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Each week, Consequence celebrates New Music Friday by highlighting newly released albums to stream. This week offers an especially great slate of releases. Whether you’re in the mood for some Romance with Fontaines D.C., stepping into your Power with Illuminati Hotties, or keeping things Short ‘N Sweet like Sabrina Carpenter, here are 10 albums to stream today.

Bryce Dessner — Solos

The National’s Bryce Dessner isn’t just a killer guitarist, he’s also an accomplished composer. Solos compiles a set of unaccompanied instrumentals the artist has written in recent years. For more insight into Dessner’s taste, check out his Crate Digging interview, where he lists 16 essential classical albums.

Stream: Apple Music | Spotify

Buy: Vinyl | CD

Fontaines D.C. – Romance

The celebrated Irish rockers leap further into new sonic and thematic territory with their fourth album, Romance, produced by James Ford. We previously named “Starburster” our favorite song...

Devotion runs through the veins of Fontaines D.C.’s music. The Dublin group first crashed onto the post-punk scene with their 2019 debut Dogrel, a nuanced, gripping homage to their homeland; 2022’s guttural Skinty Fia unpacked the guilt they felt after relocating to London. Now, they’re considering devotion through an entirely new lens, introduced on the opening title track of their fourth album Romance. Over brooding, cinematic synths, singer Grian Chatten proclaims, “Maybe romance is a place/For me/And you.”

If there was any takeaway from the 4-single...

The BBC has shared a video of Fontaines D.C. showcasing their latest single, “Favourite,” at Glastonbury last weekend. The group dropped the shimmering love song in June along with a self-directed music video for the track, which documented a recent trip to Madrid.

In the clip, the band can be seen during their headlining set on the Park Stage, during which they performed both older tracks and songs from their forthcoming LP, Romance, out Aug. 23 via Xl Recordings.

Fontaines D.C. previously debuted “Favourite” live at a show at the Brooklyn Warsaw in April.

Blur are officially back with The Ballad of Darren, their first album in eight years. Listen to the complete project below via Apple Music and Spotify.

Featuring singles “St. Charles Square” and “The Narcissist” — the latter of which we named Song of the Week — The Ballad of Darren was produced by James Ford. In a statement, Damon Albarn described it as “an aftershock record, reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now.”

Albarn spoke more extensively about the project in our recent cover story on Blur. The LP marked the band’s most collaborative project in years, with bassist Alex James and guitarist Graham Coxon insisting on working out its 10 songs with Albarn. As a result, the singer called The Ballad of Darren “the first legit [Blur] album since [1999’s] 13.”

In his review of the album for Consequence, Associate Editor Paolo Ragusa called The Ballad of Darren an “enjoyable, heartfelt, and contemplative record.

Blur performed an intimate concert for BBC Radio 2 yesterday at the New Broadcasting House in London. The 13-song performance is available in full to listen to on the BBC website and the British channel has also unveiled videos of several songs.

In one clip, Blur showcase their 1994 hit single “Parklife,” which appeared on the rock band’s LP of the same name. The song has become of the group’s most notable tracks, especially in the U.K. where it has frequently been used as a soccer anthem.

Blur also performed “The Narcissist,...

Carly Rae Jepsen has announced The Loveliest Time, the follow-up to her 2022 album The Loneliest Time, and just like its predecessor, it features production from an all-star crew that includes Rostam Batmanglij. Continuing her string of companion B-side albums, this one is out July 28th. “Shy Boy,” which was revealed last month, serves as the project’s first single.

Rostam confirmed his involvement earlier this month on Twitter, quoting a clip of Jepsen — who said The Loveliest Time came from her fantasies of life post-covid while locked down during the pandemic — and adding, “the two we did for The Loveliest Time have BPMs — get ready to dance.”

Now, if you want to get technical, all songs have BPMs (or beats per minute). But it’s likely the artist and producer was tipping fans off to songs with a particularly fast Bpm, since he mentioned dancing.

“I got to know loneliness...

Carly Rae Jepsen has dropped “Shy Boy,” her first bit of new music since last year’s album The Loneliest Time. Listen to it below.

A funky, romantic tune, “Shy Boy” places Jepsen’s playful vocals in between layers of wah-wah-clad chordal hits, synth melodies, and a bubbling bass line. Even though at first glance the idea for the song — an ode to shy boys — might sound more like fodder for a Lonely Island bit than a hit-the-dance-floor anthem, Jepsen’s knack for irresistibly catchy hooks comes through, and the chorus has that sing-along magic you’d hope for.

The track was produced by James Ford, who’s known for his work with Gorillaz, Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine, and others. It arrived alongside a black-and-white visualizer, featuring a date night with Jepsen and her titular crush. Watch it below.

The Loneliest Time was released last October and featured the single “Beach House,...

If you know of Geese, then you probably know their origin story: A group of school friends from Brooklyn record an album during the pandemic as a last hurrah before shipping off to college; Partisan Records (home of British rockers Idles and the Irish post-punks Fontaines DC) signs the band and releases their LP (2021’s Projector); pretty soon the youngsters are being anointed the latest saviors of New York rock, touring the world, performing on late-night television, and creating significant industry buzz with their run of gigs at SXSW in...

On an overcast afternoon in New York City, Jessie Ware is ready to close out a whirlwind 48-hour trip in the city. While having her lunch in a hotel room with huge windows overlooking the Lower East Side, she ticks off the growing list of things she will need to do in the month leading up to her album That! Feels! Good! being released: TikToks, more interviews, generally “promoting the shit out of the record.”

She’ll even find time to take her kids to Cyprus for an “inconvenient” but necessary vacation.