Sampha’s LAHAI tops our shortlist for the best releases out this week.
Jesse Crankson/Courtesy of the artist
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Jesse Crankson/Courtesy of the artist
U.K. singer-songwriter Sampha has become a go-to guest vocalist for artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Alicia Keys, Frank Ocean, Solange and Stormzy. Naturally, he’s got a distinctive, genre-blending style as a solo artist, too: Sampha’s second full-length album, LAHAI, showcases his vulnerability, growth and gorgeous vocals, which can sound both timelessly familiar and futuristic, often simultaneously.
We’ve also got a new album from The Rolling Stones called Hackney Diamonds — the band’s first collection of original material since 2006’s A Bigger Bang — and it’s a return to form that blew away the panel’s expectations. And All That Was East Is West of Me Now is the new solo album from Glen Hansard, an Oscar-winning Irish singer-songwriter whose career has included lengthy stints in The Frames and The Swell Season.
Featured Albums:
- Sampha — LAHAI
Featured Songs: “Dancing Circles,” “Stereo Colour Cloud (Shaman’s Dream),” “What If You Hypnotise Me (feat. Léa Sen),” “Spirit 2.0,” “Only”
- The Rolling Stones — Hackney Diamonds
Featured Songs: “Bite My Head Off,” “Depending On You,” “Dreamy Skies,” “Mess It Up,” “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven,” “Whole Wide World”
- Glen Hansard — All That Was East Is West of Me Now
Featured Songs: “The Feast Of Saint John,” “Sure As The Rain,” “Bearing Witness”
- Dylan LeBlanc — Coyote
Featured Song: “Dust”
- Helena Deland — Goodnight Summerland (Out Oct. 13)
Featured Song: “Bright Green Vibrant Day”
- Valee & Michael Vincent Waller — Valeedation
Featured Song: “Tailor Swift”
Other notable releases for Oct. 20:
- awakebutstillinbed — Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger
- Blink-182 — ONE MORE TIME…
- Blues Traveler — Traveler’s Soul
- Bombay Bicycle Club — My Big Day
- Boys Like Girls — Sunday At Foxwoods
- Cher — Christmas
- Devo — 50 Years Of De-Evolution (1972-2023)
- Israel Nash — Ozarker
- Katie Von Schleicher — A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night
- Lost Girls (Jenny Hval & Håvard Volden) — Selvutsletter
- Pip Blom — Bobbie
- Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter — SAVED!
- Salt-N-Pepa — Very Necessary (30th Anniversary Edition)
- The Shindellas — Shindo
- Sleaford Mods — More Uk Grim EP
- The Streets — The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
- Summer Walker — Girls Need Love (Girls Mix)
- Vince Guaraldi — A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (first-ever release)
