19.09.2026-SKATING POLLY Chaos Country Line (El Camino, 2023)

 

ALTERNATIVE / PUNK ROCK

   ‘Chaos Country Line’ is the absolutely packed double album from Amercian band Skating Polly. Filled with 18 tracks, this is more lengthy than your typical rock band album these days.

   The length of this album gives plenty of scope for showing off the range of styles they can play, and the amazing adaptability of the vocals of step sisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse. There is something for almost everyone on ‘Cross Country Line’. Gentle soft vocals and delicate keyboards can be found on songs like ‘Someone Like a Friend’ but you can also find big guitar riffs on ‘Singalong’, metal growls on ‘Baby on my Birthday’ and even a bit of country influence on song ‘All the Choices’.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/1ox3pton

15.09.2026-AMANDA SHIRES Nobody's Girl (ATO,2025)

 

AMERICANA

   The first word that comes to mind after so many of these songs is; emotional. There is so much emotion packed into these tracks, the vast majority of which are Shires sharing her emotional state post her divorce/break-up from Jason Isbell. It's permeates most of the songs here as Shires lets her vulnerability show in the lyrics but also in a voice that near trembles sometimes. There is a song clearly about the environment and condemning our actions, but the main focus is heartbreak and trying to heal afterwards.

 https://www.sendspace.com/file/h6vc3hej

11.09.2026-CRISTINA QUESADA Think I Heard A Rumour (Elephant,2019)

 

POP

   Madrid's Elefant Records has no less than six labels attached to its Spanish pop empire. I've found myself going down rabbit holes of rare twee-punk, stylish guitar-pop, dub-house, bubbly pop-punk and Spanish-sung J-pop (no really), digging them all. But Cristina Quesada is perhaps most emblematic of Elefant's aesthetic: multi-lingual, ultra-chic dance-pop with super-smart synth arrangements and songs written by Joe Moore (The Perfect Kiss, The Yearning). Like, say, Saint Etienne, Quesada and Moore embrace fantastical swirl of pop music history.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/qhza98bp

08.09.2026-JESSE RUINS Eve (Magniph,2016)

 

ELECTRONIC

   This release is praised for its abstract, futuristic vision that blends melodic piano tones with distorted electronic and organic textures. 

     Critics and listeners note that it features a sharper, more refined cut compared to earlier bedroom-pop recordings while maintaining an immersive atmosphere.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/40kng02h

05.09.2026-MARIA MINERVA Will Happiness Find Me? (Not Not Fun,2012)

 

ELECTRONIC / LO-FI

   Maria Minerva, the Estonian singer-songwriter whose bedroom electropop somehow seems to effortlessly attach itself to some pretty erudite philosophical discourse, had quite a busy 2011. With no fewer than four releases, including a much-heralded cassette full-length (Tallinn at Dawn) and the nu-nu-age drifts of “Cabaret Cixous,” Minerva has quickly established herself as one of “the underground’s” most promising and prolific young talent. (Note: I am referring to a very specific portion of “the underground” here, one which aligns itself with the retro-not-retro musings of the Not Not Fun label and views “lo-fi” not so much as a stylistic choice but rather a necessity, a tool that can adapt itself to any number of interpretations, working either against or in concert with the music itself.)

     So she’s understandably taken some time off from releasing new material in 2012. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/gnag0zsv

01.09.2026-SKRILLEX Quest For Fire (Owsla/Atlantic,2023)

 

DUBSTEP

   While this is technically only his second album, Skrillex has hardly been away from the spotlight. Quest for Fire shows us that he continuously expanded his sonic palette through his productions, remixes, and other work, particularly when it comes to finding beats. He wrangles a constellation of guest stars (from Four Tet to Missy Elliott). The British grime MC and producer Flowdan offers the most satisfying match for Skrillex’s world-swallowing beats; his low-slung voice towers over the ricocheting rhythm of the Fred again..-assisted “Rumble.” Like the mosh pits and dance floors that have thrilled to his music, Skrillex knows that perpetual motion is crucial.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/s5f0td5r

