New album: Passionate, powerful, eloquent, elegant and reflective, filled with beautiful musical texture, the former Duke Spirit singer’s third solo album ponders themes over society’s potential empathy against self-seeking global economics, and includes guests Gary Newman and Jehnny Beth
Read moreGaz Coombes: Turn The Car Around
New album: The Supergrass frontman’s fourth solo album sees him on strong, refined, thoughtful form in soulful indie-pop songs recorded in his new studio next door to his home
Read moreBilly Nomates: CACTI
New album: A very strong second album by Bristol’s Tor Maries moves from her alt-punk debut to a darker, ironic, caustic anti-love set of songs bringing in more rock and pop styles
Read moreThe Nightingales: The Last Laugh
New album: The very best ‘til last for 2022? Quite possibly, with this absolute belter from Robert Lloyd, Fliss Kitson and co, this October release packed with superbly Beefheart-esque, stompy, infinite wit, riff and rhythm change
Read moreThe Bug Club: Green Dream in F#
New album: Out in October, following 2021’s Pure Particles, further wonderfully fresh, melodious marvels by the Welsh trio of Sam, Tilly and Dan, with wistful, romantic, upbeat, humorous indie rock with a splash of Jonathan Richman
Read moreCaitlin Rose: CAZIMI
New album: Beautiful melancholy, emotive Americana-folk-country-indie-pop crossover by the Nashville-based singer a new set of songs about self-destruction, documenting proclivity and impulse control, bad habits in life and in romantic pursuits
Read moreThe Cool Greenhouse: Sod's Toastie
New album: An excellent second LP by the wittily droll wordsmith Tom Greenhouse and band, bringing oodles of hilarious, oddball short stories and killer lines about the absurdity of life, backed by strangely wonderful post-punk and electronica
Read moreBig Joanie: Back Home
New album: The London trio of vocalist and guitarist Stephanie Phillips, bassist Estella Adeyeri, and drummer Chardine Taylor-Stone return with an electronic extension to their catchy DIY post-punk with an LP based around the theme of different forms of home
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”
Read moreWild Pink: ILYSM
New album: A fourth particularly fine, tender, emotional LP in only five years by the New York indie rock band fronted by singer-songwriter John Ross, with a theme, as the title suggests of loving very much, with some powerful and poignant moments, and broader experimental sounds
Read moreDry Cleaning: Stumpwork
New album: The London post-punk band continue where they left off from last year’s debut, New Long Leg, with Florence Shaw’s beguiling, droll, laconic, surreal, stream-of-consciousness, darkly humorous spoken delivery over clever, off-kilter music.
Read moreArctic Monkeys: The Car
New album: With lavish orchestration, grandiose dynamics and a crooning falsetto, echoes of Scott Walker and early 80s David Bowie, Alex Turner’s writing and delivery enters a new and fascinating phase of enigmatic, melancholy maturity
Read moreAlvvays: Blue Rev
New album: Delayed by floods, theft, and the pandemic, the Toronto band fronted by singer-songwriter Molly Rankin and guitarist Alec O’Hanley make a triumphant third album return with uplifting and melancholy dream-pop indie filled with jangly inflections of The Smiths, shoegazey MBV, loud-quiet Sonic Youth and romantic Belinda Carlisle synth pop
Read moreGilla Band: Most Normal
New album: Groundbreaking, and at times ear-splitting noise experimentation by the Dublin band formerly known as Girl Band with a new album with a deeply ironic title and work that truly challenges the senses via a post-punk, distorted guitar and electronic platform
Read moreThe Big Moon: Here Is Everything
New album: An emotive, hooky, candid third album by the London indie-rockers fronted by Juliette Jackson, with a running theme around her experience of pregnancy and its life-changing consequences
Read moreSorry: Anywhere But Here
New album: This second LP by the London indie band is again inventively inspired by city life, but feels edgier, more melancholy and mercurial, dotted with great melodies, but also lyrics from snatched speech, texts, capturing fragmented thoughts of an underground, young, seething, frustrated, isolated generation
Read moreMamalarky: Pocket Fantasy
New album: Their recent single Shining Armor was recently a Song of The Day, but the new LP by the Atlanta and LA indie band is rich in inventive, playful, post-punk, psych-rock and shoegaze, with parallels at times to the excellent Deerhoof
Read moreBroken Bells: Into The Blue
New album: Acclaimed producer Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the The Shins reconvene for their third duo BB album in 12 years, and first since 2014, with strong, slow, unhurried, smoky numbers of thrumming indie reverberation
Read moreThe Orielles: Tableau
New album: This fourth, sprawling, ambitious, cinematic, genre-spanning double LP by the Halifax trio of singer/bassist Esmé Hand-Halford and co is an enthralling, constantly morphing mix of psychedelia, prog, jazz, funk, R&B, indie, space pop, electronica, house and disco
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