Bonnie “Prince” Billy: We Are Together Again

March 9, 2026 Peter Kimpton

New album: Just over a year after 2025’s The Purple Bird, but from parallel recording sessions and familiar co-musicians, the veteran Louisville-Kentucky singer-songwriter Will Oldham returns with another collection of exquisite, intimate, gently defiant lo-fi folk to troubled times, an ode to community with a beautiful array of acoustic instruments and his poignant, insightful lyrics and delivery

Hen Ogledd: DISCOMBOBULATED

February 21, 2026 Peter Kimpton

New album: Wonderfully colourful, mystical and socio-political, the British psychedelic-folk-rock quartet return with their special brand of eccentric, oddball originality, here including Welsh poems, ‘bard rap’ and an a protest manifesto for social change and mental wellbeing in a world gone mad

Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Three

December 18, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Match album artwork to the titles below from favourites of 2025 Part Three (in no particular order)

Welcome to the third and final part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also Part One, and Part Two. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Two

December 17, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Part Two favourite albums of 2025 collage

Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Favourite albums of 2025 - Part One

December 16, 2025 Peter Kimpton

First selection of 25 favourite albums in no particular order …

Welcome to the first part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There will also be a second and third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Melody's Echo Chamber: Unclouded

December 5, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: A fourth album, here full of delicious uplifting, dreamily chic, psychedelic soul pop by the French musician Melody Prochet, with bright, upbeat, optimistic numbers and a title lifted from a quote by the acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium

Austra: Chin Up Buttercup

November 19, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Painfully uplifting: Austra’s *Chin Up Buttercup*

New album: This fifth studio LP as Austra by the Canadian classically trained vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis brings beautiful electronica-pop and dance music, and has a bittersweet ironic title – a caustically witty reference to societal pressure to keep smiling despite a devastating breakup

Sorry: COSPLAY

November 8, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Consistently excellent singles before and heralding this brilliantly odd, clever third album by the London indie band all cement their reputation for a truly original sound filled with a variety of styles, captured in the experimental title of their third LP following 2022’s Anywhere But Here

Upchuck: I'm Nice Now

October 4, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: A blistering new release of razor-sharp rage fuelled by social injustice by the punk and psychedelic rockers from Atlanta, Georgia, spearheaded by the charismatic vocalist KT, with thunderous drums and scalding guitars, and recorded at Sonic Ranch Studio in Texas with producer Ty Segall with a pacy, raw, rasping sound

Sydney Minsky Sargeant - Lunga

September 15, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: The Working Men’s Club frontman from Todmorden in West Yorkshire makes his debut solo LP, a melancholy yet beautiful collection of acoustic and gently reflective pastoral, psychedelic songs, with echoes of Elliott Smith, Syd Barrett and Nick Drake

Guedra Guedra: MUTANT

September 3, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: A fabulous fusion of the traditional with the modern, a brilliantly infectious, mesmeric, polyrhythmic melange, created by the Moroccan producer Abdellah M. Hassak, who blends analogue synths, drum machines, and field recordings from Morocco, Tanzania, Guinea and more, exploring themes of themes of identity, Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism, and decolonisation

Blood Orange: Essex Honey

September 1, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Eclectic, dream-like, transitional and reflective with a late-summer smooth ambience and an over-riding theme of looking back on his Ilford childhood days, the 39-year-old British NY-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Dev Hynes returns with a fifth LP as Blood Orange, joined by a variety of other artists including Caroline Polachek and Lorde

Cass McCombs: Interior Live Oak

August 18, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Named after a tree species native to Northern California, the American singer-songwriter’s landmark 74-minute double LP, and his 11th solo studio release, is one of his finest, packed with tear-jerking, vivid ballads of gentle pace, profundity, beauty and catchy country-folk-rock grooves

Disiniblud: Disiniblud

July 19, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Truly mesmeric, exquisitely beautiful, original, intimate, eclectic sounds are summoned up and simmer in this debut collaborative album project by the Brooklyn composers, producers and multi-instrumentalists Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith

Wet Leg - Moisturizer

July 11, 2025 Peter Kimpton

Wet Leg’s Moisturizer, with guitarist Hester Chambers (left) and singer Rhian Teasdale

New album: The award-winning Isle of Wight indie-pop band’s second album retains all of their mischievous, quirky charm, but also an evolved muscular, punchier, dirtier guitar sound in a collection of clever love songs and kick-ass kiss-offs

These New Puritans: Crooked Wing

May 26, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Southend-on-Sea twin brothers George and Jack Barnett return with their fifth album and first in six years - with a striking, otherworldly experimental fusion of rock, classical and electronica, with guests including Caroline Polachek and veteran jazz bassist Chris Laurence

