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Stereolab: Instant Holograms On Metal Film
New album: Expansive, eclectic, catchy, clever futurist-retro experimental electro-pop? Yes it’s the first studio LP for 15 years by the now veteran band formed by Laetitia Sadier and Tim, Gane, here with significant instrumental skills by Joe Watson and production by Cooper Crain
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Tune-Yards: Better Dreaming
New album: Clever, quirky, upbeat, funky experimental pop by the Oakland, California married duo of Merrill Garbus and her bassist husband Nate Brenner with an LP borne out of lockdown, one filled with joy, serious insights, musical oddness, but also designed to loosen up the joints and get the whole body wiggling
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Billy Nomates’ third LP, Metalhorse
New album: British artist Tor Maries returns with her third indie-postpunk LP, and perhaps her best yet – as ever strong of voice and sharp of lyric, but this time with powerful, new, dynamic pop-rock sound – her first using a live band – and with running theme of churning love-song emotions on a metaphorical broken fairground
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Ezra Furman: Goodbye Small Head
New album: The acclaimed punk, indie-rock and other genre-spanning Chicago-born artist returns with a 10th LP, one of her very best to date – sharply poetic in lyric and melody, delivered with visceral power, themed on different forms of losing control, with emotions variously wild, exciting, and frightening, joined by their wonderful longtime band and here a small string ensemble
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Lucius
New album: Strong, inspiring, back-to-roots, catchy original, dynamic, lush, shimmering indie pop by the Los Angeles quartet of Jess Wolfe, Holly Laessig, Dan Molad and Peter Lalish who with this new release return to their original, fresh method of writing and recording together bringing beautiful melody and nuanced, candid lyrics
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McLusky: The World Is Still Here And So Are We – their first LP for over two decades
New album: A very welcome smash-and-grab return of rapier wit and voluminous, muscular, sinewy sound by the legendary cult post-hardcore Cardiff/Newcastle/Bristol trio of Andrew ‘Falco’ Falcous and co, their first studio LP since 2004’s The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire
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Arcade Fire: Pink Elephant
New album: A musically strong seventh studio LP by the acclaimed Montreal band, perhaps in part because it is more sensitive and subdued than the 2022’s full-on We, with lyrics that appear ambiguous, cautious and cathartic in the shadow and aftermath of frontman Win Butler’s sexual misconduct allegations scandal
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Maria Somerville
New album: This wonderfully absorbing, otherworldly second album from the Irish musician from Connemara in Galway, is a fusion awash with slow, gentle, misty shoegaze and folk, and rewards multiple listens with its many sonic textures and atmospheric layers in what feels like expansive celebration of solitude
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Car Seat Headrest: The Scholars
New album: This first album in five years by the band fronted by Virginia singer and songwriter Will Toledo is a flamboyant, grandiose concept piece, a galloping, epic, theatrical, dynamic, multifarious rock opera inspired by the likes of The Who’s Tommy, but set in a fictional Parnassus University campus, each song representing a character and perspective in the story
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BRONCHO: Natural Pleasure
New album: The Oklahoma-based alt-rockers return more than six years since their last LP, Bad Behavior, with a fifth LP of finely crafted songs of a distinctively warm, gentle sound, textured guitar layers and Ryan Lindsey’s unusual, high, understated, oddly soothing voice
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Prima Queen: The Prize
New album: A playful, bright, shimmering, witty indie-pop debut LP by the transatlantic duo of Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden, who, following a series of strong singles and EPs, present a variety of clever, nuanced, vivid songs about all kinds of difficult and dysfunctional relationships and self-deprecatory insecurity
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Anika: Abyss
New album: Moving away from the ambient, dreamy synths of her 2021 album Change, the British German singer-songwriter Anika Henderson’s third LP is wilder, grittier, more post-punk, grungey, and themed around frustration, anger, and confusion with the current world
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Mamalarky: Hex Key
New album: Defying definition other than the label of experimental psych-rock four-piece – the Los Angeles band’s album is an eccentric, quirky set of songs that can’t easily be unlocked with this tool or any other, but still pull you into their enjoyably agile mystery
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Tunde Adebimpe: Thee Black Boltz
New album: The likeable TV On The Radio frontman, visual artists and LA-based actor releases his first solo LP, an impressively punchy, tender, angry, sharp, intelligent fusion of synth-pop, postpunk and funk, working with multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Wilder Zoby – energised in sound, but tinged with thematic grief and loss
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Florist: Jellywish
New album: Beautiful, entrancing, wide-eyed, deceptive simplicity pervades this poetic fifth LP by the indie folk New York/ Catskill Mountains quartet fronted by singer-songwriter Emily Sprague, here themed around the natural world’s perceived miracles and mysteries
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Index For Working Musik: Which Direction Goes The Beam
New album: Fantastically inventive, stylishly strange, experimental post-punk by the London band on this latest release, with angular guitars, thrumming guffawing brass, jittery, ghostly orchestral strings, and semi-spoken, sometimes whispered, arresting, often menacing vocals
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The Waterboys: Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
New album: A sprawling, lengthy, pseudo-beatnik rock-country release by the British band fronted by Mike Scott, here celebrating the life of the charismatic, often misunderstand hell-raising Hollywood icon, spanning multiple genres, particularly Americana, with a spread of guests including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple
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The Nightingales: The Awful Truth
New album: With sharp turns of phrase and pace, the legendary Birmingham post-punk band fronted by Robert Lloyd return with meatily rich riffs and rhythms, and a collection of wittily ironic songs on social injustice and current affairs like a musical news broadcast
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Sacred Paws: Jump Into Life
New album: Breezy, buoyant, musically breathless upbeat but also wistful indie with notes of folk, country and highlife, Bhundu Boys-esque guitars and fast-fill drumming by the Glasgow band formed by Ray Aggs and Eilidh Rodgers
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Hannah Cohen: Earthstar Mountain
New album: A warm, simmering, insightfully beautiful, bittersweet, gently paced, folk-country-pop album by the New Yorker Catskills Mountains-based singer-songwriter, made in collaboration with partner Sam Owens (aka Sam Evian) and including guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens and Clairo
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