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Beak: >>>
New album: A surprise sudden fourth LP by the Bristol trio of drummer Geoff Barrow (Portishead), bassist Billy Fuller, and Will Young (Moon Gangs) with that familiar chevron title and distinctly dark, strange but mesmeric post-rock-krautrock thrum
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Kaïa Kater: Strange Medicine
New album: A beautiful fourth album by the acclaimed Montreal-born banjo player and singer-songwriter of Grenadian heritage, mixing folk, Americana and bluegrass with a palette of sounds – percussion, orchestral strings and brass in songs mixing history, politics and the personal
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La Luz: News of the Universe
New album: A fourth studio LP of dreamy, exotic, alluring psychedelia and surf rock by the California quartet fronted by Shana Cleveland, simmering and potent, but made in the dark shadow of a breast cancer ordeal
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Paul Weller: 66
New album: This 17th solo album by the restless, ever-changing stylish mod-rock veteran is one of his mellower, more reflective releases, marking his age, a classic number, and year, distinctively depicted by Peter Blake on the cover art
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Bess Atwell: Light Sleeper
New album: Serene in sound but with a spectrum of heartbreak and emotional problems laid bare, a gorgeous and candid third album by the Brighton-based singer-songwriter produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner
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rEDOLENT: dinny greet
New album: A striking, engaging alt-pop indie debut by the Edinburgh five-piece with songs dealing with dark subjects from heartbreak to alcoholism, dead-end job to mental health issues, but with a running theme of seeking the brighter side with a title that means “don’t cry” in Scottish slang
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Lip Critic: Hex Dealer
New album: A dazzlingly high-octane, white-knuckle ride of a debut album by the New York-based electronica-punk-hip-hop-hardcore-noise-rock band, who push the musical boundaries with express vocal delivery and double drummers
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of Montreal: Lady On The Cusp
New album: A new LP of extraordinary experiment and scattershot psychedelic pop kaleidoscopes and lyrical tricks from the eclectic and unpredictably inventive mind of the prolific Kevin Barnes and band from Athens, Georgia
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Big Special: Postindustrial Hometown Blues
New album: A witty, punchy, restless post-punk debut LP by the heavily accented Midlands duo of Joe Hicklin and Callum Maloney, with echoes of Sleaford Mods who they’ve supported on tour, packed with sharp jokes, wordplay and sweary anger about toxic masculinity and the absurdities of modern life
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Billie Eilish and the muted cover for her third LP, Hit Me Hard and Soft
New album: The American superstar and her brother co-writer and co-producer Finneas O'Connell’s third LP, of predominantly soft, muted, low key and tenderly whispered, sighing and delicately style with understated release without advance singles
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Barry Adamson: Cut To Black
New album: The Manchester legendary singer and composer, bass player of Magazine, The Bad Seeds and other bands, returns with a stylish, swaggering, 60s-influenced 10th studio solo LP, including timeless Motown, seductive blues, and vividly noir cinematic hues
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The Lovely Eggs: Eggsistentialism
New album: Lancaster’s loveable DIY rockers Holly Ross and David Blackwell return with another punchy collection of comedy, simplicity, profundity and creativity, psych and punk, but also some old-school synth sounds and some complex emotions
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Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown
New album: The Portishead singer’s first solo LP, 10 years in the making, is an exquisite release of genre-spanning folk, sometimes with eastern inflections, her haunting voice touching on mutability, motherhood, menopause, bereavement, health and heartbreak
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Jordan Rakei: The Loop
New album: Silky, soulful new work by the falsetto-smooth London-based New Zealand-Australian musician, singer-songwriter and producer with a sophisticated cocktail or perky pop, jazz, and R&B
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Keeley Forsyth: The Hollow
New album: Following 2022’s Limbs, another extraordinary, experimental release by the rich-voiced British singer and actress from Oldham of atmospheric, beautiful, evocative, at times vocalisations
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Arab Strap: I'm Totally Fine With It I Don't Give A Fuck Anymore
New album: Menacingly poetic, darkly humorous, searingly sordid and the sweetly sarcastic? It can only be the return of Scotland’s Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton with another fabulously articulate assault on the self and society’s sadness and strangeness
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Charlotte Day Wilson: Cyan Blue
New album: Superbly smoky, soulful, sensual, richly woozy and also insightful new work about relationships by the Toronto singer-songwriter in this follow-up to 2021’s excellent Alpha album
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Ibibio Sound Machine: Pull The Rope
New album: Another cracking release by the London collective fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams, a catchy, infectious concoction of Afrobeat, funk, disco, pysch and electronica, with punchy, enticing beats and grooves
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Rachel Chinouriri: What a Devastating Turn of Events
New album: A very mature and promising debut by the London indie-pop singer-songwriter with a broad range of timbres, moods and dynamics, from breezy pop and rock to soulful, tender acoustic and a title track about a tragedy
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Villagers: That Golden Time
New album: Delicate, minimalist, intimate, poetic and candidly beautiful folk indie by Dublin’s Conor J. O'Brien in a fifth LP gentler than the last, Fever Dreams, but bringing out the finest details in this stripped back release
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