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Blonde Redhead: Sit Down For Dinner
New album: The New York trio of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace return with their 10th but first album together for nine years, one about the inescapable struggles of adulthood: communication breakdown in enduring relationships and trying to hold onto your dreams
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Wilco: Cousin
New album: A 13th LP by Jeff Tweedy and co of the veteran Chicago band, this time with the innovative Welsh artist Cate Le Bon as producer, bringing a more experimental sound than last year’s alt-country double LP Cruel Country, and something more reminiscent of 2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
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A second album of 2023 by The National
New album: A surprise release, the 10th overall and second LP of 2023 after First Two Pages of Frankenstein by Matt Berninger, the Dessner brothers and co, minimalist, darkly existential, vivid, poetic and engagingly nihilistic
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The Pretenders: Relentless
New album: Rolling back the years to their early new wave 80s heyday, a fabulously strong 12th album by Chrissie Hynde and co, packed with strong songwriting, her powerful vocal presence and a top-notch songwriting partnership with the versatile guitarist James Walbourne
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Corinne Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows
New album: A landmark of powerful storytelling and songwriting in this fourth album by the Leeds-born singer with songs inspired by immersion into a rich collection of art, books and artefacts about Black history organised by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago
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Buck Meek: Haunted Mountain
New album: The New York-based, Texas-bred singer/songwriter and Big Thief guitarist returns with a beautiful third solo album of sensitive, moving, melodious alt-country, Americana and folk rock
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Slowdive: Everything Is Alive
New album: The classic British shoegaze band of the 1990s return again after 2017’s self-titled comeback, resurgent with a new and old audience, blending dream-pop haze with resonant, atmospheric, noise-guitar textures
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Hiss Golden Messenger: Jump For Joy
New album: Rich storytelling, engaging melodies, subtle humour and perfect, gentle pacing out this strong, highly enjoyable loosely concept album of Americana, country and folk by the North Carolina five-piece led by MC Taylor
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Pain and pleasure: Be Your Own Pet with new LP Mommy
New album: After a 15 year gap, the Nashville punk rockers fronted by the charismatic Jemina Pearl, return with a fresh, frank, punchy set of songs in which, as she puts it: “Mommy is the bitch in charge, the one in control. It’s a reclamation of myself.”
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Shamir: Homo Anxietatem
New album: The prolific singer-songwriter from Las Vegas with the distinctive, high, androgynous voice returns with a ninth LP, different from 2022’s more experimental Hetereosexuality, now returning to more conventional indie rock
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Genesis Owusu
New album: A stylish, punchy, truly eclectic release by the Ghanaian-Australian singer from Canberra, (real name Kofi Owusu-Ansah) with a potent mash of hip-hop, punk, funk, metal, soul and electro-pop, and a running lyrical metaphor of cockroaches
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Iraina Mancini: Undo The Blue
New album: After a series of strong singles, a sumptuous, brilliantly luxuriant debut by the London singer, DJ and model, inspired by 60s and 70s styles, particularly Françoise Hardy, French pop, psychedelia, soul, yé-yé girls and vintage cinema
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Margaret Glaspy: Echo The Diamond
New album: Classy, emotive, mature songwriting with a stripped back, indie-rock guitar sound by the New York-based artist, and her third LP, self-produced with her partner, the guitarist/composer Julian Lage
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The Hives
New album: The wild, sharp-suited Swedish garage rockers fronted by the charismatic Howlin' Pelle Almqvist return after 11 years’ absence with a punchy, catchy fun LP based on the idea of a fictional sixth band member, manager and sole songwriter with songs newly discovered
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Skindred: Smile
New album: Prize for the most eclectic, eccentric and enthusiast record of the week goes to the Welsh band with their eighth LP, a heady mix of thunderous metal with summery, upbeat, simmering BBQs of reggae, ska, dancehall and pop
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Bethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster
New album: Candid, catchy, straight-up 90s-style pop-rock with a dash of Nashville and Americana and piano ballads in this debut LP by one half of LA’s Best Coast duo in an album that combines climate change metaphor with personal experience
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The Clientele: I Am Not There Anymore
New album: More than three decades in, and after a six-year gap, the London now trio return with a fabulously eclectic, esoteric ninth 19-track LP mixing psychedelia, Eastern classical music, poetic, jangly, jaunty indie pop, and more
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Guided By Voices: Welshpool Frillies
New album: Dayton Ohio’s prolific Robert Pollard and band return with another in a long line of albums of muscular fuzz-guitar rock decorated with ear-catching, oddball, original lyrics and powerful riffs
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Always clouds on the horizon: Blur’s ninth album, The Ballad of Darren
New album: Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and co return with their ninth LP, and first since 2015, a reflective, melancholy mostly slow-paced release of vivid, wistful beauty
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Being Dead: When Horses Would Run
New album: Mischievous fun by the Austin, Texas experimental indie and art-rock band of songwriters Falcon Bitch and Gumball, packed with fantasy, satirical settings in this debut full LP
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