New releases for 18 May 2018

We kick off this week’s gems with Half Man Half Biscuit’s 14th album, No One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut, which will perhaps finally get due recognition for their witty, dry and sardonic lyrical genius; if not, they will remain one of the great undiscovered treasures of UK guitar…

Pre-sale of the week: Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks – Sparkle Hard, out 18 May

Sparkle Hard, the new album from Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks, is light ’n’ breezy, head-down heavy, audacious, melancholic and reflective, good-time and bodacious, and it pulls off the smartest trick: it’s both unmistakeably The Jicks and – due to the streamlining of their trademark tics and turns, plus the introduction of some unexpected flourishes…