Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on a daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.
This week saw a surprise from Earl Sweatshirt and some long-awaited news from Tame Impala. Yeah, it was a great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.
Earl Sweatshirt — Feet Of Clay
Out of nowhere, we have new Earl Sweatshirt: The rapper announced Feet Of Clay on Thursday, and come Friday, it was out in the world. It’s not a long release — its seven tracks run for a total of about 15 minutes — but it serves as a fine complement to 2018’s Some Rap Songs (which itself was only about 25 minutes long).
Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Ariana Grande was behind the soundtrack for the Charlie’s Angels reboot, so with her at the executive-producing helm, there was bound to be a lot of fun pop here. Indeed, there is: Aside from the five songs Grande appears on (including collaborations with Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, and Nicki Minaj), The album also features contributions from Kim Petras, Stefflon Don, and others.
Dua Lipa — “Don’t Start Now”
Dua Lipa is ready to begin a new era, and she kicked it off recently with “Don’t Start Now.” She said she decided to release the song in order to “close one chapter of my life and start another,” and she has certainly done that: “Don’t Start Now” has a funky disco sound that would be a delight to hear more of.
Sudan Archives — Athena
Following a pair of esteemed EPs in 2017 and 2018, Sudan Archives (real name Brittney Parks) has shared her debut full-length album, Athena. While her EPs were solo projects featuring, as Parks has put it, “just all me messing around on my iPad and my computer,” the album has a more polished sound, resulting in Parks’ most compelling music yet.
Vince Staples — “Sheet Music”
Vince Staples has firmly established that he’s one of hip-hop’s independent thinkers, which shows with his latest project, The Vince Staples Show. These new episodes of his also double as videos for new songs, and his latest is “Sheet Music,” on which he makes the lyric “That’s your baby mama in my bedsheets / That’s your caby mama in my cedsheets” absolutely work.
Tame Impala — “It Might Be Time”
Being a psychedelic artist, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker is well familiar with being influenced by the music that came before his time. That serves him well on “It Might Be Time,” which he says is influenced by “Supertramp melodies” and “’70s prog,” but is ultimately driven by his love for drums.
Miranda Lambert — Wildcard
Miranda Lambert is one of country music’s biggest stars, and she continues to show why on her latest, Wildcard. As Uproxx’s Caitlin White put it, “Wildcard is just another album that proves why she’s remained on top for so damn long — because we never know what she’s going to do next. And even if we did, nobody can write the story of how it went down like she can.”
Read our review of Wildcard here.
Gang Starr — One Of The Best Yet
Prior to this year, Gang Starr hadn’t released a new album since 2003, and any return seemed unlikely following the death of MC Guru. J. Cole contributes a rare guest verse on “Family And Loyalty,” while songs like “Bad Name” sound like they were ripped from the ’90s, which is likely what Gang Starr fans are hoping for when it comes to new music from the group.
Young Thug — “Hot (Remix)” Feat. Gunna and Travis Scott
Young Thug has been paying extra attention to “Hot” lately. A couple weeks ago, he performed the song on The Tonight Show while accompanied by the Temple University Diamond Marching Band. Then, last week, Travis Scott joined the party and hopped on a (so much) fun new remix of the track.
R.E.M. — Monster (25th Anniversary Edition)
R.E.M.’s Monster is a significant album in both the ’90s and alternative rock history, and now the group has given it some love with a massive re-release. Aside from a remastered edition of the original album, there’s a disc of demos, a two-disc live album from 1995, and a new mix of the album by frequent R.E.M. collaborator Scott Litt.
Read our retrospective look at Monster here.
Some artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. .
