Stereolab – Instant Holograms On Metal Film
(DUOPHONIC UFH DISKS/WARP)
'The Groop' switch on again with first new album in 15 years.
"There is a real and immediate warmth to Instant Holograms On Metal Film, an unmistakable ripple of hope... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full.
Robert Forster - Strawberries
(TAPETE)
Former Go-Between’s most joyous set to date.
"Forster is writing some of the best songs of his life... ★★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Sparks – MAD!
(TRANSGRESSIVE)
Mael brothers as unpredictable as ever on 28th album.
"Ron and Russell continue to concoct songs that are distinctively, resolutely Mael... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
(INVADA)
Bristolian post-punk pop star’s third, and first with a band, hits a new high.
"Tor Maries’ best yet... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Mark Pritchard And Thom Yorke – Tall Tales
(WARP)
Radiohead singer and electronic producer spin bleak yarns for the modern age.
"A specific crystallisation of Thom Yorke's enduring love of electronic music... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Salif Keita – So Kono
(NØ FØRMAT!)
Post-retirement magic from Africa’s Golden Voice.
"There’s still a brittle, unavoidable magic in the air... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars
(MATADOR)
Will Toledo ditches lo-fi indie rock on audacious, explosive rock opera.
"For a guy who used to be so lo-fi he made records in the front seat of his parents’ car, Toledo has a solid grip on arena-rock scale... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Suzanne Vega – Flying With Angels
(COOKING VINYL)
Vega veers from rage to transcendence on first album in ten years.
"An album that, in its own determined way, boldly meets the moment... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
The Waterboys – Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
(SUN RECORDS)
Waterboys leader Mike Scott salutes late countercultural icon Dennis Hopper on bonkers but brilliant concept LP.
"It's quite a trip... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Alison Krauss & Union Station - Arcadia
(DOWN THE ROAD)
Bluegrass queen and Robert Plant collaborator reunites with her old band Union Station for their first LP in 14 years.
“Many of the songs Krauss picks here relocate perennial bluegrass themes of loss and travail to the present in contemporary confessions of alienation and paths not taken… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Annie & The Caldwells - Can’t Lose My (Soul)
(LUAKA BOP)
West Point Mississippi’s best-kept secret break out with sublime mix of gospel soul.
“The message of suffering and survival on the road to salvation may just get you through any darkness looming on the horizon - or simply get you dancing… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Steven Wilson - The Overview
(FICTION)
Modern day ‘progfather’ Steven Wilson ponders the enhanced perspectives of viewing the Earth from space on dizzyingly ambitious set.
“While some of its more indulgent elements may not be to all tastes, his scale of ambition and dazzling audacity should be applauded… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Jason Isbell - Foxes In The Snow
(SOUTHEASTERN)
Former Drive-By Trucker releases his first entirely solo - and possibly, best ever - album.
“Nigh-on flawless… ★★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
The Tubs - Cotton Crown
(TROUBLE IN MIND)
Second album of nervy, sad and funny confessions from south London indie misfits, fronted by Owen 'O' Williams.
"It’s Williams’ confessions, delivered with an intensity worthy of Richard Thompson, that make their second album so compelling... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Panda Bear - Sinister Grift
(DOMINO)
Following recent collaborations with Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, Animal Collective's Noah Lennox returns with seventh solo album proper.
"Perfectly sequenced, Sinister Grift’s dubious uplift gradually falls away to reveal an exquisite melancholy introspection... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Doves - Constellations For The Lonely
(EMI)
Despite troubled recording sessions, Mancunian trio triumph on second post-reunion outing.
“Doves soar here… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Sam Fender - People Watching
(POLYDOR)
Anthemic but bittersweet, the ‘Geordie Springsteen’ paints a poignant portrait of post-industrial Britian.
“Like the ghost of Wilfred Owen leading a sweeping terrace incantation… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Richard Dawson - End Of The Middle
(DOMINO)
Prog folk eccentric turns his singular songwriting eye towards the complexities of family life.
“Dawson’s command of the nuances of northern English speech and empathy for small, vulnerable things shines through with all-seeing light… ★★★★” MOJO’s pick of this year’s best LPs to date.Read MOJO’s review in full
Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking
(COLUMBIA)
Welsh iconoclasts dial down the dialectic, dial up the tunes on their 15th album.
“Rarely have ruminations on decline sounded so vigorous…★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
(JAGJAGUAR)
Van Etten's new outfit slip into the synth pop shadows.
"Like her sometime collaborator Angel Olsen, she’s found a gift for reinvention; the change suits her... ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full
Eddie Chacon - Lay Low
(STONES THROW)
Previously one half of pop soul duo Charles & Eddie, Chacon’s turns existentialist on third solo outing.
“Lay Low is a kind of concept album, built around love, grief and bereavement, Chacon in conversation with himself... ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
The Weather Station - Humanhood
(FAT POSSUM)
Documenting her journey back from the brink, the personal and the elemental combine once more on Tamara Linderman’s latest.
“Even if she can’t quite make sense of it all, Lindeman owns what happened to her with this superbly honed musical novella… ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full