Back catalogue: Indie/Alternative

Review: Byron Bay 60s-psych revivalists Babe Rainbow are the first band to be signed to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's newly created p(doom) Records. When they announced this album at the end of 2024, with the release of single 'Like Cleopatra', it was the label's inauguration. The mystery in all of this, though, is how one earth does King Gizzard find the time to run a label when they release album as quickly as Mo Salah scores goals? Anyways, they clearly have a great ear as they've done the right thing in putting out this album of psychedelic acid pop, with its lysergic jams 80s synth-funk workouts. For all its nostalgia, there are parallels to more modern neo-psych bands that are really appealing, too. 'Aquarium Cowgirl' could have been a great release for the now disbanded London-based band Childhood, thanks to the reverb-y transcendental falsetto and floaty layers of dreamy guitar. Ultimately, this is a great, uplifting mood antidote to all the post-punk and shoegaze that's cornering the market at the moment.

Review: "I'd prefer it to be called just a country album," said TORRES of her collaboration with Baker, nearly a decade in the making, "but I'm proud to have made a 'queer country' album." TORRES had the initial idea to turn to the genre, inviting Baker to collaborate not only because of her shared southern roots but also because she'd also had a similarly religious upbringing that ultimately saw sexual orientation judged and condemned. The result is some deeply autobiographic songwriting on tracks like 'Tuesday', about a traditional family's rage at discovering their daughter was gay, the lilting 'Sylvia' and 'Sugar In The Tank', with pedal steel meeting acoustic guitar strum and very intimate sounding vocals. Bound to cause controversy in certain areas of the US, but it's got the quality and distinctive flavour to stand its ground.

Review: The new Bauhaus BBC Sessions release hears British goth pioneers Bauhaus at their most vital, documenting the three-year period that they swept the airwaves like vampire bats with a hearse's worth of recordings made for UK radio. Spanning early post-punk urgencies to the relatively more textured darkness of their later work, these sessions were recorded for shows hosted by John Peel and David Jensen, flapping through alternate takes of 'Double Dare', 'In the Flat Field', and 'Third Uncle'. Together with a recent vinyl reissue of a 1983 performance at the Old Vic in London, which snapped a shot of Bauhaus at the peak of their dramaturgic snarks, both releases provide a compelling, rough-edged, bouffant counterpart to their studio albums, before goth went bird's nest: Bauhaus live and direct, with all the mood, menace and momentum fully intact.

Review: Captured in San Francisco in December of 1982, only over six months before their original dissolution in July of the following year, this live performance from gloom maestro goth rock pioneers Bauhaus leans heavily on material from their (at the time) two-month old third full-length The Sky's Gone Out including their opening cover of Brian Eno's 'Third Uncle' and 'Silent Hedges', as well as 1981's career height sophomore classic Mask, with cuts such as 'In Fear Of Fear', 'Kick In The Eye', and 'Hollow Hills' making appearances. Some love is shown to their debut In The Flat Field with the inclusion of 'Spy In The Cab', but most noteworthy is that the set features an early live unveiling of 'She's In Parties', which wouldn't see release for another four months with the band breaking up just a week before the single's adjacent album Burning From The Inside would drop.

Review: To categorise bdrmm as "British shoegazers" may be accurate. Or not. There has to be a limit to how far a genre definition can be stretched before it begins to include a whole load of other noises and styles. In the case of Microtonic, the sonic palette is at once broader than most understandings of the sound and yet it's hard to pinpoint a more apt tagline. Sometimes sweeping statements work for a reason. Arguably their most far reaching work, and certainly up there with their finest and most epic hours, bdrmm don't reject the sound of the cosmos space told through soaring guitars and lofi distortion - the title track, 'In The Electric Field', which features Olivesque, and 'Lake Disappointment' are just two cases in point. But then opener 'Goit', with Working Men's Club's Sydney Minsky Sargeant, 'Snares', and 'Clarkycat' embrace other moods. Intelligent dnb, industrial-edged electro, chill out house, to name but a few.