30.08.2026-LAURA VEIRS Found Light (Bella Union,2022)

 

FOLK

   Found Light is Laura Veirs’ 12th studio album, and in many ways, it marks a creative departure. Shortly after her 2020 release My Echo, which famously explores her painful separation from her longtime husband and producer Tucker Martine, Veirs announced a new album was already in the works without his involvement. Instead, she chose to take on for herself a side of songmaking that Martine, who also produced Veirs’ collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang, previously handled for her. Marking Veirs’ first-ever release with a production credit, Found Light represents a new step in not only Veirs’ personal life, but also her career at large, a turn that has led her to consider it a kind of debut.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5nfy0l8u

27.08.2010-GAYNGS Relayted (Jagjaguwar,2010)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Gayngs represent a somewhat unlikely confluence of any number of recent musical trends, foremost amongst them the resurgence in hipness of such über-processed AOR acts as 10cc, Hall & Oates and Steely Dan. Indeed, producer Ryan Olson’s stated purpose when founding Gayngs (alongside Solid Gold’s Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt) was to create “a collection of drugged-up keyboards and slick bedroom production almost exclusively inspired by 10cc’s I’m Not in Love.” Relayted, Gayngs’ groaningly-titled debut album, shies away from actually covering said song, though the fact it includes a creepy cover of Godley & Creme’s saccharine enormo-hit Cry does make you wonder why they bothered being so coy.

     That’s not the whole story, though. Relayted is not without a scent of fromage, but it is, on the whole, artier, sexier and stranger than the output of Olson’s bemulleted heroes. It owes plenty to modern RnB production, and is certainly more leftfield in tone and taste than anything 10cc ever made.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/fme06e98

24.08.2026-FENNE LILY Big Picture (Dead Oceans,2023)

 

INDIE FOLK

   The singer-songwriter from Bristol has made a return with her third studio album Big Picture, and with it she continues her run of flawless albums. It differs slightly to her previous records, carrying a more jovial tone, but is definitely not without deep cuts.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2ybrjr43

21.08.2026-BEACHES Blame My Ex (Self Released,2023)

 

ROCK

   Since emerging in 2013, sisters Jordan Miller (lead vocals and bass) and Kylie Miller (guitar), drummer Eliza Enman McDaniel, and keyboardist and guitarist Leandra Earl have continuously evolved their brand of pop-inflected rock, harnessing the vibrancy of their live shows and infusing their lyrics with a winking sense of humour. All of these ingredients are present on their latest offering, along with a sense of maturity that in no way makes the album feel less fun.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/0ehzhemk

18.08.2026-DEAD CONFEDERATE Sugar (The Artists Organization,2010)

 

ALTERNATIVE ROCK

   The 10 tunes on Sugar are more rock than ramshackle—still heavy on reverb and distorted, droning guitar—and they play like a who’s who of the band’s many influences. With its fuzzy guitar intro, opening track “In The Dark” nods to Sonic Youth, and “Mob Scene” (aside from frontman Hardy Morris’s Billy Corgan-esque vocals) could have been lifted from Led Zeppelin’s songbook, with Walker Howle’s proggy, wailing guitar and drummer Jason Scarboro’s thrashing beat.

   Lame lyrics aside, Sugar demonstrates Dead Confederate’s natural talent for grunge atmospherics, but they could use some songwriting workshops before tackling their third effort.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/wp7jh74s

15.08.2026-SCREAMING FEMALES Desire Pathway (Don Giovanni,2023)

 

ALTERNATIVE ROCK

New Brunswick's own Screaming Females are industry vets now, eight albums in, but they remain DIY basement players at heart — and oftentimes in practice. With a bit of synth and power-pop added to the mix, Desire Pathway is the sound of a long running band doing exactly what it does best: earth-quaking riffs; tight, propulsive drumming; and Marissa Paternoster's unmatched vocal quaver. Screamales are forever.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/mbswt8u7

