01. The Cure "Songs Of A Lost World" (Polydor)
Songs Of A Lost World is the long-awaited new album from The Cure, their 14th studio release and their first in 16 years. Sounding regal, weary, and deliciously slow, they grapple with mortality and doubt as only they could. feels thick and important, a giant oak tree of an album that towers over
everything it surveys. Every element counts—every plucked bass string,
rolling drum fill, angry guitar strum, or gentle piano note feels vital.perhaps the greatest compliment to pay Songs of a Lost World is
that it already feels inevitable, a work of wisdom and grace that
extends naturally from the moment the Cure took up their instruments in a
local church hall all those years ago
02. The Smile "Cutouts" (XL)
Considered by many as the best album of the year by The SMile, the trio - Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner, debuted several songs from Cutouts, during the Smile's UK tour in March. The album features 10 new-tracks and is produced by Sam Petts-Davies. It's the band's third studio album following Wall Of Eyes. The album features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra.
03. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds "Wild God" (PIAS)
Nick Cave and The bad Seeds are back after a five-year break with their new album "Wild God!", across ten tracks, the band dances between convention and experimentation, taking left turns and detours that enhance the rich imaginery and emotion in Cave's heartfelt narratives. There are moments that fondly recall the Bad Seed's past, but they are fleeting and only serve to add another facet to the band's relentless and restless forward momemntun. It's a complicated record, but it's also deeply and joyously infectious.
04. Brigitte Calls Me Baby "The Future Is Our Way Out" (ATO)
With their debut album The Future Is Our Way Out
the Chicago-based 5 piece share a body of work that spans genres and
eras, merging the lavish romanticism of mid-century pop with the
frenetic energy and spiky intensity of early-millennium indie, all
centred on singer Wes Leavins’ hypnotically crooning vocal work. One
listen and you'll fall in love with their charming, swooning and
shimmering sound.
05. Future Islands "People Who Aren't There Anymore" (4AD)
For Future Islands, albums aren’t a
static reflection of a moment in time, they are a fluid chapter in their
lives that can change and mutate. People change and pull away. The band
is no different, coming up against their future while staring at their
past. They’re not the same people they were when Future Islands began
nearly two decades ago. They are now spread about, some settled down and
some still moving. People Who Aren’t There Anymore reflects the
transience of a band’s existence; the rare privilege of travelling all
over the world contrasting with the sadness of fleeting moments in and
out people’s lives. Being everywhere but also nowhere. Remembering the
lives lost and the living they’ll never see again, cherishing the
present and being grateful for the past.
06. Pet Shop Boys "Nonetheless" (Parlophone)
The UK electronic pop icons Pet Shop Boys returned with a 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 fresh, open sound, bringing
together classic strands of PSB song-writing and moving them in new
directions
07. Vampire Weekend "Only God Was Above Us" (Columbia)
The fifth studio album from Vampire
Weekend. The album is inspired by and infused with the essence of the
band's birthplace of New York City, though recorded all over the world,
from New York to Los Angeles to London and Tokyo. The album was produced
by Ezra Koenig, and longtime collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid. The album
title is lifted directly from the album artwork, which is a photo taken
from a Subway graveyard in New Jersey in 1988 by photographer Steven
Siegel. Only God Was Above Us includes universal
themes ranging from the urge to question the world in which we live, and
the quest for peace that can only be found through acceptance. The
album is equal parts as direct yet complex as anything the band has ever
released, as beautiful and melodic as they’ve ever sounded but also at
their grittiest.
08. Wallows "Model" (Atlantic)
Multi-platinum alt-rock trio Wallows release their hird studio album, Model. Wallows continuing on their ever-evolving journey of sonic exploration,
fusing a vast array of musical ideas – from lo-fi post-punk and
indie-folk to early ’90s dance-pop psychedelia – into their own
one-of-a-kind creative vision.