Review: This is the seventh album by chamber pop titans Beirut. The group, who are led by Zach Condon, have created their largest album to-date and it's among their most profoundly beautiful. The music originated in 2023 when a contemporary circus director, based in Sweden, who was creating a show based on an adaptation of a novel by German author Judith Schalansky about loss and impermanence asked Condon to write music. And who better than Beirut to score that theme. Condon's vocals are starkly beautiful with the tenderness of early choir music. The track 'Caspian Tiger' is among the most cinematic of the tracks on here with resplendent Renaissance influences and direct lyrics that are tear jerking and feel genuinely moved by the extinction of the great mammal, but could so easily be about a close friend lost.

Review: Andy Bell is a blessed man: he had none other than Neu!'s Michael Rother supply guitar parts to the opening cut 'I'm In Love' (a cover of The Passions' post-punk classic). Moreover, One Love's Dot Allison is guest vocalist and supplies ethereal tones to the breathtaking song. It opens the gate beautifully for the heady collection of entirely new material that follows. It's an album that navigates Stone Roses grooves and Arthur Russell style experimental textures and works just as well for close listening as it does moodily-lit dancefloors. The Ride guitarist is on the form of his life here and you could do far worse than letting this wash all over you.

Review: We get it - there's a lot of music released everyday and it can feel overwhelming to sort the wheat from the chaff. There's no doubt, however, that Ride guitarist Andy Bell has delivered the goods here. His latest solo effort is helped by some influential collaborators. Proto-shoegaze cut 'I'm In Love...' features none other than One Dove's Dot Allison and Neu!'s Michael Rother. It's a beautiful reworking of The Passions' 1981 hit, certain to strike a chord with those who love the dreamier side of shoegaze. Bell has mixed and produced this record himself and proves himself to be a tireless conduit for beautiful ideas and sounds. Long may he keep producing music this good.

Review: Following a few years spent focusing on his ambient, drone and instrumental shoegaze focused GLOK project, former Ride man Andy Bell has finally got round to recording a new album of songs. Titled Sonic Cathedral, the album is undeniably nostalgic in tone, not only reacalling the jangly and sonically dense days of shoegaze and jangly indie-pop, but also the funkier and more intoxicated indie-dance records of that period (think Weatherall productions and remixes of the period, the Stone Roses and - whisper it quietly - Candy Flip). It's a bold and hugely enjoyable blend, with Bell sashaying between the tactile, Spiritualized-ish 'The Notes You Never Hear', the krautrock-goes-funky flex of 'Space Station Mantra', the Beck-esque 'Music Concrete' and the Tony Allen/Afrobeat-influenced 'Apple Green UFO'.

Review: From the fast-rising Midlands duo that sit somewhere in-between The Sleaford Mods, Idles or even the soulful tones of Rag 'n' Bone man, this is a debut album that provides coherent, emotional and sometimes intimate moments that will give the listener goosebumps and the temptation play on repeat until the sun goes down.
Heartfelt subject matter provided by Joe Hicklin with beats and samples provided by Callum Maloney are the basic ingredients that make this 15-track album many peoples favourite release of 2024 and one that complements their live shows that many have been fortunate to witness in the buildup to this release.
Switching between spoken word, angry outbursts of shouting and soulful vocals, backed by some smooth bass lines and big pounding beats the journey the listener travels through during this album is an emotional one that's at times light-hearted yet its thought-provoking approach makes it an enjoyable listen. Serious subject matter is covered here such as mental health and being stuck in a job you may hate and cannot escape from. Butchers Bin is about class awareness, lives being trivialised like pieces of meat in a shop window. Shithouse boasts one of the best opening couple of lines any song could ask for and is brutal in its delivery. Dig is an anthem to end the album that is joyous, contains various degrees of tension and by the time this is over one realises that it sits perfectly with every other album you may have purchased over the past decade.

Review: In honour of Record Store Day 2025, Canadian-American alt-rockers Big Wreck have decided to reissue one of their most popular albums, 2012's The Albatross. Available in limited numbers (only 1,000 of this CD version was pressed), it not only includes the freshly remastered original album in full, but also three alternate versions, rare bonus cut 'Fade Away', and a raucous live recording of title track 'Albatross'. The original album remains a timeless alt-rock classic where raw guitar riffs, bluesy solos and Ian Thurnley's distinctive lead vocals wrap around thickset bass and punchy drums. For proof, check standouts 'Wolves', 'Glass Room' and the rowdy 'The Rest of the World'.