12.08.2026-ANCHORESS The Art Of Losing (KScope,2021)

ALTERNATIVE POP

   As she skewers the messy, chaotic nature of grief in various forms, alt-pop artist Catherine Anne Davis' second album finds her turning to art for clarity.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/kkieg06x

 

08.08.2026-NZCA LINES Pure Luxury (Memphis Industries,2020)

 

INDIE POP / ELECTRONIC

   The album, from the start, boasts a silky funk bravado, with slick weighty synth lines and perfect dancefloor rhythms. Couple that with its nourishing slow sets and the level of quality on the production, ‘Pure Luxury’ aligns itself not out of place up against pop’s finest releases this year.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/k3hqtivw

05.08.2026-ALEXIA AVINA Betting On An Island (Never Content,2018)

 

INDIE FOLK

   "Betting on an Island" is the debut full-length album by Alexia Avina , a Montreal , Canada-based artist . The record is filled to the brim with atmospheric sounds resembling a shifting mirage. Unlike the ghostly visions that emanate from sweltering travelers across the endless sands of the African desert, this music is a cozy oasis where world-weary wanderers can find long-awaited refuge and refuge from the fears of everyday life, inner complexes, and endless loneliness amidst an ocean of indifferent people. However, the more time you spend within this peaceful haven, the less you yearn to return to the evil realm of cynical and materialistic zombies.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/wpr79sfk

02.08.2026-I'M WITH HER Wild And Clear And Blue (Rounder,2025)

 

FOLK

   ‘Wild & Clear & Blue’ is a triumph of beauty, friendship, togetherness, harmony, music: everything that matters in life. Let the ancient light flood in. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2sgq386j

31.07.2026-ESTER BROHUS Game For The Gamblers (DME, 2016)

 

COUNTRY ROCK

   The overall impression of the album is that we are dealing with down-to-earth, well-played, well-sung country. Brohus' vocals are consistently strong and carefully dosed in relation to the music. Production and packaging certainly say 2016, but we could also have been 20, 30 and 40 years back in time, if it weren't for the fact that production and packaging also signal more recent times.

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

28.07.2026-LIFE ON VENUS OdesTo The Void (Shelflife,2019)

 

SHOEGAZE

   Loud, gloomy and surreal, this is a story about finding love, overcoming fears and facing the unknown.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/tc44ekhl

25.07.2026-TEEN DAZE Bioluminescence (Flora,2019)

 

CHILLWAVE

   Teen Daze’s sixth ambient, alternative-indie album Bioluminescence stays true to his roots in synthesizing frequencies from both the natural and modern worlds. Ever since Teen Daze, one of Jamison Isaak’s aliases, debuted in 2010, the solo electronic British Columbia musician continues to challenge the antithetical natures of organic and electronic notes in Bioluminescence, released in April 2019.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/scilx3jy

22.07.2027-AIR WAVES Warrior (Western Vinyl,2018)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Spirited yet cautious, Air Waves have produced a stellar and ardent album filled with just the right amount of justice to suit the name Warrior. Each track is as bold as it comes, falling onto the shoulders of a leader with enough strength to combat the unkempt delusions of nostalgia and comfort. Warrior is thoroughly simplistic, the vocal performances coming through as the centerpiece of an 11 track series of diary pages and ruminating self-discovery.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/01xu4e6y

19.07.2026-JESSIE WARE That! Feels Good! (EMI,2023)

 

POP / R&B / FUNK

   The album embraces a present (and future) where we can at least indulge in the fantasy of feeling good.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/dzxi4eta

16.07.2026-HOLLY HUMBERSTONE Paint My Bedroom Black (Polydor,2023)

 

