The The release their first studio album of new songs in a quarter of a century! The 12 songs on Ensoulment encompasses characteristic topics ranging from love and sex, war and politics, life and death, to the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century. Singer-songwriter Matt Johnson is joined by…
The first of this week’s smashers comes from John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie, a band formed in the first wave of British post-rock in the late ’90s alongside the likes of Mogwai, who return with Field of Heads, the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Billy Mahonie always crafted their…
Chart-topping British blues-rocker Joanne Shaw Taylor returns with her eagerly anticipated 9th studio album, Heavy Soul. Following 2022’s universally praised Nobody’s Fool, Joanne yet again effortlessly demonstrates her blues rock wizardry as well her ever-evolving skills as a singer-songwriter. Heavy Soul highlights Joanne’s guitar prowess and instantly recognisable, smokey-yet-sultry vocals across seven brand-new original tracks…
The first of this week’s soaraway six is Lives Outgrown, the debut solo album from Portishead frontwoman Beth Gibbons, which features 10 beautiful new songs recorded over a period of 10 years. The album was produced by James Ford and Beth Gibbons with additional production by Lee Harris (Talk Talk). Lives Outgrown is, by some…
By turns devotional, empowering and nurturing, Jon Hopkins’ forthcoming Ritual is a 41-minute electronic symphony built from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career, and acts as the kinetic counterpart to 2021’s Music for Psychedelic Therapy. A single…
The first of this week’s Mayday marvels finds Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum rock band Kings of Leon coming back big with their 9th full-length studio album, Can We Please Have Fun. As the title suggests, it’s a document of one of this era’s great rock & roll bands cutting loose, trying new things, and, yes, having…
Luck and Strange, the brand-new album by David Gilmour, was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with Alt-J and Marika Hackman, with lyrics mostly written by Polly Samson,…
We kick off this week’s smokin’ six with The Red Clay Strays, who hail from the red-clay dirt of Mobile, Alabama, and have spent the past year trailblazing their musical path across the USA. Their debut album, Moment of Truth, has become a massive word-of-mouth success Stateside, driven by the breakout hit single ‘Wondering Why’.…
Romance is without doubt the most assured, inventive and sonically adventurous record yet from Dublin-made, now London-based band Fontaines D.C, who reached number 1 in the UK and Irish album charts with their acclaimed 2022 album, Skinty Fia, and received a host of accolades including “International Group of the Year” at the 2023 BRIT Awards.…
The first of this week’s smashers comes from UK electronic pop icons Pet Shop Boys, who return with their brand-new studio album, Nonetheless. Produced by James Ford, the music on Nonetheless is both uplifting and reflective, mixing electronics, live instruments and orchestral arrangements. The songs are very melodic and quintessentially Pet Shop Boys with a…