Megan Thee Stallion is most associated with the sexually charged lyrics of viral hits such as WAP and Hot Girl Summer. However, like many female rap artists, this is often all her talent is reduced to by critics. This latest release refuses to be simplifi…

The debut album from this Darlington-based artist is quite something. The vibe slinks between expansive hip-hop and loungecore trip-hop – with R&B flavours – and the sheer inventiveness and songwriting ability on show is truly impressive. A whole roster o…

This latest album from Alfie Templeman is an all-you-can-eat buffet for your ears. Colourful, maximalist and experimental, it blends a range of different instrumentation and bends genre to make way for a confident step forward into endless musical pasture…

Normani has been making waves across the R&B scene for quite some time now, yet she has been patient with the release of her debut album. This has definitely proven to be the right move, as DOPAMINE has the maturity and self assuredness of an artist who k…

This third album from Sea Girls is British indie music at its best. The band are known for the energetic, anthemic quality of their songs and Midnight Butterflies supplies another fresh batch of catchy tunes you can imagine yourself belting out at one of …

I love a good curio and the second album from this Tyneside/Wearside four-piece is bountiful with its intrigues. A concept album of sorts – exploring nihilism, death, rage etc (all shot through with traces of humour) – it sees the band pushing their lo-fi…

Born and raised in Hexham, but now based in Manchester, The Spy From Balzan is the latest musical project of producer Khabs who has been making waves in the grime/dubstep/140 beats scene. His new album, however, sees him opening up a real grab-bag of infl…

Featuring award-winning vocalist Zoe Gilby and multi-instrumentalist Andy Champion, Living In Shadows bring a whole load of influences to the table for their second album. The pair have a jazz background, but they also add classic rock riffs, baroque pop,…

Scene Queen is New York’s Hannah Rose Collins and she coined the term “Bimbocore” – a kind of feminist metalcore. Her debut album is a glittery take on emo – think: maximalist pop with a bratty heart. Not that she has much time for genre purists, or misog…

Alan Chapell – or, hey, Chapell – was something of a musical prodigy when he first bubbled to the fore in Connecticut where he worked with producer Jimmy Lenner when he was aged just 15. Chapell is older now, with a few albums under his belt, and his late…

Birdie got together in the 90s and they included Debsey Wykes (Dolly Mixture) and Paul Kelly (East Village) among their ranks, the pair bonding over a love for sunshine pop and 60s/70s soft rock. ‘Some Dusty’ – which is getting a vinyl 25th anniversary re…

In the age of music streaming and short attention spans, the greatest compliment you can give an album is that none of the songs make you want to reach for the skip button. For me, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT has achieved this coveted feat. Expanding Eilish’s tr…

Billingham’s lo-fi garage queer punk duo return with their second album, and they hit their straps right from the get-go with ‘Edison’, a fuzzed-up clatter of a song that barrels along on a wave of spiky riffs and indie-pop hooks. And there’s plenty more …

The sixth album from Charli xcx is everything that its title suggests - loud, abrasive, unfiltered - but in the best way. The lyrics are super fun; pretty much every song makes you want to hit the dance floor; and it still manages to uphold a unique sound…

In The Great British Dream, Manchester rap icon Bugzy Malone offers an evolved sound, while still remaining in touch with his Grime roots. There are notably very few features, which I actually found refreshing, since rap albums tend to be oversaturated wi…

This latest release from Låpsley is a stunning portrait of complex emotions and experiences, with its title and dark cover perfectly encapsulating the almost haunting nature of its sound. Exploring compelling subjects such as insecurity, materialism, dest…

Dua Lipa’s last release - 2020’s Future Nostalgia - is hands down one of my favourite pop albums of all time, and then as if I wasn’t excited enough, she revealed that this third album was “a psychedelic pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture” as well as …

The veteran experimentalist and former Velvet Underground band member released his seventeenth studio album (the well-received ‘Mercy’) only last year, and he’s swiftly followed up with this, a release in which he brings to heel a whole bunch of synths, s…

