Drum'n'gaze duo 100% WET release their eponymous debut album on Crunchy Frog. Who are they? Rebooting the harddrive of indie rock programming, 100% WET is an experimental duo consisting of the two producers and guitarists Jakob Birch (The Lost Weekend, Lovespeed) and Casper Munns (Himmelrum, Drop, Splitscreen), featuring different vocalists including Eir (SE), Polly (DK) and Hockeysmith (UK).

Blurring the boundaries between rock, electronica, and breakbeat-driven club music, the album is a genre-blend of shoegaze's vast soundscapes, the kinetic energy of drum'n'bass and the hard-hitting detail of hyperpop. "When we met, we both needed to approach music-making from a fresh perspective. We'd been exploring electronic production styles, and this album became our mutual attempt to create drum'n'gaze - a term Casper had coined to describe the missing fusion of shoegaze and drum and bass." say Casper and Jakob.

The album is an exploration of contrasts - melancholy wrapped in euphoria, introspection communicated as explosion. Sonically, the band has worked with negative space in a loud-quiet-loud sense, mirrored thematically and emotionally: The album deals with stark contrasts. On hypergaze single Ether they describe the juxtaposed feelings of being in an altered state of mind - the perception of momentary bliss, while also experiencing everything at a dissociate remove. It is bitter-sweetness experienced in high contrast; golden euphoria tinged with an absolute monochromatic melancholy.

Elsewhere, on Over Me, the duo mix a deep longing for life itself with utter heartbreak, both outerpoints sounding like they're soaring above the clouds, anchored by a roar of a chorus and deep subs. Whether on ballads or bangers, so to speak, the album is cohesive but utterly fresh-sounding.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Mega, mega, MEGA!! Spaced out shoegaze meets DnB. Sounds like it shouldn't work but it totally does. Channelling the bagginess of Chapterhouse's 'Pearl' but with a more polished sheen at points, then elsewhere there's moments of utter shoegaze pop perfection - massively impressed!

TRACK LISTING

1.Lost Myself
2.Ether
3.Looking In From The Outside
4.Re-Emerging
5.Over Me
6.Two Packs Of Red Apples
7.Leave It
8.Carat
9.Warmblooded

A sense of musical wisdom, innate discipline and expansive creativity pervades the street-smart electro-soul from Ellen Beth Abdi, as the renowned, prolific collaborator turned towering solo virtuoso announces her self-titled debut album. Popping with synth signatures, swelling with slow-burning background energies and flowing with delicately placed words of potent and personal meaning, the digital single "Sad Chord" give you a taste of what to expect from the LP from Manchester’s very worst kept multi-instrumental, genre-hopping secret.

Counting back almost a decade since her prodigious talents were first discovered and her solo touring and numerous support slots kick-started a journey around national and international venues, all of Abdi’s live experience, including sharing stages with Lady Blackbird, Courtney Pine and Angelique Kidjo, will be poured into dates arranged in celebration of the long-anticipated release of Ellen Beth Abdi.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Silky smooth street soul rich with shimmering arpeggios and throbbing bass, meticulously crafted passages of minimalist electronics and Abdi's athletic, rhythmic vocals. A brilliantly cohesive, musically inventive debut from an artist we'll be hearing lots more of in the future.

TRACK LISTING

1. Who This World Is Made For
2. Thickskinpeel
3. Tenterhooks
4. Elsewhere
5. The Bad Dream
6. Sad Chord
7. Spellbound
8. Problem Child
9. Kingsway Bouquet
10. Sweet Twenty-Three

The Pool represents Apta's most focused and compelling release to date. Based on the transformative plunge of a psychedelic experience, it maps both tentative footsteps into the unknown and euphoric, melodic bliss. Recorded using a combination of modular synthesis, Arp Odyssey, bass, guitar, Elektron grooveboxes and (for the first time in Apta's recorded history) a hint of vocals. There are wisps of melody from the outset, woven through skittering modular synths and saturated bass guitar. But it's on the post-rock indebted 'Shiver' and follower 'Awash' that Apta's distinctive mix of ambient music and flourishing melody take the fore. We also get some more off-piste excursions, widening the boundaries of Apta's already diverse sound and resulting in an album that falls somewhere in the middle ground between post-rock, pop ambient and kosmische. Though there are definitely echoes of that pristine production aesthetic that has defined Apta's sound to date, there are a lot more layers involved, with both gritty percussion and analogue distortion playing a much more significant role, echoing the waves of emotion involved in the tryptamine plunge, and resulting in a stylistically varied, but familiar experience. 'The Pool' is both surprising and intriguing, richly layered but undeniably melodic, and has found it's perfect home on Castles In Space.

Barry Smethurst expands: "The Pool' to me feels like the sort of album that epitomises what I'm trying to do with my music, influenced by melody-laiden electronica and guitar-led post rock while sounding like neither. I've always felt that it would be nice to have another layer to my compositions (a minor key here or there) and some less upbeat pieces, and I think the theme of the LP works perfectly as a parallel, with both moments of sublime joy and flickers of the intimidating unknown coming together. The album was 'Finished' just before I got the Arp Odyssey, so was originally a lot less Arp heavy, but because the noise oscillator mix of the synth works perfectly with the saturated haze of the LP as a whole, I went back and recorded a load of tracks to add it in."

Castles in Space are delighted to be releasing this beautiful and euphoric album as their first release of 2025. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Apta’s latest libation has been a long time brewing. He released his first E.P. back in 2011 - for context, David Cameron was prime minister, the UK was still happily part of the E.U. and pandemics were the stuff of history lessons and disaster movies. So much has changed since, not least in Apta’s sonic world, although in this case those developments have not been jarring, each new iteration building on the fertile ground of the former; this being the most complete realisation of his creative vision to date.

“The Pool” is a sympathetic expression of psychedelic experience through music, with accents of post-rock, kosmische, Icelandic glitch popsters Múm and even folk inflexions adding texture to a modular electronic core. For the first time in his recorded history there are even vocals (hushed mind you, and only on the one song, the gorgeous drift of “Emerge”).

Yes, it’s taken 14 years to get to this point, but it’s definitely been worth the wait - and infinitely more welcome than some things I could think of.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sink
2. Shivers
3. Awash
4. One Foot
5. MLT
6. Meniscus
7. Dive
8. The Depths
9. Emerge
10. Breathe

“I think this is the best thing we've ever done, it's a proper step up.” It’s immediately clear that the Hull band have broken new ground on Microtonic. “The last album was essentially like a bridge between the two albums,” the band say of 2023’s I Don’t Know. “With that one we knew what we were trying to do but with this one we've fully cracked it.”

Bdrmm’s trademark sound hasn’t disappeared by any means, the band's more guitar-heavy beginnings a blueprint and influence on many of the groups breaking through in the here and now, a time when shoegaze is enjoying its strongest revival since its inception in the 80s, but those guitars are now incorporated into a broader, more expansive and varied sonic palette.

"Microtonic", recorded with long-term band collaborator Alex Greaves, features guest appearances from Working Men's Club and Olivesque of Nightbus.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: BDRMM aren't exactly afraid of pushing boundaries, and earned a lot more fans with their last LP 'Standard Tuning'. This time, the Hull foursome smash through a series of beautifully produced pieces, packed with industrial synths and woozy floating pads, shoegaze tentativeness and electronic bombast.

TRACK LISTING

1 Goit (featuring Working Men’s Club)
2 John On The Ceiling
3 Infinity Peaking
4 Snares
5 In The Electric Field (featuring Olivesque)
6 Microtonic
7 Clarkycat
8 Sat In The Heat
9 Lake Disappointment
10 The Noose

Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell’s third solo album pinball wanderer is an otherworldly collection of intergalactic wizardry that mixes psychedelic melodies, Can-via-The Stone Roses grooves and Arthur Russell-style experimental textures.

With guest appearances from Dot Allison and Neu! legend Michael Rother on a cover of The Passions’ peerless post-punk classic ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’, it is perfect for both deep-listening headphones moments and cutting across the coolest, most understated dancefloors.

The loose-limbed rhythm tracks were the starting point and were laid down with the help of Andy’s old Oasis bandmate Gem Archer. The rest followed after an intense all-night session last summer, with the completed album being delivered the following morning. It’s Andy’s finest work to date; a quintessential nighttime record where you can slip through the gaps in the notes and revel in the moment.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: We’re big fans of all things Bell in the shop, Ride (obviously) and Oasis are common on the shop stereo so of course we’re always going to be super excited about a new one from the great Andy Bell. Turns out as well that not only does Manchester love Andy Bell, Andy Bell loves Manchester too with the swaggering Rosesy sound of “Apple Green UFO” more than a little reminiscent of the baggy groove we all know so well.

It doesn’t stop there either, we get soaring synthy bliss and stabs of saturated arpeggios swirling beneath echoic vocals and deep bass throbs, resulting in an album that’s as uniquely danceable and warmly comforting as anything he’s ever done. A perfectly engineered, impeccably curated selection of grooves from one of the most chameleonic and talented musicians in the game.

TRACK LISTING

Panic Attack
I’m In Love…
Madder Lake Deep
Apple Green Ufo
Pinball Wanderer
Music Concrete
The Notes You Never Hear
Space Station Mantra
I’m In Love… (Justin Robertson’s Deadstock 33s Remix) – CD Only
I’m In Love… (GLOK Remix) - CD Only
I’m In Love… (Justin Robertson’s Deadstock 33s Dub) - CD Only

A new vinyl album from Nat Birchall, this is the Dub version of his Dimension of the Drums LP, a roots reggae instrumental set that was very enthusiastically received last year, ending up on many best Of The Year lists.

For this album Nat has remixed the tracks in classic early to mid - 1970s style. Inspired by the classic Dub LPs like Keith Hudson’s ‘Pick A Dub’ and Winston Edwards’ ‘King Tubby Meets The Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Dub’ the tracks have been reimagined in Roots Dub fashion, some with new horn lines and all with hand drums, giving the album a very authentic Rootsy sound. Additionally there are two different mixes of a new rhythm track that wasn’t on the previous album.

Once again Nat plays all the instruments and did all the recording, mixing and mastering.

Drums in Dub features eight tracks of instrumental Dub delight, specially designed for the 1970s Dub connoisseur. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Jungle Trek
2 Further Shores
3 Bongo Man Dub
4 Solomon Dub
5 Eastern Dub
6 Sahara Dub
7 Granby Street Rock
8 Sheba Dub

Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE, was a prologue mired in darkness, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book that follows. Where SABLE, was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era. On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE. It’s a portrait of a man flooded and overwhelmed by that first meeting (“Everything Is Peaceful Love”). There’s a tableau defined by sex and irrepressible desire (“Walk Home”). This is someone filled with light and purpose seeing an entire future right in front of him: a partner, new memories, maybe a family. There’s something undeniably healing about infatuation. Cleaving to someone else can feel like light pouring in from a door that’s suddenly swung wide. But there’s a reason SABLE, is of a piece with fABLE; the shadow still rears its head in lighter times. Even when you’ve reached a new chapter, you’ll still find yourself back in your own foundational muck. A fable isn’t a fairy tale. There’s good stuff: unbridled joy and trips to Spain. But fables aren’t hinged on happy endings; they’re here to instill a lesson. As the album winds to a close, he acknowledges the need for patience and a commitment to put in the work. There’s a selfless rhythm required when you’re enmeshing yourself with another person. The song—and by extension the entire album —is a pledge. He’s ready to find that pace.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: SABLE, fABLE sees the inimitable Bon Iver return for a cathartic, epic album comprising two parts. While the first disc 'SABLE' is undeniably beautiful, it's definitely more rooted in Bon Iver's alt-folk roots, while the contrasting 'fABLE' is a widescreen burst of emotion, and results in some of the most captivating material in his stylistically varied catalogue.

