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Matthew Halsall: An Ever Changing View
New album: An LP of delicious, delicate jazz- and African-inflected instrumentals by the Manchester jazz trumpeter, here with a gorgeous, colourful palette of sounds – woodwind, harp, electronica, thumb piano, organ and his own beautiful brass
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Alabaster DePlume: Come With Fierce Grace
New album: After last year’s Gold, another offbeat, truly oddball but original offering by Manchester-raised, London-based Gus Fairburn, his jittery side-of-mouth sax style and gnomic, mantra-style lyrics with guest such as Guinea vocalist Falle Nioke and polyrhythmic drummer Sarathy Korwar to fuse Afrobeat with clunky alt-folk-jazz
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YOWL: Milksick
New album: Following excellent singles such as Idiot Daughters, Idiot Sons, a delightfully droll, deep-voiced, witty full debut by the London indie-post-punk band of Gabriel Byrde and co with a style attractively reminiscent of Robert Lloyd’s The Nightingales
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Allison Russell: The Returner
New album: Following 2021’s Outside Child, a second excellent solo album by the Nashville-based Montreal-raised singer-songwriter and activist from the band Po’ Girl, Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters, with charming but emotively poignant Americana, folk, soul, gospel and pop
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Cleo Sol: Heaven
New album: A gorgeously soulful, gentle, intimate and indeed heavenly third solo album by the London singer-songwriter familiar to fans of Sault and her longtime collaborator and once again here producer – Inflo
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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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Mitski: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We
New album: With one of the purest voices around, a sublime seventh album by the Japanese-American artist – slow, powerful, dreamy country-flecked pop with orchestra, themed around troubled love and coloured with animal-themed metaphors
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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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Public Service Broadcasting: This New Noise
New album: A tremendous noise indeed about radio, as the vintage footage-inspired experimentalist band led by J Wildgoose Esq release a remastered album version of their acclaimed 2022 BBC Proms performance from London’s Royal Albert Hall with the full BBC Symphony Orchestra
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Olivia Rodrigo’s got GUTS
New album: Following the extraordinary success of her 2021 debut album, Sour, this follow-up contains all the formulas for more, from passionate pop to heartbreak piano ballad, and Billie Eilish-style vocal intimacy, but now with a harder, dealing-with-fame edge
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CLT DRP: Nothing Clever, Just Feelings
New album: Brilliantly original and fresh post- and dance-punk and electro-pop by the Brighton band with songs about heartbreak and queerness, feminism, vulnerability and gender fluidity, packed with unique sounds, passion and humour
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The Chemical Brothers: For That Beautiful Feeling
New album: Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons return with their 10th LP in nearly three decades, one with that brings together sci-fi-themed, almost psychedelic apocalypse and upbeat, laser-light dance floor bangers
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Róisín Murphy’s sixth album, Hit Parade
New album: Recent controversies aside, the Irish singer-songwriter’s collaboration with German producer DJ Koze is a mesmerically inventive, intimate, candid exploration of funk, pop, disco and house, skilfully pushed through an wonderfully warped aural lens of vocal effects and sounds
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Yussef Dayes: Black Classical Music
New album: Taking a title cue from Miles Davis, a brilliant, landmark 19-track debut LP by the supremely gifted British jazz drummer variously exploring and re-interpreting many sides of 70s funk, reggae and afrobeat, joined by a stellar group of musicians and vocalists
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Pale Blue Eyes: This House is a wistful look back at happy childhood with parents now passed on
New album: After last year’s promising debut, Souvenirs, the Devon trio return with an uplifting fusion of electro-pop and krautrock, one that deals with parental loss, but with a fondness, stylistically with some echoes of Django Django and some 80s sounds reminiscent of New Order and The Cure
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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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Kofi Flexxx: Flowers In The Dark - featuring Shabaka Hutchings and a stellar jazz and rapping lineup
New album: Another vibrant new project by the illustriously creative tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings of Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors, with a potent mix of jazz, spoken word and hip-hop and a stellar lineup
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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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eee gee: SHE-REX
New album: Packed with smart, witty lyrics and an eclectic mix of dreamy pop, disco, folk and electronica, a wonderful new melodious LP by the smooth-voiced Danish artist Emma Grankvist from Copenhagen
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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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