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 debut, How Beautiful Life Can Be.
BBC Broadcasts is an extensive collection of material from one of the biggest-selling recording artists of all time, representing the cream of Genesis’ work recorded by the BBC between 1970 and 1998, with contributions from all three of the group’s vocalists: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Ray Wilson. The set was curated by founding member Tony Banks and the group’s long-time engineer and producer, Nick Davis: a treasure trove of rare and previously unreleased material and comes beautifully packaged, with extensive notes by respected music writer Michael Hann.
Feline, the 7th album from The Stranglers, is being released in a deluxe and epic expanded 40th anniversary edition, complete with ten extra tracks and rarities. The Stranglers were unstoppable throughout the seventies and eighties, becoming one of Europe’s biggest bands, with Feline peaking at No. 4 in the UK album chart. The lead single, ‘European Female’, reached No. 9 in the singles chart and paved the way for the band’s transition in sound, helping to cement their place in an ever-changing soundscape.
UGLY – an acronym for U Gotta Love Yourself – is Slowthai pulling himself apart and exposing his anxieties of the last couple of years. Musically, this new album may show a side of him that people haven’t heard before but he sees it as the fullest picture yet – and attentive listeners will have noticed this musical tendency before. UGLY is about reconnecting with first principles. Plunging into rock music with as much singing as rapping, it is both a striking departure for Slowthai and a return to the roots of Tyron Frampton. Recorded in producer Dan Carey’s home studio alongside frequent collaborator Kwes Darko, UGLY is a fluid combination of musicians, including Ethan P. Flynn, Jockstrap’s Taylor Skye, Beabadoobee guitarist Jacob Bugden, drummer Liam Toon and, on the dark and woozy title track, his friends Fontaines D.C.
Philip Selway has brought together an extraordinary number of gifted people – including Hannah Peel, Adrian Utley, Quinta, Marta Salogni, Valentina Magaletti and Laura Moody – for his new album, Strange Dance (released 24 February). Foregrounding this remarkable union of musical voices was 10 songs written by Selway at home on piano and guitar that show him at the height of his songwriting powers. As the album unfurls, it takes the listener through different weathers and seasons. Each song carries varied and diverse shades and textures of emotion. Lyrically, it is artful; Selway has a gift for writing heartfelt lyrics that could relate to any number of human experiences.
Our release of the week is Brothers & Sisters, the most open, honest and vibrant solo record from Steve Mason to date. The album marries the personal and the political but does so in an emotive and uplifting manner. Written against a backdrop of fear and uncertainty, and at a time when those in charge lurched from one disaster to the next mismanagement with increasing regularity, Brothers & Sisters is in fact an incredibly joyous, even spiritual, listen.
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