We start our hot six for this week with Originals, the latest archive release from Prince, which presents his own versions of the songs he wrote for other artists. From ‘Manic Monday’ through to ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, this collection of previously unreleased recordings demonstrates again, as if there’s anyone who would doubt it, the…
Bat For Lashes – aka Natasha Khan – releases her fifth studio album. Lost Girls is the latest brilliant full-length in Khan’s incredible, acclaimed discography, mixing sounds she’s always loved – heavy bass lines, synth arpeggios, Iranian pop beats, cascading choruses – with some of her finest songwriting to date. It’s an album full of…
This week’s six of the best start with Doom Days, the grippingly confident third album from Bastille. This is a record of hope for turbulent times that sees the Grammy-nominated, Brit-winning four-piece stretch out and open up like never before. Doom Days marks something of a shift in perception from its widely acclaimed No.1 predecessor,…
Wildwood Kin is the self-titled second studio album from the West-Country trio: sisters Emillie and Beth and their cousin Meghann. The album is self-titled because it captures the band’s artistic vision so completely. The most striking thing about the album is just how natural it sounds: it is a beautifully reflective body of work, characterised…
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.…
A Bath Full of Ecstasy is a fresh, invigorating and essential new chapter in Hot Chip’s career, taking in a huge breadth of influence and melody as only Hot Chip can. This is the first time the band have chosen to use outside producers from the outset. The record is a celebration of joy but…
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…
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…
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…
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…