The Rules (self release) - Ward are a Teesside duo – say “Hi, how’s it going?” to Rachel Horner and Neil Walker – and their debut album has really grabbed me by the lapels. They have been compared to classic 1980s bands such as Cocteau Twins and they do h…
Invitation (Western Vinyl) - This Oregon-based singer/songwriter has previously played with the likes of Sharon Van Etten and Efterkland, but it’s her solo stuff that really gets me yapping with delight. She comes at you from the same sort of ballpark as …
To Hold (self release) - Jonathan are a band of five close friends from Rijeka in Croatia (singing in English) who do a very fine line in guitar rock and pop that is pitched somewhere between Editors and Interpol with their nicely strident basslines and S…
And Then Nothing Happened (Royal Oakie Records) - Fronted by singer/songwriter Michael James Tapscott this Bay Area folk/rock band take their cue from all the classic Americana acts such as The Band, The Byrds and Neil Young. You can also add everyone fro…
Hellfire Ocean Void (Svart) - Diabolic Scandinavian rock, anyone? Denmark’s Demon Head deal in classic rock which is built from crunching chords, synth rushes and portentous pronouncements about raising the dead from the ground and what not. The originali…
The Omnitone Collection (self release) - There have been plenty of people getting excited about this Bristol bunch for a while now and with good reason as their rich and full-bodied electronica contains real treasures. This is their debut album and Katy S…
Pony (Sub Pop) - Oh man! I’m a sucker for a cowboy in a mask and Orville Peck wears one more enigmatically than most. And his debut album is as dramatic as you’d expect any album to be by a man hiding his features behind a massive hankie. We’re in the big…
The Story Is… (Xtra Mile Recordings) - The London alt folk/punk outfit go all concept album on us for their fourth long-player, the rather loose concept being an anthology of a series of personal vignettes inspired by a chaotic few years for the band. Tha…
Blue Lightning (Mascot Records) - The virtuoso blues/rock guitarist/singer is having fun on his new album by covering some of his favourite songs which also just happen to be the kind of standards that most people would recognise. So we get ‘Foxy Lady’, ‘…
Wave Your Flags (Yee Inventions) - This British electronica/neoclassical pianist really caused some waves with her ‘The Disappearance of the Girl’ album, which detailed the gothic fantasies she weaved for herself when growing up with an abusive Islamic st…
The Modern Age (Gorsky Records) - Sleeper had a clutch of hits around the time Britpop held sway – ‘Sale of the Century’, ‘What Do I Do Now?’ – which showed they had a canny knack for an anthemic indie-pop tune. Now reformed and back again with producer S…
con-tra-dic-shun (edj records) - Teesside has gifted us with plenty of folk stalwarts down through the years and I think it’s safe to say that the husband and wife team of Stu and Debbie Hanna (who make up Megson) belong right up there. This is their nint…
One Piece At A Time (Network) - If you’re thinking: is that the Finn Andrews who is lead singer with indie rockers The Veils, then you’d be absolutely correct. His first solo album is a much more introspective affair and it really benefits from having his…
Sweet Release (Provogue) - This rock and roll hall of fame Nashville keyboardist has played with many bluesy greats including the Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. This however, is his first solo album. Well, I say solo, but he’s …
Disturbance (One Little Indian) - Left-wing avant-noise rabble-rousers Test Dept have never had much chart success but since forming back in the early 80s their influence across industrial music has been considerable. They were one of the big draws of the…
Screaming Out (self release) - These Newcastle-based rockers have been winning fans over right across the north since their formation in 2005 and have cemented their appeal over four albums. This, their fifth long-player, shows them at the top of their ga…
Rhinoceros (Modern Sky Records) - Calva Louise are not a person but a band, a very excellent trio from London (or Manchester: their press release says London but their social media stuff says Manc), and their debut album is a real fiery furnace blast of g…
Bleeding on the Soundtrack (Loose) - This is the second album in the trilogy of autobiographical albums which began with 2017’s ‘Proud Disturber of the Peace’, a sublime record that captured Joseph’s early life in rural Cornwall. This tackles a less idyll…
