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Ideas constantly sprouting: Chad VanGaalen’s latest album
Album review: An inventively eclectic homegrown release of tasty psychedelia, krautrock and folk by the Calgary songwriter and eccentric animator who uses a huge variety of instruments including his own invented lithophone
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Nicely worn: Black Honey’s album
Album review: Refreshing, energetic, upbeat big-chorus fuzzbox indie-pop by the four-piece from Brighton with echoes of big-sound styles ranging from Primal Scream to Girls Aloud to Garbage to Sigue Sigue Sputnik
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A wonderful vocal new version of Gazelle Twin’s 2018 album Pastoral
Album review: An extraordinary reworking of one of the most brilliantly evocative albums of recent times, Elizabeth Bernholz’s 2018 LP Pastoral is re-animated with electronic drone choir NYX to create equally profound and disturbing versions of seven songs and a new title track
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Ladies of the canyon … the cover of Lana Del Rey’s eighth album
Album review: Evoking big, wide landscapes with a slow, melancholic, wistful, nostalgic and semi-fictional narratives, the New York singer-songwriter’s eighth album is of uniform style and slow pace, but rich in powerfully strong melodies and memorable lines
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Sunburned Hand Of The Man’s latest album
Album review: An eclectic and fascinating album of newly edited tracks by the prolific Boston Massachusetts collective, covering everything from gentle acoustic to thrash metal, indie, psych, electronica, krautrock and everything in between
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Tiggs Da Author’s album covers almost every style under the sun
Album review: Sprightly, catchy and filled with hooks, the Tanzania-born London singer, producer and musicians full debut has something from many genres, from funk to African, jazz, pop, hip hop, reggae, gospel and soul
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Israel Nash
Album review: The Texas singer-songwriter’s latest LP indeed is a gem – infused with slow country, prog rock, southern gospel-soul, the folk and ‘70s psych-rock, with more than a dash of Neil Young, slide guitar and geographical reference
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Valerie June
Album review: This sublime fifth album by the soul singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee includes a guest appearance by the legendary Carla Thomas
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The American Negro by Adrian Younge
Album review: Weighty but vital, the composer’s spoken-word and soulful album of 26 tracks about the history of racism in America is profound, passionate, powerful and current, as well as harking back to the spirit of Gil Scott-Heron and Marvin Gaye
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William The Conqueror’s Maverick Thinker, their third album
Album review: The third album by the trio fronted by the Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter Ruarri Joseph is clever, catchy, bluesy, rocking and wry, filled with wistful lines, dry wit and great riffs
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Jane Weaver’s 11th album, Flock
Album review: The Liverpool and Widnes-raised artist returns with a mesmeric and uplifting 11th album that takes a variety of elements - electronica, psychedelia and acid folk morphing into fabulous alternative pop record that really takes flight
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As Days Get Dark, Arab Strap’s seventh album, and their first for 16 years
Album review: Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton’s first album together since 2005 is as brilliant as ever – a mischievous, brooding, blackly humorous, whisperingly sinister and sweary exploration of love, sex, addiction, exploitation and death wrapped in beautiful, poetic music
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Yol, meaning road, is Altin Gün’s third album
Album review: Wonderful third album by the Amsterdam-based Turkish, Dutch, Indonesian and British band who infuse traditional Turkish songbook material with elecro-pop, funk and disco sounds in a way that feels authentic and uplifting
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Smerz’s album Believer
Album review: From stark and abstract, to serene, ambient and dancefloor, the debut LP from the Norwegian duo Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg is an experimental adventure taking in everything from classical to techno
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Katy Kirby’s Cool Dry Place
Album review: Beautiful debut of low-key acoustic simplicity by the singer-songwriter from Texas who is now based in Nashville, with a soft, quiet voice that resonates with understated profundity
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Julien Baker: ‘There’s no glory in love, only the gore of our hearts’
Album review: The Tennessee indie artist’s third LP is an impassioned, raw emotion narrative of life falling apart in lockdown, her at times fractured voice and powerful instrumentation capturing a self-excoriating autobiography, stormy chaotic emotions, observations and experiences
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In Quiet Moments
Album review: Partly released in December, now in full, this is a supreme soul and jazz crossover double album with a stellar cast of guest vocalists, by Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde and former Jesus & Mary Chain drummer Richie Thomas
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Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: symbiotic
Album review: "A brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe” is how Nick Cave describes this Covid-19 lockdown-inspired release with his longtime Bad Seed collaborator, and so it is
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Self-division: Ghetts
Album review: The British grime artist from Plaistow Justin Clarke’s third LP and first on a major label steps up to a franker, more nuanced style and includes a range of high-profile guests, including Stormzy, Emeli Sande, Dave, Hamzaa, Pa Salieu and Skepta.
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Casandra Jenkins’s second album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Album review: The New York singer-songwriter’s second album is short, but serenely superb – with a soft sheen sound produced by Josh Kaufman, it’s perfectly composed with intelligent lyrics, and profound insights beautifully voiced
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