Review: BC, NR are now onto their third album. The Ninja Tune-signees gained attention for not posing as if they're in a band, but looking like an ordinary group of students, or twentysomethings house-sharing. Their bold look, where they're smiling in the press pics, as opposed to donning a moody pout, has thankfully been backed up with some terrific music. Their debut, For The First Time, earned them favourable comparisons to post-rock trailblazers Slint and their second album Ants From Up There is the Gen-z equivalent of Arcade Fire's Funeral, thanks to its grandiose anthemics. Famously, singer and lyricist Isaac Wood left the band on the even of the release of their second album, which sparked outcry and paranoia from their ever-growing army of fans about what that might mean for their future. But the band have kept at it and the remaining six members have chosen to share frontperson duties, thus relieving the added pressure that comes with being a designated frontperson. This third album - and first post Isaac Wood - is proving to be a striking new chapter, with the lead single, 'Besties', an immediately likeable way of introducing it to the world. Georgia Ellery, also of Jockstrap, takes lead vocals here and offers an unforgettable off-kilter indie pop cut reminiscent of Aldous Harding. Zutons-y sax stabs scattered in make for a beautiful touch and leave us feeling that this is the album that's going to send BC, NR onto a stratospheric level, where they're spoken about in the same breath as Radiohead as one of Britain's finest bands.

Review: James Ford is one of the most important unsung heroes of contemporary pop and rock. As a studio producer, he's helped craft and hone incredible work from Fontaines DC, Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur and more. As an artist in his own right, he's perhaps more incredible. So, his impact on the latest and long-awaited new addition to Black Country New Road's catalogue should not be underestimated. Nor should the result of splitting the songwriting and vocal duties between members Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw. "It's definitely very different" said one of the trio about how this compares to preceding long form outings. We'd say it's definitely very different to most music you'll hear this week. It's folk, soft rock, experimental garage something, and none of the above, with tracks that almost seem at odds with themselves, chopping and changing, evolving and progressing, until you hear them as a whole.

Review: Every once in a while, you get a band emerge from the vibrant London music scene that you notice aren't like all the other bands. You sense they have something a bit special. BC, NR are like that - they offer something so rich musically that it appears immune to any potential threat that could come from changing trends. This third studio album of theirs comes under what looked like difficult circumstances from the outside. Their lead singer and songwriter Isaac Wood left the band shortly before the release of their second album. But they've withstood the pressure incredibly and are on top form here. There's more emphasis than ever on sharing the role of frontperson so the album is like a smorgasbord where you sample different voices and songwriting styles that exist within the group. Lead single 'Besties' is violinist Georgia Ellery's. It thrives off of its dynamism with explosive Phil Spector-esque wall of sound moments set in alongside elegant indie folk. A truly massive chapter awaits.

Review: Blk Odyssy's third studio album 1-800 Fantasy, as any artist long player really should, marks a sonic shift. It takes him away from his dark r&b and G-funk blend to a brighter, more upbeat alternative sound. This concept album tells the coming-of-age story of a teenage boy in the 90s exploring love and lust. The 13 tracks include singles like 'Want You,' 'XXX' (feat. Wiz Khalifa), 'Stank Rose' (feat. Joey Bada$$) and 'Changes' along with the new track 'Phase.' With this album, Blk Odyssy embraces a new era in his career, blending fresh storytelling with innovative production. It proves again he is a boundary-pushing artist.

Review: After 2015, Bon Iver began to fuse ambient glitch with folk, a style which now reaches a head on his latest LP. It expands on 2024's taster EP 'SABLE' in the form of an 11-track sonic parable: waxing introspective on difficult themes such as memory and identity, 'THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS' and 'S P E Y S I D E' indulge typographic play and fragmental lyrics, the latter especially paradigm-shifting in lyrical perspective. 'Awards Season', also, deals in the problematics of recognition, peeking behind and thus part-dissolving the veil of success in public life. With signature passion yet quarrelsomeness, Justin Vernon has crafted yet another glistening, glitching folk odyssey for us to enjoy.