09. Kings Of Leon "Can We Please Have Fun" (Capitol)
Kings of Leon are coming back big with their 9th full-length studio album, Can We Please Have Fun., it’s a document of one of this era's great rock
& roll bands cutting loose, trying new things, and, yes, having some
fun. Recorded at Dark Horse studio and produced with new collaborator
Kid Harpoon. The album sees a
new side of Kings of Leon. On the new album, the band harkens back to
their gritty origins while simultaneously finding new gears. It’s the
sound of a band unified in vision and purpose, freed from any
expectations, and the album the band says they’ve always wanted to make
10. Fontaines D.C. "Romance" (XL)
Fontaines D.C. release their highly-anticipated fourth album, Romance. Is the band’s first album with producer James Ford and is without doubt
their most assured, inventive and sonically adventurous rand most ambitious, expansive record yet, its 11 tracks
constellating ideas that have been percolating among the band since 2022. These ideas crystalised while touring the U.S. and Mexico with Arctic
Monkeys as the five band members shared music and found a throughline
with artists that deftly build out their own sprawling creative worlds. The sonic evolution of the
band, who bared their teeth in early records with antagonistic punk
sensibilities, is an ascent into grungier breaks, dystopian electronica,
hip-hop percussion, and dreamy Slowdive-esque textures that may
surprise fans
11. Travis "L.A. Times" (BMG)
Glasgow's songwriting giants Travis return with L.A. Times, their tenth studio album. Produced by Tony Hoffer, the album was written by Fran Healy in his studio on the edge of Skid Row, Los
Angeles, the city he has called home for the last decade. He describes L.A. Times as Travis's most personal album since their glorified "The Man Who".
12. Liam Gallagher & John Squire "Liam Gallagher & John Squire" (Warner Music UK)
Liam Gallagher and John Squire release
their debut self-titled album. Long-term friends with a mutual
admiration for each other’s work, the idea of a collaboration started
when John joined Liam on-stage at his biblical Knebworth shows. Song
ideas were soon flowing, and the album took shape with an intuitive
intensity while in Los Angeles with the revered producer Greg Kurstin.
He played bass throughout the record, while drums were performed by Joey
Waronker, a must-have.
13. Yard Act "Where's My Utopia" (Island)
The return of Yard Act, is the follow up to the Leeds band's critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload
which arrived in January 2022. Written in snapshots of time between a
relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and
Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap
forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. Across the record,
influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s
pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known. It's a celebratory
palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into
himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character
studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the
headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles
to create a sort of Promethean narrative - but with jokes.
14. Kim Gordon "The Collective" (Matador)
An unique bizarre in the best kind of
way; lyrically fascinating and, surprisingly, contains some of the best
trap (no shit) to come out this decade. This record pushes her typical industrial
guitar sound into a new space; Recorded in Gordon's native Los Angeles, The Collective follows her 2019 full-length debut No Home Record
and continues her collaboration with producer Justin Raisen with
additional production from Anthony Paul Lopez. The album advances their
joint world building, with Raisin’s damaged, blown out dub and trap
constructions playing the foil to Gordon’s intuitive word collages and
hooky mantras, which conjure communication, commercial sublimation and
sensory overload.
15. Pixies "The Night The Zombies Came" (BMG)
The Night The Zombies Came is Pixies’ tenth album, 13 new songs
that find Pixies looking ahead to the most cinematic record of their
career. Druidism, apocalyptic shopping malls, mediaeval themed
restaurants, 12th century poetic form, surf rock, gargoyles, bog people,
and the distinctive dry drum sound of 1970s-era Fleetwood Mac are just
some of the disparate wonders that inform the new songs.
