The first of this week’s bangers is Euro-Country, the new album by CMAT. This Brits/Mercury/Ivors-nominated star feels like she’s been part of the culture forever, and what has endeared fans to her heart-sore tunes and humour is her ability to combine contradictory themes and moods: wide-eye drama with self-deprecation. Country music has always been a lynchpin for CMAT, but this is country in an augmented, reimagined way. Mixed with classic indie and affirmative soul-pop, it resists the music industry’s desire to pigeonhole artists as one genre.
Man’s Best Friend is the latest album from multi-hyphenate global popstar Sabrina Carpenter. Coming off her Grammy-winning project Short n’ Sweet and numerous multi-platinum singles added to her resumé, the latest from Carpenter features her new single, ‘Manchild’, and is bigger and and better than ever before.
Italian progressive metal duo Asymmetric Universe has carved out a distinct space in the modern instrumental scene with a sound that seamlessly blends the aggressive intensity of metal with the rich harmonies and improvisational spirit of jazz fusion. The band’s debut album, A Memory and What Came After, reflects a refined vision and deeper maturity, as well as a more cohesive and expressive sound. Asymmetric Universe continue to push the boundaries of what instrumental progressive music can be – fiercely technical, emotionally resonant, and wholly their own.
Nova Twins have risen through the UK’s independent scene to become one of its most transformative acts, rewriting the rules of success and redefining alt.rock music’s future. Their latest album, Parasites & Butterflies, is a genre-defying journey through life’s chaos and beauty, blending hip-hop, punk, rock, pop and electronic influences. Fearless and unflinching, it explores empowerment, identity and mental health, balancing turbulence with clarity and vulnerability with strength.
For nearly a decade, Margo Price has created a lane where independent-minded, insurgent country music can exist and thrive alongside the mainstream. Now she’s back with an exquisite, timeless album that reconnects with her roots. At its core, Hard Headed Woman is about that furious instinct to never waver – especially when our values and future are so clearly on the line. It’s country music as only Price can make it: free of rules, cherishing tradition, hard headed but with a delicate beating heart.
Our release of the week comes from international rock sensation The Hives – the best live band on the planet and still your new favourite band, lauded on all continents for their masterful skill and reckless abandon in the rock music field. They have once again created a new body of work the likes of which have never been heard or indeed probably will again. The Hives Forever Forever The Hives is so full of energy, joy, anger and life that you will be questioning reality as you have known it. They finally did it: every song a single, every single a hit, every hit a direct hit in the face of the man.
There are also new releases from:
Bryan Adams – Roll With The Punches
Brad Mehldau – Ride Into the Sun
Belinda Carlisle – Once Upon a Time in California
The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie
Slow Crush – Thirst
Conner Reeves – Ten Thousand Days and the Church of the Restoration
Marshall Crenshaw – From the Hellhole
plus reissues from Ahmed Jamal, Tift Merritt, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, Deep Purple, Florence and The Machine, Funkadelic, Vangelis, Symphony X, Jacques Brel, Motörhead, Soft Play, Stars of the Lid, Stone Roses, Supertramp and Thin Lizzy.
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