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10 Albums to Stream: Conor Oberst, the Roots, Coldplay, and More

conor obert, upside down mountain

Ease into the weekend by streaming new albums from Conor Oberst, Coldplay, the Roots, Deniro Farrar, and many more. Find details, links, and descriptions below.

1) Conor Oberst, Upside Down Mountain.Upside Down Mountain suggests that Oberst is growing, rapidly, as a craftsman. It’s the first truly intimate set of songs he’s offered in a while — really since his 2008 eponymous gem, though contemplative moments seeped into 2009’s Outer South, which he recorded with the Mystic Valley Band.” (via NPR)

2) Coldplay, Ghost Stories. “Lead single ‘Magic’ is a low-key meditation on love that leaves behind the multi-colored, stadium-sized grandeur of Mylo Xyloto for soft-edged sonics that mostly look inward — save for a chirping vocal refrain from Martin.” — SPIN (via iTunes Radio)

3) The Roots, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. “The Roots have offered up the first taste from the upcoming …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin in the form of the beautifully bleak ‘When the People Cheer,’ which highlights the record’s concept about growing up in gritty neighborhoods. ‘Am I a douchebag or just another do-rag?’ Black Thought rhymes over a piano-inflected ?uestlove beat before a group of girls sing the chorus like some sort of schoolyard rhyme.” — SPIN (via Pitchfork)

4) Haley Bonar, Last War. “With nine songs in just a shade past half an hour, [Haley Bonar’s] new fifth album, Last War, is tough to set aside. It’s so breezy and brief, so bright and agreeable in its sound, without a misstep to break the listener’s concentration, that it takes a few listens for Bonar’s deeply ambivalent lyrics to sink in.” (via NPR)

5) Deniro Farrar, Rebirth EP. “Like Freddie Gibbs & Madlib’s Pinata, Rebirth is a record that thrives on the tension between traditional street rap confessional and out-there production. Perfect for Deniro Farrar, a rapper that seems to be growing up and finding his voice a little more with every release as he sneaks further away from occupying the confessional, demon-haunted cloud rap theme that defined his work when he arrived a few years ago.” (via SPIN)

6) Grandma Sparrow, Grandma Sparrow & His Piddletractor Orchestra. “It appears that Grandma Sparrow’s Joe Westerlund has been hiding his passion for avant-garde kids’ music behind the drum kit of North Carolina avant folk-rock outfit Megafaun. On his forthcoming solo project, Grandma Sparrow & His Piddletractor Orchestra, the composer embraces this fantastical inner-child and abducts you for a playdate you’ll never forget.” (via SPIN)

7) Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Party Jail.Party Jail unfolds as a brassy adventure in minimalism, including the jazzy, dance-friendly track, ‘Pink Moon,’ and then the helium-voiced, punk-pop fist-pumper, ‘Emperor’s New Chair.’ Highlights showcased via hints of the Modern Lovers on the seven-minute-long ‘Clock Weather’ and the atmospheric, tensely built, noir-ish closer, ‘Weekend Train.'” (via SPIN)

8) ProbCause, WAVES EP. “ProbCause nimbly rides fusion-friendly hip-hop tracks; there’s the DJ Screwed-up dubstep buzzer ‘Ego Trip’ and the ecstatic rap-rock track ‘Neon Dreams.’ Although WAVES is presented as an EP, the ten tracks span 30-plus minutes, showing that its ambitions are bigger than the sampler that ‘EP’ suggests. In fact, the introspective, novelistic ‘Pale Moonlight’ is a downtempo moment of pause that practically turns WAVES EP into a mini-movie.” (via SPIN)

9) Jincallo, Do You Mind. “Opening song ‘Turn of the Key’ brings the psychedelic nature of Forest Swords’ beat-work to mind. ‘Reflex’ is springy like Baths, pitting an old folk vocal sample against rumbling bass and shimmering texture. ‘The V’ features the kind of gritty drum-play you’d hear on a Madlib production, and the lushness of a track like ‘Interviewing Hoarders’ recalls Flying Lotus.” (via SPIN)

10) Various Artists, Unearthed. “Brooklyn-based boom-bap bastion Coalmine Records is celebrating its tenth year of operation with a compilation rounding-up the label’s rap output to date. The project, titled Unearthed, features 22 tracks mixed and scratched together by DJ Revolution. The nostalgic proceedings open with Pharoahe Monch spunking syllables over M-Phazes’ sturdy ‘Get Down’ beat before a stream of classically-wrought emcees.” (via SPIN)