New album: The New York-based, Texas-bred singer/songwriter and Big Thief guitarist returns with a beautiful third solo album of sensitive, moving, melodious alt-country, Americana and folk rock
Read moreSlowdive: Everything Is Alive
New album: The classic British shoegaze band of the 1990s return again after 2017’s self-titled comeback, resurgent with a new and old audience, blending dream-pop haze with resonant, atmospheric, noise-guitar textures
Read moreHiss Golden Messenger: Jump For Joy
New album: Rich storytelling, engaging melodies, subtle humour and perfect, gentle pacing out this strong, highly enjoyable loosely concept album of Americana, country and folk by the North Carolina five-piece led by MC Taylor
Read moreBe Your Own Pet: Mommy
New album: After a 15 year gap, the Nashville punk rockers fronted by the charismatic Jemina Pearl, return with a fresh, frank, punchy set of songs in which, as she puts it: “Mommy is the bitch in charge, the one in control. It’s a reclamation of myself.”
Read moreShamir: Homo Anxietatem
New album: The prolific singer-songwriter from Las Vegas with the distinctive, high, androgynous voice returns with a ninth LP, different from 2022’s more experimental Hetereosexuality, now returning to more conventional indie rock
Read moreGenesis Owusu: Struggler
New album: A stylish, punchy, truly eclectic release by the Ghanaian-Australian singer from Canberra, (real name Kofi Owusu-Ansah) with a potent mash of hip-hop, punk, funk, metal, soul and electro-pop, and a running lyrical metaphor of cockroaches
Read moreIraina Mancini: Undo The Blue
New album: After a series of strong singles, a sumptuous, brilliantly luxuriant debut by the London singer, DJ and model, inspired by 60s and 70s styles, particularly Françoise Hardy, French pop, psychedelia, soul, yé-yé girls and vintage cinema
Read moreMargaret Glaspy: Echo The Diamond
New album: Classy, emotive, mature songwriting with a stripped back, indie-rock guitar sound by the New York-based artist, and her third LP, self-produced with her partner, the guitarist/composer Julian Lage
Read moreThe Hives: The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons
New album: The wild, sharp-suited Swedish garage rockers fronted by the charismatic Howlin' Pelle Almqvist return after 11 years’ absence with a punchy, catchy fun LP based on the idea of a fictional sixth band member, manager and sole songwriter with songs newly discovered
Read moreSkindred: Smile
New album: Prize for the most eclectic, eccentric and enthusiast record of the week goes to the Welsh band with their eighth LP, a heady mix of thunderous metal with summery, upbeat, simmering BBQs of reggae, ska, dancehall and pop
Read moreBethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster
New album: Candid, catchy, straight-up 90s-style pop-rock with a dash of Nashville and Americana and piano ballads in this debut LP by one half of LA’s Best Coast duo in an album that combines climate change metaphor with personal experience
Read moreThe Clientele: I Am Not There Anymore
New album: More than three decades in, and after a six-year gap, the London now trio return with a fabulously eclectic, esoteric ninth 19-track LP mixing psychedelia, Eastern classical music, poetic, jangly, jaunty indie pop, and more
Read moreGuided By Voices: Welshpool Frillies
New album: Dayton Ohio’s prolific Robert Pollard and band return with another in a long line of albums of muscular fuzz-guitar rock decorated with ear-catching, oddball, original lyrics and powerful riffs
Read moreBlur: The Ballad of Darren
New album: Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and co return with their ninth LP, and first since 2015, a reflective, melancholy mostly slow-paced release of vivid, wistful beauty
Read moreBeing Dead: When Horses Would Run
New album: Mischievous fun by the Austin, Texas experimental indie and art-rock band of songwriters Falcon Bitch and Gumball, packed with fantasy, satirical settings in this debut full LP
Read moreSnõõper: Super Snõõper
New album: With shades of early-80s Delta 5, a fabulously entertaining, sprightly, short ’n’ sharp, stop-start punk, post-punk full debut LP by the Nashville band who combine a fun DIY girl garage-rock interspersed with electronic beeps and random conversations
Read moreVarious: The Endless Coloured Ways - The Songs of Nick Drake
New album: An enthralling collection of 23 cover versions of classic numbers by the legendary British folk singer who tragically died in 1974, featuring diverse artists including Fontaine’s D.C., Emeli Sandé, Aldous Harding, Guy Garvey and John Grant
Read moreCollapsed Lung: Collapsed Lung Weekend Television
New album: Nearly three decades in, packed with slick, sharp, flowing humorous lyrics, catchy beats and rockin’ riffs, the British hip-hop band best known for the hit song Eat My Goal return with their first LP since 2018’s Zero Hours Band
Read morebdrmm: I Don't Know
New album: With elements of krautrock, and echoes of Mogwai and Radiohead, the Hull experimental rock quartet’s new album has a dark, yet uplifting, mesmeric momentum, moving between stormy guitar ferocity, to wistful shoegaze and meditative electronica
Read moreGrian Chatten: Chaos For The Fly
New album: The Fontaines D.C. vocalist releases a strong, sensitive solo album leaning more towards gentle, wistful, reflective folk, including some echoes of Nick Drake but retaining his strong Dublin flavour, and produced by the brilliant and prolific Dan Carey
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