A slight change to this week’s round up as amongst its multitude of releases is a bumper package from the hermetically sealed Medway scene which gets its own sub-section.
Thee Headcoats Children of the Sect
Thee Headcoatees Ev’rybody’s Gonna Be Happy
Ludella Black No One Makes A Fool Out Of Me
Armitage Shanks Charge of the Shite Brigade
Described as sounding like a punch-up between Bo Diddley, The Ramones and The Sonics down the soggy end of a well, Thee Headcoats grace our ears with pared back rhythm and blues that always sounds fresh and engaging. ‘The Reason Why Didn’t Sound Like The Smith’ – because they didn’t want to – is indicative of their own certainty and disregard for their peers. Thee Headcoatees’ serenade their audience with more of a 60s girl group take on garage rock and are backed by Thee Headcoats whose head honcho, Billy Childish, also writes a majority of their songs including the self-referential ‘He’s Not Billy Eilish’. Ludella Black is also a Headcoatee and brings a vintage pop swagger to her collection. The more scatological Armitage Shanks feature Childish under his Kurt Von Switters alias and lean into a punkish, disorderly brand of rhythm and blues.
For those wishing to look beyond Medway for new music this week, there are plenty of excellent choices including the following:
Los Bitchos Los Bitchos and Friends Vol 1
Band creating a rich melting pot of Cumbia, rock, pop, Latin American rhythms and Turkish psychedelia, this time feature a variety of guests including Ambrose Kenny-Smith (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard), Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada and genre-blurring Sudanese-American musician Sinkane.
Jimi Tenor Wormhole Mystic
Working with synthesizers, flute, saxophone and his unmistakable voice, Tenor transforms these minimal rhythmic structures into music that feels both like a natural continuation of his singular catalogue and a departure into new territory.
Hood Cold House
25th anniversary reissue which saw them merging their slowcore, post-rock and folk influences with intricate, atmospheric IDM production and abstract rap from cLOUDDEAD’s Doseone and Why?
Swansea Sound Pre-Post-Truth
Third album from indie pop supergroup consisting of Hue Williams (ex-The Pooh Sticks), Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey (Heavenly), Bob Collins (The Dentists) and Ian Button (Death In Vegas, Railcard).
Live Skull What Could Go Wrong?
While fervently exploring and evolving the post-punk sonic landscape, their new songs have edged away from inter-personal politics to center more on politics-at-large, especially the increasingly worrying move toward totalitarianism in their native US.
Hood Cold House
25th anniversary reissue which saw them merging their slowcore, post-rock and folk influences with intricate, atmospheric IDM production and abstract rap from cLOUDDEAD’s Doseone and Why?
Radie Peat No Human Tongue Can Tell
Solo debut from Lankum vocalist. Peat is celebrated for her powerful contralto voice, technical vocal authority, and emotional depth. She distils the essence of folk music, breathing life into old songs and carrying them forward with new meaning, both sustaining and enriching the Irish singing tradition.
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry & Steve Marshall Scratch is Alive
The fifth in a series of records he made with Steve Marshall a.k.a. John Saxon. The album contains previously unreleased vocal and dub tracks recorded in Switzerland and London and continues the legacy of one of the world’s truly original artists. The style is experimental, and brings together elements of reggae, dub, R&B, soul, blues, and electronic music.
Trentemøller Trentemøller
Across 10 songs, a journey towards dynamic yet bittersweet frontiers of sound gather pace, pitting maximalist guitar-noise blowouts against some of the most bruising and bittersweet, fuzz-washed shoegaze
Sleepwalk View From The Outside
Sleepwalk are like The Cure if they’d evolved out of American hardcore rather than from British new wave.
girlband! girlband!
Musically, expect fuzzy guitars, huge choruses, garage-rock attitude and the gloriously scruffy spirit of ’90s alternative. Think The Breeders, Hole and The Cranberries, with a little Bruce Springsteen-sized heart and flashes of Cyndi Lauper and The Bangles thrown in for good measure.
Diemen Sniep Nobody Likes A Pity Party
Somewhere between the abrasion of Swans, the fever of The Birthday Party and the stillness of Talk Talk, Diemen Sniep inhabit a space where noise rock, post-punk tension, dreamy soundscapes and infectious hooks collide.