TRACK LISTING

SABLE,
SIDE A
1. THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS
2. S P E Y S I D E
SIDE B
3. AWARDS SEASON

fABLE
SIDE A
1. Short Story
2. Everything Is Peaceful Love
3. Walk Home
4. Day One (feat. Dijon And Flock Of Dimes)
5. From
SIDE B
6. I'll Be There
7. If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)
8. There's A Rhythmn
9. Au Revoir

Returning with 'caroline 2', the eight-piece collective embrace a bolder, more expansive sound. Going beyond their debut's explorations of repetition, slowness and space, the new album pushes further into dynamic contrasts — organic and electronic, raw and refined. Launched with the striking single ‘Tell me I never knew that’, featuring Caroline Polachek’s unmistakable vocals, caroline 2 showcases a fearless interplay of layered instrumentation, warped vocal processing, and moments of both euphoria and melancholy. Intentional and immersive, this next chapter solidifies caroline as one of the most innovative voices in contemporary music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: With the sort of off-piste melodic direction and slowly building, soaring verses you'd expect from any of the big post-rock bands, you'd be forgiven for thinking of Caroline as rich in feeling but lacking in hooks, fortunately you'd be dead wrong. This is beautifully structured, monolithic compositions with soul and intrigue that also get stuck in your head like nothing else.

TRACK LISTING

Total Euphoria
Song Two
Tell Me I Never Knew That (ft. Caroline Polachek)
When I Get Home
U R UR ONLY ACHING
Coldplay Cover
Two Riders Down
Beautiful Ending

Eddie Chacon’s 2023 album, 'Sundown', established him as a “low-key R&B legend”, 30 years after his rocket-to-the-stars success as half of the duo Charles and Eddie. Now, Chacon is back with 'Lay Low', an album of hazy, seductive songs produced by Nick Hakim. Eddie Chacon’s soulful music has been praised by The Guardian, Uncut, MOJO, Record Collector, Aquarium Drunkard and many more.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A superb new one from Eddie Chacon, long established in his own right but formerly known as one half of Charles & Eddie (Of 'Would I Lie To You' fame). Chacon's latest dips more than a toe into the Balearic seas, but ends up somewhere between poolside electronica, downbeat and funky soul. It's a further extension of Chacon's established sound and shows how far his considerable talents stretch. A gorgeous return.

TRACK LISTING

1.Good Sun
2. Let You Go
3. Empire Ft. John Carroll Kirby
4. Lay Low
5. Birds Ft. Nick Hakim
6. Let The Devil In
7. End Of The World
8. If I Ever Let You Go

Superior Viaduct and our new artist label, W.25TH, are proud to continue to be the home for Cindy Lee with the physical release of the celebrated album Diamond Jubilee. Universally praised, shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, and already hailed by Pitchfork as the 3rd best album of the 2020s, anticipation and conversation around the record has been high.

Cindy Lee is the performance and songwriting vehicle of Patrick Flegel (who previously fronted influential indie group Women). Over several albums, Flegel has combined delicate melodies and sheer beauty with moments of experimentation. With Diamond Jubilee, Flegel’s undeniable songcraft comes to the foreground, embracing a more instant connection and accessibility. Timeless tales of love and longing, surrounded by sticky hooks, take the listener on an unforgettable journey.

Diamond Jubilee was written and recorded over several years by Patrick Flegel in Toronto, Durham, Calgary and Montreal at Realis- tik Studios. The album was mixed by Steven Lind, who also contributes to several tracks and co-wrote “Baby Blue,” and was mastered by Joshua Stevenson.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Diamond Jubilee was digitally self released last year and garnered rave reviews from fans and media alike. It now finally gets a physical release through Superior Viaduct's new artist label, W.25TH. It's an absolutely sublime collection of vintage sounding pop songs, drawing on sounds and styles from the 1950's onwards: there's hint's of do-wop and soul, 60's girl groups, Velvetsy art-rock, folk and country. The pop waters are muddied with psychedelic waves at times, but for the most part it's laid back dream-pop, delivered in a sort of shimmering, otherworldy haze. You can imagine it perfectly soundtracking a David Lynch film.

It's pricey, but at 32 track and over two hours long, it's worth it. An absolute gem of a record!

Andy says: I first heard this Cindy Lee album with zero context playing on the office computer whilst I opened boxes of records. After about half an hour I began to wonder; what is this classic music and why haven’t I heard it before? Is it a compilation of great bands that for some reason didn’t make it?

It sounds like a beautifully curated hazy mixtape moving through doo-wop, sixties pop, girl groups, psych rock, indie pop, synth pop and even dislocated disco! I started to imagine it was the haunted soundtrack to some long lost David Lynch film, playing on a lonely old medium wave radio in a deserted house on a quiet and still street. This wistful sound felt warped, fractured, brokenly lo-fi yet sophisticatedly arranged, sweet yet macabre and with a deep sense of longing laced throughout. It was the best thing I’d heard in a long time!

Welcome to the mysterious world of Cindy Lee; the alter ego of Canadian maestro Patrick Flegel. Six years in the making and featuring 32 tracks spanning two hours of music, this could be your most exciting (and exotic!) musical discovery of 2025. It certainly was mine!

TRACK LISTING

1. Diamond Jubilee
2. Glitz
3. Baby Blue
4. Dreams Of You
5. All I Want Is You
6. Dallas
7. Olive Drab
8. Always Dreaming
9. Wild One
10. Flesh And Blood
11. Le Machiniste Fantome
12. Kingdom Come
13. Demon Bitch 3
14. I Have My Doubts
15. Til Polarity’s End
16. Realistik Heaven
17. Stone Faces
18. GAYBLEVISION
19. Dracula
20. Lockstepp
21. Government Cheque
22. Deepest Blue
23. To Heal The Wounded Heart
24. Golden Microphone
25. If You Hear Me Crying
26. Darling Of The Diskoteque
27. Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong
28. What’s It Going To Take
29. Wild Rose
30. Durham City Limit
31. Crime Of Passion
32. 24/7 Heaven

Cloth let go on ‘Pink Silence’, a bold reinvention that retains their enchanting pull.

Scottish twins Rachael and Paul Swinton sounded like few around them when they released their 2019 self-titled debut. Their appeal lived in tense guitar parts and Rachael’s signature close vocal. In the time since, they have worked to perfect that sound. The 2023 follow-up ‘Secret Measure’ expanded it in every direction, with more layers, more interplay, and gutsier writing. The record received critical acclaim from publications including The Guardian, Pitchfork, CLASH and Uncut, and was shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award in 2023. Cloth have also been championed by 6 Music DJs Mary Anne Hobbs, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson, and Matt Everitt, and played exciting live sessions for Marc Riley & Gideon Coe (6 Music), Roddy Hart (BBC Radio Scotland) and John Kennedy (Radio X).

Now, three records in, they embrace letting go of expectation. ‘Pink Silence’ is unafraid to go big in the quest to make something lasting. With Owen Pallett, Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai) contributing, this mission is supported by some of their musical heroes.

“It was a conscious decision to go bigger, more muscular and less subtle,” says Paul. “There was a willingness to push ourselves as far as we could go in terms of how cinematic we could make things.”

The central prompt to ‘let go’ was given to Rachael by the band’s producer Ali Chant (Yard Act, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey) when she asked him if he noticed any common threads when artists create their best work.

“He said ‘the artist always lets go’, and he didn't really expand on it”, Rachael says. “So I took this phrase away and just ruminated on it for ages, viewing letting go as something that could be helpful. I started applying it to different things, like the writing, not trying to get caught up in that feeling of ‘is this good enough? Do I need to work on this again?’ It was more instinctual.”

With ‘Pink Silence’, the band entered the studio to make the ten strongest songs they possibly could, and they left a stronger band.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I love Cloth. Their 2023 album, Secret Measure was my personal album of the year in 2023 and remains a favourite to this day. Obviously I was delighted then to hear they had a new one coming for favourite label, Rock Action but also delighted to hear that it's equally brilliant, angular post-rock indie business to that stunning debut. If anything it's even more tuneful and cathartic and inventive. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Pink Silence
2. Polaroid
3. Stuck
4. Golden
5. The Cottage

Side B
6. It’s A Lot
7. I Don’t Think So
8. Stones
9. Burn
10. Write It Down

Widely regarded as “one of the best songwriters of her generation” (Rolling Stone), Lucy Dacus returns with Forever Is A Feeling. Following a career defining run with boygenius that earned her three GRAMMY® Awards, her fourth solo studio album explores falling in and out of love, the tumult of desire, and larger than life romance. Across 13 tracks that range from lush arrangements to simple declarations, Dacus makes a serious inquiry into what it looks like to dedicate one’s life to true love, and a valiant attempt to capture the elusive, fleeting feeling of forever.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A fittingly grand, majestic outing from Dacus of Springsteenian melodicism and slowly growing atmospheres, wonderfully orchestrated and finely balanced to result in an album that's definitely her most cinematically intense to date. A stunningly voiced, perfectly curated selection from one of the greatest songwriters of our generation.

TRACK LISTING

Calliope Prelude
Big Deal
Ankles
Limerence
Modigliani
Talk
For Keeps
Forever Is A Feeling
Come Out
Best Guess
Bullseye (with Hozier)
Most Wanted Man
Lost Time

Canadian DJ-producer Marie Davidson releases her sixth studio album 'City Of Clowns', made in collaboration with Soulwax and Pierre Guerineau (Essaie pas, L’Œil Nu, Feu St-Antoine), via Soulwax’s own Deewee label. Earlier this year, Davidson debuted on the legendary Deewee imprint with her single 'Y.A.A.M. (Your Asses Are Mine)', reuniting with the Belgian powerhouse Soulwax, who previously reworked Davidson’s acclaimed 'Work It' anthem. Her all-out blistering club cut “Contrarian” soon followed, evoking Davidson's heavier output.

'City Of Clowns', marks a return to the club – but not as you know it. The techno thump and scathing spoken-word delivery of 'Working Class Woman' resurface at points, but the pop structures and melodic sensibilities of 'Renegade Breakdown' also remain. It’s a “strange” sonic blend even by Davidson’s own standards. “It’s definitely linking back to what I was doing pre-pandemic, but with a bit of an evolution,” she says. “I didn't want to just repeat myself.” The sound and the spirit of the album are shaped, too, by the fact that Davidson has a new antagonist. This time it’s not club culture that’s coming for her sense of self, it’s Big Tech.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Scattered electronic fragments melt together into a big, robotic monolith of Linn drums, glitchy vocals and melted oscillators.

TRACK LISTING

1. Validations Weight
2. Demolition
3. Sexy Clown
4. Push Me Fuckhead
5. Fun Times
6. Statistical Modelling
7. Y.A.A.M.
8. Contrarian
9. Unknowing 

Everyone's favourite blackgazers Deafheaven are back with their new album 'Lonely People With Power' via their new label home, Roadrunner Records.

Recorded with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen [St. Vincent, M83], 'Lonely People With Power' follows Deafheaven’s 2021 studio album, 'Infinite Granite', which saw the GRAMMY-nominated band charting new ground and expanding stylistic boundaries. 'On Lonely People With Power', Deafheaven again confound expectations, piling element on element, and towering towards the sky with their most ambitious release yet. Tracked at EastWest Studios, 'Lonely People With Power' includes additional vocal contributions from Jae Matthews of Boy Harsher and Paul Banks of Interpol.

