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Julie Doiron’s I Thought of You
New album: Cracking new LP by the influential 49-year-old Canadian indie singer-songwriter who has released multiple album under her own name, various other monikers, in French and Spanish, here with catchy, melancholy and moving songs
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Houeida Hedfi’s debut album Fleuves De L’Âme
New album: A gorgeous, entrancing debut by the Tunisian percussionist joined by fellow violin player Radhi Chaouali and Palestinian bouzouk player Jalal Nader in a brilliant fusion of North African, Middle Eastern and western styles to evoke the voices of rivers
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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
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Ichiko Aoba’s Windswept Adan is now available in a deluxe double LP edition
New album: A gorgeous album that received an initial release last year but now on a deluxe double LP, this is a conceptualised soundtrack album for an imaginary film by the Japanese singer-songwriter that floats and ripples with delicate instrumentation and her beautifully gentle voice
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Arca’s Kick ii album, one of four visually arresting covers
After 2020’s Grammy-nominated KiCk i Venezuela-born, Barcelona-based cyber-looking trans electronic artist Alejandra Ghers doesn’t do things by halves – returning with a daunting but fascinating quadruple release of albums of various styles with 47 songs across 147 minutes
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Richard Dawson and Circle’s collaborative album Henki
New album: An entrancing, uplifting, brilliantly crafted and epic-feel mix of folk, prog and krautrock through tales of seeds, botany, history and myth by the Newcastle artist in collaboration with the Finnish metal band in a fabulous album unlike any other in 2021
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Deap Vally’s Lindsay Troy and Julie Edwards
New album: Full of feisty swagger, and rich, fuzzy guitar grit, the Los Angeles pair of Lindsay Troy and Julie Edwards return for a fourth album of rock-rich irony, fun, sweary sneering, sex-talk, anger and meaty riffs, and one of best yet
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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
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Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars
New album: Something of a perfect pairing – two superstars come together with a shared niche passion for 70s funk and soul, and with guests including bassists Thundercat and Bootsy Collins, this brings rich, scintillating results
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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
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Raise the Roof continues the elevation of Plant and Krauss 2007 album Raising Sand
New album: Fourteen years after their award-winning album Raising Sand, the pair reunite with another very fine covers album, ably produced by T Bone Burnett, of blues, country, soul, but also now infusing English folk
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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
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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
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Radiohead’s KID A MNESIA
Reissue albums: An anniversary edition of two landmark albums, Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) combined, but with a difference, with added tracks and alternate versions, harking back when the band expanded from rock into more experimental, krautrock and electronica territory
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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
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No rush: Courtney Barnett’s fourth LP
New album: There’s no rushing the Australian indie singer-songwriter in style or substance, and this attractively laid-back new LP is relaxed in pace, filled with gentle, sometimes melancholy lyrics, many of which seek reconciliation, healing and patience
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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
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IDLES return with their fourth album, CRAWLER
New album: ‘Are you ready for the storm'?’ There is much expected blood and thunder in the fourth LP by the Bristol band, but also an expanded range of sounds, feelings, painful, angry and tender moments in this viscerally brilliant new work themed around addiction
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New album: Perfect for long, dark, wintry nights, a beguilingly beautiful mix of medieval, folk, ghostly tales and fables mixed with the modern by Katharine Blake of Mediaeval Baebes and Miranda Sex Garden, collaborating with multi-instrumentalist Michael J York
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The full Sweats with Nathaniel (centre)
New album: Emotionally powerful, muscular rock-country-soul by the Denver singer-songwriter and band has strong echoes of Hurricane-era, Dylan, northern soul, early Van Morrison, as well as with oodles of swagger, sweat, grit, slide guitar, meaty brass, screams and sorrow
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