New Music Friday: 8 albums to stream this week

Bladee’s greatest strength as an artist is his ability to pair melancholic lyrics with dreamy, almost child-like, melodies. His songs are deceptively simple, and often uses AutoTuned vocals and clipped vocal stylings to cloak complex emotions. It’s no surprise, then, that his music appeals most to a generation of terminally online kids whose feelings of nihilism can be digested through the Swedish rapper and Drain Gang leader’s disaffected yet sunny tones.

On his surprise album, The Fool, Bladee trades in the transcendental maximalism of previous release, Good Luck (a joint project with Berlin artist Mechatok), for a more stripped-back approach. The 13-track project sees the artist ponder on themes of love and death over leisurely soundscapes of bubblegum pop, trancey melodies, and tittering hi-hat rhythms. The sound is unmistakably Bladee, and his introspective lyrics will no doubt give diehard fans plenty to chew on.

Elsewhere, Black Midi have dropped their prog-rock-infused sophomore album, Pauli the PSM brings the heat, Ethiopian-American artist Mereba releases a meditative new EP, and DMX’s posthumous offering gives a bold look at the late rapper’s inner workings.