New album: Named after Billy Wilder’s 1959 hit comedy film, which is also centred around three musicians and lead characters (two male, one female) the London indie-rock trio return, gig-hardened from extensive touring, with a stylish, dynamic release filled with tales of strange romance, lust, identity, self-destruction, emotional vulnerability and modern-life mayhem
Read moreThe Last Dinner Party: From The Pyre
The Last Dinner Party: From The Pyre
New album: This fairly speedy follow-up to the London quintet’s Mercury-nominated debut album Prelude to Ecstasy of flamboyant, theatrical, baroque and art-rock-pop, continues in a similar rich, elaborate vein, with another strong set of swaggering numbers with influences from Abba to Kate Bush, Sparks, Lee Hazlewood to Leonard Cohen, with a sprinkling of darker undercurrents and deathly themes
Read moreSoulwax: All Systems Are Lying
Soulwax: All Systems Are Lying
New album: The Ghent-based, Belgian electronica-dance and acclaimed remix maestro brothers David and Stephen Dewaele and co return with a catchy, quirky, witty, droll new LP, thematically about society’s fragile state, and their first new music in seven years, mischievously described as “a rock album made without any electric guitars”
Read moreTame Impala: Deadbeat
Tame Impala: Deadbeat
New album: This fifth LP and first in five years by the Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker sees him go down a more a more dance-electronica route, mixing psych, techno, reggaeton, and the heavy drum kicks of the western Australia’s “bush doof” rave scene, but as ever with the distinctive yearning of his falsetto voice
Read moreFlock of Dimes: The Life You Save
Flock of Dimes: The Life You Save
New album: A third album in the solo project of Baltimore multi-instrumentalist and producer Jenn Wasner brings together the beautiful and the bittersweet with a collection of intimate, sensitive songs about heartbreak and memory addiction, co-dependency, inherited and experienced trauma, and ways of finding peace
Read moreOther Lives: Volume V
Other Lives: Volume V
New album: A fifth LP, but also the first in a decade by the band from Stillwater, Oklahoma, of multi-instrumentalists Jesse Tabish, Jonathon Mooney and Josh Onstott and co, with impressive, stirring, grandiose, cinematic, dynamic, orchestra-layered indie rock
Read morePrincess Nokia: GIRLS
Princess Nokia: GIRLS
New album: A provocative, feisty, self-described bad-girl, dark-femme feminist fifth LP by the New York rapper Destiny Frasqueri, with a punchy celebration of her gender, sexuality, blood and high fashion, filled with whip sharp, slick, braggadocio delivery, and referential inspiration to the films of the late David Lynch
Read moreAsh: Ad Astra
Ash: Ad Astra
New album: Punchy, hooky, catchy indie-power-pop and rock by the Northern Ireland veteran trio, following 2023’s Race The Night, returning for their ninth album with Blur’s Graham Coxon joining them on a couple of tracks in an album rich in rock guitar licks and big choruses
Read moreHannah Frances: Nested In Tangles
Hannah Frances: Nested In Tangles
New album: Following her acclaimed 2024 album Keeper of the Shepherd, the Vermont-based composer, vocalist, guitarist, and poet returns with a truly entrancing, beautiful wild garden of tumbling polyrhythmic experimental folk-jazz-prog, packed with complex stories and emotions grown through finger-picked guitar, wind, brass and string arrangements
Read moreSnõõper: Worldwide
Snõõper: Worldwide
New album: Following 2023’s debut Super Snõõper, the Nashville electro-punk band fronted by Blair Tramel and Connor Cummins bring a super-charged, pacy, energy boosting release of relentless, clever fun, produced by John Congleton
Read moreAgriculture: The Spiritual Sound
Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound
New album: Strap yourselves in, but not merely for sheer cacophonous volume, but also surprises. The self-described Los Angeles “ecstatic black metal” band’s second album certainly brings a devilishly voluminous noise, but also huge dynamism with some surprisingly gentler moments
Read moreDoja Cat: Vie
Doja Cat: Vie
New album: With a strong flavour of Prince, and no short of saucy, sexy, funk, hip-hop and pop bite, the American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer’s fifth album is polished and packed with catchy, clever bangers, and oodles of wit and cheeky sugar and bitchy spice across the politics and intimacy of relationships
Read moreRobert Plant: Saving Grace
Robert Plant: Saving Grace
New album: The Led Zeppelin singer, after successful albums and touring with collaborators such as Alison Krauss, completes a project started in 2019 with a covers collection of traditional folk, blues, Americana and other sources, working here with singer Suzi Dian, and tight band comprising Oli Jefferson, Tony Kelsey, Barney Morse-Brown, and Matt Worley
Read morePatrick Watson: Uh Oh
Patrick Watson: Uh Oh
New album: The Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist and film-score composer’s latest LP presents 11 new, delicate, beautiful collaboratively performed songs about life’s various anxious moments, big or small, joined by guest vocalists including Martha Wainwright and stars, but particularly inspired by the one of any musician’s most stressful ‘uh ohs’ – a time when he lost his voice
Read moreIdlewild: Idlewild
Idlewild: Idlewild
New album: Thirty years in since their first, and this tenth LP with 10 tracks by the Edinburgh indie quintet of Roddy Woomble, Rod Jones and co feels like a classic Idlewild release, and, self-titled and full of strong, simple emotive melodies, a fitting milestone summary of their career, a fan-pleaser, an old-friend
Read moreFalle Nioke: Love From The Sea
Falle Nioke: Love From The Sea
New album: The Guinea-born, Margate-based singer and multi-instrumentalist brings a beautiful debut blend of West African sounds fused with electronica, stories and emotions, variously singing in French, English, Susu, Fulani, Malinke and Coniagui, with collaborators including Ghost Culture, Johan Hugo, Hiro Ama, Mike Lindsay (of Tunng and LUMP), and TaliaBle
Read moreUpchuck: I'm Nice Now
Upchuck: I'm Nice Now
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
Read moreJeff Tweedy: Twilight Override
Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override
New album: The Wilco frontman’s fifth solo album is a treasure trove of lo-fi, beautiful, warm, intimate, sensitive, bittersweet songwriting – gently profound, reflective and catchily tuneful, a 30-track triple LP opus recorded and self-produced himself at his Chicago studio, The Loft, with a general theme of slow, autumnal fade and mortality but also life affirmation
Read moreSPRINTS: All That Is Over
SPRINTS: All That Is Over
New album: Following last year’s blistering debut, Letter To Self, this follow-up by the Dublin post-punk quartet comes with title to to reflect dysfunctional, uncertain times, and an expanded musical dynamic, and fierce and reflective songs ranging from politics to philosopher to the personal
Read moreNeko Case: Neon Grey Midnight Green
Neko Case: Neon Grey Midnight Green
New album: Reflecting on whole lifetime, as well as a career spanning more than three decades, a vivid, poetic, uplifting and profound autobiographical release by the American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rockers the New Pornographers, this beautiful LP’s title is inspired by the slate-coloured clouds and conifer forests on the Pacific Northwest skyline
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