The Bookends (Provogue/Mascot) - When Joe Bonamassa is throwing quotes around like, “One of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world” about Eric Gales, then you know you need to sit up and take notice. Yep, this Memphis based virtuoso really k…
This Is My Voice (Dirty Water Records) - Yes, this is THE Chocolate Watchband and, yes, they do still boast several of their 1960s line-up. They were one of the best garage bands of the time with their proto-punk infused California psych. And – what do yo…
Primetime Illusion (Xtra Mile Recordings) - With a name like Trapper, how could this Milwaukee based fella be anything but a purveyor of straight-down-the-middle Americana rock? He’s now onto his fourth album and he’s not veered too far from what he knows…
Violinvocations (Western Vinyl) - The lead track on this album by the acclaimed violinist (‘I Laid Down in the Snow’) is one of the most atmospheric things I’ve heard in an age with dusty crackles and mournful howling being punctured by Hugh Marsh’s strin…
Drama (Jansen Records) - This Norwegian band caused plenty of ripples with their 2017 self-titled debut album, but they’ve upped the ante on their sophomore release which has seen them take their Scandi-electro-pop sound and flood it with all sorts of coo…
Gloria Duplex (Akira) - Henry Jamison is a twenty-something from Vermont and I loved his debut album, 2017’s ‘The Wild’, in which his singer-songwriterly talents arrived fully formed. And he certainly hasn’t dropped the ball on this follow up, which is fu…
XIV: Surrounder (Tenement Records) - Edinburgh-raised George McFall became something of a critic’s darling with the release of his last album, ‘God Save The Clean’, which came out back in 2012 and was lauded for its progressive post-punk sense of clatter.…
No Ritual (Jansen Records) - “Chain Wallet is the sound of dreamy mythologies presented in widescreen, while simultaneously nodding back to an era where everything was in four-by-three.” That’s what the press release trumpets for this Norwegian band who a…
Drastic Measures (City Slang) - Bayonne (his mother calls him Roger Sellers) is the Austin-based purveyor of dreamy electronica and he’s on superb form here on his latest release in which he’s played every instrument himself and looped it all together int…
Stories of Sanctuary (self release) - Sam Slatcher is a Durham-based singer/songwriter who scored a viral hit with ‘City of Sanctuary’, a superb folk song which flagged up Durham’s long history of providing a home for people fleeing persecution. His lates…
Garden of Earthly Delights (SusannaSonata) - I’m often in the market for concept albums inspired by the works of medieval Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, but I usually come away disappointed at the results. Not so in this case. Susanna is a classically tr…
Five (PIAS) - The West London post-punker, nu-wavers return with their, yep, fifth album and they show little sign of being jaded. Indeed, sonically, this is as full-bodied as the band have ever been with renowned producer Flood contributing synths and ke…
Fever (PIAS) - After swooping off to complete various solo projects – including a nice bit of art-jazz – this very excellent Belgium five-piece have regrouped with more idiosyncratic indie-art-pop which has been honed to perfection. They have always manag…
Carousel (Loose Records) - The Maverick Texan songwriter’s follow up to ‘Goodluck Man’ is a distinctly darker and more confessional affair than its predecessor. She couples withering world-weary lyricism with an eclectic sound palette that veers from gauz…
Hot Sauce Pony (Brixton Hillbilly) - This Brixton four-piece have been building a buzz around their unique combination of richly textured distorted beauty and gnarly punk rock punch and on their debut album they’ve widened their aural exotica even further…
Act One – Music for Inanimate Objects (Masterworks) - I love a good collaboration and this one is very special indeed featuring Goldie and revered engineer and producer James Davidson. The result is a film soundtrack waiting to happen featuring some beaut…
Doomsday Bell (self release) - These Middlesbrough stalwarts are always great value and their new album features 12 rip-roaring tracks that have the knockabout charm of Squeeze and the jangling tunes of Orange Juice or Aztec Camera. And the band obviously…
Get Tragic (Jazz Life) - This is the fifth album from this Brighton duo and it’s their poppiest yet with big melodies much to fore and extra emphasis on synths, which veer from shimmery to driving. It also helps that lead singer Laura-Mary Carter has a vo…