16. Tindersticks "Soft Tissue" (City Slang)
Tindersticks' 14th album, showcases their exploratory spirit, mixing intimate songwriting with
experimental soundscapes. The album evolves from their previous work,
balancing introspective lyrics with innovative musical textures. Band
members, including singer Stuart Staples, emphasize the collaborative
nature of the creation process, fostering a dynamic dialogue that shapes
their music. Key tracks like "New World" and "Always a Stranger"
highlight this blend of personal reflection and sonic exploration,
underscoring the band's enduring ambition and versatility.
17. W.H. Lung "Eveey Inch Of Earth Pulsation" (Melodic)
Mancunian synth pop outfit W.H.Lung decided to try something new
on their third album "Every Inch of Earth Pulsates", in order to capture
the energy, spirit and dynamism of their live shows. Something that has
become paramount to the group in recent years as they have undeniably
blossomed into one of the most joyous and arresting live bands in the
country. They relocated to Sheffield to work for the first time with
Ross Orton the
Sheffield Steve Albini, his productions and mixes
are bombastic, lively and in face. While this album, is rooted in a sense of capturing a
moment and a sparky liveness, that’s not to say it’s a raw or ragged
record. It is still a meticulously composed, delicately layered and
pristinely produced piece of work that, in true W.H. Lung style, runs the gauntlet from dance to pop to
indie while still capturing that distinctly unique quality that is
unquestionably their own.
18. Empire Of The Sun "Ask That God" (EMI)
Eight years on from their last album, the Australian duo’s fabulist nostalgia-pop is a triumph of feeling over artifice. Australian duo Luke "Emperor" Steele and Nick "Lord" Littlemore, AKA Empire of the Sun,
deserve flowers. Their work comes freighted with so much cape-swishing,
astral-travelling effort. The pair’s speciality is fabulist
nostalgia-pop: songs with as few sharp edges as possible, swaddled in
sleek, shiny futurist imagery reminiscent of 80s fantasy movies such as Labyrinth. Their lyrics brim with the thrill of kids on a beach digging up amulets.
19. Wunderhorse "Midas" (Communion)
Wunderhorse capture the raw power and
energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts
of recent years. With rugged hooks, unfiltered noise, and fierce melodic
sensitivity, Midas rips up the script of traditional second albums and
establishes the band as an endlessly addictive and rousing generational
talent. With Grammy
Award-winning producer Craig Silvey (The Rolling Stones, The National,
Florence and The Machine) on board for their sophomore record, the band
looked to do something different. There’s
absolutely no faking on this record, it's not supposed
to be perfect; it’s supposed to be a snapshot, even if it is a bit of an
ugly portrait.
20. Underworld "Strawberry Hotel" (Smith Hyde)
Gleaming tensile techno forms clean,
straight lines while scratchy acoustic guitars scuff up edges to produce
ghostly audio. Poetry is snatched from the overhead, removed from the
overheard; words borrowed from the ether are spun into dizzying new
shapes, sometimes reappearing in new settings, twisted back to front,
side to side. Each track a very different room - some soundtracked by
little more than metronomic kick drum and robotic voice, others deep in
layer upon layer of melody and euphoric noise - and each room
unmistakably, uniquely Underworld. The only advice from Underworld’s
Rick Smith and Karl Hyde upon entering: “Please don’t shuffle.” Strawberry Hotel
features the singles and the colour red and denver luna, as well as new
release Black Poppies - a celestial love song, a hymn to the universe
and to boundless, positive change. Ambient and beatless, Black Poppies
is a celebration of full dancefloors and the beauty of life itself.
21. Crowded House "Gravity Stairs" (BMG)
Their first new release since 2021’s Dreamers Are Waiting
and eighth overall. Produced by the band with Steven Schram, the album
shows Crowded House in its current incarnation—Finn, Nick Seymour,
Mitchell Froom, and Finn’s sons Elroy and Liam—as sharp as ever, feeling
musically adventurous, and still capable of reaching the staggering
highs that have made them an international favorite. It’s the act of
climbing those figurative “gravity stairs,” inspired by a heavy stone
staircase near where Finn vacations, that he likens to his own mindset
as a creator.
