New releases for 7 June 2019

This week’s carefully selected lovelies start with Office Politics, which is – barely believably – The Divine Comedy’s 23th album. Main man Neil Hannon says of this follow-up to 2016’s mighty fine Foreverland: “It has synthesisers, and songs about synthesisers, but don’t panic, it also has guitars, orchestras, accordions, and songs about love and greed.…

New releases for 31 May 2019

We kick off this week’s set of smashers with an unexpected delight: a whole album of obscure, rare and unreleased tracks by Rory Gallagher. This collection of recordings of Rory playing his favourite blues material has been unearthed from the vaults of the Gallagher family’s tape archive. The material ranges from never-heard-before tracks to special…

Pre-sale of the week: New Order + Liam Gillick – So It Goes…, out 12 July

In June 2017, New Order returned to the stage at Manchester’s Old Granada Studios where Joy Division made their television debut on Tony Wilson’s ‘So It Goes’ programme in 1978. For the celebrated show Σ(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes…, the legendary band deconstructed, rethought and rebuilt a wealth of material from…

New releases for 24 May 2019

We’ve got a blistering sextet for you this week, starting with The Waterboys’ new album, Where The Action Is, whose title was inspired by Robert Parker’s 1960s mod/northern soul classic. This 10-song, genre-defying album is a testament to the enduring talents of the band’s founder and frontman, Mike Scott, one of the finest British songwriters…

Pre-sale of the week: Ride – This Is Not A Safe Place, out 16 August

This Is Not A Safe Place sees rejuvenated Oxford four-piece Ride reunite with revered DJ, producer and remixer Erol Alkan, who was on production duties for 2017’s Weather Diaries. Rekindling that creative partnership has once again seen Ride push their sound forward, as hypnotic rhythms and washes of lush guitars come together with leftfield electronic…

New releases for 17 May 2019

This week’s smashers start off with Small World Turning, the first new collection of songs from Thea Gilmore since 2017’s The Counterweight, which was her third successive Top-40 album. An artist of enduring international acclaim (Bruce Springsteen regularly names her as a favourite) and a justly revered lyricist, Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious…

New releases for 3 May 2019

We start of this week’s 6 lovelies with Joy Williams, formerly one half of The Civil Wars, who brings us her second solo album, Front Porch, and it’s a smasher! Already receiving praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, this album returns to the folk-oriented emotions of her Civil Wars days and has produced 12…