New releases last eight weeks: Indie/Alternative

Review: Texas-based Thai funk and psychedelic trio Khruangbin are back with another much anticipated new album in the form of A La Sala. The record presents a mesmerizing blend of psychedelic rock, funk, and world music influences that showcases the band's signature hypnotic grooves. Each one is characterized by Laura Lee's funky basslines, Mark Speer's intricate guitar work, and Donald "DJ" Johnson's precise drumming. Tracks like 'Farolim De Felgueiras' and 'A Love International' exude a laid-back vibe, perfect for lazy summer afternoons, while 'Juegos Y Nubes' infuses Latin rhythms with a psychedelic twist. Overall, A La Sala is another rich journey through diverse musical landscapes that reaffirm Khruangbin's reputation as masters of genre fusion and purveyors of sonic bliss.

Review: Given Tornado Wallace's impeccable Balearic credentials, you'd expect his new A.S.O project - a collaboration with Berlin-based singer-songwriter Alisia Seror O'Neill AKA Alias Error - to tend towards the dreamy, immersive and emotive. It does, of course, with the pair conjuring gorgeous slabs of downtempo leftfield pop variously influenced by the layered textures of shoegaze, the wide-eyed bliss of 80s dream pop (Seror O'Neill's vocal delivery is at times reminiscent of Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser), the blazed Bristol beats of Massive Attack, the flat-on-your-back day-break headiness of ambient, the hard-to-pigeonhole brilliance of the Duratti Column and the late-night-on-AM-radio atmosphere of Kelley Polar and Morgan Geist's similarly inspired Ai Suisse project.

Review: Nadine Shah releases her fifth album Filthy Underneath on EMI North. The follow up to 2020's critically acclaimed Kitchen Sink and 2017's Holiday Destination, Filthy Underneath chronicles a period of unprecedented turbulence in Shah's life. And yet, the experience of listening to it is oddly life-affirming - a parade of ghosts spanning the entirety of Nadine's thirty-seven years, moving with balletic beauty to the music that Nadine and long-time co-writer and producer Ben Hillier have created around them, with renewed emphasis on placing melody and movement front and centre.

Review: Canadian singer, songwriter and visual artists Allie X - real name Alexandra Ashley Hughes - is a great representative for the resurgent live electro-synth scene. Emerging from the Toronto indie circuit in the mid-2000s, it was a relocation to Los Angeles, a heartland for neon sounds, and early work with producers Circuit and Billboard that first saw an identity begin to form, which is as retro as it is futuristic, picking up scores of fans along the way, including Katie Perry no less. Girl With No Face is her latest long form, and sees the artist again stick her flag confidently in the ground. Tunes bounce, track, soar, step, pump and - at times - fall apart, emotionally speaking, with clear references to the likes of Ladyhawke, Madonna, Kraftwerk, Cocteau Twins and a-Ha, among others. Definitely one to watch, if you're not already.

Review: The upcoming collaborative studio album between Liam Gallagher and guitarist John Squire is set to shine a refreshed light on the current state of Britpop. Consisting almost entirely of round-bellied rock, leading the charge is the arresting 'Just Another Rainbow' - here the pair are heard in neat unison, painting a picture of unfazed Gallagher-esque nonchalance in the face of a promised utopia - and 'Mars To Liverpool' - concerning the experience of realising a relationship is over before it's too late. Squire and Gallagher make for an exciting pairing, their synergy fleshed out by the album's stellar, full-bodied mix.

Review: Electric life-givers, MGMT, return for their fifth album Loss Of Life. Shockingly, it's been six years since 2018's Little Dark Age, in which the duo proved their capacity to evolve beyond the pale of their earliest electro-pop singles. Here, they adapt even further, enlisting the help of a well-selected cast of familiar faces - Christine & The Queens, Danger Mouse, Dave Fridmann, James Richardson, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Patrick Wimberly - all while declaring the project to be the yield of a calculated fusion: "20% adult contemporary" plus an unspecified amount of hero's journey subversion. From the standout single 'Dancing In Babylon' through to more esoteric twin sonic flames like 'Nothing To Declare' and 'Nothing Changes', this feels like an album dedicated to lost causes, overobsession with singular life trajectories, and moving through hard times.