Kimi Recor Applewater
Bringing together ambient, dark folk, drone, neofolk, experimental.
The Kick 1+1
With flares of electro pop and California garage punk, 1+1 at times also sounds psychedelic, glitchpop and R&B, yet the melodies are bubblegum.
Van Chamberlain As Far As The Eye Can See
A shimmering collection of hooks, luring grooves, and emotionally open songwriting.
Pen Pin Pony Up
The 12-track musical escape is a collection of songs inspired by finding joy in the moment, friendship and healing (Emily of the band overcame breast cancer during this time
Luna Red Still Becoming EP
Artist bringing together contemporary R&B, soul, pop and hip-hop.
Various 20th Century Paddy – The Songs of Shane MacGowan
An array of artists pay tribute and interpret MacGowan’s songs, including Bruce Springsteen, Hozier and Jessie Buckley, Lisa O’Neill, Tom Waits, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Pogues.
Black Doldrums Repetition Compulsion
Drawing inspiration from 80s gothic post-punk, synth-pop and darkwave, it completes their interconnected “State of Mind Trilogy”: a three-album exploration of the psychological forces that shape identity, memory and human connection
Forever Forever Life is Easy
A genre-blending and gender-bending London-based quartet, combining 00s indie with modern pop, adding in a dash of folk and a hint of grunge, and rounding it all off with timelessly lush four-part harmonies.
Silvertomb The Interpretation of Nightmares
Seven years on from ‘Edge of Existence’ comes the doom metallers’ follow-up.
Shaina Hayes Take the Case of a Rose
Canadian folk singer. The album expands her distinctive palette without sacrificing the warmth that defines her songwriting. Acoustic guitars, upright piano, strings and understated percussion create richly textured arrangements that feel simultaneously expansive and deeply personal.
The Body & Cel Genesis Whole Wide World
Essential to this album are the sounds of trance music, the weight of distortion and the grinding of experimental electronica, all counterpointed against the viscerality of two live drummers.
Giles Corey Giles Corey
A bleak, intimate, and strangely beautiful record that turns depression, death, history, and the paranormal into something intensely personal.
Felix Rösch ARP
A vivid modern classical masterclass that evokes the spirit of Max Richter or Ólafur Arnalds, offering a deeply intimate portrait of pain, perseverance, and family.
Ivy Flindt Sphinx
Blending enthralling melodies, vivid lyrics, and cinematic soundscapes
Chastity I Built This Prison Myself
The album hurtles through melodic hardcore, shoegaze and punk, and arrives on the heels of a whirlwind past few years for the band.
J.Bernardt Wild Swim
The Motown-like backing vocals of Lex Noblitt, Isabel Whelan and Dasha Chadwick weave throughout the record, forming a counterpoint to his vibrato.
Nick Ward Year of the Snake
A maximalist coming-of-age record that moves between folk, pop, electronic music, soul, indie-rock and classical music.
Maledictus Lazarvs
Built on a foundation of aggressive riffs, haunting melodies, and emotionally driven vocals, the band blends elements of modern heavy metal with darker and more melodic influences.
Veronica Bianqui Use Once Then Destroy
A record that pairs classic pop craftsmanship with punk energy and inventive production, moving fluidly between satire, confession, and a cast of heightened personas.
Always You Against The World
Heavy guitars and bending sheets of white noise clash over frenzied hi hats and Prodigy-esque sub bass. Abrupt starts and stops crash down with the weight of the world, leaving no room for ambiguity. Drum & bass and house beats pound over soaring melodies and chopped vocal samples.
Goblyns Who Do You Fight?
The record marks an ambitious turn for the band, retaining their intricate rhythmic interplay and psychedelic sensibilities while placing a stronger emphasis on traditional rock ’n’ roll and R&B songwriting
Eva Cassidy JAZZED
JAZZED brings together Eva Cassidy’s jazz performances for the first time, showcasing her exceptional vocal versatility and repertoire choices.
silt. brain like a silent hill EP
The music explores the realities people build to escape themselves, the traces they leave behind, and the collision between natural imagery and synthetic modern life.
Hiroshi Yoshimura Quiet Forest
30th anniversary reissue by Japanese ambient artist. The album is largely inspired by his trip to the vast forests of the North American Pacific Northwest, the album is an aural reflection of the fantastical, surreal beauty he experienced as he walked through the otherworldly wilderness for the first time.
