It’s not every week that I get to highlight the release of a new album by one of the most celebrated and enduring bands of the 20th (and 21st) century, but here we are in mid-October 2023 with a new album by The Rolling Stones. Their first set of new originals since 2005, Hackney Diamonds features appearances by Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, and returning bassist Bill Wyman. If this turns out to be the veteran group’s studio swansong, Mick, Keith, and Ronnie (and, posthumously, Charlie) have delivered a joyfully energetic record to stand proud alongside their classics.
Around the rest of the music world, Glen Hansard’s All That Was East is West of Me Now presents songs that were honed during a residency organized in near secrecy at a pub in his native Ireland. For their second album, Spike Field, Oakland-based Maria BC weaves tender strings and ominous noise into the backdrop for their arresting, classically trained voice. In the years since his Mercury Prize-winning debut, Sampha has become a go-to vocalist for hitmakers like Drake, Solange, and Kendrick Lamar; with Lahai, he returns to the spotlight with a collection of tense, gripping imagery.
True to its Nilsson-inspired title, New York songwriter/producer Katie Von Schleicher’s A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night is a set of expertly crafted pop that is never more than a few moments away from an unexpected production flourish or heart-wrenching lyrical turn. Listening to the evocative, placemaking songs on Bad Dream Jaguar, it won’t surprise you to learn that the core members of Austin’s Sun June met while working as editors on a Terrence Malick film. Shifting away from the Sarah- and Creation-informed guitar pop of their previous albums, Amsterdam’s Pip Blom (led by the singer-guitarist of the same name) pack the dance floor on their sleek third LP, Bobbie.
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