The first album that Angélica Garcia – an LA based pop envelope pusher – has made for Partisan Records, is also the first album she’s recorded entirely in Spanish. The results are fresh and breezy, with subtle electronica blending seamlessly with percussi…

The Young Property Developers is north-east lad Paul Stewart and his latest album – which features turns from other local luminaries – is a new-wavey/punky thing of joy. Sonically, it’s exuberantly lo-fi and full of thrashy hooks and fizzy melodies, and t…

The debut album from this Newcastle outfit mangles discord with melody in a way that defies categorization. They’re like a mutant take on Pigs x 7 and pen towering slabs of brass and woozy post-punk that, at times, can sound like The Stranglers being shov…

Sax player and vocalist Laura Misch’s latest follows her acclaimed debut ‘Sample The Sky’ with an album that sees her coming at the songs from that previous album in a more acoustic, stripped back manner. Gorgeous textures are added by Marysia Osu on harp…

Tagging an artist with the word ‘experimental’ often suggests an output that sounds like someone tunelessly banging a kettle. Not so for this Canadian singer/songwriter. Her new album is a real eye-opener, expanding Americana to take in post-punk, psych a…

The third album from this Newcastle rapper is a booze-soaked affair laden with tales of addiction and (occasional) moments of sobriety set to a bed of boom-bap beats and samples galore. He also draws on the local talents of Rick Fury and Stig of the Dump …

The fact that this is Pet Shop Boys’ fifteenth album is an achievement in itself, though even some of the most established artists start to lose themselves after this many releases. Not Tennant and Lowe, though. ‘Nonetheless’ offers 10 fresh tracks of mel…

This album is well and truly in the running for one of my favourites of the year. Combining everything from spoken-word, to jazz, to electronica, to musical theatre, ‘Forgiveness Is Yours’ is an incredibly ambitious undertaking, but for me lands exception…

‘A LA SALA’ translates as “to the living room”, welcoming us to view Khruangbin through an intimate and domestic snapshot. This fourth album is particularly intriguing by being a patchwork quilt of sorts, weaving together a collection of unreleased music.…

This third album from LA psych-pop band Lo Moon has a unifying theme across its nine tracks, exploring how moments of revelation - whether through family, places, youth, relationships or time - shape our lives and personalities. It has a distinctly nostal…

girl in red’s last album ‘if i could make it go quiet’ is one of my favourites of all time, so when she opened this latest release with the (uncharacteristically) optimistic line “I’m back, I’m better than ever” I was excited. Unfortunately, for me, it al…

This East London trio are going to have plenty of plaudits chucked their way this year as their debut album is right on the money, particularly if you’re partial to bluesy indie-rock that has been gently fried. They pull off the rare trick of being able t…

A shining jewel on the local scene for many a year, anything Kathryn Williams is involved with is always worth investing time in and so it proves on her latest album, which sees her teaming up with Dan Willson (aka Withered Hand). It’s a warmly strummy af…

Dru Irving is a north-east singer/songwriter who has been in and around the local scene for a number of years and this, his debut album, is an absolute delight. He can do melancholic and reflective with the best of them, with the kind of tunes that recall…

As the title of this debut album kind of hints at, this release collects together most of The Hemp Queens’ output including EPs and singles. The Newcastle collective manage to be many things at once as they exude a carefree, flippant air, while also hitti…

This Aussie singer/songwriter has won herself a loyal following and with little wonder. Albums such as ‘My Little River’ (country-tinged folk) and ‘LOVE HATE’ (NYC-inspired art/rock/pop) marked her out as a real talent, and her latest is likely to win her…

Nacho Dog is Cullercoats based Dan Gooch, who does pretty much everything on his latest album. He’s given his usual stoner-funk and gently frazzled trip-hop a swerve here for a more rootsy sound and, pleased to report, it’s a release well worthy of your a…

Tyla’s hit ‘Water’ truly took the world by storm last summer, so this debut album has a lot to live up to. I really love how Tyla has brought the South African genre of amapiano into the mainstream, blending it with R&B and pop to create a unique sound th…