Review: Indie singer-songwriter and folk experimentalist Bon Iver follows up his 2024 EP 'SABLE', expanding upon the EP's concept with a full-length in 11 tracks. Diving into themes of memory, longing and transformation, the record feels like a deciduous psychic regrowth, processed and refined from an initial uncontrolled burl of raw feeling and expression. Layering experimental sounds and organic textures, it hints at Iver's change in direction kept steady ever since 2016's Jagjaguwar debut 22, A Million. The style was continued and redeveloped on 2019's fourth album, i,i, and now returns in its fullest resplendency, with modern symbolic bricolage of effulgent soundscapes and querulous singing. This is the latest in a string of records that cements Justin Vernon stature as an artist and not a mere musician: increasingly, we hear the work of someone clawing back greater and greater shares of aesthetic control.

Review: Bran Van 3000's The Garden is their fourth studio album and another subtle evolution of their signature genre-blending sound. Rooted in prog-rock grooves and boogie flair, the album explores romantic and reflective territory without losing the collective's playful spirit. On the album, which arrives as a special for this year's Record Store Day, James Di Salvio is joined by longtime collaborators and fresh talent alike to create a lush collaborative soundscape that's rich in emotion and rhythm. The tracks all exude soulful vocals, brass-laced arrangements and global sonic textures, which help to make The Garden is a mature yet adventurous chapter in BV3's musical journey.

Review: If any album comes close to the beauty of Crosby, Stills & Nash in 2025 it's this. It's difficult to imagine anyone else nailing melodic, acoustic guitar-oriented music that treads in gospel, blues and pastoral psychedelia better than this supergroup. Could Bernard Butler be on his way to another Mercury Prize nomination with this? They've got a strong case for it. The band itself is something a little different and formed by popular demand. Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) Bernard Butler (Suede) and James Grant (Love and Money) originally got together for one occasion, at Saint Luke's in Glasgow in 2022 for Celtic Connections, but the power of them together was so great they've been talked into putting an album out. They've gone about it in quite a pragmatic way, with each member labelling which songs theirs, as opposed to all trying to write the same song at the same time. Makes sense really.

Review: With Buzzcocks reforming in 1989 after a near-decade of inactivity, they would get to work on new material with their fourteen year gap follow up to 1979's A Different Kind Of Tension with 1993's Trade Test Transmissions, while touring in abundance to make up for lost time. The peak of this resurgent reformation era is highlighted as such in their cult status live album French; captured at L'Arapho Club in Paris on April 12th 1995. Boasting a 20-song set made up of classic fan favourites such as 'I Don't Mind' and 'Get On Your Own', as well as latter-day bangers including 'Isolation' and 'Energy', the collection notably omits the ten tracks from the band's three subsequent encores of the night, released separately in 1999 as originally the fan club-only available Encore Du Pain. While the two have been previously paired together on the French et Encore Du Pain double live CD compilation, this single LP reissue is of the initial French setlist, while the same label has repressed Encore Du Pain in tandem for completionists to hoard the entire epic two part set on wax.

Review: When Buzzcocks returned in 1989 following almost a decade of inactivity, they made up for lost time with new material and plenty of touring, with their performance at L'Arapho Club in Paris on April 12th 1995 serving as one of the prime examples of the band at their slightly seasoned peak. Captured and immortalised as the French live album, this release only featured the first 20 songs of their initial set, while the remaining ten cuts from the three encores of the night would be released in 1999 as the originally fan club-only Encore Du Pain, with this set boasting old school fan favourites including 'I Don't Know What to Do With My Life,' 'Orgasm Addict' and 'Ever Fallen in Love?' While the pair would eventually be compiled as the French et Encore Du Pain double live album, this singular LP is all about the encores and clears up any doubts pertaining to Buzzcocks being the type of lazy cashgrabbers that would only churn a 10-song set of 3-minute cuts to a paying audience.