The band return to the UK in June to play Manchester’s acclaimed Outbreak Fest.

STAFF COMMENTS

Fred says: ‘Lonely People With Power’ is a timely return for Deafheaven, bringing back the Blackgaze sound that let them outshine their peers and in my opinion eclipsing their modern classic ‘Sunbather’.

Over its hour-long runtime, the album mixes manic drumming and guitars that bleed noise with moments of respite created by the "Incidentals" that feature guest vocals from the likes of Paul Banks and Jae Matthews.

The final track, "The Marvelous Orange Tree" is a standout, calling back to the final track of their seminal album, ‘The Pecan Tree’, as it bounces around between the almost melodic sound of the intros of previous tracks on the album and the wall of sound that the rest of the album accompanies resulting in a satisfying finale. I do think, with this obsession they seem to have with trees, however they could have been arborists in another life.

TRACK LISTING

1. Incidental I
2. Doberman
3. Magnolia
4. The Garden Route
5. Heathen
6. Amethyst
7. Incidental II (feat. Jae Matthews)
8. Revelator
9. Body Behavior
10. Incidental III (feat. Paul Banks)
11. Winona
12. The Marvelous Orange Tree

A supergroup of sorts - Fat White Family’s Lias Saoudi, Trashmouth Records’ Luke and Liam May, and Quinn Whalley of Paranoid London and Warmduscher - Decius have travelled the earth liberating people from banality since the release of Decius Vol. I. They’ve revealed to all those they’ve encountered just what was missing in their lives: pump without borders, pump without reason - absolute pump.

Now they offer up Decius Vol. II (Splendour & Obedience). It throbs with an almost impossible sense of potential, and expands on the lexicon of molten desire. The sound has moved into new territories, with tastes of house, disco and techno, all with an underlying base note of acid on tracks such as the slippery night cruise intensity of ‘Birth of A Smirk’, where Colonel Abrams gets his nipples tortured. ‘Queen of 14th St’ is all watersports and Cybotron force from Detroit via Deptford. First single ‘Walking In The Heat’ struts like a sunburnt and horny Kraftwerk, while ‘Ghent’ is purest uncut ’88 acid. Vol. II is the art of seduction in damp rooms painted black. Keep hydrated from whatever source is available. Be your own pleasure centre. Vol. II is a veritable selection box of booty bumps and illegal highs made at night for the night and beyond. This is music that takes pride in its walk of shame.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thumping, jagged dance music that's as filthy as it is alluring. Gritty overdriven synths, rattling drum machines and lots of satisfying filter manipulation result in something that's as perfect for the dancefloor as it is a particularly raucous night on the home stereo.

TRACK LISTING

1. A1. Birth Of A Smirk (feat. Lias Saoudi) (5:39)
2. A2. Walking In The Heat (feat. Lias Saoudi & Alex White) (4:53)
3. B1. Queen Of 14th St (feat. Lias Saoudi) (5:51)
4. B2. Ghent (feat. Lias Saoudi) (5:46)
5. C1. Ibrahim (feat. Lias Saoudi & Maggie The Cat) (4:57)
6. C2. I Gave Birth 2 U (feat. Lias Saoudi & Maggie The Cat) (5:25)
7. C3. Punishment/Improvement (feat. Lias Saoudi) (5:03)
8. D1. Y U Look At Me That Way? (feat. Fats McCourt) (5:15)
9. D2. We Carry Our Flamboyance As A Warning (4:37)
10. D3. Arctic Spring (feat. Lias Saoudi) (5.20)

The Doves are back with their sixth studio album, 'Constellations For The Lonely'.

First emerging in 1998 with the release of their debut, vinyl-only 'Cedar' EP, Doves’ first album, 'Lost Souls' (2000), received both press and award-panel praise, before Number One follow-up, 'The Last Broadcast' (2002) provided the trio with a major breakthrough, offering with the hit singles, "There Goes The Fear" and "Pounding". Straight-to-Number One follow up, Some Cities (2005) and the difficult birth of the much-loved Kingdom of Rust (2009) appeared before an eleven year hiatus came to an end with Number One 'The Universal Want' (2020).  And now five years later the rejuvenated trio of Jez Williams, Jimi Goodwin and Andy Williams return with the epic and hugely anticipated 'Constellations For The Lonely'.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Doves return for their most progressive, nuanced outing yet. Though they have made their name as an 'indie' band, Constellations For The Lonely shows that their wheelhouse effortlessly expands with each release, crafting pieces that are wildly dynamic and enduringly unique and taking them well beyond the realms of their initial appeal.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Renegade
2. Cold Dreaming
3. In The Butterfly House
4. Strange Weather
5. A Drop In The Ocean

Side B
1. Last Year’s Man
2. Stupid Schemes
3. Saint Teresa
4. Orlando
5. Southern Bell

Everyone Says Hi is the brand-new band created by frontman and ex-Kaiser Cheifs member, Nick Hodgson. The band also includes members Pete Denton (The Kooks), Ben Gordon (The Dead 60s), Glenn Moule (Howling Bells) and Tom Dawson. Their debut album with Chrysalis Records is a collection of dreamy-pop sounds inspired by the likes of REM, The Strokes, Daft Punk, Cigarettes After Sex and Mac Demarco.

The sound of Everyone Says Hi is owed to what Nick calls ‘analogue hour’: “After dinner at my house, we listen to a record, no phones, TV, or remote control, just put it on and take it all in.” Nick remarks on the feelings of wanting to create an album that focuses on authenticity over production "I wanted to make an album that I’d listen to at night on the record player"

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: I never cared for the Kaiser Chiefs but if Everyone Says Hi main man Nick Hodgson was one of their songwriters then perhaps I should revisit? This is simply a very good album of really tuneful guitar pop songs. Absolutely superb songs in some instances! If you imagine the kind of accessible indie pop which Ian Broudie serves up with the Lightning Seeds then you get an idea where ESH fit into the scheme of things. Not one duffer and some melodies on here which are just sky-scraping!

TRACK LISTING

1. Somebody Somewhere
2. Lucky Stars
3. Only One
4. Brain Freeze
5. I Wish I Was In New York City
6. On The Same Side
7. I Wasn’t Dreaming
8. Holding On To Let Go
9. Tried And Failed
10. Did I Just Fall In Love

Eusexua is a state of being. A feeling of momentary transcendence often evoked by art, music, sex, and unity. Eusexua can be followed by a state of bliss and feelings of limitless possibility. Also used to refer to: ‘The pinnacle of Human Experience’. It is united through any moment in which we are fully embodying ourselves, present in the moment, disconnected from technology, synthesized with those around us. It was moments of Eusexua that birthed 'EUSEXUA' the album, as twigs cites her late nights in the underground techno scene of Prague.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Jagged, glitchy pop music and euphoric, trance flavoured minimalistic electronica, both phasing in and out beneath the sometimes haunting, often ethereal vocal passages. Perfectly crafted, constantly moving and drawing influence from all over the musical spectrum.

TRACK LISTING

Eusexua
Girl Feels Good
Perfect Stranger
Drums Of Death
Room Of Fools
Sticky
Keep It, Hold It
Childlike Things
Striptease
24hr Dog
Wanderlust

Every ATA project is marked by collaboration – some over a few weeks and some over decades. When drummer Sam Hobbs and bassist Neil Innes decided to make 'The Reurn Of', by The Flying Hats they were building on twenty yeards of playing together; Innes’s years of nightclub residencies and love of Afro-American dance music, and Hobbs’s intensive exploration of the links between American soul and R&B, Jamaican rocksteady and roots, and the music of the wider Caribbean from Cuba to Trinidad and Brazil. Organist Bob Birch (the original Organ player for New Mastersounds) and Chris Dawkins (Nightmares on Wax, Jimi Tenor, David Holmes, Finlay Quaye) were the other crucial elements – Birch started out as a jazz Hammond player in the bluesy McGriff/McDuff role before discovering the more exotic colours of Art Necille and Jackie Mittoo, and Dawkins has been a session guitarist for the cream of British reggae and rock for a generation.

'The Return of the Flying Hats' occupies a space somewhere between The Aggrovators and The Meters, under the influence of Lynn Taitt & the Jets, and Fatman Riddim Section. Tracks like 'Grafter' and 'Bust Up' conjure up the image of classic New Orleans funk recorded in Kingston, whilst 'Tough Swagger' sounds like half of Bunny Lee’s Aggrovators have dropped in at Ultrasonic to jam with Ziggy Modeliste.

In other places the Jamaican sound predominates: 'An Autumn Sun' is as sweet a dish of Kingston soul as you could wish for, 'Strong Fish' an honest homage to Hot Milk-era Mittoo, whilst the introductory fanfares of opener 'Night Bus' and 'Power Cut' feel like they should be ushering in hot I Roy cuts.

Meanwhile, 'Iron Fist' mixes everything up together in a fresh brew of asymmetric drums, talking bass and free-flowing organ melodies: when Innes and Hobbs started jamming together they roughed out melodies to every groove, but Birch came in and ignored virtually every note, preferring instead to simply channel extempo lines that sound both original and traditional at once.

It would be a mistake to call this group a new band, with all the communal miles they’ve travelled together: what this undoubtedly is though, is a fresh take on a couple of cherished genres (New Orleans R&B, Instrumental Rocksteady) that comes up with something more than the sum of its parts.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Amazing vintage scented collection of Hammond-powered dub-reggae-funk-ska that'll appeal to fans of Al Breadwinner and Jackie Mittoo, as well as the other contemporary crossover dub albums we've had recently from Jimi Tenor & Nat Birchall.

TRACK LISTING

1. Night Bus
2. Grafter
3. An Autumn Sun
4. Power Cut
5. Strong Fish
6. Bust Up
7. Forward
8. Tough Swagger
9. Iron Fist

After nearly 20 years making music, there are few bands who’ve created a canon as determinedly innovative and consistently critically-acclaimed as The Horrors. Emerging as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths on their 2007 debut ‘Strange House’, before taking a sharp left turn for their Mercury-nominated follow up ‘Primary Colours’, since the beginning they’ve roamed freely between genres. 2011’s ‘Skying’ won the NME Award for Best Album; ‘V’ was heralded as “a triumph” in a five-star Guardian review, while 2021’s pair of EPs - ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’ - marked a new chapter with their most industrial, uncompromising output yet.

Whilst the end results have changed, however, at their core has always been the same unbending commitment and bloody-minded allegiance to the cause. The Horrors are not and will never be a band that approach the job lightly. They’re musicians who’ll funnel everything they are into the process, at the expense of health, wealth and sometimes sanity. And so, whilst sixth album ‘Night Life’ sees the band once more shapeshift into a new form, with a new sonic outlook and - this time - a new line up, in some ways The Horrors are still as they ever were.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: There aren't many other bands that have been as consistently present in my life over the last 20 years as The Horrors. I vividly remember the big hair and the raucous live shows that accompanied their debut in 2007; but with every release they changed (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot) and with every release they matured (and so did I!) And while I didn't love every new album immediately, those I initially disliked are now among my all-time favourites. In a way, it feels like The Horrors, like a big brother who has seen the world, ready to pass on their wisdom, were showing me the way during my arguably most formative years. The haunting ‘Night Life', more industrial and electronic than its predecessor, has also been a grower, but it wouldn't be The Horrors if they didn't manage to convince me that it was time for them to move on - and that it was worth it! Here's to the next 20 years.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Ariel
2. Silent Sister
3. The Silence That Remains
4. Trial By Fire
5. The Feeling Is Gone

SIDE B
6. Lotus Eater
7. More Than Life
8. When The Rhythm Breaks
9. L.A. Runaway 

Norwegian musician, artist and novelist Jenny Hval latest album, 'Iris Silver Mist' is named after a fragrance made by the nose Maurice Roucel for the French perfume house Serge Lutens. It’s described as smelling more like steel than silver. It is cold and prickly, soft and shimmering, like stepping outside on an early, misty morning, your body still warm from sleep. A perfume, with its heart notes and scented accords, shares its language with music. Both travel through air, simultaneously invisible and distinct.

