Lowrider Jams, Guitar Explorations, Train-Station Jazz

Hello and welcome to the latest installment of Five Albums, the feature for paid Hearing Things subscribers in which we recommend you the new records from across genres that you need to hear each week. As music journalists, the question we get most often from friends is how to stay on top of what’s new and cool. This is our attempt to provide a practical answer.  

This week we’ve got an album purpose-built to soothe you on a harried commute, and another that seems designed to stress you out—but in the most thrilling, mind-erasing, and ultimately satisfying way possible. There’s also a standout release from a Detroit rap street chronicler who can’t stop delivering hits, an L.A. R&B record that will make you feel like you’re smoking weed in a convertible with all your best friends, and more.