Your Custom Text Here
The multiplicity of Aurora
New album: An impressive range of pop stylings and vocals that cascade like a fresh, breathy mountain stream mark this third LP by the dynamic Norwegian pop artist and TikTok star, who follows up previous more political material with songs more more focused on relationships
Read more
Silverbacks’ second album Archive Material
New album: Superb second LP by the Dublin-based post-punk art-rock quintet, who with shades of Deerhoof, Gang Of Four, but particularly New Yorkers Strokes and LCD Soundsystem, sharply capturing the crazy, creeping disquiet of the world, especially over the past 18 months
Read more
FKA twigs’ CAPRISONGS
New album: Cheltenham’s innovative Tahliah Debrett Barnett returns with a fourth LP that’s more a mixtape of sensual, sexual musical sketches, her distinctive voice and style also very much reaching out to a more R&B mainstream
Read more
Hop Up by Orlando Weeks
New album: Mellow, ethereal, and with Talk Talk as an musical influence, the former Maccabees frontman’s solo follow-up to A Quickening emanates carefree, floating joy with light funk-pop electronica and his high, soft vocal delivery
Read more
Elvis Costello’s classic sound on The Boy Named If
New album: Classic Costello, with a vigorous new LP that rolls back the years, recalling all the the sharp, fast, clever punk-pop of the late-70s, 80s and 90s albums with the Attractions, including old friends Steve Nieve on keyboards and Pete Thomas on drums
Read more
Dawn FM
New album: Canada’s hugely successful R&B and darkwave artist Abel Makkonen Tesfaye’s new LP is a form of concept - light-themed afterlife through the prism of a fictional radio station that generates inventive smooth and clever 80s-style synth pop and disco
Read more
Agnes
Album: Released in October, a fabulously stylish LP of retro pop by the Swedish Agnes Emilia Carlsson, her fifth, but first since Veritas (2012), rich in orchestration and with echoes of ABBA, but with a result far superior to her forbears’ own 2021 return
Read more
Favourite selection part 2.
Favourite albums of 2021 – Part 2: Welcome the second instalment, following Part 1, which can be found here. A huge number of excellent releases, of which again this is just a selection many of which were written during, and about lockdown, but also saw many outstanding voices emerge as well as innovative sounds developed
Read more
Take your pick. Are your favourites here? Also check out Part 2 coming soon.
Favourite albums of 2021, part 1: Another difficult year for everyone, but from soul and jazz, electro-pop the experimental and avant-garde, an outstanding one for music releases, perhaps in part because out of diversity comes great art. Also feel free to explore Part 2, which is now available to view here.
Read more
Neal Francis’s In Plain Sight
New album: Stirringly upfront new rock-pop album by the Chicago singer-songwriter and pianist about honesty, resilience and sobriety following a big relationship breakup following his 2019 album, Changes
Read more
Lunar Vacation’s debut album
Debut album: Joyously fresh, freewheeling indie pop with a dash of shoegaze and psychedelia in this debut LP by the four-piece from Atlanta, Georgia, with influences from Rilo Kiley to Tame Impala, Alvvays and Slow Pulp
Read more
New album: Previously unreleased due to label wrangles, and part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) huge boxset, this set of revisited 60s songs recorded in 2000, offers fine evidence of Bowie joyfully reworking his past a late-90s swagger
Read more
New album: She’s back, with further heartbreak and all about her divorce, and while here we try to avoid the mega-selling LPs – this already set to be the biggest of 2021 – there’s no denying the honesty and talent of Tottenham’s finest, Adele Adkins
Read more
They Might Be Giants’ John Flansburgh and John Linnell
New album: New York’s original alt-rockers John Flansburgh and John Linnell return with their 23rd studio album of clever, whimsical, absurd and amusing songs, part of a project with an 8-track tape, another EP, and a bumper book of lyrics set in concrete poetry
Read more
A gentle hit? Elbow’s Flying Dream 1
New album: Variously written by members isolated during lockdown, the Manchester band’s ninth LP is a study in gentle, minimalism, filled with beautiful lyrical images and tender moments after 2019’s angrier, edgier, proggy Giants of All Sizes
Read more
Vibrant joy: The Bug Club’s Pure Particles
New album: A fantastic, punchy short album of nine songs by the indie trio from South Wales with vibrant, fresh, Jonathan Richman-style panache, witty lyrics, dynamic guitar riffs and driving rhythm that is all infectiously toe-tapping
Read more
Pip Blom’s second album Welcome Break
New album: The second album by the Amsterdam indie quartet continues their breezy, upbeat style, but with double-edged humour, riffing on pandemic lockdown but also on the brand name of British motorway services, familiar to any band touring
Read more
Darkly beautiful: Damon Albarn’s new album
New album: The frontman of many bands from Blur to Gorillaz returns with a new solo album suffused with slow beautiful, tender melancholy, falling piano chord progressions, jazz elements, electronica, gentle beats and wistful images
Read more
Afflecks Palace: Spirit of ‘89
New album: Spirited, uplifting debut by the Manchester indie quartet named after the legendary market stall building with a style very much echoing the heydays of baggy ‘89 Stone Roses, complete with jangling guitars, stop-start sections and wistful, upbeat harmonised vocals
Read more
Something to cling to: Penelope Isles’ second album Which Way To Happy
New album: A bright, sparkly blend of wistful, ethereal dream pop, space rock, some French disco and electronica by Brighton’s core of siblings Jack and Lily Wolter and a fine follow-up to the 2019 debut LP Until the Tide Creeps In
Read more