Rather than begin with music, 'Iris Silver Mist' began with the absence of it. As the pandemic led to no live music, the smell of cigarettes, soap, and the sweat from warm stage lights and shared bathrooms was replaced by unphysical, algorithmic listening at home. Suddenly, and for the first time since she was a teenager, Hval found herself growing interested in perfumes. Smelling, reading, collecting, writing—she immersed herself with scent while her music was put on hold. It took her a year to understand what was happening, until she did: she was seeking another way of sensing physical intimacy. Where music had turned into a void, she filled it with fragrance.

Throughout 'Iris Silver Mist', perfume continues to turn into smoke, mist, and music. On lead single, ‘To Be A Rose’, Hval half-speaks, half-sings to the beat of a drum machine: “A rose is a rose is a rose is a cigarette." Roses and cigarettes are romantic forms of wishful thinking, transporting you someplace else. Of the track, Hval says: “’To Be A Rose’ was written as a restless pop structure. It has a chorus, with chords and a melody, but each chorus sounds slightly different, like we are experiencing the melody from different seasons, decades or even different bodies. The clichéd rose metaphor in the song is equally restless. It can change shape into a cigarette and then evaporate to smoke. My mother and I (two restless humans) are both present in the song: ‘I was singing in my room, she smoked on the balcony/Long inhales and long exhales performed in choreography.’ If about anything, ‘To Be A Rose’ is about how one thing becomes another thing, how we all come from somewhere and someone, and how this is stranger and more powerful than we think.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hval returns for a brand new album of outsider pop and minimalist electronica for indie superpower, 4AD. If the superb single, 'To Be A Rose' is anything to go by, we're in for more of Hval's trademark cracked melodicism and cathartic gothic folk. A wonderfully exciting return for one of the most singular forces in modern music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lay Down
2. To Be A Rose
3. I Want To Start At The Beginning
4. All Night Long
5. Heiner Muller
6. You Died
7. Spirit Mist
8. I Don’t Know What Free Is
9. The Artist Is Absent
10. Huffing My Arm
11. The Gift
12. A Ballad
13. I Want The End To Sound Like This

You Are The Morning was formed amid personal upheaval in 2021. “I came out as trans to my nearest and dearest,” she says, “Some did not accept me, but some did.” Jasmine got divorced, and a difficult home life meant she was writing while experiencing homelessness and precarious housing, sleeping on friend’s couches and relying on community support. Despite the pain of some of its background, the record is an uplifting look at t4t love. Jasmine describes her first trans romance as the first time she experienced joy in a deep sense, because of her experience of living as a woman.

First single ‘Skin on Skin’ explores the new joy of physical touch. Usually a quick writer, it’s a rare song that grew over time, during which a close connection with a friend began to form. “Sticking to the physical boundaries we wanted to have with each other became increasingly difficult. We were spending lots of time together, then falling in love. This song became a celebration of healing and physical catharsis found through unrepressed queer love.”

Jasmine and her band travelled to L.A. to record at Sound City Studios. It was made across 12 days in a highly collaborative and emotional process, and because Jasmine sees her songs as fluid and ever-changing, the recordings carry that free and spontaneous spirit.jasmine.4.t is supported by an all-trans band, Phoenix Rousiamanis contributes piano and strings, with Eden O’Brien on drums and Emily Abbott on bass. With Jasmine’s voice and songwriting at the centre, the record incorporates a wider cast of voices. ‘Best Friend’s House’ features a chorus including her bandmates, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus (“the girls and the boys”), Saddest Factory Records label-mate Claud, Becca Mancari and E.R. Fightmaster. The song carries the communal spirit of the record’s creation. On the closing track, ‘Woman’, she is backed by the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, a cross-generational group of trans singers who, like Jasmine, use their voice as a source of communal power. The song blossoms from solo performance to wider group catharsis. All the while, Jasmine sings unwaveringly about the power of knowing yourself at a core level: “I am, in my soul, a woman”.

The writing of You Are The Morning pulled from dark moments to tell its story. Surrounded by friends, the recording process was full of light. Through her performances, activism and artistry, jasmine.4.t is ushering in a new dawn.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm a massive fan of Calud, so was excited to hear the latest record from Phoebe Bridgers' Saddest Factory label. Jasmine's music thoroughly soars, nestling comfortably between the country-adjacent majesty of onetime tourmate, Lucy Dacus or the folky fingerpicking of Ryley Walker or Yasmin Williams. It's a beautifully written union of her perfectly evocative lyrical themes and the intricate, athletic instrumentation. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
Kitchen
Skin On Skin
Highfield
Breaking In Reverse
You Are The Morning
Best Friend’s House

SIDE B
Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation
Tall Girl
New Shoes
Roan
Elephant
Transition
Woman

Following on from his 2022 LP 'Mr Morale & the Big Steppers', an album of introspection that stripped back the layers of Kendrick's personal life, 2024 saw Kendrick embroiled in a very public beef with Drake. With multiple back-and-forth jabs between the two, albeit it being pretty one-sided in Lamar's favour and the now Grammy-award winning 'Not Like Us' taking the spotlight, the dust settled and Kendrick surprise-dropped 'GNX'. And, whilst there's no tracks from the feud featured on the LP, the sentiment still looms over the album.

As for the album itself, 'GNX' is Lamar's most West Coast sounding album to date. Being born and raised in Compton, Kendrick incorporates elements of G-funk throughout and includes a plethora of the West Coast's most up-and-coming MCs.

Lyrically once again Lamar shines with themes of self-worth and the role of art challenging the status quo and systemic oppression, whilst also examining and deconstructing what it means to be considered by many as the best in hip-hop right now (or possibly ever). It's all incredibly impressive stuff, just also happens that every track is a banger.

A generational talent, Kendrick is yet to make a misstep and 'GNX' further cements his trajectory of being the greatest of all time. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Ethan says: On ‘GNX’, Kendrick Lamar trades his saviour image and bold messages for an eloquent victory lap in his new black Grand National. This joyride is, of course, in the wake of one of hip-hop’s most notorious beefs - the one between Lamar and industry sweetheart Drake. This major pop culture event forms the subtext of the record, as a focal point is celebrating Lamar’s connection to his hometown and culture (something he criticised Drake’s lack of). Grounded firmly in the West Coast sound, Lamar lowers the ladder back into the scene, giving newcomers like Dody6 and YoungThreat moments in the spotlight. ‘GNX’ also sees Lamar having more obvious fun in the studio compared to past works. DJ Mustard-produced “TV Off” is a notable example, with a section where Lamar screams the producer’s name, while “Peekaboo” retains Lamar’s goofy delivery from his work with Baby Keem. “Reincarnated” also celebrates black musicians and learning from history. Bouncy, playful and passionate, Lamar sounds freer than ever behind the wheel.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wacced Out Murals
2. Squabble Up
3. Luther
4. Man At The Garden
5. Hey Now
6. Reincarnated
7. TV Off
8. Dodger Blue
9. Peekaboo
10. Heart Pt. 6
11. GNX
12. Gloria

Following 'Shadow People' (2018) and 'De Pelicula' (2021) done with Laurent Garnier , The Limiñanas are making their big comeback with their new album entitled 'Faded' , whose first single is 'Prisoner of Beauty' featuring Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), supporter of the band for years. The French psych-garage duo has also gathered on 'Faded' for duets artists such as Jon Spencer, Bertrand Belin, Rover, Penny, Anna Jean & Pascal Comelade.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: France's Liminanas beautifully segue through a selection of gritty psychedelic groovers and airy tropical pop gems. Helped by a star-studded selection of guests, it's hard not to be swayed by their inescapable songwriting talent and incomparable vibe.

TRACK LISTING

1. Spirale
2. Prisoner Of Beauty Feat. Bobby Gillespie
3. J'adore Le Monde Feat. Bertrand Belin
4. Shout Feat. Rover
5. Faded Feat. Penny
6. Catherine Feat. Anna Jean
7. The Dancer
8. Space Baby Feat. Jon Spencer & Pascal Comelade
9. Tu Viens Marie
10. Louie Louie
11. Autour De Chez Moi
12. Degenerate Star Feat. Jon Spencer & Pascal Comelade
13. Où Va La Chance (Françoise Hardy Cover)

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Little Simz returns with Lotus which she describes as her ‘most personal album to date’. It’s a heart on its sleeve collection of songs, at times angry, at others reflective. The raw emotion kicks straight in on opening track ‘Thief’, which may or may not address the breakdown of her friendship with producer Inflo. A subject which has obviously impacted the album massively, not just emotionally and lyrically but production wise too. Themes of loss, anger, paranoia and grief are all covered and she’s diverted her rage into creating yet another absolute killer album. Where her previous two albums were all lush cinematic production and sweeping strings, this time around there’s a more contained sound: a darker, brooding intensity that’s powerful and provides the perfect space for Simbi’s smart, witty and incisive flow. With the help of a whole host of guest collaborators, she’s really spread her musical wings this time around too. The previously mentioned ‘Thief’ is a direct, pounding rocker (yes really!), while collaborations with Obongjayar are infused with afrobeat, There’s a 70s soul-funk vibe to ‘Free’ and ‘Enough’ reminds me of late periods Specials: a playful funky groover with snappy drums. Both Michael Kiwanuka and Sampha’s soulful vocals prove the perfect foil for her rage on ‘Lotus’ and stunning album closer ‘Blue’ respectively. Other standout tracks include ‘Blood’, a conversation between siblings that is an amazingly perceptive look at family dynamics and ‘Hollow’ which again (possibly) addresses the breakdown of her relationship with Inflo and perhaps deliberately is the most like the feel of her previous albums full of lush strings and cherubic backing vocals. It’s an absolutely stunning album and Simbi once again proves that she is one of the greatest artists of her generation.

The Fear of Never Landing takes us on a dynamic journey that's atmospheric, diaphanous and never short of mesmerising. While the new record is certainly infused with a sense of hope, there's more than a soupon of anxiety too, as the title suggests.

Formed in Manchester in 2003, their debut album, Under Wires and Searchlights (2003), introduced their signature sound, but it was their 2011 release of Weightless that brought international acclaim. Developed in collaboration with a sound therapist, Weightless was scientifically recognised as "the world's most relaxing song", praised for its ability to reduce anxiety and heart rates. With over 900 million streams and widespread coverage across media, the track remains a cultural phenomenon.

Over the years, Marconi Union has continued to evolve, producing critically acclaimed albums such as Signals (2021), Ghost Stations (2016), and Tokyo+ (2017). Their work has been hailed for its emotional resonance and sonic depth, with The Quietus noting their ability to find "beauty in the bleakest places" and The Sunday Times describing them as "amongst today's most talented musicians."

With The Fear of Never Landing, Marconi Union once again showcases their unmatched ability to create immersive soundscapes that resonate deeply. The album reaffirms their position as masters of atmosphere and emotional storytelling, making it an essential addition to their storied catalog.