Cello Octet Amsterdam Cocon
Suspended somewhere between the tactile resonance of eight cellos and the imagined echoes of electronic sound, the album unfolds as a meditation on transformation.
Jan St. Werner Squares Will Fall
Mouse on Mars artist brings in Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to collaborate.
Masayoshi Fujita Forest of Tranquility
Like the Japanese kankyō ongaku (environmental music) pioneers Hiroshi Yoshimura, Midori Takada and Haruomi Hosono before him, Fujita makes gentle, mind-massaging music intended to blend harmoniously with its environment.
Crawlers Live With This EP
Surprise EP that sees Crawlers embracing their great strength of raw and emotionally honest songwriting.
May Payne Keeper EP
Singer-songwriter whose EP was deliberately stripped of many of the conventions of modern recording: no MIDI, loops or click tracks, with performances instead captured together and the strongest takes allowed to stand.
Gnarcissists Paradise Aquarium
Featuring members of Malice K, Pretty Sick, Navy Gangs, and Taraneh, the six piece’s origins begin in a Brooklyn squat in the late 2010s. Since then, the band has played with the likes of Fcukers, The Voidz, OSEES, Gibby Haynes, Sufbort, Viagara Boys.
Howlin’ Rain Watermelon
Covers album including songs by Mountain, Judee Sill, Scott Walker, Fairport Convention, Moby Grape.
Beaks Aldie
The project of experimental post-punk artist and writer Anna Francesca from Vienna, Beaks weaves revealing poetry through bodied anthems, landing somewhere in between waking life and a dream-sequence.
U2 Carnaval du Luz
Their first new album in nine years is a collection of 12 songs exploring themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance in the face of dark, encroaching forces.
Cherry Bomb The Pursuit of Pleasure
A fierce, glitter-soaked solo project born from rebellion, heartbreak, and radical self-expression.
Kim Deal Live at the Barbican
Recorded at a sold-out performance at London’s historic Barbican, playing special orchestrated renditions of songs from her acclaimed debut solo album Nobody Loves You More, followed by tracks from The Breeders’ back catalogue.
Flaming Lips At War With the Mystics
20th anniversary reissue bringing together a remarkable collection of previously unreleased recordings, rarities and material from the wider world surrounding the album, spread across six discs of music.
DJ Heartstring Sentimental Ultra
This debut album finds the pair chasing not just peak-time euphoria and what they can conjure in a club setting, but everything around it, too. The befores and the afters; the soft and the supercharged.
Cade Hoppe Safer at a Distance
Singer-songwriter whose album “oscillates between acceptance and denial, while constantly assessing what is and isn’t reality,” says Hoppe.
Font American Bully XL
There are dusty country-rock moments, the languid slow-mo atmosphere of DJ Screw, samples of lapsteel, Roky Erickson-style zonked-out sweetheart melodies, a little of Lotic’s heat-vision hallucinations, and hymns in electronic form.
Observers The Emerald
Martin Kennedy’s metal instrumental project, equal parts crushing guitars and atmospheric soundscapes, reminiscent of Kennedy’s ambient rock project All India Radio.
gemini rose in between
Anchored by reverb-drenched guitar tones, lo-fi electronic textures, and lush, stacked vocal harmonies, the production deliberately keeps the focus exactly where it belongs: on the weight of the lyrics.
Heaven in her Arms The End of Purification
Formed in Tokyo and built around the volatile interplay of three guitars, the band have spent nearly two decades making music that refuses easy categories: emotionally unguarded, architecturally expansive and capable of moving from violent abrasion to sudden, disarming beauty within a single song.
Elijah Minnelli Spitting Feathers EP
The EP sees him mining old world melody and dub methodology towards something very much its own.
FAWN Chamber Creative | Adam Scime L’homme et le ciel
Opera which employs the second-century Roman text The Shepherd of Hermas as its narrative base, which focuses primarily on Hermas, an enslaved man manoeuvres through a strange psychological landscape populated by visions in which longing continually alters his perception of himself and the world around him.
Skorts Muse and the Marquee EP
New York band’s six tracks range from rocky to dreamy.