22. Nada Surf "Moon Mirror" (New West)
Moon Mirror, their first for New West
Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios
in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by
their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino. Moon Mirror
is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the
album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and
sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep
loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band
in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in
possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up.
23. Cassandra Jenkins "My Light, My Destroyer" (Dead Oceans)
What’s most remarkable about My Light, My Destroyer
is it captures an artist at an exciting leap in her evolution. So much
about the album feels of-a-kind with its predecessors; field recordings
and found sound permeate, narrative songwriting crashes into heady,
swirling compositions. Jenkins sings with what can only be described as a
power- whisper (think Sufjan Stevens, Annie Lennox, Margo Timmins or
YHF-era Tweedy), her vocals up close and intimate but subtly
confrontational. But it all feels bigger here, more finely honed, bolder
and richer than her previous work and than her peers. On My Light, My Destroyer, many
of the songs are devoted to specific feelings, and to really getting
inside those feelings as opposed to getting inside a narrative arc. Songs like Devotion, Delphinium Blue, Clams
Casino, Echo, and Only One, speak to the liberating quality of focused
observation, even to the point of disillusionment.
24. Cola "The Gloss" (Fire Talk)
The Gloss is the second album from Cola - From their inception Cola
have expanded on the diy ethic of the Dischord and SST eras, creating
potent sounds from a minimal palette of drums/bass/guitar and lacing
their songs with winsome one-liners and societal commentary. The lyrics
reward repeated listening for deeper meanings. David Berman's
poetry-via-garage light pennings are an inspiration, as equally so are
the lighter side of UK first-wave New Wave and the Dunedin sound. The
results are in the pudding: at times sparse and poetic, at others a
thrilling, hook-laden good time, as with the cheeky romantic sketch of a
one-night stand that is so overflowing with innuendo-cum-journalism
talk that it almost teeters over into self-parody. But the results are
the right combination of lightheartedness and sincerity. It's an album bursting with energy and wit and
ideas-filled to the margins
25. Idles "Tangk" (Partisan)
A radical sense of defiant empowerment radiates from "Tangk",
co-produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and Idles guitarist Mark
Bowen. Despite his reputation as an incendiary post-punk sparkplug,
frontman Joe Talbot sings almost all the feelings inside these 10 songs
with hard-earned soul, offering each lusty vow or solidarity plea as a
bona fide pop song—that is, a thing for everyone to pass around and
share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievance, this is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud
in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever.
26. The Waeve "City Lights" (Transgressive)
British Folk-Rock Post-Punk duo, The Waeve, return with their latest guitar driven romp, City Lights.
Graham Coxon (blur) + Rose Elinor Dougall return with the follow-up to
last year's acclaimed eponymous debut. Produced by James
Ford, the record features both artists
on vocal duties in addition to playing a host of instruments including
saxophone, keyboards and drums. The WAEVE have established themselves as
a songwriting partnership to watch and with City Lights
they further push the boundaries of their collaborative creativity,
using this album to chronicle the evolution of their relationship and
forays into parenthood.
27. Primal Scream "Come Ahead" (BMG)
The songwriting process for Come Ahead
began in 2019. At which point Bobby Gillespie had no idea if he would
make another Primal Scream album again. For the first time, the lyrics
came before the music. The story came first. Bobby wrote alone, using an
acoustic guitar. Ideas flowed fast, in long bursts of inspiration. This
process, in tandem with encouragement from producer David Holmes,
provided a new way in. Working with Holmes and Primal Scream guitarist
Andrew Innes, the Come Ahead sessions were completed between Belfast, London and Los Angeles. If there was an overall theme to Come Ahead it might be
one of conflict, whether inner or outer. The title is a Glaswegian term.
If someone threatens to fight you, you say, ‘come ahead!’ It’s redolent
of the indomitable spirit of the Glaswegian, and the album itself
shares that aggressive attitude and confidence. They have a word for
this up there, gallus.