A 55-minute odyssey presented as one seamless piece divided into nine movements, they transcribe the nexus of modern living into a mostly wordless odyssey. The album encapsulates Marconi Union's ability to translate the complexities of the human experience into sound, all while maintaining a stunning sense of cohesion.

Beyond their studio albums, Marconi Union has collaborated with visual artists, provided soundtracks for installations, and remixed notable acts like Max Richter and Vk. Their invitation by Brian Eno to perform at Norway's Punkt Festival further cemented their reputation as innovators in the ambient music sphere.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Stunningly rich electronic music that beautifully drifts in the open space between ambient downbeat music or 'IDM' (sorry) like Kiasmos or Jon Hopkins while cleverly and impactfully floating through a series of clever key changes and pivots more akin to the jazzy timbres of GoGo Penguin or The Drift. A stunningly cohesive, evocative behemoth of an album, and a collection that shows the true breadth of MU's staggering sound design skill.

TRACK LISTING

Through The Heat Waves
Eight Miles High Alone
In Motion
Inhale
Crystalline
Exhale
One More Rush
Silence Is Gliding
Cloud Surfing

Six years after their second album 'Kingdoms in Colour' made them one of the hottest names in electronic music, Hertfordshire duo Maribou State return with their third full length album. 'Hallucinating Love' is worth the wait: it’s ambitious, packed with sublime anthemia, and is injected with restless energy, soaring strings and stunning guest vocals from long-standing collaborator Holly Walker and new friends like MOBO-nominated artist Andreya Triana. It evidences Maribou State’s evolving balance of intimacy and intricacy, as well as their knack for making epic sundown music. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Anthemic, triumphant bursts of shimmering synth swells and crescentic vocals build atop crisp, sampled percussion and funky bass loops. A beautifully celebratory collection of pieces featuring a host of superb guest vocalists too, making a very welcome return for Maribou State.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blackoak
2. Otherside
3. II Remember
4. All I Need
5. Dance On The World
6. Bloom
7. Peace Talk
8. Passing Clouds
9. Eko’s
10. Rolling Stone 

Colombian producer and singer Ela Minus' 2020 debut acts of rebellion, felt intentionally small, as if pounding inside the club with late-night reverie, 'DIA' is both introspective and expansive, the wide sweep of its songs revealing more of Ela as person and producer than ever before.

'DIA' is a record about becoming, from a process that entailed self-discovery at a deliberate pace to songs that seem to collectively ask where we go from here, long after we’ve been broken but long before we intend to be broken forever. Throughout the 10 songs, mixed by Marta Salogni and mastered by Heba Kadry, the same team behind acts of rebellion, Ela seems to saddle a line between worlds of pop accessibility and experimental aplomb, her incandescent choruses always surrounded by meticulous and imaginative sonics. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Perfectly penned, cathartic synth-pop that's as beautifully produced as it is danceable, with echoes of Christine & the Queens, Georgia and Kelly Lee Owens but with a unique, main-room dancefloor drive. Unbelievably powerful, arm-waving euphoria throughout.

TRACK LISTING

1. Abrir Monte
2. Broken
3. Idols
4. IDK
5. QQQQ
6. I Want To Be Better
7. Onwards
8. And
9. Upwards
10. Combay

Like their name suggests, Model/Actriz seek to channel raw emotions into striking new forms. Consisting of Cole Haden (Vocals), Aaron Shapiro (Bass), Jack Wetmore (Guitar), and Ruben Radlauer (Drums), there’s an expectation that Model/Actriz aim first and foremost to be shitstarters. Their debut record 'Dogsbody' was sexy, dark, and humid, full of eerie passages and veiled menace; their unique sound quickly found fans that included the likes of Pitchfork and Anthony Fantano.

After much critical acclaim and an exhausting tour to support the record, the band sought to reinvigorate their visceral live shows that invite that audience into a shared room of carnal ritual. Model/Actriz’s sophomore album Pirouette, which was co-produced and mixed by Seth Manchester and mastered by Matt Colton, their collaborators on 'Dogsbody', swerves out of the maze and directly into the spotlight. 'Pirouette' is both a natural progression and a calculated reset, a move toward reasserting their command as artists by peeling away the smoke and mirrors to become brighter, heavier, and more direct. The pop thread running throughout the album allows the crowd to witness thumping club music in the spirit of cabaret and manifest the catharsis that comes with hitting the dancefloor.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Visceral, thumping kick drums and stabbing guitars work beneath soaring synth arps and snappy 808's before breaking down into tender electronic indie and brittle ambient washes. Beautifully produced and endlessly inventive, never straying too far from melody, but evolving constantly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Vespers
2. Cinderella
3. Poppy
4. Diva
5. Headlights
6. Acid Rain
7. Departures
8. Audience
9. Ring Road
10. Doves
11. Baton

Mogwai’s “The Bad Fire” was recorded at Chem19 studios in Scotland with American Grammy Award winning producer John Congleton (St Vincent, Angel Olsen, John Grant) joining the band in the studio for their eleventh album. A Scottish colloquialism for Hell, The Bad Fire draws inspiration from a series of tough personal moments that the band found themselves in following on from their chart-topping tenth album, As The Love Continues. All vinyl comes packaged in a gatefold sleeve, with MP3 download code and etching. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'd find it hard to say anything bad about a Mogwai album for two reasons. Firstly, I *LOVE* Mogwai, so it would feel wrong. Secondly, they're one of the greatest bands in the world and thus i'm convinced they'll never make anything less than astounding. The Bad Fire is thematically, visually and aurally impeccable. Beautiful, climactic crushing post-rock with bags of melody.

TRACK LISTING

1. God Gets You Back
2. Hi Chaos
3. What Kind Of Mix Is This?
4. Fanzine Made Of Flesh
5. Pale Vegan Hip Pain
6. If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some Of The Others
7. 18 Volcanoes
8. Hammer Room
9. Lion Rumpus
10. Fact Boy

Like so many coming-of-age stories that leave a long-lasting impact, Brooklyn-based Momma’s new album Welcome to My Blue Sky takes place during a charmed and turbulent summer—a transformative moment in time that co-founders Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten sum up as a period of “parallel chaos”.

Mainly recorded live with the full band at Studio G in Brooklyn and produced by their bandmate Aron Kobayashi Ritch, Welcome to My Blue Sky marks the follow-up to Household Name—a critically acclaimed release that manifested their ascent. With the help of drummer Preston Fulks, Momma arrived at the album’s 12 immaculately composed yet immediately potent songs by matching the raw urgency of rock with the sticky melodies and taut arrangements of pop—a dynamic born from their deepened commitment to finding the most direct vessel for their emotional expression. “With this album we were less concerned with sounding cool and heavy and rock & roll and much more focused on good, clean songwriting that hopefully inspires people to sing along and mean every word,” Weingarten reveals.

Equal parts shared memoir, communal outpouring, and riveting emotional travelogue, each track is infused with both unsparing self-awareness and immense sensitivity, and the result is a bold leap forward for one of the most creatively uncompromising and singular voices in indie-rock.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Welcome to the world of young love, heartbreak & infidelity; sun scorched road trips; high school jealously; and riffs bigger than the 90s jeans you’re currently rocking.

I shouldn’t like Momma; it’s like the aural equivalent of watching The OC or Dawson’s Creek whilst slamming back tequila shots. But it’s so unavoidably infectious. Though the band are now based in Brooklyn, Etta & Allegra’s ultra Californian vocal harmonies soar over the songs like the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, with lyrics that instantaneously knock years off your actual age. I think the Japanese call it natsukashii - rose-tinted nostalgia that fills your heart with joy. There’s a touch of classic skater punk aesthetics, a bit of Weezer’s (who they’ve supported on tour) preppy innocence and demeanour; all whilst being more than capable of sizzling your nose hairs with their stupendously large guitar hooks and kicking drum work.

At first I’d have thought music this sweet and immediate would have burned out quickly, but no – the album’s been on constant rotation in my life throughout the year. From afternoons here in the shop, to driving through the Welsh countryside, to miserable mornings where you need an instant pick-me-up. In interviews they say they wanted to write an album in which you’ll learn every lyric – I have! Word on the street is they’re amazing live too; and let’s get it straight – this band are still firmly in their infancy and ascendency – there’s gonna be more to come, and I for one can’t wait.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sincerely
2. I Want You (Fever)
3. Rodeo
4. Stay All Summer
5. New Friend
6. How To Breathe
7. Last Kiss
8. Bottle Blonde
9. Ohio All The Time
10. Welcome To My Blue Sky
11. Take Me With You
12. My Old Street

Following on from 2023's 'Gigi's Recovery', a record full of passion and spirited urgency but also moments of tender nuance, The Murder Capital return once again with 'Blindness'. Regular staples in our End of Year charts whenever they release, this might just be the Irish quintet at their very best.

Lead single 'Can't Pretend To Know' is an incendiary slab of post-punk, whereas heartfelt follow-up 'Words Lost Meaning' is one of the best tracks frontman James McGovern has ever penned. The intense and venomous 'The Fall' is also another album highlight, whilst 'A Distant Life' could easily have been birthed by Television.

With now three incredible albums under the belt, it sure feels like 2025 is the year for The Murder Capital and we couldn't think of any other band more deserving.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another blazing transmission from the wonderful Murder Capital. Fiercely unique, their sound oscillates from the sort of clashing, jagged indie familiar to fans of Dublin indie, to cataclysmic grinding breakdowns and gothic minimalism. Brilliantly incendiary, and well worth the wait.

TRACK LISTING

1. Moonshot
2. Words Lost Meaning
3.Can’t Pretend To Know
4. A Distant Life
5. Born Into The Fight
6. Love Of Country
7. The Fall
8. Death Of A Giant
9. Swallow
10. That Feeling
11. Trailing A Wing

Lael Neale’s minimalist drone pop draws inspiration from the Transcendentalists, the alienation of modern life, and a rich array of musical influences—ranging from Dionne Warwick and John Lennon to primitive American gospel and Spacemen 3. Her expansive new record, 'Altogether Stranger' was written and recorded in the early morning quiet of Los Angeles. Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations.

A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording. 'Altogether Stranger' - a stunning album filled with dreamlike reverie, Neale’s crystalline voice, and echoes of the Velvet Underground - was conceived after four years of oscillating between rural solitude and urban chaos. It finds Neale perched at the piano in a hilltop bungalow, looking down on a rare curve of Sunset Blvd. Here, in this daily ritual of writing, singing, and painting—what David Lynch referred to as “the Art Life”—she creates the space for her most adventurous work to date.

Born and raised in Virginia’s idyllic countryside, Neale brought the high-lonesome sound of her home state with her when she moved to California to pursue music. After years of writing songs on guitar and playing small venues in Los Angeles, she discovered the Omnichord in 2019, which sparked a new creative direction. This led to her 2021 Sub Pop debut album, 'Acquainted With Night'. That album’s 2023 follow-up, 'Star Eaters Delight', deepened the collaboration with Blakeslee, infusing minimalist soundscapes with a heightened electric energy. The album found a devoted audience, and Neale’s subsequent tour included sold-out shows in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Paris, multiple trips across Europe, and a West Coast run supporting kindred spirit Weyes Blood. This marked yet another return to Los Angeles. Indeed, Los Angeles is not just the backdrop of 'Altogether Stranger' but a lead character. The album’s accompanying film - created with Neale's faithful Sony Handycam - builds on her ongoing series of videos, telling the story of Neale as an alien in a suit of mirrors stranded on Earth. Wandering through modern-day LA, she finds both absurdity and beauty in our fragile, untenable way of life. Over the long year it took to write Altogether Stranger, Neale vacillated between childlike optimism and existential melancholy. While she may not have been able to reconcile these opposing states, Altogether Stranger represents an ambitious breakthrough for this singular, self-sufficient artist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Four albums in and Sub Pop recording artist Lael Neale finally breaks into the Piccadilly End Of Year chart! Clocking in at just 32 minutes it’s a wonderfully crafted album, its brevity in keeping with Neale’s minimalist drone-pop sensibility; less is most certainly more on ‘Altogether Stranger’.

