Every Monday, Ghettoblaster is looking back to new albums released the previous week. Below you’ll find several albums released on Friday April 22nd that we believe are definitely worth a listen.

A$AP Ferg – Always Strive and Prosper (RCA Records)

Always Strive and Prosper is an enigmatic, unpredictable and exhilarating new school hip hop album.  A$AP Ferg throws tons of stylistic changes throughout, and succeeds greatly at most of these.  There is everything from old school to trap, from house to radio ready singles, and there’s even some hypnotic hallucinatory terrain covered, which feels incredibly fresh and original.  Parts of the album feel like a crazy acid trip where you wouldn’t be surprised if some cartoon characters appeared out of thin air and started dancing in front of your face.  A$AP Ferg swung for the fences with this one and overwhelmingly hit a home run.

Greys – Outer Heaven (Carpark Records)

Outer Heaven opens with a subdued, seemingly standard indie-rock track inspired by the murder of a teenager in Florida and then on track two covers the recent terrorist attacks in Paris over ferocious post-punk rock, which is to say, this is a heavy hard hitting album.  The serene music of the opening track mixed with its bleak lyrics giving way to the utter chaos that follows is a great illustration of how Greys seems to see the world we live in now.  Musically speaking this is a fantastic post-punk album filled with dissonance, chaos and even some memorable and catchy choruses.  There are also occasional flashes of Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto in the vocal performance of the heavier leaning punk songs on the album.  All around this is a heavy, angry album that feels totally in line with the frustrating, anger-inducing landscape we currently find ourselves in.

Dalek – Asphalt for Eden (Profound Lore Records)

Asphalt for Eden is a special sort of hip hop album, one that feels like a combination of hip hop’s past, present and future all at the same time.  The lyrical and vocal styling is a definite throwback to when hip hop was about actual rapping, flow and lyrical content, which is quite reminiscent of classic Wu-Tang Clan.  The music on Asphalt for Eden is another issue entirely.  It is no surprise that this album found its way to be released by Profound Lore, a label that is largely focused on metal releases.  This is heavy, gloomy industrial sounding, shoegaze referencing music with solid beats and even some scratching thrown in for good measure.  The combination of all these influences is really something special to behold and something awesome to listen to.