New album: The eclectic London band of abundant upbringings and influences from Bahrain to Dubai, Albania, Italy and Saudi Arabia return with a heady, upbeat mix of Afro-electro synth pop, krautrock, funk, disco and alt-rock psychedelia
Read moreMolly Burch: Daydreamer
New album: Inspired by a rediscovery of her diaries when 13 and under, this fourth LP by the LA and Austin, Texas singer-songwriter is a deep dive into inner emotions, awash with soft focus, beautiful, swooning, lush melodies and her strong, sensual voice
Read moreSay She She: Silver
New album: A wonderful double LP by the Anglo-American female-led trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown in a joyous early 80s-style mix of disco, pop and soul
Read moreThe Chemical Brothers: For That Beautiful Feeling
New album: Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons return with their 10th LP in nearly three decades, one with that brings together sci-fi-themed, almost psychedelic apocalypse and upbeat, laser-light dance floor bangers
Read moreRóisín Murphy: Hit Parade
New album: Recent controversies aside, the Irish singer-songwriter’s collaboration with German producer DJ Koze is a mesmerically inventive, intimate, candid exploration of funk, pop, disco and house, skilfully pushed through an wonderfully warped aural lens of vocal effects and sounds
Read moreeee gee: SHE-REX
New album: Packed with smart, witty lyrics and an eclectic mix of dreamy pop, disco, folk and electronica, a wonderful new melodious LP by the smooth-voiced Danish artist Emma Grankvist from Copenhagen
Read moreJungle: Volcano
New album: Entertaining, sample-heavy fun by the London-based duo of Tom McFarland and Joshua Lloyd-Watson in their fourth album, with a polished product mixing soul, gospel, 70s funk breakbeats, electronica, dance, and disco with a shiny, radio-friendly formula
Read moreGirl Ray: Prestige
New album: The London trio of Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss return with a change of style, from their more melancholy indie to beautifully bright, effervescent but thoughtful disco-pop inspired by the New York queer disco scene of the late 70s and early 80s
Read moreLittle Dragon: Slugs of Love
New album: An inventive, very eclectic, enjoyably experimental seventh studio album by the Gothenburg quartet, mixing electronica, soul, pop, hip-hop and R&B with guests including Blur’s Damon Albarn and East Atlanta rapper JID
Read moreDjango Django: Off Planet
New album: A 21-song mega-release by the innovative, experimental London-based art-rock and pop quartet features a variety of great guest vocalists with music that plays around more in the electronica-dance genre and various world music beats, but overall feels more like four EPs
Read moreJanelle Monáe: The Age of Pleasure
New album: The American artist returns after 2018’s dystopian Dirty Computer a series of acting roles with a celebratory LP of her full sexual liberation and confirmed non-binary status in a release that feels like a hedonistic non-stop party of the LGBTQ Black culture scene
Read moreExtranauts: The Alchemist
New album: Wonderfully stylish, catchy, uplifting indie pop and retro 70s disco with a dash of 60s psychedelia and krautrock by the Irish sextet fronted by singer and songwriter Keith O’Neill and produced with added sheen by Jagz Kooner.
Read moreAlison Goldfrapp: The Love Invention
New album: Working without Will Gregory for the first time in her 25-year career, Alison strikes out with catchy breathy bangers of synth disco and electro-pop with help from producers Richard X and James Greenwood (aka Ghost Culture)
Read moreJessie Ware: 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 moreDutch Uncles: True Entertainment
New album: Vibrant, tight, bright, excellent toe-tapping indie electro-pop with a darker undercurrent by the Manchester quartet in their sixth full LP and first for six years, echoing influences such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and The Blue Nile
Read moreHifi Sean and David McAlmont: Happy Ending
New album: Crisp, soulful, lush, soaring pop, with a Bollywood flavour, as one of the finest ever British vocalists releases a first collaborative full LP with producer and musician Sean Dickson
Read moreThe Go! Team: Get Up Sequences Part Two
New album: Ian Parton’s Brighton band return, in their follow-up to 2021’s Part One, with a truly joyous, upbeat and vibrantly colourful, wham-bam wonder tour of worldwide cultural vocals and samples ranging from Benin to Japan, France, India, Texas and Detroit
Read morePhoenix: Alpha Zulu
New album: A return to form in their 20-year career for the quirky, groovy French pop quartet of singer Thomas Mars guitarist brothers Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz and bassist Deck D’Arcy, in this seventh album, this time recorded in the Louvre no less
Read moreSpecial Interest: Endure
New album: A third LP of unstoppably energetic fierce, camp, queer, intelligent glam and post-punk by the New Orleans band fronted by Alli Logout following 2018’s Spiralling and 2020’s The Passion Of, a hot potent cauldron of art, sex, drugs and politics
Read moreRubblebucket: Earth Worship
New album: A playful, inventive, witty, often humorous and highly original new LP by the Vermont-formed, New York City-based group fronted by Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth “dissolve the imaginary lines between the natural world and its human inhabitants”
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