Lael Neale grew up on a farm in rural Virginia before feeling the pull of Los Angeles’ bright lights in 2011, then the pandemic hit and she retreated back to Virginia. It was there in her rural isolation that she wrote and recorded her 2023 album ‘Star Eaters’. ‘Altogether Stranger' captures her return to Los Angeles and the tension between its magnetic artistic energy and its overwhelming chaos. Neale reflects on the city’s dual nature - the inspiration and madness of a sprawling metropolis, the allure of creation alongside the hollow consumerism and deep melancholy that often pervade urban life.

Throughout the otherworldly ‘Altogether Stranger’, the ghosts of The Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, and the wistful unease of Syd Barrett’s solo years drift in and out of focus. Standout moments include opener “Wild Waters,” with its synthetic handclaps, motorik pulse, and sugar-sweet vocals; the urgent mechanical thrum and majestic dreamscape of “Down On The Freeway”; the slow-burning ascent of “Tell Me How to Be Here,” that recalls the VU’s “Ocean”; and the mesmerising spiritualness of the hypnotic “New Age”.

Full of brittle lyrical honesty and meditative instrumentation, ‘Altogether Stranger’ is a maximinimal masterpiece.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wild Waters
2. All Good Things Will Come To Pass
3. Down On The Freeway
4. Sleep Through The Long Night
5. Come On
6. Tell Me How To Be Here
7. New Ages
8. All Is Never Lost
9. There From Here

Pastel are a 5-piece guitar band signed to independent Manchester label; Spirit of Spike Island - Having previously topped the vinyl charts with their debut EP, selling out shows across the UK and being personally chosen by Liam Gallagher to play at his Knebworth shows, they now release their long awaited debut album 'souls in motion'.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: This record delivers blissed out, spacious grooves and a vibe brimming with belief and positivity, a sound that's gonna take you somewhere. Mostly reminiscent of The Verve circa Northern Soul, there's a (coolly understated) swagger which makes you think this band's really going to inspire people. It's a heady brew.

TRACK LISTING

Heroes Blood
Your Day
Dancing On A Pin
Isaiah
Running On Empty
Deeper Than Holy
Gone Too Fast
Leave A Light On (Velvet Storm)
Sunnyside
Escape

The fifth album from Newcastle’s riff wizards Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs is defined by calculated aggression and self-lacerating lyrics. Its startling bonuses include playful synth work and the appearance of a giant from hip-hop. With its title juxtaposing absurdity and seriousness, this is 'Death Hilarious'.

Whereas 2023’s 'Land Of Sleeper' was conceived as an immersive headphones experience, this time Pigs strove for something more directly hostile. “We wanted it to be a slap in the face,” grins producer and guitarist Sam Grant. That objective came, in part, from playing so many gigs over the last couple of years. The band felt well-oiled and ripe to give listeners at home the kind of pummelling their audiences receive.

'Death Hilarious' does bring in some big surprises, particularly the track ‘Glib Tongued’, which has guest bars by El-P from Run The Jewels. When bassist John-Michael Hedley unwittingly wrote what his bandmates considered their equivalent of a hip-hop number, Pigs set their sights high and secured a blistering contribution from one of the world’s greatest rappers. That’s not to say Pigs have pivoted to nu-metal. 'Death Hilarious' is a diversely punishing record which shapeshifts through Sabbathian doom, grotesquely minimalist noise rock and cyclical post-metal fortissimos. Pigs continue to push themselves, too. Incongruous synthesiser solos appear where guitar histrionics would usually fit. Piano tracks lurk in the mix, adding near-subliminal depth to the maelstrom. ‘Stitches’ is like Motörhead trying to perform glam rock with a tipsy keyboardist. Then there’s the 100mph pace of cosmic-thrash opener ‘Blockage’. Distorted licks flying from the amplifiers of Grant and lead guitarist, Adam Ian Sykes, while the rhythm section sizzle behind. With all that power running through its veins, 'Death Hilarious' is easily going to be one of the best rock albums of 2025...and that is no joke!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Newcastle's blistering Pigs x7 (EXACTLY seven) bring us a scuzzed-out version of their groundbreaking sound from 2023's mindblowing 'Viscerals'. There are riffs aplenty and heavy hitting lyrics, walls of noise and soaring, groovy basslines but there's also a load of garagey, saturated distortion and loads of muck. Classic pigs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blockage
2. Detroit
3. Collider
4. Stitches
5. Glib Tongued (Feat. El–P)
6. The Wyrm
7. Carousel
8. Coyote Call
9. Toecurler 

Prism Shores are Montreal janglers with one foot planted in ramshackle C86-indebted indie pop and the other in the shimmer of early English shoegaze. Their sound is reminiscent of perennial genre reference points (Sarah, Creation, Flying Nun) while leaving its own idiosyncratic stamp.

'Out From Underneath' finds the band widening their sonic palette by combining live-to-tape performances with atmospheric overdubbing and studio experimentation, confidently settling into more ambitious textures and arrangements. Lyrically, the album tackles young adult ennui and the adjustment of settling in an unfamiliar city, detailing the growing pains experienced during a time of upheaval. It is contemplative and chock-full of emotional depth — a nighttime album that channels self-reflexive melancholy into some form of catharsis.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Properly amazing C86-style indie with plenty of Rolling Blackouts, Ride and even hints of New Order and The Cure thrown in. Was a lovely surprise for us when we heard this on the decks earlier in the year and you should search far and wide to try and nab yourself a copy!

TRACK LISTING

1. Overplayed My Hand
2. Holding Pattern
3. Southpaw
4. Tourniquet
5. Killing Frost
6. Sudden Sting
7. Fault Line
8. Weightless
9. Drawing Conclusions
10. Unravel

WORDS FROM JARVIS ON “MORE”

“This is the first Pulp album since “We Love Life” in 2001. Yes: the first Pulp album for almost 24 years.

How did that happen?

Well: when we started touring again in 2023, we practiced a new song called 'Hymn of the North' during soundchecks & eventually played it at the end of our second night at Sheffield Arena. This seemed to open the floodgates: we came up with the rest of the songs on this album during the first half of 2024. A couple are revivals of ideas from last century. The music for one song was written by Richard Hawley. The music for another was written by Jason Buckle. The Eno family sing backing vocals on a song. There are string arrangements written by Richard Jones & played by the Elysian Collective.

The album was recorded over 3 weeks by James Ford in Walthamstow, London, starting on November 18th, 2024. This is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen.

These are the facts.

We hope you enjoy the music. It was written & performed by four human beings from the North of England, aided & abetted by five other human beings from various locations in the British Isles. No A.I. was involved during the process.

This album is dedicated to Steve Mackey.

This is the best that we can do.

Thanks for listening.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Imagine a band returning to the fray twenty three years after their last album and then actually making a record that’s right up there with the very best of their material, a record as melodic and pertinent as anything they’d ever done before? Well that band is Pulp!

Music is of course about people, and when I think of Pulp I immediately think of my dear friend and their biggest fan Joseph, from the wondrous book shop and cafe Novel in (appropriately enough) Sheffield; what would he say about Pulp’s comeback? Perhaps he would mention something about them sounding more mature with less bedroom voyeurism whilst retaining the playful edge with which they made their name? Joey would probably find that a tad cheesy but then I’d have to remind him of the famous Elvis Costello quote which was something along the lines of “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.

Emboldened, I am pretty sure that Joe would continue by saying that it basically reminded him of their album ‘We Love Life’ and that it feels like the next stage of “growing up”. Where that album was about acceptance of themselves after ‘This Is Hardcore’, this one is all about accepting love. He would probably say that Jarvis is now singing about love in a way that sounds more like birds in your garden but without the climbing into bedroom windows of old; it’s more reflective and has moved away from the immediate moments of intimacy and instead focuses on reflections on intimacy in solitude. Is there still room for the classic “song to a mystery woman” that harks back to “Sylvia”? In “Tina”, Joe would say there certainly was! I would then thank Joe and probably end with my trademark; it’s a classic! That’s if any of the above actually happened at all.

TRACK LISTING

1. Spike Island
2. Tina
3. Grown Ups
4. Slow Jam
5. Farmers Market
6. My Sex
7. Got To Have Love
8. Background Noise
9. Partial Eclipse
10. The Hymn Of The North
11. A Sunset

'Horizon' is a new collaborative album by Resavoir & Matt Gold. Across the 10 tracks the two Chicago-based producers combine their distinct sensibilities to create a hypnotic and inviting love letter to their shared admiration for '60s and '70s Brazilian music. Resavoir leading man Will Miller the acclaimed trumpeter, composer, and producer who's worked with SZA, Whitney, and more makes room at the table for Gold — a seasoned multi-instrumentalistand accomplished guitarist who has collaborated with the likes of Makaya McCraven and Greg Ward - and the results are distinctly new for both of them. The sunny and expansive tunes on Horizon are as immersive as they are endlessly replayable, a dynamic and joyous body of work.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another International Anthem stunner, this time channelling Brazilian music and ending with an album that's just driven enough to not end up horizontal.

TRACK LISTING

1. Canopy
2. Memento
3. Dewy
4 Zero Gravity
5. Diversey Beach
6. Ahhh
7. Horizon
8. Hazel Canyon
9. Metropoli
10. Tomorrow

Hailing from our back-yard, Manchester's very own Rude Films are one of our big tips of 2025. Massive tracks, lots of noise and plenty of reverb, Rude Films' mix of post-punk shoegazey post-rock is absolutely mega and we couldn't wait to get our hands on it. Now it's here and it's class - check it!!

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Well we might not all care to openly admit, one of the greatest buzzes of working at Piccadilly is putting an LP on the shop speakers and have one of you asking what is playing. And for 2025, or indeed recent memory, we can't think of a record that this has happened to as often and frequently as it has for Rude Films' debut.

And who can blame them? From the opening brooding moments of "Where Have You Been Lately?", the Manchester quartet explode into a cacophony of shoegaze infused noise-rock on "Mort Subite". From there, things don't even begin to slightly let up as Rude Films then slam into the monster that is "Death Hex". Pummelling walls of sound that act as the perfect statement of what this band is capable of. A statement of which carries on with the fuzzed out and driving "Religion" and the sprawling and frenetic "Serenity". Elsewhere, tracks like "Blood On The Tracks", "Wide-Eyed Boy" and "A Lonely Moon" take a more atmospheric and textually rich route, whilst the jangly and anthemic "You're The Image I Can't Forget" sets its sights on your heart. Closing up on "Black Snow", the entirety of the record comes to a cataclysmic crescendo with frontman Aaron Hill-Southern spitting his guts out over the Deafheaven-esque finale.

Immediate, massive and with plenty of noise to back them up, we've not been this excited about a new band from Manchester in a while. And we're sure you'll think the same too.

