New Music Friday: 7 albums to hear this week

Denzel Curry surprised fans by dropping a new album, UNLOCKED, last night. Produced by man-of-the-moment Kenny Beats, UNLOCKED was recorded over a quick three-day studio session at Kenny’s studio after Curry dropped by for the season one finale of his YouTube show The Cave. On The Cave, Curry came out with an old-school rap freestyle, and UNLOCKED picks up where this left off, throwing back to hip hop classics like DOOM and Wu-Tang in its sound (not to mention its Organized Konfusion-referencing artwork) while still sounding unmistakably modern thanks to Kenny’s psychedelic beats – just check the way he drops samples over a tight 4x4 funk groove on “Track07”.

This week has also seen a new album from Nicolas Jaar under his Against All Logic name, a truly warped and weird electronic record from Beatrice Dillon, a reinterpretation of the late Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New Here by jazz artist Makaya McCraven, La Roux’s long-anticipated third album Supervision, and more. Take a listen below.