The Libertines are back after nine years and it looks like they’ve finally grown up. With their past albums fraught with the rivalry between Carl Barât and Pete Doherty, this fourth release appears to be free from problematics. But is it toxic to say the …

This Newcastle band contains three-fifths of the excellent The Winter Hill Transmission, and their debut album features some swoony harmonising from Ben Holland and Pete Moffat who are ably aided by Katja Roberts on violin, Neil Hopper on double bass, and…

This new release from Cavetown - the musical project of Robin Skinner - is a hazy blend of bedroom pop, indie and electronica, with a lo-fi feel to it. Each song is densely packed with layers of sound and instrumentation, but also with emotion, thanks to …

First releases are always what I’m most excited to review, and Nectar Woode has proven exactly why that is the case. Nothing To Lose places Woode’s beautiful, soulful vocals and impressive songwriting skills centre-stage. Her lyrics are charismatic while …

Even if you’re new to Bleachers, you have most likely heard their music before; they have featured on albums from the likes of Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, thanks to frontman Jack Antonoff being one of the biggest producers of the moment. I’m a big fan …

Ariana Grande is no stranger to a heartbreak anthem, but ‘eternal sunshine’ offers a deeper contemplation on the subject that adds a new tangibility to her music. Grande has had quite the rap from the press recently, but by approaching the subject of her …

Though IDLES have built their following on anti-establishment, anthemic rage, album no.5 introduces a melodic nuance to their sound. TANGK presents IDLES through a soft focus lens: the lyrical subject matter is lighter, singing dominates over chanting, t…

Specky Cult are a female-fronted north-east three-piece who play the kind of frothy indie-pop that isn’t afraid to stretch its wings, here taking in everything from strummy and exuberant acoustica (‘Alibi’) to spiky new-wave sounds (‘Love Crap’). They’re …

Here’s a curio. Peter Watts wrote a whole bunch of songs when he was 16 or 17, but he didn’t record them. He’s now 72 and has decided to get a band together to finally give them an airing, the result being ‘Bluebottle Green’. And – what do you know – it’s…

This all-female four-piece hail from Washington in the US and over four albums they’ve found favour with indie types drawn to their dreamy, often low-key, ways and means. Their latest sees them operating in all sorts of liminal spaces, balancing melanchol…

Oh, wow! I love an album that leaves me feeling like someone has shoved a Dyson up my jumper and Ponyland’s ‘Hare Brains’ delivers that experience in spades. They’re a self-described “psychotropic-punk 6 piece from Newcastle” and cite bands such as The Co…

Local outfit TGWTRH started out as a duo but now number Mick Porter on bass and The Go-Betweens’ Lindy Morrison on drums among their ranks. Seems like a match made in heaven because their latest album is a shimmering thing of joy. It’s a release shot thro…

LA singer-songwriter Laena Myers is best known as being the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter with Feels, but for this, her debut solo album, she’s pulled together a whole bunch of songs that she reckons were two personal and dreamy for Feels. And it’…

This is Etta Marcus’ debut album, so I was taken aback by how self-assuredly she leans into her own, unique sound on this release. While detectably influenced by the likes of Lana Del Rey, Sharon Van Etten and Phoebe Bridges, Marcus has a distinctly soft …

Tom Odell’s lyrical talents are far from obscure at this point in his career, yet on his sixth album the artist takes the candid and confessional nature of his writing to another level. Raw and sombre, Black Friday is undoubtedly brimming with emotion, pe…

This third album from Manchester’s Chemtrails is delightfully weird. Sprawling across a variety of genres, from psychedelic, to punk, to pop, The Joy of Sects is as colourful a listen as its cover would suggest. The unique vocals of front-women and romant…

This is the third full-length album from these Aussie psych rockers, and it’s bathed in the kind of gorgeous beanbag vibes that’ll have you positively cooing with delight. Percussive melodies are pushed very much to the fore as garage-rock boogies and bli…

Singer-songwriter and something of a guitar hero, Mary Timony has been enrapturing her loyal fans for 30 odd years. This – her first solo release in 15 years – has a delicious, acid-folk, freak/garage sound, and sees her contemplating not only the loss of…