28. Camera Obscura "Look To The East, Look To The West" (Merge)The new album by Camera Obscura, is a revelation. The Tracyanne Campbell-led outfit, reuniting with producer Jari Haapalainen,
have crafted an album that simultaneously recalls why longtime fans
have ferociously loved them for decades while also being their most
sophisticated effort to date. It is also the most hard-fought album of
Camera Obscura’s career. Following the 2015 passing of founding
keyboardist and friend Carey Lander, the band went into an extended hiatus.
They remained in contact, but their status was uncertain until they
announced their return, the album is the sound of a band that has grown more confident in its sound and
purpose than ever. It is Camera Obscura at their best and most
evocative, an album that completely rearranges the listener’s emotional
core, leaving them sad and exhilarated at the same time. Camera
Obscura’s catalogue is replete with songs people point to as
life-changing, songs that will stick with them all their lives.
29. St. Vincent "All Born Screaming" (Virgin Music)
All Born Screaming ignites the spirit of St. Vincent
with an unstoppable flame which despite its bittersweet title, leaves
an indelible taste which is anything but sour. Several of these tracks,
notably Broken Man and Big Time Nothing, were meticulously sculpted upon
modular synths only to be lacerated by blistering guitars and raw vocal
prowess. Tenacious, provocative and unwavering, All Born Screaming
presents Annie in a bold and focused light, making it clear that she is
not only playing with fire but rather commanding it with absolute
mastery. Her album number seven and St Vincent
continues to thrill, educate and be innovative. Her first fully
self-produced album (having co-produced every one of her previous
efforts), All Born Screaming is St. Vincent at her most primal.
30. Jane Penny "Surfacing" (Luminelle)
The lead singer of the Canadian band TOPS, presents her studio debut EP, showing herself as the most vulnerable and reflexive than ever, the singer was decided to explore new creative horizons setting away from her usual sound of the band she sings. The album borns from an instropection and changes in her life, marked by her moved to Berlin and the pandemic, the lyrics are more introspective telling stories about doubt, emotional vulnerability and the searching of herself warped with sophisticated pop arrangements riding between intimacy and thrilling, this is an instropective journey that offers a more intimate and personal vision from an artist in plane self-discovering showing her talent as a ceeator and producer.
31. Fairground Attraction "Beautiful Happening" (Absolute)
Fairground Attraction imploded on the first day of recording
what should have been their second album, leaving fans, and the band
themselves, wondering what might have been had they been able to
continue. Founding members, vocalist Eddi Reader and
songwriter/guitarist Mark Nevin went on to have varied and successful
careers but, like an annoying mosquito, the ’what ifs’ persisted for 35
long years. Nothing was forced or negotiated, no
one’s lawyer talked to anyone’s manager – they don’t even have such
things. Perhaps they just got bored of not being friends. Maybe the
weirdness of lockdown reminded them of their mortality and woke them up
to the fact that if they were ever going to play together again, they
had better get on with it because it might soon be too late. Whatever
the reason, Mark and Eddi found themselves ordering a couple of
croissants in a coffee shop a couple of years ago, on the morning after
Eddi’s annual show at the Union Chapel in London. The conversation could
have started with: “…and as I was saying,” because it felt so natural
and familiar, as though they were just picking up a thread from the
evening before. It was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait.
There is no other band like Fairground Attraction and, after more than
35 years, this is only their second album. Will there be another? Who
knows, but whatever happens, don’t miss this, it is beautiful.
32. Sleater-Kinney "Little Rope" (Loma Vista)
Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback in Portland, Oregon with
Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, 'Little Rope' is a powerfully
honest and soul-baring album by one of modern rock's most vital bands.