Review: Following their reformation in 1989 after a near decade-long hiatus, Buzzcocks enjoyed a welcomed resurgence throughout the 90s, never illustrated better than on the French live album captured during their performance at L'Arapho Club in Paris on April 12th 1995. While only the initial 20-song set would be featured, in 1999 the band would release the (at-the-time fan club only) Encore Du Pain, offering up the 10 final tracks from their three encores at the very same show, featuring fan favourites such as 'I Don't Know What to Do With My Life,' 'Orgasm Addict' and 'Ever Fallen in Love?' The pair of releases would eventually be collated into the French et Encore Du Pain double live album, but this single LP restores the Encore Du Pain tracks to their singular nightcap greatness. It also clarifies that Buzzcocks weren't the type of cheap bastards to only deliver a ten-song performance to a paying, sold out crowd.

Review: Following the Buzzcocks 1989 reformation, the band would make up for nearly a decade of inactivity with extensive touring as well as finally delivering a follow up to 1979's A Different Kind Of Tension 14 years after the fact with 1993's Trade Test Transmissions. The pinnacle of their initial resurgence era is no better illustrated than on their cult classic French live LP; recorded at Paris' L'Arapho Club on April 12, 1995, that sees the band offering up a hefty 20-track set packed to the brim with iconic fan favourites such as 'I Don't Mind' and 'Get On Your Own', whilst also making room for later bangers including 'Isolation' and 'Energy'. While the collection notably eschews the ten final songs from the evening's three subsequent encores, these would eventually be released separately as 1999's (originally fan club-only available) Encore Du Pain. Although the two have been previously combined to make up the French et Encore Du Pain double CD compilation, this singular LP is a reissue of the initial French setlist, while the beautiful people at Reissued Sounds have also repressed Encore Du Pain in tandem, making both sets available on wax for completionists.

Review: Following a near-decade of inactivity, Buzzcocks made their glorious return in 1989 majorly making up for lost time with new material and numerous tour dates, with their now iconic performance at L'Arapho Club in Paris on April 12th 1995 often regarded as a prime example of the group at their slightly seasoned peak. Immortalised on the live album known simply as French, this captured performance only featured the first 20 songs of that night's initial setlist, with the remaining ten cuts from their three encores later released in 1999 as the originally fan club-only Encore Du Pain, where old school fan favourites such as 'I Don't Know What to Do With My Life,' 'Orgasm Addict' and 'Ever Fallen in Love?' would appear. Though the pair would ultimately be compiled into the French et Encore Du Pain double live collection, this singular LP is all about the encores of that evening, clearing up any doubts about Buzzcocks delivering a lazy, cash-grabbing 10-song set of 3-minute cuts to an avid, paying fanbase. Think of this as more arriving late to a legendary set just in time to catch all of the most highly anticipated golden oldies of the night.

Review: Two British pop legends unite for Who Believes in Angels?, a new record spot-checking our faith in divinity. Having connected through a mutual admiration and shared love of music, Elton initially became a fan of Carlile through her effusions of folk, rock and country, which matched the former's megastar's sometimes pained, moving songwriting. Their friendship deepened over the years, with Carlile performing at Elton's annual AIDS Foundation events and joining him on stage for special collaborations. Now blending Elton-led and Brandi-led tracks, the album contains lyrics from longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin alongside Carlile's own contributions, with production by Andrew Watt. This marks Elton's 33rd studio album and Brandi's eighth.

Review: Celebrating its 30th anniversary this Record Store Day, 'Original Soundtracks 1' is a bold, imaginative collaboration between British ambient pioneer Brian Eno and Irish band U2 under the moniker Passengers. Blurring the line between ambient experimentation and cinematic storytelling, the album features 15 tracks that were all conceived as soundtracks for fictional films. Highlights include the haunting 'Miss Sarajevo' with Luciano Pavarotti and contributions from Howie B and Holi and this remastered anniversary edition comes on recycled black vinyl. An adventurous 1995 release that stands up now as an atmospheric, genre-blurring work and a rare and inspired detour in U2's discography.