ALTERNATIVE POP

   Alongside her piercing lyrics, Humberstone’s debut LP is all the richer because she steps out of her sonic comfort zone. Surprises arise on the layered, Bon Iver-esque ‘Baby Blues’, and brilliant ‘Flatlining’, which temporarily turns into a shifty electronic banger. Ultimately, ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ finds the artist trying to do right by her loved ones and make sense of her own turbulent world, but it’s also a cue to listeners that things could go anywhere from here. In pursuit of an authentic sound, Humberstone proves that she’s not only inhabiting her own space – and beckoning listeners in – but also building out the walls.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/57wy245q

13.07.2026-PEAKING LIGHTS Cosmic Logic (Weird World/Domino,2014)

 

SYNTHPOP

   For a band who are so undeniably poppy, Peaking Lights draw influence from an impressively eclectic variety of places. Layered over their swampy, effortless brand of synth-pop are traces of dub, disco, house, psych and indie, and perhaps one of the reasons for their success may be their ability to incorporate these influences into a single cohesive, identifiable sound. On Cosmic Logic, they continue to exercise this ability, but occasionally forget to stretch it quite far enough.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/hgqy4urb

10.07.2026-GARY WAR Gaz Forth (Feeding Tube,2018)

 

HYPNAGOGIC POP

   For the last while, Greg Dalton (aka Gary War) has been back in Massachusetts, after spending years working on his music down in twin Isles of Kiwi. Since returning he has popped up in the amazing psych duo, Dalthom (along with Sunburned’s Ron Thomas), and even played with the legendary Bobb Trimble on a live Burger cassette, but Gaz Forth is the first new Gary War LP in over five years.

   Recorded with long-time collaborator, Daniel Rineer, as well as Robert Cathart III (Pigeons), Jeremy Pisani (Red Favorite), Kris Thompson (Abunai, Trimble), Cynthia Nixon (Purple Pilgrims) and John Moloney (Sunburned), Gaz Forth hearkens back to some of the left-field pop amalgamations Mr. War had a hand in when he worked with Ariel Pink back in the early Oughts.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/r0dr9tvm

08.07.2026-TOMORA Come Closer (Fontana,2026)

 

ELECTRONICA

   Dance don Tom Rowlands and Norwegian phenomenon Aurora take us on an otherworldly rave as an "exceptional" supergroup.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/b427zw99

05.07.2026-YONAKA Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow (Asyulum,2019)

 

ALTERNATIVE ROCK

   Yonaka really zeroes in on love as an emotion in particular. Throughout the album you are reminded that life isn’t a fairytale but hope is there to get through it and inspire you. It’s the reality check we all need. It’s almost a reminder to stop striving for perfection because it doesn’t exist. However there is something beautiful within the cracks of daily life, and if you spend too much time focussing on the bad you’ll miss them. Similar to the intention of Japanese art, Yonaka is filling the cracks of the mundane with gold, because imperfections are beautiful. You’re not worth any less for your past. It’s given you experience and made you stronger. This album acts as the quintessential open letter to all. Ultimately, this is an album which warps everything which you thought you believed. It forces you to undertake a rollercoaster of emotional turmoil and is full of surprises led through the changing tempo each track has to offer. Desperation leads to hope, as we are reminded that fundamentally, we will survive. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5qdoa7

02.07.2026-JESCA HOOP Stonechild (Memphis industries,2019)

 

ALTERNATIVE FOLK

   He does a fine job with ‘Stonechild’, but truthfully, all of the triumphs here are Jesca’s own and a long time in the making. It’s less a case of being in a comfort zone than it is being supremely confident in a musical identity that she’s spent years carving out for herself. It means that there’s room for new, handsome flourishes, like the choir bursting forth on ‘Red White and Black’, or inviting new collaborators like Lucious, Rozi Plain and This Is the Kit to back her on the choruses throughout. The latter two come to the fore on the sumptuous ‘Outside of Eden’, a sharp deconstruction of the burgeoning reliance of children on smartphones. In fact, Jesca tackles politics with quiet incision throughout, particularly when she needles the dying patriarchy on ‘Old Fear of Father’. ‘Stonechild’ is an exercise in top-level songwriting, stately and intelligent.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/qyrj2i

