Back catalogue: Indie/Alternative

Review: First released on streaming platforms last summer, Wilco's 'Hot Sun Cool Shroud' EP was uniformly praised by critics. Much more than a stop gap between albums (it arrived roughly 12 months after the outfit's lauded 13th studio full-length, Cousin), the six-track set bristles with inventiveness while flitting between styles and tempos. So, opener 'Hot Sun', a sticky slab of Americana-tinged jangly indie brilliance, is followed by the reverb and solo-laden alt-rock squall of 'Livid' and the gentle, string-laden swoon of 'Ice Cream'. And so it continues, with the fuzzy positivity and weary vocals of 'Annihilation' being joined by the pleasant, impossible-to-pigeonhole experimentalism of 'Inside The Bell Bones' and the twinkling, heartfelt melancholia of 'Say You Love Me'.

Review: After Robert Grey's 1990 exit, Wire morphed into WIR, a project designed to wrap up their Mute Records contract with a stripped-down, sequencer-led approach. Graham Lewis took lead vocals while the band reworked their own back catalogue. A chance to reflect on what had been, as opposed to what was yet to be, WIR's lifespan was brief, with only a handful of shows and two conceptual events dubbed I Saw You In Clapham (April 1992) and Vienna (February 1993) rolled into the ensuing campaign. On the Vienna trip, they recorded a sprawling 25-minute session for Austria's ORF, curated by Peter Rehberg of MEGO fame, released by Touch in 1996. This 2025 remaster adds a fresh take on their darkest pop moment, 'So & Slow', reimagined in a live-inspired arrangement with a nod to Taylor Swift's re-recording style.

Review: Wire's formative late-70s run gets the 7" treatment with Nine Sevens, a box of nine vinyl singles spanning 1977 to 1980. Remastered from original analogues, the set pulls together six Harvest-era sides, one from Rough Trade, an unreleased 1980 session, plus the hard-to-find 154 bonus EP - all wrapped in replica artwork and housed in a sharp Bruce Gilbert-designed box. We follow Wire's rapid evolution from clipped punk minimalism into stranger, shiftier terrains, where terse, abrasive, and knowingly off-centre master-demos abrade the ears like rusty scalers. Each 7" sees a staggered digital release, but these tracks won't be lumped into any retrospective, making this the only way to get the full physical set.

Review: According to the band themselves, the Wombats' new full-length - the long-serving trio's sixth studio set in total - is their most "sophisticated and sonically adventurous yet", exploring lyrical themes of "socially awkwardness, internal strife and everyday LA life". It's certainly a musical departure, with the Liverpool-born band and producer John Congleton (best known for his work with St Vincent and Death Cab For Cutie) largely eschewing the synths and indie-dance influences of old in favour of a sound rooted in British "beat music" of the late 1960s, jangly 1980s indie-rock, and the Britpop era. It's a notable change in direction, but it works really well - as the bold, beautiful and undeniably catchy songs 'Can't Say No', 'Sorry I'm Late, I Didn't Want To Come' (a future anthem for socially anxious misfits everywhere in the same mould as Pulp's 'Mis-shapes') and the surprisingly funky 'Blood On The Hospital Floor'.

Review: For the first outside of the US and Australia, the World Party best of is released. The band, led by late, great multi-instrumentalist ex-member of The Waterboys Karl Wallinger, who remains one of the finest musicians in British pop history. The group, which included Robbie Williams' musical director Guy Chambers for some time, dealt in the best kind of pop music, borrowing from such a diverse pool of influences to create something timeless. A standout hit on here is as relevant now as it was back in the 80s when it was first release: 'Ship of Fools' is about the greed of our leaders and is depressingly apt. Meanwhile, 'She's the One' was famously covered by Robbie Williams and it's testament to the underappreciated genius of Prestatyn-raised Wallinger that it's one of Williams' best known songs. He's a monumental talent whose legacy will resonate for generations.

Review: 25 years have now passed since Liverpool legend Pete Wylie and his long-term backing band released Songs of Strength & Heartbreak, which marked the post-punk era combo's return to action after 16 long years. Something of a triumphant return, the set flits between raucous punk energy ('Never Loved as a Child'), Oasis-ish riffs on mid-late period Beatles ('Sing All The Saddest Songs', 'Disneyland Forever'), riff-heavy post-Britpop indie-rock ('I Still Love You', post-punk headiness ('Loverboy') and all manner of orchestrated, reach-for-the-ceiling sing-alongs ('Hey! Mona Lisa'). To mark the album's birthday, Chrysalis has served up this expanded 'deluxe' edition. Unusually, this time round CD1 boasts the album as it was originally demo'd and produced in 1998 - including a slew of songs that were subsequently shelved - with the 'released' version (2000) nestled on CD2.