Teeming with melodic epiphanies and layered sounds, Squid’s second album, O Monolith, is a musical evocation of environment, domesticity and self-made folklore. Like its predecessor, 2021’s critically acclaimed, UK number 4 album Bright Green Field, it is dense and tricksy – but also more warm and characterful, with a meandering, questioning nature. Expansive, evocative and…
We break open this week’s bag of beauties with Optical Delusion, the new album from legendary electronic music duo Orbital. The Hartnoll brothers’ first studio album since 2018’s Monsters Exist was recorded in Orbital’s Brighton studio and includes contributions from Sleaford Mods, Penelope Isles, Anna B Savage, The Little Pest, Dina Ipavic, Coppe, and –…
Josh Ritter’s 11th album, Spectral Lines, finds shared experiences in songs that push beyond the bounds of his previous work. Recorded with longtime collaborator Sam Kassirer producing, it’s an album full of wonder and light as Ritter considers the ideas of love, devotion and what it means to be connected, to each other and to…
Our pick of the releases for 3 & 10 February starts with Mercury Prize-winning Edinburgh trio Young Fathers, who return with Heavy Heavy (3 Feb), their follow-up to 2018’s standout Cocoa Sugar. The band – Alloysious Massaquoi, Graham ‘G’ Hastings and Kayus Bankole – have long been recognised as one of Britain’s most vital and…
The Orb’s pulsating discography grows ever more huge with their 18th album, Prism – the third helmed by core duo Alex Paterson and Michael Rendall. Despite the connotations of its title, here they continue to rollick freely without inhibition across ambient, house and dub, but also tangent into poetry, pop, full-blown drum ’n’ bass and…
UK Grim is the most dancefloor friendly release from Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods to date: an urgent and sage-like look at life, living and the gritty reality of our era. This is truly the sound of now, not only in terms of the ideas and issues Jason Williamson’s strong words invoke, but also thanks to…
We kick of this week’s six smashers with one of the most highly anticipated releases in the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series. Time Out Of Mind is one of Dylan’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed albums and it won three Grammy Awards, including album of the year. It includes such iconic songs as ‘Love Sick’,…
Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages Of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the The National’s discography. The 11-song album was produced by the band at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens. First Two Pages…
Our six lovelies due for release on 13th and 20th January start with CACTI (13 Jan), a huge step up for Billy Nomates, who received widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous 2020 debut album, with heavy airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music and support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.…
Having pursued solo careers since the release of Temperamental, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have reformed Everything But The Girl an are about to release a hugely anticipated and long-overdue brand-new studio album, Fuse – their first for over two decades, would you believe!? Note: The LP is initially available on limited-edition forest green vinyl.…