New album: With a new look, the popular Dublin post-punk band return with their fourth LP, one with a much broadened scope of sounds, poetic but also at times cinematic in musical image and in lyric, with big-time producer James Ford at the controls
Read moreQuivers: Oyster Cuts
New album: After 2021’s Golden Doubt, the shared-singing, indie-guitar jangly-pop quartet from Melbourne’s LP is a sensitive but cynical, beautiful but painful finding-love-after-grief LP displaying musical influences such as Galaxie 500 and The Pretenders
Read moreBrigitte Calls Me Baby: The Future Is Our Way Out
New album: Summoning musical echoes and powerful, soaring vocals reminiscent of The Smiths and Vauxhall-era Morrissey and dash of rockabilly, Richard Hawley, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, an impressive debut from the Chicago-based rock band fronted by vocalist – the be-quiffed Wes Leavins
Read morePom Poko: Champion
New album: Vibrant, joyful, frenzied musicianship simply flies out of this third LP by of Norwegian indie quartet whose style has some parallels with the prog-postpunk of Deerhoof, but with their own eccentric twists
Read moreHamish Hawk: A Firmer Hand
New album: The dapper Edinburgh indie-pop troubadour returns with his ready wit, polished lyrics and soaring, strong melodies of finely detailed, candid, revealing reference-rich narrative, but also oozing with darkness, irony, empathy and double-edged melancholy
Read morebeabadoobee: This Is How Tomorrow Moves
New album: Delicately voiced, thoughtful, perceptive indie pop by the Filipino-born English singer-songwriter aka Beatrice Laus, in a third album also co-produced by Rick Rubin, it grows as it progresses, showing depth and quality of balladeer 90s-influenced songwriting
Read moreWand: Vertigo
New album: Magic is waved indeed in this experimental psychedelic rock by the now Los Angeles quartet of Cory Hanson, Evan Burrows, Robert Cody and Evan Backer with great ghostly echoes of a British flavour, particularly Radiohead and Verve
Read moreCrack Cloud: Red Mile
New album: Sharp, witty satire and parody abound in this third LP by the Canadian indie-garage-rock collective, playing with cliches across pop to rock with a striking set of clever, aggressively tuneful, curveball songs led by frontman and Zach Choy
Read moreCassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer
New album: A strong, sensual, astronomy-themed third experimental album by the New York singer-songwriter, mixing gentle indie, dream pop, jazz and field recordings in this alluring contemplation on the heartbreaks and highs, the quarks and quasars that make up her universe
Read moreLava La Rue: Starface
New album: A brilliantly clever, rich, eclectic concept album and debut LP by the West London multi-media artist, fusing indie-pop, funk, hip-hop and glam rock, and themed around the character of a gender neutral alien who visits Earth to explore its self-destructivity only to get mixed up in it
Read moreFEET: Make It Up
New album: Fun, catchy, melodious, energetic, clever, mischievous clean-cut indie pop by the London five-piece with their second LP and consistent with debut What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham
Read moreRedd Kross: Redd Kross
New album: The veteran pop-punk brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald from Hawkthorne, California, return with an energetic, lengthy self-titled release drawing on half a century of rock influences, from the Who to the Beatles, Byrds to US hardcore with vigour, but also self-deprecatory humour
Read moreKasabian: Happenings
New album: This eighth LP from the Leicester rockers and second since guitarist Serge Pizzorno took over on vocals from the sacked Tom Meighan edges closer to pop, disco as much as the more distinct psychedelia, but is full of punchy, catchy tunes
Read moreBeen Stellar: Scream From New York, NY
New album: A dynamic, stormy-guitar postpunk debut by the New York quintet in an LP filled with landmark references of that famous city, but also given a texture and edge under the production guidance of by London’s brilliant Dan Carey
Read moreThe Mysterines: Afraid of Tomorrows
New album: After 2022’s acclaimed debut, Reeling, another searing, scorching LP by the Merseyside rock band fronted by Lia Metcalfe, once more dark and smoky, and produced this time in LA by John Congleton, yet with more confidence, range, and also vulnerability
Read moreEels: EELS TIME!
New album: Serial survivor Mark Oliver Everett returns with that familiar mix of droll, ironic but catchy, melancholy but upbeat numbers, on themes of love, the passage of time, as well as more extreme experiences – family trauma, and his recent open-heart surgery
Read moreLiz Lawrence: Peanuts
New album: A classy, clever fourth LP for the British indie singer-songwriter, now signed to Chrysalis, with a tight, stripped back, thrumming sound, experimental at times, and packed also with excellent hybrid tracks spanning funk, pop, indie, folk and rock
Read moreGoat Girl: Below The Waste
New album: A brilliantly bold, experimental, original third LP by the now south London indie-post-punk trio of Clottie Cream (Lottie Pendlebury), Rosy Bones and Holly Mullineaux, one that bubbles with unusual musical dynamics and lyrics
Read moreMaya Hawke: Chaos Angel
New album: Putting aside the obvious advantages of being the offspring of Hollywood actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, the 25-year-old Stranger Things actress and singer-songwriter’s third album is packed with gems - witty, kooky and original
Read morePeter Bibby: Drama King
New album: Witty, self-deprecatory, earthy, emotional and energetic, the Australian singer-songwriter’s superbly fun and sweary new LP of love, loss and addiction has echoes of Suicide and country-era Bob Dylan
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