Bill Callahan - My Days of 58 (Album Review)

Photo: Bill McCullough On his 19th album (that’s 11 as Smog, and a further eight under his own name, stats fans) Bill Callahan continues his turn towards warm and lucid songwriting. The alt-country auteur who once sang about broken marriages and “teenage spaceships” is now far more likely to write a turn of phrase that melts your heart, rather than breaking it.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 04 March 2026

Howling Bells - Strange Life (Album Review)

Photo: Orlando Cubitt ‘Strange Life’ represents a triumphant return for Howling Bells, some 12 years after their last album. Amid distorted, squalling guitars, thunderous riffs and swooning harmonies, the Australian indie-rock trio contemplate past regrets and their lives as working musicians. Full of sweeping, psychedelic melodrama and dark romance, the album’s quieter moments also deliver an abrasive update to the ‘60s girl group sound.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Wednesday, 04 March 2026

BLACKPINK - Deadline (Album Review)

Photo: YG Entertainment K-pop has not-so-quietly become a worldwide cultural force, and the runaway success of BLACKPINK has plenty to do with it. Despite not releasing new material since 2022 — almost unheard of in the genre’s lightning-fast world— they’ve only gotten bigger with solo ventures and group world tours. ‘Deadline’ is a mini-album or, in old money, a five-track EP, that underscores their position as trailblazers without ever doing anything particularly groundbreaking.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 03 March 2026

Gorillaz - The Mountain (Album Review)

Photo: Gorillaz/Reuben Bastienne-Lewis Never ones to stand still, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s ninth album with Gorillaz is a sprawling genre-hopping affair, with glam-rock, post-punk and soul thrown into the melting pot. The title track really underlines how different this will be, with Albarn fading into the background on an almost entirely instrumental track studded with traditional Hindustani instruments.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 02 March 2026

Megan Moroney - Cloud 9 (Album Review)

Photo: Amber Asaly Donald Trump has made it weirdly difficult to enjoy a lot of otherwise apolitical country music. Even when a record has nothing to do with him, the cultural static lingers like a low hum beneath the pedal steel. On ‘Cloud 9’, Megan Moroney largely tunes it out by doubling down on what she does best: sharp, self-aware dispatches from the women left cleaning up after charming idiots.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 27 February 2026

Leigh-Anne - My Ego Told Me To (Album Review)

Photo: Niklas Haze It’s been a busy season for Little Mix, even with the girlband on hiatus. Following the breakout success of Jade’s ‘That’s Showbiz Baby’ last year, Leigh-Anne is the latest member to release a highly anticipated debut album that doesn’t simply meet expectations — it exceeds them.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 26 February 2026

Mumford and Sons - Prizefighter (Album Review)

Mumford & Sons are a true Marmite band — as loved as they are hated. They’re either posh boys cosplaying as farmers, or purveyors of immensely popular, rousing, countrified folk-pop. On their sixth album, they are keen to escape the foot-stomping sound that propelled them towards international stardom thanks to the single Little Lion Man and their 2009 debut ‘Sigh No More’. And, in truth, they are all the better for it. 

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 26 February 2026

Hen Ogledd - Discombobulated (Album Review)

Hen Ogledd don’t sound interested in tidying themselves up for polite company. ‘Discombobulated’ is messy on purpose: a record that treats 2026 less as backdrop and more as battleground, stitching together protest, pastoral myth and free-form freak-outs into something defiantly un-housetrained.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 25 February 2026

Tyler Ballgame - For the First Time, Again (Album Review)

Some voices demand to be heard. Voices that draw deserved comparisons with the greats like Roy Orbison, Harry Nilsson or Elvis Presley. ‘For the First Time, Again’, the debut album from the splendidly named Tyler Ballgame (born Tyler Perry), arrives with that voice fully formed. It’s deep, rich, full of warmth and utterly authentic. It’s surprising it took so long for his talent to be recognised.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Wednesday, 25 February 2026

U2 - Days of Ash EP (Album Review)

