Alison Goldfrapp has set a towering bar for British synth-pop in the 21st century and she’s only just getting started. The magnetic London-born singer, songwriter and producer’s seven albums with Goldfrapp were fuelled by an unfailing modernity and a sixth sense for sounds that were more timeless than any trend. With the release of her…
Heading up this week’s six stormers is Memento Mori, the 15th studio album from Depeche Mode and its first as a two-piece lineup of Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, following co-founder Andrew ‘Fletch’ Fletcher’s tragic passing in 2022. Produced by James Ford with additional production work by Marta Salogni, Memento Mori’s gestation took place during…
NO THANK YOU is yet another delicious left-field turn for 29-year old Simbiatu Ajikawo. Sleek, succinct and utterly propulsive, it’s Little Simz’ defiantly punk-rock, two-fingered salute to conformity and fame, and all the expectations and restrictions that come with. Recorded with her regular collaborator Inflo, this is Simz at her most free, daring and spontaneous.…
First out of this week’s box of delights is V, the first double album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the band led by Hawaiian-New Zealander singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, V is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. It’s also the…
Nearly five years on from their acclaimed debut, Bennett Wilson Poole reveal the follow-up, I Saw A Star Behind Your Eyes, Don’t Let It Die Away. It’s been a long time coming, but… That eponymous first album was a serendipitous series of events which began with a late-evening session where the trio wrote a response…
Kicking off this week’s six stormers is visionary Swedish singer-songwriter and producer Fever Ray, who has finally returned to us grateful fans with a splendid new long-player, some five years after their last outing (2017’s Plunge). Radical Romantics is a return characterised by a somewhat darker and more brooding mood and feel. This work is…
Wait ’Til I Get Over is a memoir and a love letter. It is the story of Durand Jones’s life, his growth and revelations, the wisdom of his hometown and the wisdom he could only gain once he left. In it, he writes through Hillaryville’s contradictions: the pristine beauty and the ragged roads; his teenage…
We open this week’s box of delights with The Lathums, who state their intentions to supercharge their continued rise with the release of brand new album From Nothing To A Little Bit More. The album promises eleven brand-new songs, including ‘Sad Face Baby’ and ‘Say My Name’, and follows the Number-1 success of their 2021…
Weathervanes, the new album from Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, tackles issues such as gun violence, the opioid crisis and women’s rights all through Isbell’s signature songwriting lens. This is a collection of grown-up songs: songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and…
We’ve got six crackers for you this week, starting with the appropriately titled Cracker Island, the eight studio album from Gorillaz. It’s an energetic, upbeat, genre-expansive collection of 10 tracks featuring yet another stellar line-up of artist collaborators: Thundercat, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo, Bootie Brown and Beck. Recorded in London and…