Written collaboratively from start to finish in Seattle, ‘The Window’ is the fourth album from Chicago’s Ratboys – and it finds the four-piece ruminating on love and grief. ‘Making Noise for the Ones You Love’ opens the album with a burst of intense feedback and pulsating drums that recall Deerhunter or The Walkmen. Julia Steiner’s…
Hundred Reasons have shared new single ‘The Old School Way’ ahead of the release of new album – and first in 15 years – ‘Glorious Sunset’ on 24th February via SO Recordings. Taking aim at those who don’t take responsibility for their own actions, the song opens with Colin Doran urging the subject to change…
As the year draws to a close, we thought we’d take a look at some of the records that have soundtracked our past 12 months. As ever, we’ll remind you that music is not a competition and there is so much to discover out there – and with the government’s (in the UK, at least)…
Manchester-based indie heroes crush have shared new single ‘So Strange’, a song that vocalist and guitarist Amber Warren says is all about overcoming negative thoughts and feelings in a powerful way: ‘It’s a dialogue in the first person, addressing anxiety in a cathartic defiance of the emotions that arise from it’. The band list My…
Ty Segall’s ‘Harmonizer’, his first album in two years, finds the psych-obsessed singer-songwriter exploring new soundscapes and embracing thick keyboard textures, potent guitar sounds and much, much more… ‘Ride’ opens the album in suitably squelchy, synthy and kaleidoscopic fashion as Ty tries to recall the past – ‘She can’t remember where it was’ – and…
Bleach Lab follow the sublime singles ‘Talk It Out’ and ‘Real Thing’ with the ‘Nothing Feels Real’ EP. Produced by Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths, The Cranberries), the EP follows praise from BBC 6 Music, DIY and The Line of Best Fit and finds the South London four-piece opening up about their personal struggles, toxic…
Manic Street Preachers release ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, the 14th album in their glittering career. Inspired by the bands the trio grew up listening to – ABBA, ‘Fables’-era R.E.M. and Echo and the Bunnymen – the record finds the Welshmen examining where we all fit in today’s uncertain and divisive world. It also features guest…
Alcopop! Records’ signings Snow Coats have shared ‘Right Fit’ – the first new material to be taken from an album due to be released next year. Anouk van der Kamp says the song tackles that phase in a relationship when things start to grind to a halt through no fault of either party: ”Right Fit’…
Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tori Zietsch (pronounced like peach) has shared her debut album ‘To Enjoy is the Only Thing’ via Partisan Records. Written while she was living in Brighton, the record finds Tori digging deep into personal experiences – from growing up in a restrictive religious household to falling in and out of love and travelling:…
Gloucestershire-via-Manchester singer-songwriter Chloe Foy releases her debut album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ on 11 June. Recorded at Pinhole Studios in Manchester and inspired by the likes of Tyler Tamsay, John Congleton and Gillian Welch, Chloe co-produced the album alongside her musical collaborator, Harry Fausing Smith. Chloe says the record’s songs ‘are my most inner and…
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