Review: Jim (James Baron) is a UK producer making his brand of Balearic, folk and rock music. Generally, pushing the boundaries of Balearic, this double pack compilation houses remixes of tracks from his most debut album 'Love Makes Magic'. The lineup of producers lending their talents to this double pack is quite impressive. Uk house music legends X-press and Chris Coco just to mention two. This release encompasses a wide array of styles including downtempo, dub as well as house music all keeping the folk and Balearic soul of the originals. A true remix packet that brings these originals to different heights.

Review: The cult favourite Dark Entries hits 15 in style here and celebrates in the only way it knows how - with more great music. This time it is the legendary synth-punk yahoos Crash Course in Science aka Dale Feliciello, Mallory Yago, and Michael Zodorozny who are in the spotlight. The group formed back in 1979 and set out to make music using toy instruments and kitchen appliances. Their punk-y, aggressive, angular sound soon found a hardcore fan base and gave rise to big tunes like 'Cardboard Lamb' and 'Flying Turns.' In 1981 they recorded Near Marineland, a full-length that never actually saw the light of day but does now and shows the band moving into more diverse and polished territory.

Review: F.I.D.E.L (Further Individual Delusions) is the avatar project of Paris-based composer, producer and A&R, R. DIlouya; UK funk and soul and Northern soul legend John Turrell; and French hip-hop, soul and jazz force majeure Sly Johnson. Hailing from North Paris and Northern England, F.I.D.E.L release their latest project Out Of Sight to the great post-disco, boogie and new wave pop that shaped the world's collective unconscious at the twilight of the Thatcher / Cold War Era. F.I.D.E.L takes this as a jumping off point and channels its sound through the care and the musical craft of the past to a yet more modern soundscape using Prophet Synthesizers, Clavinets and Drum Machines to create a fast, nervous, funky, ironic and intoxicating satire of post-COVID Western society. While most of the musical heavy lifting is done by Dilouya himself, Turrell lays down socially anchored lyrics, rooted firmly in the gritty, no-nonsense world of a working-class man. Recorded over two week-long studio sessions in Paris, Out Of Sight showcases Dilouya's timeless songwriting and bold production style, setting ground for Turrell's classic vocal performances and Sly Johnson's revered musicianship.

Review: Gothic songstress Chelsea Wolfe makes her illustrious return on the much anticipated seventh full-length She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She. Following on from 2021's immense collaborative project with artcore auteurs Converge, the album shall serve as Wolfe's first solo endeavour since the minimal, folk-centric Birth Of Violence released in 2019, while serving as her first output since departing long-time label-home Sargent House (following a diatribe of controversies best saved for another time) in favour of Loma Vista; home to outsider artists of numerous sonic shapes. As this new chapter appears to be marrying elements of industrial fury with complex trip-hop motifs akin to Merzbow producing for Portishead, all the while maintaining her sultry, Wiccan hypnotism; 2024 looks set to be the year of the Wolfe.

Review: Where's My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds band's critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload, which arrived in January 2022. A co-production between Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr., this latest album comes across as a meditation on the contemporary post-Fordist condition of the creative worker. Speaking about 'Dream Job', the band's James Smith said: "'Dream Job' feels like an apt introduction to the themes explored on Where's My Utopia? - though not all encompassing. In part I was scrutinising and mocking myself for being a moaning ungrateful little brat, whilst also trying to address how the music industry is this rather uncontrollable beast that hurtles forward unthinkingly, and every single person involved in it plays their part." Echoing the conflicted inner turmoil of reluctant bandleaders such as Mark E Smith of the Fall - "it's a constant battle" - and the sonic affect of Talking Heads, the album addresses a question central to our times: what do you do when everything you've ever wanted suddenly lands in your lap, but the questions still keep on coming? How do you handle fame and success, when your fans secretly resent the structures that elevated you to that status? Despite these contradictions, all this doesn't stop James Smith, Ryan Needham and Sam Shipstone from delivering a rip-roaring album as expected. If they can find the motivation to make such effective music despite their doubts (meditating on present conditions of poverty while keeping up a smile), then so, perhaps, can you.