There are some particularly special albums out this week. Here is our roundup:
Mike Lindsay Supershapes vol 1
One half of LUMP with Laura Marling and co-founder of pioneering UK acid folktronica band Tunng, elsewhere Mike Lindsay is known for producing Speech Debelle’s Mercury Music prize winning album ‘Speech Therapy’, along with his work with Jon Hopkins, DuBlonde, Songhoy Blues and more recent production for Dana Gavanski, Meadow Meadow and William Doyle. Anna B Savage provides guest vocal contributions.
John Grant The Art of the Lie
His most opulent, cinematic, luxurious album yet: Grant likens its musical flavours to the sumptuous Vangelis soundtrack for Bladerunner or the Carpenters if John Carpenter were also a member.
The Decemberists As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
Their ninth album and first double is their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hopes.
James Vincent McMorrow Wide Open, Horses
Artist who has lent his voice to tracks by Drake, The Blessed Madonna, Louis Tomlinson, Kygo with an album that marks a return to candid, introspective folk.
Cruza Cruzafied
Cruza hints at the intersection between religious fervour and music fandom, evident in a signature sound that blends psychedelic rock, R&B, and funk to create an afro-surrealist soundscape.
Conrad Schnitzler Blau
Composer and concept artist who is one of the most important representatives of Germany’s electronic music avant-garde. A student of Beuys and Stockhausen, he founded Berlin’s legendary Zodiak Free Arts Lab, a subculture club, in 1967/68, was a member of Tangerine Dream and Kluster and also released countless solo albums. The blue album from 1974 and was Schnitzler’s second solo LP.
Cluster Zuckerzeit
50th anniversary rerelease.
John Cale POPtical Illusion
Despite the album’s playful title, Cale’s second album in just over a year still contains the same feelings of fierce and inquisitive rage that were present in his 2023 album MERCY
Immersion Nanocluster Vol 2
Colin Newman and Malka Spigel are joined by former Swans percussionist Thor Harris and Cubzoa, the solo project of Jack Wolter from Penelope Isles. Matt Schulz from Holy Fuck plays drums across the whole release.
Alley Catss m Helux
A collage of hefty symbolic audio mysticism, 90s sampling, dub influences, fractured R&B vocals.
Hermanos Gutierrez Sonido Cosmico
Swiss-Ecuardorian siblings whose haunting, braided guitar lines that are a trademark of the HG sound add to their palette with infusions of cumbia and salsa.
Kneecap Fine Art
Irish rap trio merges Irish with English and satire with socially conscious lyrics, is fiercely intelligent, consistently hilarious and genuinely thought-provoking.
Parris Mitchell The Mixed Emotions Arcade
A diverse musical journey, featuring a blend of acoustic ballads, hard rock, and modern synthwave, embodying the theme of mixed emotions.
Axel Rudi Pell Risen Symbol
Guitarist and songwriter with melodic hard rock flag without watering down his style with pseudo-modern stylistic variations or expendable studio gimmicks. At the same time, he is constantly looking for new influences, exciting inspirations and catchy hooks.
Cola The Gloss Street
Montreal-based trio made up of former Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy alongside drummer Evan Cartwright, an in-demand session musician and collaborator in Toronto’s vibrant jazz/experimental scene with acts such as U.S. Girls and Brodie West.
Earth Tongue Great Haunting
It sees the duo draw inspiration from the eerie depths of ’70s and ’80s horror cinema, delivering a sonic concoction of dark and primitive songs with thick layers of fuzz and punchy, compressed drums.
Scattered Ashes All That Is Solid Melts Into Air
Post-punk band with an EP that takes its title from a Karl Marx quote.
Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and KMRU Disconnect
The LP is a powerful study of dread, hope, and profound sonics that marries depth-trawling dub with Kamaru’s voice, ambient sensibilities, and negative space.
Less O Cri Du Coeur
Both personal and universal, the record is designed as much for the dancefloor as it is his own catharsis.
Boulder Fields With All the Other Ghosts
Band led by Cameron Fraser of the Cateran, an Edinburgh band who were on the 1989 tour that broke Nirvana.
Las Nubes Tormentas Malsanas
Miami multilingual Garage Pop / Shoegaze / Dream Pop group.
Julie Christmas Ridiculous and Full of Blood
Spanning from alt-pop to post-metal, it is a heart-on-sleeve chapter-by-chapter storybook of the conflicting elements of her own character,
Rich Ragany You Can Get Dark With Me
Every song is a mix of home recording, from the first day of writing each song, and proper studio stuff, to keep a real personal ‘straight from the moment of inspiration’ feel but have a sonically and emotionally expanded spirit as well.
Ebbb All At Once EP
Band fusing pulsing rhythms, immersive electronic production, sparkling melodies, layered vocal harmonies and beats that veer from ambient to industrial, the result is an idiosyncratic hybrid of sounds
Hockey Dad Rebuild Repeat
Full of driving indie sensibility and pure singalong melodies,
Madeline Hawthorn Tales from Late Nights & Long Drives
A road trip record balancing Americana, roots, folk, and rock
Wools Santa Rosa EP
WØØLS collages styles inspired by ambient, dance, and guitar-driven music. He composes a sound characterized by textured synths, fuzzy tones, soft pianos, heavy low end, and driving drum patterns
Liily Liily EP
Their community and sound is grounded in the punk of the San Fernando valley as well as the post punk/alternative scene happening from LA to New York.
Raveena Where The Butterflies Go In The Rain
Raveena unites expansive songwriting with traditional Indian instruments and feel-good early 2000s pop hits.
Rodney Cromwell Exercise Class EP
With its dead-pan spoken-word lyrics, melodic chorus and Cromwell’s signature classic synth sound, the title track draws influences from LCD Soundsystem, Metronomy and New Order’s ‘Blue Monday
Moby Always Centered At Night
New album in which he collaborates with 13 artists on a similar number of tracks including Benjamin Zephaniah, serpentwithfeet and Lady Blackbird.
The Speed of Sound A Cornucopia: Minerva
Manchester band with a garage-psych future-retro-modernist sound
Wild Remedy Song From Home EP
Band that injects a shot of youthful optimism into Canadian folk by narrating their own journey of self-discovery
Vince Freeman Scars, Ghosts and Glories
Artist who has spent many years in the industry working alongside Ed Sheeran to Paolo Nutini, Newton Faulkner to Nizlopi, Vince is finally ready to make his own mark with this debut outing.