SASAMI: Blood On The Silver Screen

March 7, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Following 2022’s excellent alchemic metal and more Squeeze LP, the LA-based classically trained French horn player, singer and composer Sasami Ashworth returns with a cinematic, stylish adventure in well-crafted, mainstream-style pop, aided by producers Jenn Decilveo and Rostam

Panda Bear: Sinister Grift

March 2, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: The ever eclectic Animal Collective, Lisbon-based frontman Noah Lennox’s first solo album for five years is an oddly reflective but rather beautiful heartbreak album, one coming out of his divorce, but rich in many styles, from Beach Boys vocal harmonies to reggae, Latin to disco, jaunty 70s pop to psychedelia

Richard Dawson: End of the Middle

February 15, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Extraordinary songs about ordinary lives by the wonderful Newcastle alternative folk singer-songwriter – poetic, strikingly detailed, touching, warm, gently humorous, melancholy, original and gorgeously profound, bringing beauty to banality, private tragedies and small joys

Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Purple Bird

February 2, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: A mischievously droll, but also tender, gently moving new release by Kentucky’s seasoned singer-songwriter Will Oldham, this time very much in Nashville-flavoured country mode, with numbers about community, relationships and the state of the nation, joined by producer and old friend David “ Ferg” Ferguson

Sing out, act on CLIMATE CHANGE

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    DRINK OF THE WEEK
Galaxy Lemonade

  
    SNACK OF THE WEEK
Orange twiglets from Jupiter

New Albums …

Featured

May 5, 2026

Pigeon: OUTTANATIONAL

May 5, 2026

New album: Hugely enjoyable, stylish, playfully eclectic debut LP of indie, electronica and Afro-disco and krautrock grooves by the Margate band fronted by the multi-lingual artist Falle Nioke from Guinea Conakry, West Africa, with songs about identity and ancestry, and a sound somewhere between New Order and William Onyeabor

May 5, 2026

May 3, 2026

KNEECAP: FENIAN

May 3, 2026

New album: Still the scourge of the establishment after 2024’s debut LP Fine Art, a hugely entertaining second LP of punchy, slick, defiant Irish Gaelic rap by Belfast’s Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap, and beatmaker DJ Próvaí, with an expanded sound aided by innovative producer Dan Carey and an appearance by Kae Tempest

May 3, 2026

May 2, 2026

Jesca Hoop: Long Wave Home

May 2, 2026

New album: Brilliantly inventive, eclectic, poetic, experimental folk and art-pop by the acclaimed Manchester-based Californian singer-songwriter and guitarist in her first self-produced album, variously about the end of relationships, life changes, technology’s social effects, Gaza victims and other contemporary issues with perhaps her finest yet

May 2, 2026

Apr 29, 2026

Sam Grassie: Where Two Hawks Fly

Apr 29, 2026

New album: Beautiful debut LP by the London-based Glaswegian fingerstyle folk guitarist and singer-songwriter, with added saxophone, double bass, flute, clairsach and clarinet in a release of mostly the traditional, covers, sung or instrumental, and supported by the Bert Jansch Foundation

Apr 29, 2026

Irmin Schmidt: Requiem

Apr 29, 2026

New album: A strangely mesmeric, avant-garde and analogue-ambient, field recording-based experimental release by the last surviving founding member of experimental ‘krautrock’ band CAN, who, approaching the age of 89, has also written over 40 TV and film scores

Apr 29, 2026

Apr 28, 2026

Gia Margaret: Singing

Apr 28, 2026

New album: Gently profound, and full of wondrous, mesmeric, slow, delicate experimental songs, this simple title has a powerful resonance – it is the Chicago artist’s first vocal album since 2018’s There’s Always Glimmer (there have been two instrumental LPs since), having suffered and recovered from a severe vocal injury, she returns with a delicate, candid, whispery but hauntingly beautiful delivery

Apr 28, 2026

Angel In Plainclothes by Angelo De Augustine.jpeg

Apr 28, 2026

Angelo De Augustine: Angel in Plainclothes

Apr 28, 2026

New album: A beautiful, delicate fifth LP from the Los Angeles singer-songwriter, friend and collaborator with Sufjan Stevens with whom he shares a stylistic resemblance, here with themes on life's fragility, second chances, and picking up the pieces after an undiagnosed illness forced him to re-learn basic abilities

Apr 28, 2026

Carla dal Forno: Confession

Apr 28, 2026

New album: This lo-fi, darkly minimalist but also oddly candid fourth LP by the Australian, Castlemaine-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist centres on the conflicted, obsessive feelings about “a friendship that became emotionally charged in an unexpected way”, and “an album about closeness that arrives late and unexpectedly. About stability rubbing up against desire.”

