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 moreIggy Pop: Every Loser
New album: Growing old gracefully? Not this 75-year-old, who after mult-genre collaborations including spoken word poetry (2019’s Free), explodes back with a full-on heavy rock and punk LP - lewd, loud, crude, satirical, sweary and angry
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 moreSantigold: Spirituals
New album: Inspired by African-American folk and gospel, this powerful, feverishly intense, emotional fourth LP released in September by the singer-songwriter brings an electric mix of punk, hip-hop, funk, afrobeat, electro-pop, and reggae wrapped in rage, anxiety and reflection
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 moreGaye Su Akyol: Anadolu Ejderi
New album: The Istanbul singer’s fourth album is an alluring fusion of Turkish folk and pop rhythms and instruments with psych-rock riffing with a spicier flavour, her seductive voice delivering heartbreak love stories and dark anthems of dissidence
Read moreSault: Aiir, Earth, Today & Tomorrow, Untitled (God), 11
New albums: An unprecedented five albums landing simultaneously without warning, and with a temporary free download period on the mysterious London collective’s website, producer Inflo (Dean Josiah Cover) and co have again brought untold riches in soul, funk, gospel, jazz, RnB, hip-hop, experimental and contemporary classical
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 moreNancy: English Leather
New album: Clever, catchy and beautifully crafted, drawing on 60s and 70s pop influences from Beach Boys and Zombies to glam rock, the British artist’s mischievous new LP is described as a “psychedelic portrait of repression, self-denial and introspection, with a perverted underbelly of indulgence and depravity at its core. After all, it’s the English way”
Read moreVarious (ΠϢΑϪЄ) - The Psychedelic World Of Witchcraft
New album: This magical Halloween compilation release from the radio station and collective ΠϢΑϪЄ is a mesmeric blend of Eastern psych, ancient trance and more, themed around “Magick and the Occult” is packed with dancey grooves and dark allure
Read moreWitch Fever: Congregation
New album: Dark, seething, searing, angry and explosive, this impressive heavy-rock-punk debut by the Manchester quartet takes no prisoners, especially when it comes to taking aim the harms and hypocrisy of Christianity
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 moreGoat: Oh Death
New album: The masked and mysterious Swedish collective return with their fourth studio LP, (not counting 2021’s Headsoup compilation) with a gloriously unholy fusion of psychedelic, prog and heavy rock, African and Indian influences centred around life’s ultimate end-meaning
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 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 moreBill Callahan: YTI⅃AƎЯ
New album: Dreams, horses, darkness and uplifting otherworldliness feature in this wonderful, mischievously mirror-titled ninth LP under the Smog artists’s own name, pouring out velvet voiced beauty, vivid lines, deadpan humour, acoustic intimacy and full band momentum
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
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