Blood Orange – Essex Honey (Domino) (13th Floor Album Review)
Dev Hynes, otherwise known as Blood Orange, has made an impressive comeback with his freshest album, Essex Honey. His fifth studio album, this might be one of his most moving releases yet – from a sonic and lyrical standpoint, it’s for the most part a chill, contemplative masterpiece that seduces listeners.
Adam Hattaway & The Haunters – Hot Variety (13th Floor Album Review)
Adam Hattaway and the Haunters return with Hot Variety, a stripped-back, emotionally resonant collection that distills their genre-hopping journey from indie rock to country soul into one of their most immediate records yet.
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (Fluff and Gravy) (13th Floor Album Review)
Anna Tivel has always blurred the line between songwriting and poetry. With each record she refines her ability to draw whole worlds in her lyrical stories, finding light and sorrow in equal measure.
Big Thief – Double Infinity (4AD) (13th Floor Album Review)
Big Thief… their Double Infinity is a record of continuity and rupture, intimacy and expansion. It feels like their most communal work, stitched together with the voices and playing of friends from the experimental, ambient, and folk underground, while also weaving the precise and universal into the lyric detail.
Captain Festus McBoyle – The Prose and Cons (Manic Music) (13th Floor Album Review)
Captain Festus McBoyle claims to be “NZ rockers and punks who are now producing palatable Family Music which offers More Grit, Less Sugar”. The 13th Floor’s Alex Robertson passes judgement.
Pearly* – Not So Sweet (Leather Jacket/Pinacolada)(13th Floor Album Review)
Otepoti/Dunedin band Pearly* have certainly made a splash since releasing their debut Pearly*EP in April 2024, and wowing crowds at nationwide festivals including Port Noise (March) and Junk Festival (June) both this year.
Georgia Lines – The Guest House (13th Floor EP Review)
Georgia Lines sings with a voice that feels both delicate and commanding, as quiet as a whisper caught between piano notes and as powerful as a line soaring above sweeping arrangements. With The Guest House, she reaffirms her ability to move between tenderness and strength while embracing new textures and greater rhythmic variety.
Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista) (13th Floor Album Review)
“I’m high as the heavens and stubborn as hell. I ain’t ashamed, I’m just a hard-headed woman.” Margo Price states her case succinctly on the opening track of this, her fifth studio album, Hard Headed Woman.
The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie (Anti-) (13th Floor Album Review)
From the first fuzzed-up guitar riff to the final jubilant outro, The Beths’ fourth album, Straight Line Was a Lie, reveals a band in full command of its material and entering a new creative phase.
Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire (Dualtone) (13th Floor Album Review)
Kathleen Edwards has always been a songwriter who tells stories through the details: a hockey team that cannot win, a car driven across Los Angeles, a door painted pink. Through vivid detail and a deep sense of place, she turns the specific into something relatable and universal.
Wolf Alice – The Clearing (Mushroom) (13th Floor Album Review)
With The Clearing, their fourth album, Wolf Alice channel every lesson from the past decade into a record that feels elemental in its confidence. This is a band deep in the groove of their own creative force.
Halestorm – Everest (Atlantic) (13th Floor Album Review)
A surprising new producer helps Halestorm make a surprisingly great album.
The Black Keys -No Rain, No Flowers (Easy Eye Sound/Warner Records)
It’s lucky 13 for The Black Keys…well, luckier than last year when they were forced to cancel a tour and fire their management.
Ed Ackman – Cocoon An EP in 4 Genres (13th Floor EP Review)
Ed Ackman has just released Cocoon: An EP In 4 Genres and The 13th Floor’s Alex Robertson has made some rather startling discoveries about how and why this music was made.
Marissa Nadler – New Radiations (Bella Union) (13th Floor Album Review)
New Radiations, the tenth studio album by Marissa Nadler, is a slow-burning, hypnotic immersion into shadowed soundscapes and aching introspection.
Bret McKenzie – Freak Out City (Sub Pop Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
If Bret McKenzie isn’t already an officially designated national treasure then it’s about time somebody made him one.
No Joy – Bugland (Hand Drawn Dracula) (13th Floor Album Review)
Canadian artist Jasamine White-Gluz is the creative force behind No Joy, originally a two-piece hailing from Montreal, now she performs and records solo having shifted to rural Quebec.
Butter Wouldn’t Melt – Where the Roots Grow Deep (Old River Records)
Kiwis may not be enamoured by what’s going on in the U.S. these days but many do have an enduring love affair with American music traditions.
Hayes Carll – We’re Only Human (HWY 87) (13th Floor Album Review)
With We’re Only Human, his tenth album, Hayes Carll trades the wry observations of modern absurdity for something more introspective and tender, though no less sharp.
The Response – Novel Idea (13th Floor Album Review)
The depth of music in this land is extraordinary. A month ago I hadn’t heard of The Response, yet here they are on repeat in my head, playing on he inner jukebox in the most delicious way.