Apr 28, 2026

Apr 26, 2026

Friko: Something Worth Waiting For

Apr 26, 2026

New album: Passionate, powerful, dynamic indie rock in this sophomore LP by the Chicago-based quartet that gallops forwards with a driving momentum, some elements of early PJ Harvey and Radiohead, and is produced by John Congleton

Apr 26, 2026

White Denim: 13

Apr 26, 2026

New album: This 13th LP in two decades by the Austin, Texas rock band fronted by James Petralli has a particularly mischievous experimentalism, spreading styles far beyond breathlessly paced prog rock, with wrily humorous, surreal, personal and passionate numbers across heavy funk, dub, soul, psyche, country, dirty blues and more, joined by host of outstanding extra musicians

Apr 26, 2026

Asili ya Mama by Hukwe Zawose Foundation.jpeg

Apr 24, 2026

Hukwe Zawose Foundation: Asili ya Mama

Apr 24, 2026

New album: Wonderfully evocative field recordings release of Wagogo, Waluguru and Wasambaa Tanzanian women singing traditional songs in their villages, rarely heard outside of their own circles, the title is translated as The Origin of Mother, rich in stories and capturing the place where song is first learned, first felt, first shared

Apr 24, 2026

Apr 23, 2026

They Might Be Giants - The World Is To Dig

Apr 23, 2026

New album: Four decades since their self-titled debut, Brooklyn alternative rockers John Flansburgh and John Linnell return with their 24th LP, packed with of punchy, pacy, wistful, whimsical, clever wordplay and indie rock-pop, buoyantly satirical and also a little world weary at times, they remain oddball, lively commentators on the ongoing absurdity of life

Apr 23, 2026

Apr 22, 2026

Eaves Wilder: Little Miss Sunshine

Apr 22, 2026

New album: After 2023’s Hookey EP, a strong, passionate indie-dream-pop-shoegaze full debut by the London singer-songwriter, whose breathy voice intertwines with strong, stirring riffs and textured sounds, themed around cycles of nature aiming to explain and celebrate the mercurial nature of human emotional weather

Apr 22, 2026

Honey Dijon: The Nightlife

Apr 22, 2026

New album: The irrepressible, prolific and charismatic London-based Chicago DJ, musician, producer and vinyl lover returns with a flamboyantly fun celebration of club and queer culture through the prism of dance music from disco to house, with a wide variety of guest vocalists

Apr 22, 2026

new songs …

Featured

May 5, 2026

Song of the Day: Sofie Royer - Cowboy Mouth

May 5, 2026

Song of the Day: A catchy, cool, stylish fusion of indie and electro-pop by the classically trained, California-born, Vienna-based Iranian-Austrian artist, inspired by reading Patti Smith and Sam Shepard’s play of the same title, reimagining the play’s characters as Angel and Cowboy, and out now on Stones Throw Records

May 5, 2026

May 4, 2026

Song of the Day: Hodge - Wiggler

May 4, 2026

Song of the Day: A hugely fun, energising, infectious, effervescent, repetitive electronic dance track by the Bristol-based DJ/producer (aka Jake Martin) featuring a 3D pipe bassline by Memotone, and released alongside another track,Trust, out on Local Action

May 4, 2026

Return to Sender by Ibibio Sound Machine.jpeg

May 3, 2026

Song of the Day: Ibibio Sound Machine - Return To Sender

May 3, 2026

Song of the Day: Fizzing with vibrant energy and intricate rhythms, a fabulous new single with a personal accidental backstory by the London electronic afro-funk band out of London fronted by vocalist Eno Williams, out Merge Record

May 3, 2026

The Puppini Sisters - The Birthday Party.jpeg

May 2, 2026

Song of the Day: The Puppini Sisters - Total Eclipse of the Heart

May 2, 2026

Song of the Day: A fabulous new version of the Jim Steinman-penned 1983 Bonnie Tyler power pop hit, arranged by Marcello Puppini in an entirely different style for her swing-jazz trio and band, part of their 20th anniversary celebrations and album, The Birthday Party, out now on Millionaire Records

