New album: The king of killer opening lines Josh Tillman returns with another majestic, beautifully melodic, grandiose, playfully clever, darkly humorous and philosophical set of eight epic songs fuelled by a sense of mortality and enduring irony
Read moreKendrick Lamar, Big Thief, Fontaines D.C. to Kae Tempest: Favourite albums of 2022 - Part 1
Favourite albums of 2022: Welcome to the first part of a selection for this year, many of which continue to come to terms with pandemic, climate change and other current issues but also show how music can continue to innovate, surprise and entertain
Read moreArcade Fire: WE
New album: The Canadian alt-rockers return with their sixth LP - one filled with almost messianic singalong stadium anthems and also quieter intimacy, perhaps not quite at the peak of their first three, but still a return to past form
Read moreFather John Misty: Chloë and the Next 20th Century
New album: Lavishly orchestrated, marrying the ironic and the romantic, filled with stories and profound lines, Josh Tillman’s theatrical fifth LP is perhaps his finest yet, a fusion of the cinematic, jazz, swing, country, and folk-pop
Read moreAnna Calvi to Idles: favourite albums of 2018 – part 1
The first part of our annual roundup of notable albums includes several great debuts by young bands, plus work that reflects dystopian political turmoil, gender issues and growing human relationship with technology
Read moreNew albums: Father John Misty, LUMP (Laura Marling / Mike Lindsay), Bodega, Neko Case, Warmduscher, Natalie Prass, Sam Evian, Morcheeba
This week we lavish you with a bumper crop of top-quality LPs: ethereal beauty in a Laura Marling collaboration, Father John Misty parodying narcissism, brilliant Brooklyn punk band Bodega, blues funk from Warmduscher, and superb solo female work by Neko Case and Natalie Prass
Read moreDrunk, dark and humorous: favourite albums of 2017 – part 1
Father John Misty to Randy Newman, Thundercat to Sleaford Mods, Richard Dawson to DUDS, Björk to Lorde – who is on the first part of this week's reader-voted list, and what is the running theme?
Read moreNew albums: The Cribs, Randy Newman, Girl Ray, Dead Cross, Frankie Rose, 5 Billion In Diamonds
Our latest selection of recent releases includes cutting satire with the return of Randy Newman, The Cribs going back to their roots, plus a hardcore punk supergroup, plus melancholy pop and psychedelia
Read moreNew album releases for week beginning 3 April 2017
This week's wistful and humorous selection includes Father John Misty, Future Islands, Karen Elson, Happyness and Yorkston/Thorne/Kahn
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