Here are the new albums you should know about this week

This week we take a look at the first album since 2010 from Neptunes side project N.E.R.D., and the third album released this year by L.A. hip-hop collective Brockhampton.
N.E.R.D., No One Ever Really Dies
[Columbia Records]
Grade: C+
The Pax Neptunia lasted, roughly, from 1999 (“Got Your Money”) through 2006 (Hell Hath No Fury), a hot streak during which Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams proved that the most forward-thinking producers in pop music could also be the most earth-shatteringly successful. N.E.R.D. originally seemed like a sort of skunkworks for them, a rap-rock trifle that showed just how many beats these dudes had in the bank. In 2017, No One Ever Really Dies isn’t quite a comeback, but it is a nervy assertion of the side project’s continued relevance. Aspects of its production sound as immortal as Pharrell himself appears to be, with those plush, rounded drums that made it millions still powering the whole machine smoothly. But the N.E.R.D. project has always served as a clearing house for the duo’s most experimental impulses, meaning those production techniques are wrapped around oddball catcall indie-pop (“ESP”) and aquatic funk (“Lightning Fire Magic Prayer”). A murderer’s row of guests finds itself slotted into unconventional settings, whether it’s Rihanna turning into ’02 JAY-Z on the seismically fun “Lemon,” Gucci Mane flitting in as an almost instrumental adornment on “Voilà,” or a pair of Kendrick Lamar verses that rattle like firecrackers. It’s a weird fucking album, in other words, neither as crowd-pleasing as it should be nor as experimental as it wants to be. The drums sound great, though, and the Rihanna track is as good as N.E.R.D. gets.
RIYL: MGMT. Bad Flaming Lips. Over-produced “druggy” indie rock with occasional verses from world-class rappers.