TRACK LISTING

1. Where Have You Been Lately?
2. Mort Subite
3. Death Hex
4. Serenity
5. Blood On The Tracks
6. Religion
7. Wide-Eyed Boy
8. You're The Image I Can't Forget
9. A Lonely Moon
10. Black Snow

Though Rebecca Lucy Taylor's third album swims with the same spirited dancefloor pop synth groove and dramatic, crescentic vocal flourishes it seems like the highs hinted at on the hugely impactful and critically lauded 'Prioritise Pleasure' have been surpassed and Self Esteem's sound has been cemented in the process. 

The beautiful, uplifting strength of 'If Not Now, It's Soon' for example or the group gospel-adjacent vocals on the uplifting anthem 'Focus Is Power' beautifully illustrate the duality of the project, that there are indeed serious themes at play (the cover echoing The Handmaids Tale being no small indication), but with the serious social themes beautifully lightened by melodic and instrumental jubilance liberally scattered throughout the album. 

That's not to say there aren't more playful pieces on the album too, with filthy bangers like the bet-my-mum-walks-in-when-i'm-playing-this grind of '69' or the brilliant 'In Plan Sight' featuring Moonchild Sanelly. A superb, spirited return for one of the greatest pop stars around today. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Soaring electronics, smooth synth lines and rattling bass booms underpin RLT's finely crafted album of effortless synth pop, dancefloor grit and uplifting, socially conscious lyrics. Another perfectly manicured outing from one of our favourite musicians.

TRACK LISTING

1 I Do And I Don't Care 
2 Focus Is Power 
3 Mother 
4 The Curse 
5 Logic, Bitch! (Ft. Sue Tompkins) 
6 Cheers To Me 
7 If Not Now, It's Soon 
8 In Plain Sight By Self Esteem & Moonchild Sanelly 
9 Lies (Ft. Nadine Shah)  
10 69 
11 What Now 
12 The Deep Blue Okay 

“We can still hold the line of beauty, form, and beat. No small accomplishment in a world as challenging as this one... hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof” Alice Walker, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing (2010)

Snapped Ankles have given up trying to make sense of it all. The forest only offers so much protection. Feeding on a diet of fractured narratives, meme culture, viral moments and the very worst of human impulses weighs heavy. The woodwose hold up a mirror to the absurdity of modern life once again. The only sane response is to dance. Make your way to the clearing, gather around the megalith of speakers, drum machines, amps and synthesisers and dance like there’s no tomorrow.

Hard Times Furious Dancing is an invitation to all those lost in the unrelenting noise of the present, to leave it all behind and come together in the forest. Driven by the primitive thrust of their single-oscillator ‘log’ synths, high and low culture collide in a surreal, free flowing narrative - but the rhythm is universal. This is easily the closest Snapped Ankles have come to capturing their rapturous live energy in the studio. It’s everything you’ve come to know and love from a Snapped Ankles album, amped all the way up until the ground begins to shake.

The sound of Hard Times Furious Dancing evolved at Snapped Ankles’ South London ‘Forest Rayve’ club nights in 2024 in response to that age-old primal urge to bring people together and make them move. It’s the first time the woodwose have road tested new material to this extent before committing it to tape since debut album Come Play The Trees, and in doing so have harnessed that feral energy once again. This surreal human/woodwose connection is the very best release from an algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself. Dance it all loose. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Snapped Ankles return for their most abrasive, dancefloor ready burst of cathartic noise and snappy garage rock yet. Though there are elements of punk-funk and IDM woven through the hammering maelstrom, this is still at heart an indie album with a BIG vibe. Incandescent, aggressive in parts and wholly immersive throughout.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Pay The Rent
Personal Responsibilities
Raoul
Dancing In Transit

Side B
Where’s The Caganer?
Smart World
Hagen Im Garten
Ƒ

By the time Irish musician Maria Somerville started writing 'Luster', her landmark label debut for 4AD, she had lived away from her native Connemara for quite some time. Having grown up amongst the wild, mountainous terrain of Galway’s rural west coast, she later relocated to Dublin, where she patiently developed an atmospheric dream pop signature inspired by the landscape of her youth – a spellbinding sound world of gusting ambient electronics, ethereal guitar strums, sparse percussion, and hushed lyrical vignettes. In 2019, this culminated in 'All My People', a self-released LP steeped in reverb, nostalgia and a yearning for home that won praise from discerning press and listeners alike.

It was upon returning to Connemara, in a house near where she was raised overlooking one of the country’s largest lakes, Lough Corrib, that work commenced on the songs that would eventually become 'Luster', an album that illuminates Somerville’s music anew, pushing it forward in both sound and spirit. Where 'All My People' conveyed memories and melancholic longing with misty slowcore balladry, these 12 tracks show us an artist who’s more assured in the path her life has taken, and the person she’s become in the process. As she sings in ‘Trip’ – “I can see more clearly than I could before. I know now wat's true for me.”

Invigorated by her surroundings and emboldened by her community, Somerville found a renewed sense of creative energy upon returning to home soil. It provided “fertile ground” for free-flowing recording sessions in her small living room studio, where she stitched together demos that were then fleshed out with friends and collaborators, and later mixed by the renowned New York-based engineer Gabriel Schuman. Contributors included producers J. Colleran, Brendan Jenkinson and Diego Herrera (aka Suzanne Kraft), as well as Lankum’s Ian Lynch, whose uilleann pipe drones you can hear in ‘Violet’, and Margie Jean Lewis, whose violin bows reverberate through the ambient haze of ‘Flutter’. Sessions with musicians Henry Earnest and Finn Carraher McDonald (aka Nashpaints) helped “tie it all together”, while contributions from friends Roisin Berkley and Olan Monk enshrined the companionship they’ve shared since Somerville returned to Connemara.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Gorgeous and mesmerising, Maria Somerville's latest is a beautifully produced and wonderfully immersive example of classic 4AD. Hazy and shimmering shoegaze, mixed with lush enveloping ambient passages - Somerville's 'Luster' is destined to be a classic

TRACK LISTING

1. Réalt
2. Projections
3. Garden
4. Corrib
5. Halo
6. Spring
7. Stonefly
8. Flutter
9. Trip
10. Violet
11. Up
12. October Moon

7” Tracklisting:
1. Untitled
2. Spring (II)

Squid’s new album Cowards is about evil. Nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong.

Cowards is Squid’s most courageous album: simultaneously growing in scope and returning to basics. The band recorded Cowards at Church Studios in Crouch End with Mercury prize winning producers Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. On additional production is longtime shifu and collaborator Dan Carey, who recorded the band’s first two albums. The record was mixed in Seattle by John McEntire, before being compressed by the rich analogue chain of Heba Kadry’s mastering in Brooklyn, New York.

Squid have come a long way since forming in 2016 as an instrumental jazz band for a monthly night in Brighton. Their debut album Bright Green Field (2021) arrived as the world was starting to open up after the pandemic and they broke into the top 5 in the UK chart. In 2023 they released their sophomore album, the brooding O Monolith, which took the band all over the world and broke new ground that hardly seemed possible years prior.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Wild, avant rock interspersed with quiet ambient missives and the ever-present jazzy flourishes, topped with jagged guitar stabs and rapidly shifting background is the order of the day for squid. On 'Cowards' however, it's all a little more foreboding and a little creepier, shifting more into avant and noise rock.

TRACK LISTING

Crispy Skin
Building 650
Blood On The Boulders
Fieldworks I
Fieldworks II
Cro-Magnon Man
Cowards
Showtime!
Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)

Deluxe Edition 10" Bonus Tracks:
Phenomenal World
Crispy Skin
The Hearth And Circle Round Fire

'Instant Holograms On Metal Film' is the first Stereolab album in 15 years, featuring 13 new studio recordings. Played by Laetitia Sadier, Tim Gane, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz, with contributions from Cooper Crain and Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas, Ben LaMar Gay (composer/jazz multi instrumentalist), Holger Zapf (Cavern of Anti Matter), Marie Merlet (Monade) and Molly Read among others.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm obviously used to seeing Stereolab crop up on the reissue lists, but it's been FIFTEEN YEARS since a new album has hit, leaving 'Instant Holograms On Metal Film' a much needed new entry to their canon. Soaring 50's tropicalia, snappy jazz-adjacent electronics and woozy ghostlike vocals meet snappy disco grooves and rolling basslines. Further evidence, if any were needed that they're still one of the greatest acts to have dabbled in an oscillator.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mystical Plosives
2. Aerial Troubles
3. Melodie Is A Wound
4. Immortal Hands
5. Vermona F Transistor
6. Le Coeur Et La Force
7. Electrified Teenybop!
8. Transmuted Matter
9. Esemplastic Creeping Eruption
10. If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt.1
11. Flashes From Everywhere
12. Colour Television
13. If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt. 2

THE PICCADILLY RECORDS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2025

Manchester-based poet, writer and producer Antony Szmierek has announced the release of his debut album, Service Station At The End Of The Universe. The past few years have been a wild ride for the artist. Cutting his teeth on the Manchester spoken word scene and gaining notoriety for his seamless flow skewering everything from the hardships of contemporary British life to finding the unexpected beauty in the everyday, it was the 2023 release of his single ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Fallacy’ that kicked off his meteoric ascent. The earworming track soon found its way onto the BBC 6 Music airwaves and led Szmierek to be named an Artist of the Year 2023 by the station. There followed appearances on Later… with Jools Holland, a BBC Radio 1 Maida Vale session, multiple triumphant Glastonbury sets and a flurry of comparisons: to the pavement prose of The Streets, the poetry of John Cooper Clarke if he found himself at the Haçienda, or like Jarvis Cocker for the UK Garage generation.

Yet, with the release of his 2023 indie-influenced EP Poems To Dance To and now his banger-filled, dancefloor-focused debut album, Service Station at the End of the Universe, Szmierek cements his sound as one that is distinctly his own. While the album provides a culmination of the deep dancefloor poetry that began with ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Fallacy’, it also showcases a new side to Szmierek’s writing, producing moments of downbeat, dark poignance. The album produces a cohesive and infectious journey through pop melodic hooks and thumping dancefloor orchestrations.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: If you didn’t love him already ‘Service Station…’ lets us so intimately into Szmierek’s life that I find myself strangely, almost adoring him like a friend or brother! Such is the genuine sentiment coursing through the album.
A confident but gentle beta-male with the same insecurities and foibles as the rest of us. The polar opposite of the faux bravado of Old Manchester whilst still, somehow, possessing that patented swagger and our inability to take anything toooo seriously. Thoughtful, and with an acute awareness of the times in which we live. What I love about this particular album is, you feel Antony’s lived every single one of these tales. When he finishes “Yoga Teacher” with its deeply self-critical prose, you know it’s a real, honest assessment of himself. His heart never leaves his sleeve throughout and his beautiful sensitivity is articulated perfectly as he discusses love, life and The Great Pyramid Of Stockport. There’s goosebump after goosebump inducing moment and lyrically, there’s few male singers that can have me so close to tears. I fuckin’ love you Antony!

Laura says: Manchester and its surroundings have a long history of producing great wordsmiths. Be it the literary genius of Antony Burgess and Shelagh Delaney, the songwriting chops of Morrissey, Ian Curtis and Shaun Ryder or the punk poetry of John Cooper Clarke, there seems to be a knack in these parts for documenting the grit and reality of city life with wit and charm. It should be no surprise then that our favourite album this year comes from an artist following in this storytelling lineage. Set to a backdrop of serotonin boosting beats that nod to the Manc dancefloor through the decades, be it baggy grooves, full on dancefloor euphoria or slo-mo late-night-early-morning pulses, Antony’s stories are steeped in real life with all its joys, anxieties, ups and (come) downs, swirled together with a stream of consciousness meanderings and a heavy dose of surrealism. It’s an album with its heart in the city, and its feet on the dancefloor.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Service Station At The End Of The Universe
2. Rafters
3. The Great Pyramid Of Stockport
4. Big Light
5. Yoga Teacher
6. Crumb

Side 2:
7. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Fallacy
8. Passingthru
9. Take Me There
10. Restless Leg Syndrome
11. Crashing Up
12. Angie’s Wedding

Emma-Jean Thackray, the visionary producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, releases her highly anticipated second album, 'Weirdo' on April 25th via Gilles Peterson’s celebrated label, Brownswood Recordings / Parlophone Records. Known for defying musical boundaries, Thackray's latest work is a deeply personal and utterly original exploration of selfhood, grief, and gratitude.

