Jude Kelly The Seven Spirits Of Her (The Orchard)
Whanganui-born, Dunedin-raised and Auckland-based Jude Kelly releases her debut E.P., seven songs that make up The Seven Spirits Of Her.
Cold Ceiling – I Must Be Closer (Cold Ceiling Records)
Cold Ceiling aren’t new, the group evolved from artful and moody Poneke entity Plaines, who released a nifty self-titled cassette of material back in 2019, Then, being self-aware, changed their name to Cold Ceiling, and in 2022 released a debut extended EP Exsanguinate & Speak in a Dim Cave which kind of sits/sats (think New Orders Movement) as […]
Darren Pickering Small Worlds – Three (Rattle) (13th Floor Album Review)
With Three, Darren Pickering Small Worlds deepen their exploration of texture and mood, delivering their most cohesive and emotionally resonant album to date. Where previous volumes occasionally leaned toward sketchbook experimentation, Three feels more like a complete suite with each track part of a larger conversation about mood, memory, and place.
Lael Neale – Altogether Stranger (Sub Pop) (13th Floor Album Review)
On Altogether Stranger, her third album for Sub Pop, Lael Neale continues to refine a sonic and lyrical aesthetic that is poetic, direct, haunted, and haunting. Once again, she is aided by the intuitive production of Guy Blakeslee, whose analog, cassette-based methods give the songs a sonic immediacy and emotional intimacy.
Will Johnson – Diamond City (Keeled Scales) (13th Floor Album Review)
Will Johnson has long been a quiet cornerstone of American indie rock and alt-country, crafting a rich and varied body of work that spans decades, emotional registers, and genre lines. Emerging in the mid-1990s as the frontman of the beloved Centro-matic, he quickly proved himself a prolific and fearless songwriter, equally adept at ragged rock […]
Melvins – Thunderball (Ipecac Records)
Melvins 1983 refers to a band lineup that includes originator drummer Mike Dillard and King Buzzo (Buzz Osborne); they’ve had a few releases already. But for Thunderball, Osborne brought onboard British, Bristol-based experimental noise merchants Ni Maitres, as well as abstract electronicist Void Manes, who they toured with in 2019, and collaborated with on 2023’s […]
Robin Trower – Come And Find Me (Provogue Records)
Sometimes it’s enough to be delighted to discover that little changes in the standard of a musician’s artistry. Such is the new and unexpected new offering from Robin Trower. “Who’d have thought” was my first reaction on hearing of the release. After all, Trower cancelled a tour last year due to serious ill-health. Then another […]
Taylor Rae – The Void (Missing Piece) (13th Floor Album Review)
Before diving into the introspective themes of her sophomore album The Void, singer-songwriter Taylor Rae had already established herself as a rising force in the Americana scene.
Julien Baker & Torres – Send a Prayer My Way (Matador)
Country music has always been a genre haunted by contradictions: tradition and rebellion, faith and doubt, community and exile. In Send a Prayer My Way, Julien Baker and TORRES (Mackenzie Scott) take those tensions and twist them into something stunningly new.
Valerie June – Owls, Omens and Oracles (Concord)
Valerie June just wants us all to just get along and the music she makes on this, her 8th album, might make that happen.
Bon Iver – Sable fable (Jagjaguwar) 13th Floor Album Review)
Bon Iver’s latest release, Sable, fable, arrives like a whisper in the dark—quiet, rich, and demanding your attention. Sonically, it returns to familiar folk roots while venturing outward, closing one chapter and tentatively opening another.
Black Country, New Road – Forever Howlong (Ninja Tune)
British band Black Country, New Road are a fairly recent phenomena, formed in Cambridge by a group of classically trained students in 2019 who released two albums before band leader/frontman and guitarist Isaac Wood abruptly departed four days before the release of their sophomore effort Ants From Up There.
The Waterboys – Life, Death And Dennis Hopper (Sun) (13th Floor Album Review)
Mike Scott and his current band of Waterboys take on the life and times of actor, director (and photographer) Dennis Hopper with a double album devoted to the “colourful” screen legend.
Elton John & Brandi Carlisle – Who Believes In Angels? (Island/EMI)
If this turns out to be Elton John’s final studio album, well, at least, he went out on a high note.
Marlon Williams – Te Whare Tīwekaweka (13th Floor Album Review)
Marlon Williams, of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai descent, skillfully weaves his Māori heritage with his diverse musical experiences in his fourth album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka.
The Nightingales – The Awful Truth (Fire) 13th Floor Album Review
The Nightingales have never been ones for nostalgia, but they’ve earned theirs. Formed in the embers of The Prefects, they emerged as part of the original UK punk explosion, appearing on the legendary White Riot tour in the late ’70s alongside The Slits, The Clash, and Subway Sect.
Mekons – Horror (Fire) 13th Floor Album Review
UK Punks The Mekons were born in 1976, during 1970s crisis Britain, their resistance narrative was steeped in Cultural Marxism (think Democratic Socialism in the 21st Century) and shaped by music, art and literature.
Lucy Dacus – Forever Is A Feeling (Geffen)
Lucy Dacus has never been one to shout. Over the course of her three previous albums, No Burden, Historian, and Home Video, she has mastered a quiet, clear-eyed form of storytelling, drawn from memories, contradictions, and restrained revelations.
Dean Wareham – That’s The Price of Loving Me (Carpark Records)
For some reason I have yet to fully fathom, Dean Wareham’s music strikes me as very seasonal.
Anglebox – Dark Days In The Sun (Self) (13th Floor EP Review)
Anglebox are a new band out of Christchurch, who, having released a little ditty called Undies On The Lawn, have now graced us with an EP titled Dark Days In The Sun.