Mandy, Indiana - Urgh (Album Review)

Photo: Charles Gall A growing, but increasingly prolific, corner of alternative music in the 2020s has been reserved for a crop of bands often reductively described as playing ‘post-punk’, but who are in fact making intense, electrifying live electronic music. See Belfast’s Chalk, New Yorkers Model/Actriz and London act PVA, among many others.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 10 February 2026

Sick Joy - More Forever (Album Review)

Photo: Steve Gullick On their audacious second album, Sick Joy set their sights on anthemic epics to whip the alt-rock scene into a frenzy.  With multi-instrumentalist and singer Mykl Barton channeling and exorcising personal demons, ‘More Forever’ is a meaty, purifying release from the Brighton trio that falls just short of doing something unique.

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Monday, 09 February 2026

Softcult - When a Flower Doesn't Grow (Album Review)

It certainly feels like shoegaze’s moment is going to run for some time. The genre’s noisy, melodic blend of melancholia and chaos continues to offer a rich hunting ground for today’s artists, more than three decades since Ride, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine enjoyed the scene’s cultural peak.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 06 February 2026

Lucinda Williams - World's Gone Wrong (Album Review)

Photo: Mark Seliger Americana legend Lucinda Williams channels all her righteous anger into ‘World’s Gone Wrong’, her sixteenth studio album and collection of protest songs fearlessly confronting political and economic turmoil in the United States.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Thursday, 05 February 2026

Geologist - Can I Get A Pack Of Camel Lights? (Album Review)

Geologist’s solo debut feels less like a side project and more like a private universe finally given space to blare. Previously best known as Animal Collective’s quiet architect of texture and abstraction, Brian Weitz steps out from the shadows with an instrumental record that trades pop hooks for ritual, drone and slow-burn psychedelic immersion.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 04 February 2026

Joyce Manor - I Used To Go To This Bar (Album Review)

Photo: Dan Monick With Joyce Manor averaging a runtime of 19 minutes across their seven studio albums, every second counts when you hit play. Known for trimming the fat from their explosive punk tunes until all that remains are mighty pop hooks and pure emotion, their latest full-length sticks to the band’s tried-and-tested philosophy. 

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Tuesday, 03 February 2026

Peaer - Doppelgänger (Album Review)

It’s fitting that ‘Doppelgänger’, the first album from Brooklyn slowcore trio Peaer in seven years, finds the band exploring how our identity changes and our perspectives shift over time. Its nine songs are a reflection and reckoning with people’s mental projection of themselves versus who they are.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Monday, 02 February 2026

The Format - Boycott Heaven (Album Review)

Photo: Carlo Cavaluzzi Before fun.’s carefree pop anthem We Are Young soundtracked the summer of 2012 and his voice became impossible to ignore, Nate Ruess formed one half of The Format. A collaboration with guitarist Sam Means, the duo released two studio albums before their 2008 split, and their return with long-awaited third full-length ‘Boycott Heaven’ proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Friday, 30 January 2026

Louis Tomlinson - How Did I Get Here? (Album Review)

Louis Tomlinson’s third album surpasses expectations when it comes to assumptions around an ex-boyband member’s solo work. From the off, ‘How Did I Get Here?’ offers high energy, explosive indie-pop as, channeling every ounce of angst he has experienced in recent years to create something memorable. At a time when his former bandmate Harry Styles is everywhere, Tomlinson has claimed his own lane and it’s really working for him.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 29 January 2026

Poppy - Empty Hands (Album Review)

Photo: Paris Mumpower Though Poppy has flirted with heavy music in the past, mixing her experimental alt-pop with gnarled sounds on records such as I Disagree, it was only with 2024’s ‘Negative Spaces’ that she caught the attention of the metal mainstream. Its followup Empty Hands is more experimental, on the surface at least, but the overall impression it leaves is of an artist erring on the side of caution where once they would have shot for something unique.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 29 January 2026

PVA - No More Like This (Album Review)

