New album: Gently spun, delicately understated and cleverly crafted, dreamy, angular guitar pop-rock with a light touch of synths from the Glasgow twins Rachael and Paul Swinton
Read moreCloth: Secret Measure
Cloth: Secret Measure
Fatoumata Diawara: London Ko
Fatoumata Diawara: London KO
New album: The Mali star returns with an third LP, mixing Afro-futurism and feminism wassoulou traditions and western, but also celebrating her links the UK and and collaborations, notably with co-producer Damon Albarn, and other guest including Angie Stone and Roberto Fonseco
Read moreBC Camplight: The Last Rotation of Earth
BC Camplight: The Last Rotation of Earth
New album: Sublimity and tragedy meet once again in this brilliantly beautiful, darkly humorous sixth album by Manchester-based US singer-songwriter Brian Christinzio, charting his latest disaster – after nine years, the sudden breakup with his fiancée
Read moreComfort: What's Bad Enough?
Comfort: What's Bad Enough?
New album: Truly original and arresting cross-genre electronica-postpunk-hip-hop by the Glasgow sibling duo of vocalist and transwoman Natalie and instrumentalist brother Sean McGhee who challenge gender norms and ideas of beauty
Read moreThe Lemon Twigs: Everything Harmony
The Lemon Twigs’ fourth LP, Everything Harmony
New album: Rolling back the years to classic 70s Laurel Canyon songwriting with echoes of the Byrds and Beach Boys, the multi-talented New York brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario return with a fourth that’s perhaps their best since 2016 debut Do Hollywood
Read moreDurand Jones: Wait Til I Get Over
Durand Jones: Wait Til I Get Over
New album: After three acclaimed albums with band The Indications, the Louisiana singer returns with a fantastic solo LP, themed around his hometown of Hillaryville, and packed with beautiful, powerful soul numbers of grit, melancholy, joy and defiance
Read moreThe Orb - Prism
The Orb - Prism
New album: The veteran dance music and ambient noise duo still with co-founder Alex Paterson return with a vibrant release of cosmic electronica, dub and reggae, house, drum n’ bass, guest vocalists plus newscaster and other sampled voices
Read moreSusanne Sundfør: Blómi
Susanne Sundfør: Blómi
New album: Strange and strikingly beautiful, the sixth album by the Norwegian singer-songwriter is a mix of classic 70s piano-pop and alternative folk, with echoes everything from Karen Carpenter to Rufus Wainwright
Read moreGoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going To Be OK
GoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going To Be OK
New album: An evocative, imaginative, cinematic ninth LP by the inventive Manchester experimental jazz trio this time with track ideas first utilising electronica turned into their vibrant acoustic playing of interweaving piano, drums and bass
Read moreTiny Ruins: Ceremony
Tiny Ruins: Ceremony
New album: Gorgeously intricate, beautifully paced experimental folk comes in this fourth LP by the band of New Zealand’s Hollie Fullbrook, with songs that are poignant, melancholy, but also intelligently uplifting
Read moreSkinny Pelembe: Hardly The Same Snake
Skinny Pelembe: Hardly The Same Snake
New album: The eclectic experimentalist from Doncaster, aka Doya Beardmore, with roots also in Birmingham and Mozambique, comes up with a powerful, visceral new LP, spanning indie, avant-pop, hip-hop, rock, electronica, gospel and soaring soul
Read moreAvalon Emerson: & The Charm
Avalon Emerson’s new LP: & The Charm
New album: The San Francisco-born, Arizona-raised DJ and producer’s debut LP, after 2020’s Rotting Hills EP, is indeed a charm, one of dreamy electro-pop, not the first or last to be influenced by Cocteau Twins, but one also with lots of oddball originality and vivid, photography-like lyrics
Read moreNabihah Iqbal: Dreamer
Nabihah Iqbal: Dreamer
New album: The London electronica artists and DJ, formerly known as Throwing Shade, brings a mix of dancefloor with the dream-like, sensual, breathy and ethereal, with echoes sometimes of Cocteau Twins, but also of New Order
Read moreThe Dream Machine: Thank God! It's The Dream Machine
The Dream Machine: Thank God! It's The Dream Machine
New album: Catchy, toe-tapping, wistful, melodic and witty, the New Brighton, Merseyside band’s 60s-influenced psychedelic indie-pop has echoes of the of the LA’s and The Coral, but also draws influences from Bob Dylan, blues and country
Read moreBaby Rose: Through and Through
Baby Rose, aka Jasmine Rose Wilson
New album: With a voice as rich, smooth, deep and pure as anyone around, sublime, tender, passionate, perfectly paced soul, funk R&B in this second LP by Washington D.C.-born Atlanta-based Jasmine Rose Wilson
Read moreUh: Humanus
Uh: Humanus
Debut album: Blurring the pastoral and urban, an entrancing, cleverly crafted electronica debut LP by the London brother-sister duo of Dominic and Fionnuala Kennedy recorded in Margate’s PRAH studios
Read moreThe National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein
The National’s ninth LP: First Two Pages of Frankenstein
New album: The ninth studio LP by the Brooklyn-based Ohio five-piece of the Dessner brothers co, is slow, reflective and beautifully poetic, capturing singer Matt Berninger’s hopefully winning battle with depression, and includes includes guest Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens
Read moreJessie Ware: That! Feels Good!
Jessie Ware:’s aptly titled new album: That! Feels Good!
New album: Classy and indeed classic disco, pop, soul and funk by the London-born soaring-voiced singer, who with this fifth album of 10 glitterball bangers is really at the very top of her game
Read moreAlfa Mist: Variables
Alfa Mist’s fifth album, Variables
New album: A brilliantly inventive mix of dynamic, textured, vibrant jazz, funk, prog, African, and hip hop, from big band swing, boom-bap rhythms smooth, soulful vocals, all in a fifth LP the London keyboardist and producer
Read moreLucy Farrell: We Are Only Sound
Lucy Farrell: We Are Only Sound
New album: Another beautiful folk release, this the long-awaited full debut by established Kent-born Canada-based singer-songwriter who recorded this in the medieval walls of Wenlock Abbey, home to Nick Drake’s sister Gabrielle, who allowed us of her brother’s instruments
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