5 New Albums to Stream Today

Music Lists New Albums
5 New Albums to Stream Today

The album release schedule in mid-November is certainly not as robust as we’d like it to be, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few hidden gems to enjoy. This week, we’re highlighting the new Molly Burch Christmas album, Helado Negro’s live EP, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s first original album since 2011 and a couple other releases worth checking out. Even if you aren’t planning to throw on your Christmas records just yet, we hope you’ll make an exception for the talented Molly Burch or at least dig into one of these other four stellar releases. Scroll down for five essential new albums, all out today (Nov. 15).

1. Bonnie “Prince” Billy: I Made A Place

Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) has released I Made A Place, his first collection of originals under the Bonnie name since 2011’s Wolfroy Goes to Town. —Amanda Gersten

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2. Helado Negro: Live at KCRW

Earlier this year, Paste named Roberto Carlos Lange’s (aka Helado Negro) latest full-length, This Is How You Smile, as one of the Best Albums of 2019 (So Far). Paste called it “the best record of his career” and praised the songs from this Florida-born son of Ecuadorian immigrants as “tender and relatable, no matter what your cultural lexicon is.” Today, he’s sharing an EP with six live versions of songs from that album, recorded live for California radio station KCRW. —Lizzie Manno

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3. Molly Burch: The Molly Burch Christmas Album

Molly Burch, one of Paste’s favorite singer/songwriters and frequent studio guests, has shared her first Christmas album. The tracklist includes classics like Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” and The Mamas and the Papas’ “Snowqueen of Texas,” plus a few Molly Burch originals. Per a press relase, “Creating a holiday album was a foregone conclusion for the singer who would perform in college, alongside an early iteration of her band, as the Lonely Christmas Band at her legendary annual Christmas party.” —Lizzie Manno

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4. TOY: Songs of Consumption

British outfit TOY have had a busy 2019 release schedule. They dropped their fourth studio album, Happy in the Hollow, earlier this year, which drew praise from Paste and landed on our list of 10 Essential Post-Punk Albums From 2019 (So Far) for its “motorik rhythms, gloomy guitar work and [Tom] Dougall’s spectral vocals.” Now, TOY are sharing a covers EP, featuring songs that inspired the band. Artists include The Stooges, Nico, Soft Cell, Charlotte Gainsbourg & Serge Gainsbourg and more. —Lizzie Manno

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5. Varsity: The Basement Takes (2015-2016)

Paste declared Varsity one of the 15 Chicago bands you need to know back in 2018, but if you’re behind the times, it’s the perfect opportunity to catch up: Last year, they released two singles to celebrate their signing to Run For Cover Records, and today, they’ve unveiled their full-length debut for the label, The Basement Takes (2015-2016). The album follows Varsity’s two earlier records—2015’s Varsity and 2018’s Parallel Person—but most of its material, as the title suggests, takes us backward in time. The Basement Takes (2015-2016) documents the band solidifying their sound through growing pains, drawing from sessions during a transitional period between their first album and their second. It collects three 7-inch singles the band released in 2015 and 2016, along with two other tracks, “Second Act,” which Run For Cover released last month, and “Taken by Surprise,” a previously unreleased standout. —Amanda Gersten

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