It is one of the finest, most delicately layered records in
Sleater-Kinney's nearly 30-year career. To call the album flawless feels
like an insult to its intent - it careens headfirst into flaw and
brokenness - a meditation on what living in a world of perpetual crisis
has done to us, and what we do to the world in return. On the surface,
the album's 10 songs veer from spare to anthemic, catchy to deliberately
hard-turning. But beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle
arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record, and a lyrical and emotional
compass pointed firmly in the direction of something both liberating and
terrifying: the sense that the only way to gain control is to let it
go.
33. Wishy "Triple Seven" (Blue Velvet)
Indiana songwriters Kevin Krauter and
Nina Pitchkites' musical synergy proves itself to be a rare one–the kind
that sounds like someone striking gold. Part sly wink and part warm
gratitude, it’s only fitting their much anticipated full length debut is
titled Triple Seven, where Wishy’s penchant for indelible hooks
is couched equally in pillowy atmospherics and scathing distortion. Coming up in a scene defined by hardcore
and emo, Krauter and Pitchkites instead found themselves writing
melodies in their heads while driving to work, pulling music from the
air and arriving at a blearier, more ethereal interpretation of Midwest
expanse. Initially, their music oscillated between hazy dream-pop and
heavier alt-rock. Triple Seven is a vibrant and
exhilarating document of self-discovery with the scope and heft of the
bygone big-budget rock albums that inspired it.
34. Girl In Red "I'm Doing It Again Baby" (Columbia)
Is the second studio album by Norway-born and Oslo-based
singer-songwriter girl in red. This 10-song album chronicles the
artist's last two and a half years with honesty and wit, and a
willingness to play around with her music. With 'I'm Doing It Again
Baby!', girl in red is building her music into something 'more
ambitious, and more exciting, and more idea-driven'. Exploring themes
like confidence, criticism, self-esteem, and vulnerability, girl in red
produced the album with frequent collaborator Matias Tellez.
35. Kim Deal "Nobody Loves You More" (4AD)
Nobody Loves You More is Kim
Deal’s debut album is a meticulous approach to her art, the album was
refined over several years. Its oldest songs, ‘Are You Mine?’ and ‘Wish I
Was’, were written and originally recorded in 2011 shortly after Deal
came off the Pixies’ “Lost Cities Tour” and relocated to Los Angeles
(early versions of those songs were included in said vinyl series); the
last recording for Nobody Loves You More took place in November
2022 with legendary engineer and close friend Steve Albini, who helmed
final track ‘A Good Time Pushed’ at his Electrical Audio studio in
Chicago. Every
song has a story behind it, the
record is a celebration of Deal’s unmatched artistry, nodding not only
to her career highlights with celebrated bands across the alternative
landscape (Pixies, The Amps, The Breeders), but also to her immovable
cultural weight influencing musicians like Kurt Cobain and Olivia
Rodrigo through the generations.
36. Jack White "No Name" (Third Man)
Jack White's back in a big, big way! Here
he slides back into the raw, blown out garage rock that he's so well
known for and man does it sound good. The riffs are piled high all over
this album and he's never sounded so urgent and utterly relevant.
Everything distorts in just the right places and the hooks are
guaranteed to stay in your head for a long, long time. He's stripped
everything back and come back bigger, badder and better than ever.
37. Thurston Moore "Flow Critical Lucidity" (Daydream Library)
Thurston returns with his ninth and best solo album Flow Critical Lucidity. Some of the songs were written and
arranged in Europe and the United Kingdom and include lyrical references
to their environments and inspired by nature, lucid dreaming, modern
dance and Isadora Duncan. The album comes from a lyric in the single "Sans Limites" and the album sleeve
cover art features Jamie Nares' "Samurai Walkman" — a helmet befitted
with tuning forks. Jamie Nares (born in Great Britain) is a life long
friend of Thurston Moore from his New York No Wave days and the two have
often collaborated in art and music.
