September looks like being a monumental month for new releases. Our recommended eight for 2 September start with Ward Thomas, whose startling new album, Cartwheels, they say themselves, is not just a country album. Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy is one of the UK’s most accomplished and distinctive songwriters, and he’s in fine form…
Pre-sale of the week is Heads Up by Warpaint, out on 23 September. Warpaint’s third studio album, Heads Up, was recorded after the band spent 2015 apart working on solo projects. The band reunited in January this year and started to work with producer Jacob Bercovici, with whom they had worked on their debut EP,…
First of our recommended releases for 26 August is a covers record with a difference from The Devil Makes Three – each side of Redemption & Ruin has an old-fashioned concept all on its own: the songs chosen relate to either redemption or ruin. Neat! De La Soul release And The Anonymous Nobody, an album…
Pre-sale of the week is 22, A Million by Bon Iver, out on 30 September. Bon Iver’s new album 22, A Million, is the band’s first album in five years. “22, A Million is part love letter, part final resting place of two decades of searching for self-understanding like a religion. And the inner-resolution of…
First up for release on 19 August is Slow Club’s cheerily titled One Day All Of This Won’t Matter Any More, which contains more of their gorgeous melodies. John Paul White releases his first solo album since the break up of the much loved Civil Wars; titled Beulah, this is a triumph of dark southern…
Pre-sales of the week are Schmilco by Wilco, out on 9 September and My Universe by The Shires, out on 7 October. Schmilco, the 10th studio album by the Grammy-award winning Chicago rock band Wilco, features 12 new original songs via the band’s own dBpm Records. Recorded at The Loft in Chicago. Produced by…
Our recommended releases for 12 August start with Thee Oh See’s The Weird Exits, on which the guitars manage to be both huge and ethereal all at the same time; The Amity Affliction’s This Could Be Heartbreak is certainly their most revealing release yet; legendary psych-rockers Acid Mothers Temple serve up another hefty slice of…
Pre-sale of the week is The Early Years 1967–1972 by Pink Floyd, out on 11 November. Features: • Many hours of rare and unreleased music and video from the Pink Floyd archive • 6 ‘year’ volumes plus a bonus exclusive ‘extras’ package across 27 discs • Over 20 unreleased songs including 1967’s ‘Vegetable Man’ and…
The recommended releases for 5 August kick off with Dinosaur Jr’s Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not – as entertaining a slice of riotous rock’n’roll as you could wish to hear. Wild Beasts’ Boy King is for all those who enjoy sinuous melodies winding around some beautifully dark songs. Blues Pills also bring full-on…
Pre-sale of the week is Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) by David Bowie, out on 23 September. The follow-up to the awarding-winning and critically acclaimed Five Years (1969–1973), this box set (spread over 12 CDs / 13 LPs) features all of the material officially released by Bowie during the so-called ‘American’ phase of his…