New album: Second album by the Australian brings a refreshingly simple, humorously ironic indie-pop with cutting, personal songs about relationships, provocative but honest lines metaphorical themes of the world
Read moreThe Lounge Society: Tired of Liberty
Debut album: Restless sparking, energy, seething anger and ironic lyrics, intricate, swirling, interwoven guitars, bass and drums, and produced by Dan Carey on the ever vibrant Speedy Wunderground label, this full debut LP by young Hebden Bridge band is more than a breath of fresh indie
Read moreJulia Jacklin: PRE PLEASURE
New album: This third LP by the Australian artist typifies her intelligently written, nuanced, taut, intensely performed dream pop and alt-country, packed with confessional hidden narratives and subtleties, her expressive, fragile voice with stripped back accompaniment
Read moreEzra Furman: All Of Us Flames
New album: The sixth LP by the brilliant, visceral, angelic American is perhaps the finest to date, an impassioned, tour de force, Springsteen-esque cri de coeur for the LGBTQ and Jewish communities, but also stirs hearts of all who feel oppressed or alienated
Read moreOneida: Success
New album: The veteran (25 years) New York indie rock band’s first album since 2018’s Romance is a refreshing bounce back of unpretentious joy, krautrocky rhythms, Ramones strums, and rasping guitar Sonic Youth-type squawls, with and LP that’s a throwback that also feels fresh
Read moreLIFE: North East Coastal Town
New album: A celebration of their home city of Hull by the quick-witted, passionate indie post-punk band in a set of songs filled with humour, anguish and anger, but also a love letter to the area, and even all instruments played were locally bought
Read moreKiwi jr: Chopper
New album: Third LP in three years after Cooler Returns and Football Money by the four-piece indie band from Toronto, with wistful, melancholy, carefully observed flighted numbers packed with images from tales of corrupt mayors, Kennedy curses, sex tapes, and deer rifles
Read moreMax Pope: Counting Sheep
Debut album: Smooth, finely crafted, lyrically thoughtful fusions of funk, pop, bossa nova, blues, jazz and rock with a cleverly summer, lazy understated feel by the 27-year-old singer-songwriter from south London and Brighton
Read moreFlorist: Florist
New album: After 2019’s Emily Alone when Brooklyn singer songwriter Emily Sprague recorded the LP on her own, the band four-piece reunite for a beautiful lo-fi indie folk 16-track album of tenderness, rough edges, woozy sounds and rainy porch acoustic
Read moreGemma Rogers: No Place Like Home
Debut album: Variously compared to Kirsty MacColl, Ian Dury, Lily Allen and more, the London post-punk indie artist’s debut LP is a packed with own authentic style of witty, talky, mischievous lyrics and catchy melodies from the perky to wistfully emotional.
Read moreKaty J Pearson: Sound Of The Morning
New album: The Bristol singer’s second album, packed with strong numbers, sees her developing her range from Americana and country styles to indie and synthpop, moving from the tender to the uptempo, her voice at times echoing the voice of Stevie Nicks
Read moreWu-Lu: Loggerhead
Debut album: A strikingly alternative and genre-defying release by the south London producer and multi-instrumentalist Miles Romans-Hopcraft with influences and echoes from grunge to grime, trip hop, electronica to jazz, dark 80s Factory Records era, Tricky to DJ Shadow to Slipknot
Read moreLaura Veirs: Found Light
New album: Sensitive, quirky, melancholy, intimate, candid, and wonderfully beautiful folk-pop by the Portland singer-songwriter dappled with acoustic instruments and arresting lines is her 12th, but first LP after splitting from her husband and longtime producer
Read moreArt D'Ecco - After The Head Rush
New album: A witty title for a follow-up album by the Canadian artist after 2021’s breakthrough third LP, Standard Definition, with further fabulous fusion of 70s glam, 80s post-punk, and perfect original pop blend of Sparks, 80s Bowie and Ezra Furman
Read moreCola: Deep In View
New album: Thrumming, knotty, catchy, clever, crafty, stop-start indie post-punk with an occasional glimmer of glam-rock by the trio of former Ought members Tim Darcy (vocals, guitar) and Ben Stidworthy (bass) alongside Evan Cartwright (drums) with this debut album
Read moreSoccer Mommy: Sometimes, Forever
New album: Richly textured indie, shoegaze and pop by Nashville’s 25-year-old Sophie Allison, here with her third album that contains the dark, world weary, but also tuneful and uplifting material, given extra depth by producer Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never
Read moreHercules & Love Affair: In Amber
New album: Andy Butler and friends return with a dark, powerful new LP that in comparison to previously is less dance music, more contemplation of serious issues, featuring again the distinctive countertenor of Anohni, but also percussion by Budgie of Siouxsie & The Banshees
Read moreFoals: Life Is Yours
New album: Now a three-piece, frontman Yannis Philippakis, drummer and Jack Bevan and rhythm guitarist Jimmy Smith return with a very danceable, funky and 80s indie pop-inspired single, produced by Dan Carey
Read moreSinead O'Brien: Time Bend and Break The Bower
Debut album: After a string of singles such as Limbo and A Thing You Call Joy, the Irish indie poet’s debut album emboldens her style of strikingly esoteric lines and images backed a mix of guitar, drums and electronica, with a distinctively lingering talking/semi-sung delivery
Read moreMichael Head and the Red Elastic Band: Dear Scott
New album: The veteran indie singer-songwriter from Liverpool’s latest LP is filled with strong, stirring numbers that mix the jangly sound of the English north-west with US west coast Byrds, with 12 character-based songs from ‘boulevards of fractured dreams’ inspired by F Scott Fitzgerald
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