30.06.2026-MAISIE PETERS You Signed Up For This (Gingerbread Man, 2021)

 

INDIE POP

   On 'You Signed Up For This', Peters displays a singular vision: pop. She mostly lets go of the snappy guitar acoustics that shaped her past sound and in doing so drops the first half of her “folk-pop” descriptor. Instead, synth-filled melodies and springy beats demand bedroom dancing and hairbrush singing. There is nothing childish about this album, though; in fact, the singer is assured in her sound, the music grounded in its self-conscious melodrama.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/9p7ws1

26.06.2026 - FAMILY OF THE YEAR Family Of The Year (Nettwerk,2015)

 

FOLK POP

   Breezy folk-pop that's fun to listen to but could use more emotional depth.

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

22.06.2026-PICTURE PARLOUR The Parlour (EMI,2025)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Moulded around the fluid concept of ‘The Parlour’, the former NME Cover stars present their ambitious debut album on a tightrope between youthful flair and rock’n’roll.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2ont5p

19.06.2026-DEADLETTER Hysterical Strength (So Recordings,2024)

 

INDIE ROCK

   ‘Hysterical Strength’ is dark and foreboding and it’s irresistible and fun. It confronts the daily struggle of our shared society and forces us to smile about it. Deadletter might only be getting started, but with a record as accomplished as ‘Hysterical Strength’, it already feels like they’ve been here for quite a while.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/tivkl7

17.06.2026-ICEAGE You're Nothing (Matador,2013)

 

PUNK ROCK

   The Danish hardcore kids in Iceage make an emotionally intense racket, with that rare mix of aggression and delicacy. Even on their raw 2011 debut, Iceage knew how to sculpt the noise into songs, but You’re Nothing is a huge jump forward. Although the lyrics are mostly in English, singer-guitarist Elias Rønnenfelt growls them as guttural cries of pain, especially in the high-velocity heartbreak of “Burning Hand” and “Ecstasy.” “Morals” breaks new ground for Iceage, with poignant piano under the guitars. You could even call it a ballad, if that’s a fair way to describe a song that feels like a leather boot leaving bloody footprints all over your skull.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/rxa79z

14.06.2026-DAUGHTER Not To Disappear (4AD,2016)

 

INDIE POP

   On their 2013 debut 'If You Leave', London trio Daughter ushered us into their fragile but beautiful world - one where life's woes were expressed through guitar lines like Arctic blasts and Elena Tonra's despondent poetry. Follow-up 'Not To Disappear' marks some low-key changes to their M.O (a smattering of synths here, a confessional attitude there), but even heading to New York to work with Animal Collective producer Nicolas Vernhes hasn't shaken their sadness.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/igbu3z

   

11.06.2026-HORSEGIRL Versions Of Modern Perfrormace (Matador,2022)

 

INDIE ROCK

   The Matador debut from young Chicago band Horsegirl—guitarists-singers Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein, and drummer Gigi Reece—is still plenty exciting to listen to, living up to all the buzz and promise, a frenetic, big sounding record that, yes, recalls a lot of ’80s and ’90s indie-rock but also has a tough-to-pin-down quality that feels very here-and-now. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/zppc00

09.06.2026-PRETTY RECKLESS Death By Rock And Roll (Fearless,2021)

 

ROCK

   The four years since The Pretty Reckless’ last release, 2016's Who You Selling For, have been some of the hardest years of the band's lives. Just under a year after the death of Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, with whom the band had toured, they learned that their producer and close friend Kato Khandwala was killed in a motorcycle accident. After such a dark period, Death by Rock and Roll represents, more than anything else, a light at the end of the tunnel. After the year we’ve all had, an album that refuses to shy away from life’s tragedies is more important than ever.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/rjbux7

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