collaboration “Bad Things” and cameos from Hailee Steinfeld, Quavo of Migos and Ty Dolla $ign.
Read Our Feature: Machine Gun Kelly Talks Nirvana, Fatherhood, Working at Chipotle
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Amber Mark, 3:33am
This New York-based SoundCloud sensation possesses a velvety alto and a wide-ranging take on R&B.
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New Kids on the Block, Thankful
Released just in time for their Total Package Tour with Paula Abdul and Boyz II Men, this EP’s highlights include “Hard (Not Lovin U),” a slick R&B come-on that puts Jordan Knight’s falsetto front and center, and the “99 Luftballoons”-interpolating salute to the Eighties “Still Sounds Good.”
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R5, New Addictions
The Los Angeles family band’s first release since 2015’s Sometime Last Night is full of sharply constructed pop confections that ride galloping basslines.
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Todd Rundgren, White Knight
The pop wizard’s latest LP has a guest list as long and varied as his career – Swedish pop upstart Robyn, alt-industrial titan Trent Reznor, and funk omnivore Dâm-Funk are only a few of its guests. “He seems to work best with Seventies peers like Joe Walsh, Daryl Hall and Donald Fagen, whose smooth Donald Trump parody ‘Tin Foil Hat’ is a timely highlight,” writes Jon Dolan.
Read Our Review: Todd Rundgren’s All-Star LP “White Knight” Is Predictably Odd
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Seether, Poison the Parish
Vocalist-guitarist Shaun Morgan handled production duties for the South African hard rockers’ seventh album, which includes the churning rock-radio hit “Let You Down.”
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Son Lux, Remedy
Son Lux founder Ryan Lott’s cacophonous compositions have made him a favorite among new-music appreciators and pop aficionados, with his roster of admirers including heavy hitters like Lorde (who appeared on Son Lux’s 2014 EP Alternate Worlds) and Fall Out Boy (who interpolated his jittery “Lost It to Trying” on their 2015 cut “Fourth of July”). The EP, which benefits the Southern Poverty Law Center, buries gorgeous details in its twisty, tension-filled songs; synth blooms on “Dangerous,” bouncing-ball bass on “Part of This.” The closing title track resolves its instrumental chaos with a choir of more than 300 fans singing the openhearted, optimistic refrain, “Find your voice/In the sea of surging bodies and breath/To form a melody/To find a remedy” – a full-throated vote in favor of conquering the darkness. Maura Johnston
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Various Artists, American Epic: The Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the T-Bone Burnett/Robert Redford/Jack White-produced documentary series about American music comes in single-CD and 100-song box set form, with both sets including original 1920s and 1930s recordings of musical pioneers like Mississippi John Hurt and the Carter Family.
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Paul Weller, A Kind Revolution
Four decades after his power-punk-pop band the Jam debuted, the Godfather of Mod releases a solo album full of crisply constructed guitar pop that includes cameos from Boy George and Robert Wyatt.
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