Photo: Jak Payne Recently, a crop of bands have splintered off from the dominant UK post-punk sound of the past decade and pursued a darker, more electronic approach. Chalk, Scaler, Mandy, Indiana and overseas groups such as Model/Actriz are crafting punishing, danceable music that feels thrillingly new and alive.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 28 January 2026

Megadeth - Megadeth (Album Review)

Photo: Ross Halfin After 43 years and 17 albums, Megadeth bow out with a self-titled farewell that does exactly what it says on the tin. No bells, no whistles, no creative revolution, just high-speed riffs, anthemic choruses, and Dave Mustaine’s signature snarl. Expecting innovation from a band announcing their retirement feels misguided — especially when none of the Big Four have pushed boundaries in years — so a nostalgic victory lap steeped in mid-90s melodic thrash will do nicely.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Anna of the North - Girl In A Bottle (Album Review)

Photo: William Spooner ‘Girl In A Bottle’, the fourth studio album from Norwegian singer-songwriter Anna Lotterud under her Anna Of The North alias, charts a break-up amid the euphoria of ‘80s synth-pop. Despite the dance grooves, the record is underpinned by Lotterud’s signature sadness and late-night nostalgia for a love lost.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Tuesday, 27 January 2026

Ari Lennox - Vacancy (Album Review)

Ari Lennox occupies a distinctive lane when considering her R&B peers, favouring classic soul warmth, jazz inflection and grown-up storytelling over shameless trend-chasing. ‘Vacancy’, her third album, largely doubles down on those instincts, delivering a polished, personable listen that plays squarely to her strengths even if it doesn’t quite push her forward.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 26 January 2026

A$AP Rocky - Don't Be Dumb (Album Review)

Photo: @pleckham At long last, A$AP Rocky has returned. His fourth outing ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ is an album that many hip hop fans will have had listed as one of their most hotly anticipated albums of 2024, but a string of leaks and sample clearance issues kept pushing the project back. Now, Rocky shows that the wait was worth it.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 22 January 2026

Madison Beer - Locket (Album Review)

Photo: Morgan Maher Madison Beer’s third album is the moment a carefully cultivated presence attempts to fully exhale and speak plainly. After years of high‑gloss singles and uneven pivots, this record finds the Long Islander sounding more coherent, if still occasionally conflicted, while attempting self‑definition in a pop environment where a clear identity is crucial.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Sleaford Mods - The Demise of Planet X (Album Review)

For anybody who has followed Sleaford Mods over the past two decades, it won’t come as a surprise to learn that Jason Williamson is pissed off. But in our doomscroll-centric world, which seems to churn out misery and despair ad infinitum, that feeling has only grown more pointed.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 20 January 2026

Kid Kapichi - Fearless Nature (Album Review)

Photo: Chris Georghiou Somewhere in the lifetime of a political band, inner turmoil can become a more urgent matter to unpack than the chaos of the outside world. For Kid Kapichi, that moment is now. ‘Fearless Nature’ chronicles a rock-bottom moment for vocalist Jack Wilson after an eight-year relationship ended, his mental health nosedived and his band began to splinter, culminating in the departures of guitarist Ben Beetham and drummer George Macdonald last summer. Unsurprisingly, the political crackle of old has been papered over by deep melancholy. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Monday, 19 January 2026

The Kid Laroi - Before I Forget (Album Review)

The Kid Laroi’s ‘Before I Forget’ is a daring tilt at superstardom — an album centred around heartbreak and jagged melody that displays something unique in placing the Australian vocalist’s talent and versatility centre stage. It gets 2026 off to a flying start.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 16 January 2026

Dry Cleaning - Secret Love (Album Review)

Photo: Max Miechowski Over the course of two albums, Dry Cleaning have forged a distinctive sound and built a die-hard fanbase. Their third, ‘Secret Love’, has the usual blend of gnarly guitars and spoken word wit, but greater emphasis on post-punk hooks and producer Cate Le Bon’s input leads to a more mainstream-ready effort, albeit one that retains a spirit of experimentation at its core. It doesn’t reinvent their approach as much as it adapts it into something newly thrilling.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Thursday, 15 January 2026