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

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

19.05.2026-NELS CLINE SINGERS Share The Wealth (Blue Note,2020)

 

JAZZ

   On Share The Wealth, the sonic explorer and guitar renegade delivers a potent and provocative program of spontaneous, uncompromising music with an expanded edition of his long-running project The Nels Cline Singers, featuring saxophonist and punk-jazz iconoclast Skerik, keyboard marvel Brian Marsella, bass powerhouse Trevor Dunn, longtime collaborator and drummer Scott Amendola and Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/hs7ci5

16.05.2026-LUYAS Animator (Dead Oceans,2012)

 

INDIE ROCK

   From the earliest moments of Animator, The Luyas create a scene of natural beauty from the most unexpected instruments. A stuttering drum machine, recorded with a touch of reverb, evokes the sound of stalactites dripping water into reflecting pools, and the heraldry played on a flute suggests Popul Vuh’s ’70s collaborations with filmmaker Werner Herzog.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/y3vzgw

13.05.2026-WALTER MARTIN The Bear (Ile Flottante,2022)

 

INDIE ROCK

   There is a certain beauty in simplicity and in a world that seemingly grows in chaos, perhaps simplicity is what many of us long for, either knowingly or unknowingly. In order to process and better understand the turmoil of our time, we increasingly turn to the artists and seek out a commonality in art. Walter Martin’s new album The Bear is a simple yet insightful look into his own life and family, and his own search for meaning. And the simplicity of this album is expressly where the beauty of it can be found.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/6gpcrt

10.05.2026-ARTHUR BEATRICE Working Out (Open Assembly,2014)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Working Out is all about figuring out who Arthur Beatrice really are. It’s a largely beautiful album, with equally beautiful videos, and upbeat tracks suggesting an evolution from their earlier sounds. The four-piece have taken their time with the LP, and it shows. Working Out is a sophisticated sounding record, but with only a handful of standout tracks, it may not be enough.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/cph8rh

07.05.2026-REN HARVIEU Revel In The Drama (Bella Union,2020)

POP ROCK

   As the album title suggests, Harvieu fearlessly embraces the unpredictability of her life up to now. Produced by the supportive Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers, whose friendship has been a major stepping stone in her career recovery, the sophomore LP showcases Harvieu’s part heartfelt part whimsical lyrics much more – as tracks were co-written on the previous record – accompanied by an effortlessly vigorous voice and a blues-pop fusion (with it’s use of organs, orchestra and guitars).

https://www.sendspace.com/file/uotp21

 

04.05.2025-LIME GARDEN One More Thing (So Young,2024)

 

INDIE POP

   Influenced by Bloc Party and The Breeders, but also Charli XCX, the Brighton band's sound is upbeat and fuelled by wilful experimentation.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/hirmj5

02.05.2026-GRETEL Squish (Breadcrumb/AWAL,2026)

 

INDIE ROCK

   With Squish, Gretel, the alias of British artist Maddy Haenlein, steps into the spotlight with a debut that feels both delicate and quietly powerful. Like the fairy tale figure that inspires the name, Gretel builds a world where apparent innocence conceals something deeper, more intense, and often more unsettling.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/3fd3se

29.04.2026-JULIA CUMMING Julia (Partisan,2026)

 

INDIE ROCK / INDIE POP

   Julia Cumming has had a very successful career as the bassist and lead vocalist of psychedelic indie-rockers Sunflower Bean.

     Julia, her solo debut, came about after decamping to LA, where she worked with producer Brian Robert Jones.

     The singer’s voice, which recalls Beach House’s Victoria Legrand, is the perfect vehicle for delivering her touching, graceful lyrics, addressed mostly to herself. She’s at her best when wandering through the back corridors of her mind.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5p8w9r

27.04.2026-LYDIA LOVELESS Daughter (Honey,You're Gonna Be Late,2020)

 

COUNTRY

   On her fifth and best full-length album, the Ohio singer-songwriter follows the rangy contours of her electric guitar playing with heartbreak stories and searching questions.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2x3bg7

24.04.2026-SECRET SISTERS You Don't Own Me Anymore (New West,2017)

 

AMERICANA

   You Don't Own Me Anymore is their first release with New West Records, and hopefully it's the charm. Brandi Carlile, a singer-songwriter who's also an understated gem on the current folk scene, took the sisters under her wing and produced this album along with Tim and Phil Hanseroth. The sound quality is pure and glorious in its simplicity—the Rogers could have performed these 12 songs acapella and the emotion would have been relatively undiminished. It's clear, however, that the judicious use of talented musicians that include Carlile and the Hanseroth brothers supports the singers and expands their gorgeous tones in a way that will remind you of spare yet focused music produced by T-Bone Burnett in the last couple of decades.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ra44dg

20.04.2026-FORETASTE Happy End! (BOREDOMproduct)

 

ELECTROPOP

     Tense. This is the first adjective that is coming to my mind while listening to the latest Foretaste's album "Happy End!". Their sixth album has been deeply influenced by the feelings the pandemic events raised in all of us. Most of the lyrics are dealing with a feeling of uncertainty and self-preservation. 

     My preferred songs are the opening "Welcome", "Pure Madness" (on this one the melody is a bit more catchy), the instrumental "Bored To Death", "Dead Star" (which recalls me a bit Depeche Mode of the 80s) and the closing "Happy End!" (this one is almost a techno tune and I found it really intriguing and I'd like they would have played a bit more in this key just to give to the album a wider palette of sounds). A usual for Foretaste, the album needs more listenings to be fully appreciated

https://www.sendspace.com/file/m6s8tm