Following a number of personal and professional hurdles – not to mention a global pandemic – Indoor Pets almost called it quits in 2020 but now they’re back at their spiritual home of Alcopop! Records with a brand new album called ‘Pathetic Apathetic’ – and it’s one that finds the four-piece embracing their love of the heavyweights of early ’90s grunge while keeping their pop sensibilities very much in check. The album opens with lead single ‘London (Love to Hate)’, their heaviest song to date that celebrates the multi-culturalism and rich culture of our capital city while also taking aim at ..read more

The Lemon Twigs’ fifth album – ‘A Dream is All We Know’ – finds the brothers D’Addario celebrating the joy and beauty of dreams – while throwing all kinds of new instruments into their finely honed pop sound, including cellos, mandolin, trumpets, horns and harpsichord. Recent single ‘My Golden Years’ opens the album and feels like something akin to Supertramp and The Byrds having a jamming session that ended with a relentless earworm – plus a touch of sadness and reflection: ‘Watch these golden years fly by’. ‘They Don’t Know How to Fall in Place’ is a song that demands handclaps with its bre ..read more

Masca’s ‘Stage Fright’, the latest release from forthcoming EP ‘Teen Dream Dealer’ (out on 5 June) finds vocalist and guitarist Tina Maynard confronting the demons that arrive when it comes to performing in front of people. Opening with scuzzy Reuben-style riffs, Tina sings about having butterflies and trying to cope with bright lights before explaining ‘I’ve been running away from having to think about you’. As the song veers into a jagged and more angular yet still grungey sound – somewhere between No Doubt and Sonic Youth – she explains how things are ‘Only getting started…’ This is a pers ..read more

Adult Jazz’s ‘So Sorry So Slow’ is the London four-piece’s first album in a decade and over its hour-long running time, the band get to explore the power and pain of passion, panic, devotion and remorse… ‘Bleat Melisma’ opens the record with loose, tribal drumming and beautiful vocals that talk about ‘how heartless you are’ while synths are stabbed in the background. Think Three Trapped Tigers meets Lamb and you’re halfway there… This is followed by the brass-led sound of ‘Suffer One’, which finds vocalist Harry Burgess asking ‘Can somebody tell me I am reasonable?’ over enchanting flourishes ..read more

Photo credit: Thandiwe Zivengwa Spielmann’s ‘Just Like Everybody Else’, taken from the singer-songwriter’s forthcoming debut EP ‘Fifteen Minutes with Spielmann’ (out on 31 May), is described as ‘an anthem for the modern person who wants to have it all, but is probably realising something has to give’. Over a sea of synths and emotional vocals, the self-proclaimed ‘Harry Styles for 6 Music Dads’ ponders and pontificates on how hard it is to remain creative in a world that seems intent on destroying and forgetting the power of art. From publishing his own story to dealing with anxiety and ‘writi ..read more

Probably the band with the greatest name in the world right now, Philadelphia’s The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick release the equally enthrallingly titled new album ‘The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick’ via Count Your Lucky Stars Records on 25 April. A six – sometimes seven – piece, the new record was written during the recovery from the pandmic and celebrates how beautiful life can be. ‘Leaf’ opens the album with swaying melodies and words about how important it is to connect on a human level: ‘Shutting off the Wi-Fi and I hid your phone under the co ..read more

Pillow Queens new album ‘Name Your Sorrow’ is more exposed than ever before. Taking influence from the Irish poet Eavan Boland – alongside the likes of Tool, Barbara Streisand and Frank Ocean – it’s a raw account of life, love and self-worth as the band consider a question posed in Boland’s poem ‘Love’: ‘Will we ever live so intensely again?’ ‘February 8th’ opens the album with an experimental stop-start feel and drum machine sounds as the band plead with someone: ‘If you’re leaving, come back again’. ‘Suffer’ reminded us of latter-day Sharon Van Etten with its brooding and powerful opening a ..read more

Cloud Nothings’ latest album, ‘Final Summer’ (out on 19 April via Pure Noise Records) finds Dylan Baldi and co in fine form, powering through 10 songs in just 29 minutes that celebrate the sheer joy of playing music loud and proud. The title track opens proceedings with a futuristic, space-age sound that gently builds – complete with a synth-laden edge – into a mix of atmospheric feedback and distortion. As the drums pummel away, Dylan sings about trying to find happiness and how this remains so elusive: ‘Oh, I have some thoughts. Oh, I have some dreams’. ‘Daggers of Light’ follows with talk ..read more

Photo credit: Katie Allen Alcopop! Records’ London-based collective have shared new single ‘Michael Phelps’, an ode to the most decorated Olympian of all time… Opening with stop-start wonky guitar riffs that come across like David Byrne fronting Squid, the experimental art pop track demands you ‘Teach your children to swim, because one day Michael Phelps will be king’ – and it’s hard to argue. Later on in the song – after a few delightful diversions into completely different genres – there’s another request to ‘Wear your Grade 7 badges with pride’ before the melodic hooks come back with the ba ..read more

Personal Trainer have shared ‘Star Jelly’, the first single to be taken from debut EP ‘What Was There Before?’. The trio formed over a shared love of Alanis Morissette back in 2017 and her influence shines through in both the gorgeous guitar tones and raw lyrics: ‘Pull my hair, fuck me on a second date. I only stick around for chances to repeat my mistakes’. There’s also a touch of The Sundays in the yearning yet brutal atmospherics: ‘You’ll feel small when you reach the bottom of your world’. Although the song has a swaying, almost folky sound at times – complete with grand harmonies – there ..read more