Scholars (Grassland) - This Brooklyn duo have been around for around 10 years now and have regaled us in the past with two albums of their always interesting stuff and this, their third long-player, draws on their steampunk-art-folk and math-rock ways and…
About The Light (Double Six) - The former Beta Band man has really come up with the goods since going solo with four albums of rare quality. His latest sees him pulling his band in close and really letting them subtly influence his sound, which is full bo…
Bare (Akira) - Rosie Carney is only 21-years-old but already has some backstory after appearing on Ireland’s talent-search TV show ‘Other Voices’ at 16, but then dropped by Universal Music’s Polydor imprint at 18, without releasing a track. She’s very muc…
Tallies (Fear of Missing Out Records) - This Canadian band are in thrall to some of the best UK indie bands of the 1980s – think The Smiths, Cocteau Twins and Aztec Camera – but their most obvious touchstone is probably The Sundays. Indeed lead singer Sar…
Waver (Paper Bag Records) - This Canadian psych-pop outfit have been compared to Glass Animals in the past and there is definitely something of the Oxford rockers’ clever clever art-pop swirling around their nether regions. And they even manage to inject …
Oak Leaf (Saltires) - The Talitres label have kept us royally entertained over the last few years and I have to thank them for introducing me to this French singer/songwriter (singing here in English). He makes elegiac folk music which owes plenty to Nick…
Transmission (Drumcode Records) - This French DJ/producer has had his fingers in all sorts of pies over the last few years, remixing the likes of Moby and Deadmau5 and performing everywhere from Fabric to Holland’s Drumcode Festival. His latest album disp…
International Smoke Signals (Warriors Dance) - Warriors Dance were one of the first UK house music labels to hitch their wagons to acid back in the 80s and they’ve continued to curate some of the best dancefloor talent around. This is a very welcome re-re…
Origin Of Species (self release) - I do love a concept album and this one is set in 2028 (which seems ages away but is only ten years) and concerns itself with ecological disaster. It’s a rock album – and, yes, does drop in the odd Spinal Tap-ism – but it…
Swimming Alone Around The Room (self release) - This Detroit-based musician spent four years pulling his debut solo album together and it’s a mix of American college rock, with nods to Yo La Tengo, The Silver Jews and Sparklehorse etc, and instrumental tr…
A Very Monotreme Christmas (Monotreme Records) - There’s a plethora of festive fare released at this time of the year, mainly because if it was released in June it would just look daft, but this eight-tracker is among the best around as it features some o…
Greatest Hits 1995-2017 (Demon Records) - The ashes of the bands that Cast grew out of in the 1990s weren’t bad – The La’s and Shack – and, just like that pair of jangle merchants, they became known for their killer guitar melodies. This set is weighted t…
Foxwarren (Anti-Records) - Canada’s Foxwarren are a band that have been pulled together by Andy Shauf and the four-piece have come up with a startling good release that recalls classic 70s albums from the likes of The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson (think ‘Pac…
The Last Man Score (Disco Gecko) - Ooh! I do love a good curio! This album features music from Animat’s acclaimed live soundtrack to the Vincent Price film ‘The Last Man On Earth’. Originally toured in 2011, the film inspired the album ‘Imagining Clouds’ …
Not All Heroes Wear Capes (Republic Records) - The Atlanta-based hip-hop producer supposedly called it a day back in April but everyone knew that he was on a josh-fest and, whatdoyouknow, he’s back with a “surprise” new release. And it’s a guest filled al…
Mogic (Domino) - This is the third album from Hen Ogledd (Welsh for ‘The Old North’) a band featuring the singular talents of Richard Dawson, Rhodri Davies, Dawn Bothwell and new addition Sally Pilkington. It’s being billed as their “most accessible work …
Siltane (Ma Case) - Wow! This is something of a wild ride! Moonlight Benjamin (yep – real name) was born in Haiti in 1971 and sings in Haiti’s official Creole language (and occasionally in French). And the music she has swirled up here is a kind of incant…
On Reflection (City Slang) - Selling are an electronic supergroup of sorts featuring Derwin Dicker (aka Gold Panda) and Jas Shaw, who is one half of Simian Mobile Disco. As you’d expect, they’re pushing all manner of interesting buttons and I particularly…
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