Photo: Anton Corbijn The world needs bands like U2. But which version of U2? For the best part of two decades they’ve oscillated between legacy act, tech evangelists and stadium-pop chasers, sometimes within the same album cycle. ‘Days of Ash’ — a six-track dispatch released with almost impatient urgency — suggests they’ve remembered something simpler: when U2 are angry, focused and cornered, they’re the best in the business.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 24 February 2026

Hilary Duff - Luck… Or Something (Album Review)

Photo: Aaron Idelson In the 2000s, Hilary Duff’s name was impossible to ignore. A teen idol who rose to fame in the titular role of Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire, she became one of the era’s most successful multi-talents, releasing a string of chart-topping pop albums and laying down the career blueprint followed by the likes of Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Monday, 23 February 2026

Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights (Album Review)

Photo: Paul Kooiker Doing a soundtrack is a nimble way of dodging the risks that come with trying to follow a generational hit like ‘Brat’. Rather than attempt to outdo a cultural detonation, Charli XCX sidesteps it — trading strobe-lit arenas for windswept moors on ‘Wuthering Heights’, her companion album to Emerald Fennell’s film adaptation. It’s a lateral move, but one that, for the most part, pays off.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 19 February 2026

Labrinth - Cosmic Opera Act I (Album Review)

Labrinth knows his way around a hit. After dominating the UK charts more than a decade ago with his early Tinie Tempah collaborations and solo smashes such as Let The Sun Shine, he has gone on to rack up global acclaim as a producer and songwriter, working with bonafide superstars including Beyoncé, The Weeknd and Rihanna while also soundtracking the TV series Euphoria. Amid all of that, he still finds time to release records of his own. ‘Cosmic Opera Act I’ is his fourth LP, revealing an artist who’s unwilling to compromise on his own grand vision.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 18 February 2026

Converge - Love Is Not Enough (Album Review)

Photo: Jason Zucco Very few bands get to double digits when it comes to records out there in the world, and fewer still can lay claim to the level of consistent excellence maintained by metalcore pioneers Converge across a 35-year career. On their 11th album, ‘Love Is Not Enough’, they continue to turn out some of the best heavy music on the planet. 

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 17 February 2026

Nick Jonas - Sunday Best (Album Review)

Photo: Billy Kidd After half a decade away from solo releases — time largely spent performing in arenas alongside his brothers — ‘Sunday Best’ finds Nick Jonas stepping back out on his own. Rather than striding into the spotlight, though, they’re turned down low.

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Monday, 16 February 2026

Ellur - At Home In My Mind (Album Review)

Photo: Sarah Oglesby Ellur’s ‘At Home In My Mind’ is a debut album of raw honesty and self-discovery, with glimpses into relationships delivered with a sense of individuality thanks to Halifax singer-songwriter Ella McNamara keeping her Yorkshire accent front and centre. 

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 13 February 2026

Ratboys - Singin' to an Empty Chair (Album Review)

Photo: Miles Kalchik Emerging from vocalist Julia Steiner’s journey through therapy, Ratboys’ ‘Singin’ to an Empty Chair’ is a potential modern classic that underlines the harsh reality that great work often emerges from an artist's darkest hours.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 12 February 2026

Dream Nails - You Wish (Album Review)

Photo: Marieke Macklon If Dream Nails’ second album ‘Doom Loop’ felt like a Molotov cocktail lobbed at an already burning world, ‘You Wish’ is the morning after: eyes stinging, coffee in hand, trying to work out what survives in the smouldering rubble. 

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2026

Maddie Ashman - Her Side EP (Album Review)

Photo: Sandra Ebert London-based musician Maddie Ashman’s avant-garde approach to songwriting and composition sets her apart from the rest. ‘Her Side’ is highly individual and experimental, which is welcome in an industry polluted by carbon copy artists emerging daily. But the ambition behind the EP masks a lack of versatility from song to song.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Wednesday, 11 February 2026

Demob Happy - The Grown Ups Are Talking (Album Review)

Photo: Linda Eklov Recorded over the span of nine days at the legendary Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree — home in the past to everyone from Arctic Monkeys and Foo Fighters to Iggy Pop — Demob Happy’s ‘The Grown-Ups Are Talking’ struts with purpose in pursuit of sweaty, whiskey-soaked rock ‘n’ roll.

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Tuesday, 10 February 2026