07.06.2026-THEA GILMORE These Quiet Friends (Not On Label,2025)

 

FOLK ROCK

   For her second covers album, following Loft Music in 2003, Thea Gilmore has taken a different approach. Where the earlier album "was full of songs that I wished I'd written," These Quiet friends is "an album of songs that have seen me through dark times."

     A fascinating selection of songs which given her assertion that these songs are "the 2am confidantes that you can reach for when no-one else is around," suggests that even for an artist with 20 albums of her own under her belt, the power of music to support her life journey is still a tangible thing, and for that we should be very grateful.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/xrs0gt

04.06.2026-DELICATE STEVE Luke's Garage (Have Fun Thinking,2025)

 

INSTRUMENTAL / INDIE ROCK

   In a world of over-produced pop where songs can often be credited to several songwriters and a kitchen-sink aesthetic of studio effects is more the rule than the exception, Delicate Steve is the antithesis of this kind of creative overkill. Born Steve Marion, the New Jersey native is a multi-instrumentalist who lets his muse guide him in the recording studio, resulting in a sound that meanders and bubbles over with strands of alt-folk, Afro-pop, quirky new wave, prog and surf rock. 

   The latest example is his new album “Luke’s Garage.” It’s an intriguing combination, a collection of short and snappy instrumentals recorded during a two-week stretch at his friend Luke Temple’s home studio. Cut in January of this year in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wild fires, this project found Marion leaning into the opportunity to record as a means of recovering from this traumatic event.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/wov7jd

02.06.2026-BILL ORCUTT Music For Four Guitars (Palilalia,2022)

 

JAZZ / EXPERIMENTAL

   The guitar can make a pretty full sound, but a band it does not make. But what about FOUR guitars? Famed alternative guitarist, Bill Orcutt, who’s opened for the likes of Sonic Youth and Sebadoh, in his no-wave, hardcore, free jazz band Harry Pussy, decided to compose an album of fourteen tracks called, Music for Four Guitars. Taking inspiration from jazz, hardcore, even classical music, it is an exploration of just how far you can push guitar music.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/r3121d

31.05.2026-CF WATKINS Babygirl (Whatever's Clever,2020)

 

COUNTRY / FOLK

   Watkins possesses a soulful, moving and often comforting talent, and Babygirl is a superb 2nd album that, if there’s any justice, will make her a very recognizable name in the area of singer-songwriters that bridge country and pop together.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/37haou

28.05.2026-COLD SPECKS Fools's Paradise (Arts&Crafts,2017)

 

TRIP HOP

   Ladan Hussein, the woman who records and performs as Cold Specks, is quietly intense. On Fool’s Paradise, her third album, Hussein’s music is stripped down to the essentials. Soft, mournful synthesizers drift through a melancholy space, with elusive percussion accents in the background. Her hushed, jazz-inflected vocals are full of passionate yearning, the sound of a soul on the verge of tears or explosive anger.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/wx52u9

25.05.2026-MUNA Dancing On The Wall (Saddest Factory,2026)

 

INDIE POP

   Muna’s signature open-hearted yearning and unapologetic celebration of self-expression are present and accounted for on Dancing on the Wall. The indie-pop band’s fourth studio album is chock-full of rollicking, ’80s-inflected power pop, but beneath the band’s propulsive beats and delectable hooks is a mournful plea for the girls and gays to not only get their asses to the dance floor, but open themselves up to intimacy.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/iabthp

22.05.2026-LADYLIKE LILY Les Graines Oubliees (Minouch,2023)

 

INDIE POP

   Ladylike Lily's talents as both storyteller and exceptional composer are on full display. She has a gift for transporting us to higher realms through emotionally rich tracks like "Les pages arrachées" and "Tour de contrôle", before reaching new heights with the fantastic "Un si bel endroit", "Du vert aux genoux", and "Sorcière". "Les Graines Oubliées" remains captivating from beginning to end with "Mauvaise herbe" and "Bonne nuit", a fascinating and intense tale that Ladylike Lily crafts to perfection.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ly4hwb