May 2, 2026

Bleachers - Everyone For Ten Minutes.jpeg

May 1, 2026

Song of the Day: Bleachers - I'm Not Joking

May 1, 2026

Song of the Day: Featuring harpsichord, Hammond organ, Dobro and more, producer Jack Antonoff and his New Jersey rock band return with a heartfelt love song single heralding the upcoming album, Everyone For Ten Minutes, out on 22 May via Dirty Hit

May 1, 2026

Apr 30, 2026

Song of the Day: Alewya - Selah

Apr 30, 2026

Song of the Day: Striking, stylishly agile electronica and dance with a rich African and Arabian influence by the London-based British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, heralding her upcoming album, Zero, out on 26 June via LDN Records

Apr 30, 2026

Apr 29, 2026

Song of the Day: Metric - Crush Forever

Apr 29, 2026

Song of the Day: Uplifting, effervescent electro-disco-pop by the Toronto indie rock band, with a song vocalist/keyboardist Emily Haines describes as “my love letter to strong girls in this world”, taken from their recently released 10th album, Romanticize the Dive, out on Metric Music via Thirty Tigers

Apr 29, 2026

Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child single.jpeg

Apr 28, 2026

Song of the Day: Jim Ghedi - The Hungry Child

Apr 28, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, gripping, visceral folk by the Sheffield singer-songwriter, with a striking number based on an early 19th-century German poem about the fatal story of a child pleading for food, and, following last year’s acclaimed album, Wasteland, also out on Basin Rock, it heralds his upcoming soundtrack for the Hugh Jackman film, The Death of Robin Hood.

Apr 28, 2026

holybones with Baxter Dury - SLUGBOY.jpg

Apr 27, 2026

Song of the Day: holybones (with Baxter Dury) - SLUGBOY

Apr 27, 2026

Song of the Day: Dark, unsettling, sleazy and strange, this is arrestingly vivid new collaborative single between the clandestine London electronic collective and the downbeat, deep-voiced poetic Londoner, out on Promised Land Recordings

Apr 27, 2026

Apr 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Hand Habits - Good Person

Apr 26, 2026

Song of the Day: Gentle, droll, humorously self-deprecatingly, and also delicately beautiful, this new experimental folk single by the moniker of Los Angeles singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Meg Duffy addresses the love-hate relationship with making music, out on Fat Possum

Apr 26, 2026

Apr 25, 2026

Song of the Day: Pigeon - Miami

Apr 25, 2026

Song of the Day: Catchy, sunny, upbeawt indie synth-pop with an African twist by the Margate band fronted by Falle Nioke, with flavours of William Onyeabor, Hot Chip and New York 70s disco, heralding their upcoming album OUTTANATIONAL, out on 1 May via Memphis Industries

Apr 25, 2026

Apr 24, 2026

Song of the Day: Tricky - Out of Place (featuring Marta Złakowska)

Apr 24, 2026

Song of the Day: A pulsating fusion of beats, orchestral strings and the Bristol trip-hop pioneer’s distinctive, deep, croaky voice, with an emotional reference to his daughter Mina Topley-Bird (1995–2019), and heralding his first solo album for six years, Different When It’s Silent, out on 17 June via False Idols

Apr 24, 2026

Word of the week

Featured

Apr 23, 2026

Word of the week: throstle

Apr 23, 2026

Word of the week: An archaic, evocative noun with two connected meanings, originally for the song thrush, then later a textiles industrial frame for spinning, twisting and winding machine for cotton, wool, and other fibres simultaneously

Apr 23, 2026

Apr 9, 2026

Word of the week: undine

Apr 9, 2026

Word of the week: It might sound like the act of abstaining from food, but this noun from derived from undina (Latin unda) meaning wave, refers to mythical, elemental beings associated with water, such as mermaids, and stemming from the alchemical writings of the 16th-century Swiss physician, alchemist and philosopher Paracelsus

Apr 9, 2026

Mar 27, 2026

Word of the week: veena

Mar 27, 2026

Word of the week: This ornate, curvaceous, south Indian classical instrument, the saraswati veena, is a special bowl lute with a rich, resonant tone, has 24 copper frets with four playing strings and three drone strings, and is used for Carnatic music

Mar 27, 2026

Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: wallfish

Mar 12, 2026

Word of the week: It sounds like the singing finned picture ornament Big Mouth Billy Bass that became popular in the late 1990s, but this is a much older noun, derived in Somerset, England, pertains to the climbing gastropod that can slowly climb up any surface

Mar 12, 2026

Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: xiphias

Feb 25, 2026

Word of the week: Get the point? This is the scientific name for the swordfish, in full Xiphias gladius (from the Greek and Latin for sword), that extraordinary sea creature with the long, pointy bill. But what of it in song?

Feb 25, 2026