38. The Mysterines "Afraid Of Tomorrows" (Fiction)
The Mysterines are back with their
follow up to critically acclaimed "The Reeling". They’ve gone on a
journey of self discovery with the many miles they’ve put behind them,
forming a stronger united bond and taking leaps to hone and define
themselves. Album two is always a tricky one to get right, but they have
provided enough of the comfortable stability of the first album, with
the edge of throwing in new and exciting nuances into the mix is a deeper and darker foray into The Mysterines’ psyche than its predecessor, and reflects the maturity and growth of the band.
39. MGMT "Loss Of Life" (Mom + Pop)
A very MGMT album, which the
band describes as a group of songs about love and change, first and
foremost. Descriptors from the band include: bold, flavorful, playful,
sincere, optimistic, perceptive. Loss Of Life was produced by
MGMT and Patrick Wimberly with mixing and
additional production by Dave Fridmann. The
album includes the first ever MGMT song with a feature, courtesy
Christine and the Queens. The album artwork has been licensed from John
Baldessari's estate and is an artwork titled Noses and Ears.
40. Beth Gibbons "Lives Outgrown" (Domino)
Featuring production by another Talk Talk alumni, Lee Harris, and contains sonic ghosts of Gibbons'
past; some haunting, subtle echoes of the anxious moods explored on
Portishead's Third - but there's a general tilt away from the jazz and
soul that has previously informed her work in favour of some kind of
ancient British folk through a dreamlike prism. Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album Lives Outgrown.
Featuring 10 beautiful new songs recorded over a period of 10 years, the albums is by
some measure, Beth’s most personal work to date, the result of a period
of sustained reflection and change.
41. The Black Crowes "Happiness Bastards" (Silver Arrow)
Call it brotherly love or music destiny that
brought them back together, the highly anticipated record consecrating
the reunion of this legendary band just may be the thing that saves rock
& roll. In a time where the art form is buried beneath the
corporate sheen of its successors, The Black Crowes are biting back with
the angst of words left unsaid penned on paper and electrified by
guitar strings, revealing stripped, bare-boned rock & roll. No
gloss, no glitter, just rhythm and blues at it's very best - gritty,
loud, and in your face.
42. The Jesus & Mary Chain "Glasgow Eyes" (Fuzz Club)
Marking 40 years of The Jesus And Mary Chain, "Glasgow Eyes" was recorded at Mogwai’s
Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow, where Jim and William continued the creative process
that resulted in their previous album, becoming their highest
charting album in over twenty years. What emerged is a record that finds one of the UK’s
most influential groups embracing a productive second chapter, their maelstrom of melody,
feedback and controlled chaos now informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and
Kraftwerk and a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz, the album not only extends The Jesus and Mary Chain's story, but
feels simultaneously like a return to roots. From the incendiary Psychocandy debut and its
classic ‘Just Like Honey’ onwards, the Reid brothers steadily became the misfits who made
good without compromise.
43. Washed Out "Notes From A Quiet Life" (Sub Pop)
Ernest Greene aka Washed Out is considered the godfather of chiilwave. His latest,
Notes From a Quiet Life arrives after delivering more than a decade of
distinct and disparate creative re-imaginations at a remarkably high
level. Notes is bold in its intuitiveness: Greene
has left the treadmill of music-as-a-business, instead letting his
artistic interests lead the way.
44. Paranoid London "Arseholes, Liars And Electronic Pioneers" (Paranoid London)
Paranoid London, is the electronic band
of Gerardo Delgado and Quinn Whalley, has become synonymous with
stripping acid house back down to its basics, rescuing the sound from
smiley faces, rave, and sugary excess while paying respects to its gay,
black, American roots. Performing mainly live with hardware only, often
with vocal guests, as well as unique hybrid DJ sets, the duo has
established a tongue in cheek, grumpy punk sound and attitude without
taking it too seriously. This new album refers to the cavalcade of cunts we find ourselves surrounded by. Our
only respite being the joy that musical geniuses bring. The cover
artwork and gatefold of the vinyl reflect this with a collage-like
poster including personalities of all kinds, from politicians and
royalty to music legends. When we asked them to highlight key music
pioneers from their picks, they mentioned American electro don Aldo
Marin, British producer Andrea Parker and Post Punk band Wire.