Drawing on an eclectic mix of influences—grunge, pop, soul, p-funk, and jazz -  'Weirdo' is a triumphant celebration of survival and individuality. Written, performed, recorded, mixed, produced and arranged entirely by Thackray in her South London flat, the album stands as a testament to her extraordinary musicianship and fearless self-expression.

STAFF COMMENTS

Paul says: Emma-Jean Thackray returned in 2025 with an album that refused to be ignored. Her debut album, 'Yellow', firmly established her on the UK jazz scene, but when ‘Weirdo’ hit back in April via Gilles Peterson's label, Brownswood Recordings, the 35-year-old West Yorkshire-born bandleader revealed herself as a musical polymath and ace producer able to use “jazz language” as a basis for her eclectic multiverse of broken beat, P-funk, spiritual jazz, hip-hop, and beyond.

'Weirdo' reportedly began life in 2022, but its themes took a devastating turn after the sudden passing of her partner in January 2023. After a six-month hiatus spent playing the computer game Zelda or staring at the wall, Thackray found her way back to the music and crafted 19 songs (or just under an hour of music) that sit together as a true modern-day masterpiece. You only need to read the liner notes to find a dizzying index of the instruments played by her: trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium – along with vocals, guitar, drums, keys, production, mixing, and art direction. Her name appears in the credits 123 times!

Love and loss, death and rebirth, from reclusiveness to sociability are all covered here, but that's not to say it's a depressing journey. "Maybe Nowhere" would get any crowd swaying and dancing, and closing track "Thank You for the Day" has a classy gospel-soul bop and sublime vocal workout that channels a tangible sense of optimism.

The art work might suggest that with glamour can come disaster. But this album proves she got out of that bath, and moved onwards like a warrior.

TRACK LISTING

1. Something Wrong With Your Mind
2. Weirdo
3. Stay
4. Let Me Sleep
5. Please Leave Me Alone
6. Save Me
7. Maybe Nowhere
8. What Is The Point
9. Black Hole (feat. Reggie Watts)
10. In Your Mind
11. Tofu
12. Fried Rice
13. Where’d You Go
14. Wanna Die
15. Starting At The Wall
16. I Don’t Recognise My Hands
17. It’s Okay (feat. Kassa Overall)
18. Remedy
19. Thank You For The Day

RIYL: Richard Thompson, The La’s, The Charlatans, Aztec Camera, Superchunk, The Chills, Felt, The Smiths, Pentangle.

The Tubs' second album, Cotton Crown, sees the Celtic Jangle boyband venture into darker, more personal territory while continuing to hone their highly addictive brand of songcraft. It’s a true level up album which sees the band expand their sonic palette to take in a kaleidoscopic range of influences: everything from soulful pub rock (Chain Reaction) to Husker Du aggression (One More Day) to melancholy sophisto-pop (Narcissist) gets a look in. As Pitchfork noted, The Tubs see jangle as a ‘vast world of moods and muses’ and Cotton Crown sees them continuing to explore this world and creating a distinctly Tub-ular sound in the process.

This is in no small part down to Owen ‘O’ Williams’ vocal performance- often compared to a young Richard Thomson- and his frank, bleakly funny lyric writing. Cotton Crown sees him delve further into his favourite themes of love-psychosis, unsympathetic mentally ill behaviour, and the humiliations of being a musician in London. This time around, however, there’s a palpable sense of risk in his self assessments / confessions. No more so in the track’s closing track Strange- an accounting of the clumsy, intrusive, well-meaning social interactions that took place in the period following the suicide of his mother (the folk singer Charlotte Greig.)  As Williams says: “I’d tried a few times to write a song about it. The result had always seemed either mawkish, simplifying or like I was hawking my trauma. But then this one came out, and it felt right because it looked at something smaller: the weird, unsatisfying, strangely funny ways everyone, including myself, acted after the dust settled.” The album artwork features an image of Williams as an infant being breastfed by Greig in a graveyard- a promotional shot taken around the release of her debut album (the re-issue of which was featured in The Guardian in 2023.)

The essential trick Cotton Crown plays is to offset Williams’ lyrical bleakness with joyous, hook-laden blasts of pop perfection. This is largely down to the guitar work of George Nicholls, who, across the album, effortlessly slips between the virtuoso jangle of Marr, the driving folk-rock of Pentangle and the chorus-heavy hi-fi grooves of contemporary bands like Tops or The 1975. Add to that the breakneck rhythm section of Taylor Stewart (Drums) and Max Warren (Bass)- who attack each song with power-pop ferocity, recalling Guided by Voices at their drunken-yet-tight best- and you’ve got yourself a recipe for indie rock greatness.

The band’s debut ‘Dead Meat’ was a word-of-mouth sensation that saw the band earn accolades from Pitchfork, The Guardian, MOJO, SPIN and more. They even gained some celeb fans: the inimitable Mark Proksch (The Office (US), Better Call Saul, What We Do in the Shadows) starred in the video for their “Round the Bend” single & punk legend Iggy Pop has praised them on his BBC 6Music radio program. Standing in opposition to the UK norm of post punk, and hookless high-minded indie prog, the album was described by Kitty Empire (Observer) as a “shot in the arm for indie rock”. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Though there is a darker undertone to the lyrics here, the music itself oscillates from their bombastic punk-adjacent throb and driving distorted power chord groove to nuanced, jangling indie melodicism and soaring, memorable harmonies. Wonderfully dynamic, packed with moments of surprising juxtaposition and every bit the progression of a band who will stay on our radar for as long as they keep making music.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Thing Is
2. Freak Mode
3. Illusion
4. Narcissist
5. Chain Reaction
6. Embarassing
7. One More Day
8. Fair Enough
9. Strange

While 'Love You All Over Again' represents a considered, if free-flowing return to Tunng’s stylistic and aesthetic rudiments, it is also a reflection of the magical cohesion the band have come to realise over time, particularly on stage. “There’s a bizarre chemistry between us”, affirms Becky Jacobs, “which is quite extraordinary given that we’re all very different – especially now that we’ve got kids and live in different parts of the world. And our tastes in music are quite diverse, even if there are things that overlap. Tunng has always been about Mike and Sam at the centre, but there’s something about the six of us – it just works.” Genders agrees. “Chemistry is not just about the individual abilities of the people involved; it’s about facilitating ideas. We always bounce off each other – there are some Herculean email chains... Tunng has always been eclectic; it’s Mike’s production that makes everything coherent.”

Whether it’s that ineffable esprit de corps, the meticulous studio craft or simply a turn of the karmic wheel, 'Love You All Over Again', with its folk-hymnal intimacy, its glimmering lights and long shadows, its unforced fusion of soul and machine, feels like a Tunng album for today – something of a familiar comfort in uncertain times and, equally, a record for the ages. While, as Genders contents, this is not a pop album per se, it is, nonetheless, as melodically generous and lyrically bewitching as it is eccentric and startling, and in its highly detailed, genre-melding production, and in the preternaturally timeless, reverb-less blend of Genders’ and Jacobs’ voices (sporadically joined by Lindsay and the rest of the ensemble’s distinctive shanty choir), as captivating as anything in the band’s considerable canon. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's another big one for me this week, with the new Tunng LP. Ever since I first heard 'Good Arrows', i've been enamoured with their deeply melodic, glitchy folk grooves. Though 'Don't Know Why' is a more immediately cheerful prospect than the darkly (and unfathomably brilliant) 'Dead Club', it's got a stream of tentative, mournful unease among the shimmering guitar and gorgeous melodies.

TRACK LISTING

1. Everything Else
2. Didn’t Know Why
3. Sixes
4. Snails
5. Laundry
6. Drifting Memory Station
7. Deep Underneath
8. Levitate A Little
9. Yeekeys
10. Coat Hangers

Recorded between Los Angeles and their homes in Baltimore, 'NEVER ENOUGH' is produced by TURNSTILE’s Brendan Yates. The expansive collection is a restless and exhilarating evolution of the band’s genre-defying sound. A transformative journey, both fearless and alive, by one of the most forward-thinking and influential bands of their generation. 'NEVER ENOUGH' follows TURNSTILE’s widely celebrated album 'GLOW ON', which earned the band four GRAMMY nominations.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ethan says: With ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, Turnstile have strayed so far from any hardcore-punk formula that the world’s biggest hardcore band suddenly have their street-cred in question. But while punk fans debate semantics and decide how wide the scene’s gate should be, Turnstile are busy embracing their new-found place on the world stage.

Continuing the experimentation from 2021’s ‘Glow On’, the album that catapulted the band into the mainstream, this record adds extra flourishes to their established sound, keeping the listener thoroughly engaged. Scattered across 45 minutes are lovely Moog synths, triumphant horns, dream-pop guitars, funk-laden basslines, and even a beautiful flute solo on track “Sunshower” from Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet). Indie darlings Hayley Williams (Paramore), Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Faye Webster have guest vocal appearances as well, and yet the whole record is produced by the band’s very own frontman, Brendan Yates.

The punk core that defines Turnstile is still present throughout. “SOLE” features the appropriate amount of builds and breakdowns, with a brilliant fake-out ending. Likewise, “SEEIN’ STARS” and “BIRDS” form a great one-two punch on the B side, the latter being maybe the track most reminiscent of earlier Turnstile soundscapes. Across all tracks, Daniel Fang’s drumming is a constant highlight, varied yet always lively and intense.

Whether Turnstile still fits the hardcore mold is irrelevant. Becoming popular is no longer synonymous with “selling out”, and the band stay true to their values on community and social consciousness while projecting to a wider audience. Above all, Yates, Fang, McCrory, Lyons and Mills have shown the world that their band is ostensibly hardcore in the ways that matter most - their ethos, energy, and connection.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Enough
2. Sole
3. I Care
4. Dreaming
5. Light Design
6. Dull
7. Sunshower
8. Look Out For Me
9. Ceiling
10. Seein’ Stars
11. Birds
12. Slowdive
13. Time Is Happening
14. Magic Man

'Viagr Aboys' is the fourth studio album from Viagra Boys.

Featuring single 'Man Made of Meat', the LP sees Viagra Boys turn inwards, leaving the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled societal commentary of previous LP 'Cave World' behind to journey into the acid-laced, conspiracy-addled landscape within. Absurd, intense and surprisingly tender, 'Viagr Aboys' shuts out the noise to find that the important part of being alive in the big, stupid world is figuring out that the world inside of you that is equally big and stupid.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Scathing, soaring garage riffs and distorted vocal swathes, as is the order of the day for Viagra Boys. This time the psychedelic quotient is amped up to 11, with woozy riffs and weird scuzzy stoner grooves coated with a veneer of heady, lysergic oddity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Man Made Of Meat
2. The Bog Body
3. Uno II
4. Pyramid Of Health
5. Dirty Boyz
6. Medicine For Horses
7. Waterboy
8. Store Policy
9. You N33d Me
10. Best In Show Pt. IV
11. River King