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
Read morePixies: Doggerel
New album: Meaty, strong new LP by the legendary Black Francis and co, a mischievous, punchy ode to absurdism, with a sound that harks to earlier material than the more polished more recent LPs, with some tracks sitting more in line with their classic 1987-91 era
Read moreSports Team: Gulp!
New album: The Cambridge-formed London-based band return with their follow-up after lauded 2020 debut LP Deep Down Happy with catchy, strongly written, swaggering guitar indie, bubbling with energy and an upbeat, arch humour aimed at life’s insecurities
Read moreCrack Cloud: Tough Baby
New album: Eclectic, original, energised and experimental, this is an enthralling third post-punk, pop, rock and thunderous concoction release by the Vancouver collective led by drummer and lead vocalist Zach Choy filled with the passionate and oddball
Read moreDeath Cab For Cutie: Asphalt Meadows
New album: The absurdity and irony of modern life, anthemic existentialism, panic attacks and more come in this 10th fine, witty, wry new indie, rock and post-punk pop album by the Washington band fronted by Ben Gibbard
Read moreThe Mars Volta: The Mars Volta
New album: After a decade of omertà and schism, the eclectic Texanprog-rock experimental duo of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and band finally reunite with a mesmerically unique blend of funk, rock, psychedelia, Cuban and Afro-Cuban drumming and English and Spanish lyrics
Read moreThe Beths: Expert In A Dying Field
New album: Deliciously enjoyable new album by the New Zealand indie quartet, with strong melodies, lyrics that carefully balance the melancholy, thoughtful and feelgood, not least the title track which ponders the irony of knowing in great detail someone you are no longer in a relationship with
Read moreSuede: Autofiction
New album: The veteran London indie-rockers return with their ninth LP, one that seeks to recapture the live rawness of their early days, with songs about youth and Richard Oakes’s guitar style comes to fore with a starker, more post-punk flavour
Read moreThe Paranoyds: Talk Talk Talk
New album: Catchy, clever, kooky, sassy and at time space- and sci-fi-themed, a vivaciously engaging second indie pop-garage-rock LP by the Los Angeles quartet who channel The Bangles and Devo with a wry look at the state of the world
Read moreBuilt To Spill: When The Wind Forgets Your Name
New album: A welcome return from the veteran (since ‘93) Idaho rock band fronted by Doug Martsch, their first since the the 2020 album of Daniel Johnston covers, back with a set of powerful, mature, stirring rich guitar nine songs
Read morePale Blue Eyes: Souvenirs
New album: A marriage of south Devon and Sheffield in the form of couple Matt and Lucy Broad and bassist Aubrey Simpson forms this more elevating, richly sonic indie release that has echoes of New Order, krautrock and Cabaret Voltaire electro-synth pop
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 morePanic! At The Disco: Viva Las Vengeance
New album: “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing,” once remarked Queen’s Brian May, and this entertainingly over-the-top seventh LP from Brendon Urie channels that philosophy in a rock-pop extravaganza channelling the genre turned up to 11
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 moreJack White: Entering Heaven Alive
New album: Only three months since his fierce, high-octane LP Fear of The Dawn, the now Nashville-based artist’s second of the year is more of an folk songwriting record, with guitar, piano, some additional strings, with the feel of evening porch rendition, and even harks back to the more acoustic White Stripes numbers
Read moreblack midi: Hellfire
New album: With heatwaves and wildfires ablaze globally, there could hardly be a more prescient title or dystopian theme by the London prog-rock-jazz experimentalist, whose third LP is strangely among their most accessible among its lightning riffs and stop-start energy of King Crimson or even Buckethead proportions
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 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
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