45. Public Service Broadcastings "The Last Flight" (So) The Last Flight, according to the band, is the version of the
story of Amelia Earhart's final, ill-fated journey in 1937. Having
successfully navigated over 20,000 miles and 5 continents on her
round-the-world trip, her aircraft, the Electra, vanished without trace
near Howland Island. Her whereabouts, and those of her navigator, Fred
Noonan, remain a lingering mystery to this day. Rather than focus
exclusively on the flight itself, the record is as much an examination
of Earhart's remarkable character. She was an extremely rare blend of
grace, composure, technical aptitude and a fortitude that the rest of us
mere mortals can barely dream of, all enveloped by the soul of a poet.
She was possessed of a seemingly unquenchable thirst for life - in her
words, 'to find beauty in living... to know the answer to why I’m
alive... and feel its excitement every moment'. That thirst for the
abundance of life, the sheer joy and privilege of living, long outlasts
her disappearance and death. It should serve as an inspiration, almost
an instruction, to the rest of us; this record is our attempt to
translate that inspiration into music.
46. Bon Iver "Sable" (Jagjaguwar)
Bon Iver’s new record SABLE, emerged from a long-gestating breakdown.
Justin Vernon finally found the time to unpack years of built-up
darkness just as the lockdown began. While there are the usual
collaborators on this record providing pedal steel by Greg Leisz, fiddle
by Rob Moose, saxophone by Michael Lewis, and trumpet by Trever Hagen,
the album is largely defined by Vernon’s voice and guitar. The dense layers
of i,i are nowhere to be found, as Vernon bears the weight of these
songs largely on his own. It’s a retreat and reset.
47. Phantom Handshakes "Sirens At Golden Hour" (Sputnik)
"Sirens at Golden Hour" is
the sound of a band that knows what they’re doing. The album displays
Phantom Handshakes at their strongest; a duo so familiar and infatuated
with their sound, their seemingly perpetual rise should really be no
surprise. Those unfamiliar with Phantom Handshakes, should become
acquainted as soon as possible – you are missing out on some of the best
music the current DIY scene has to offer. It's a dream pop album with airy vocals, jangly guitars, and lush synths
48. Bridget Kearney "Comeback Kid" (Keeled Scales)
Produced by Dan Molad, "Comeback Kid" is soaked in vintage synths, aKearney’s soughing vocals and
delicate-yet-driving percussion that ushers in a bright and serene
tenor. Kearney began making Comeback Kid back in 2021, in between her work with
Lake Street Dive, and a new position as a songwriting teacher at
Princeton University. During the process of Comeback Kid, Kearney took
inspiration from her Princeton students, as well as her peers when she
embarked on a song-a-day workshop. As she found herself surrounded by
the thoughts and processes of others, she was able to pinpoint what it
is about songwriting that she truly cherishes: namely, the textures and
flourishes that come to form the mood of each creation.
49. Elbow "Audio Vertigo" (Polydor)
Elbow
is a band that do gentle, warm, beautiful music effortlessly. There has been the odd
rush of energy and sass over the years, this album has a had a darker, slightly more angry tone, and in the words of lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey, Audio Vertigo was built from ‘gnarly, seedy grooves created by us playing together in garagey rooms’ and is both more direct and sonically varied by purpose that its predecessor.
50. James "Yummy" (Nothing But Love Music)
A Perfect album for all the fans, who have been
around since the beginning or are only just finding their music now.
The group provide opportunities to reflect with raw, observational
anecdotes that can settle any uneasiness in a wide spectrum of scenarios
and subjects, with many musical influences and styles gives the
album a unique feel, yet still the same storytelling and picture
painting principles that make James who they are.
