Joe Jackson – Hope and Fury (earMUSIC) (13th Floor Album Review)
Joe Jackson is back! Actually, he never left, as he’s been making records on a regular basis ever since Look Sharp! got our attention back in 1979.
Caitlin – Guardrails (13th Floor EP Review)
Caitlin’s Guardrails is a measured, introspective indie-pop record with a quiet emotional tension running underneath.
Tigercub – Nets to Catch the Wind (Loosegroove) (13th Floor Album Review)
UK rock trio Tigercub have released their fourth studio album Nets to Catch the Wind, a cohesive rock offering with determined storytelling at its heart, produced by Grammy-nominated Tom Dalgety.
Charley Crockett – Age Of The Ram (Island) (13th Floor Album Review)
In the last of the generous 20 tracks on this 45 minute album Age of the Ram, Charley Crockett sings in a voice of honeyed whisky: I’m trying to paint you a picture/ But there’s been quite a mixture of honesty and fiction.
Wesley Joseph – Forever Ends Someday (Secretly Canadian) (13th Floor Concert Review)
Wesley Joseph’s Forever Ends Someday is a controlled, immersive record built on shifting forms and unsettled structures.
Corrosion of Conformity – Good God / Baad Man (Nuclear Blast) (13th Floor Album Review)
When Corrosion of Conformity’s Blind (1991) featuring the absolute banger Vote with a Bullet arrived, ears pricked up, and they stayed erect when Deliverance was delivered in1994. Albatross and Clean My Wounds, two singles from Deliverance, announced CoC had found a groove, a heavy groove, and a trio of shows, including two supporting Pantera in […]
Thundercat – Distracted (Brainfeeder) (13th Floor Album Review)
I’ve never quite known what to make of Los Angeles bassist, singer and producer Thundercat (Stephen Bruner).
Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire (Transgressive Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
Arlo Parks’ new album Ambiguous Desire, out today, suggests the artist releases long players with almost metronomic regularity. This is her third following her amazing debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams, in 2021 and 2023’s follow-up My Soft Machine.
Joe Pernice – Sunny, I Was Wrong New West) (13th Floor Album Review)
Joe Pernice’s Sunny, I Was Wrong is an album where nothing pushes for a big moment. The songs gather meaning gradually, each small shift adding to something that only fully settles after they’ve finished.
Maria Taylor – Story’s End (Million Stars) (13th Floor Album Review)
Maria Taylor returns with Story’s End, a record shaped in the aftermath of a marriage breakdown and the unravelling of a close creative relationship.
Snail Mail – Ricochet (Matador) (13th Floor Album Review)
Snail Mail are back with their third release, Ricochet. The indie group have built on their nineties guitar sound and have brought Mitch Easter (R.E.M) in for producer duties. The result is a polished one. Catchy vocal lines hook you into the darker and brooding lyrics that sit underneath.
Ladytron – Paradises (Nettwerk) (13th Floor Album Review)
Ladytron, the lauded English electronica group formed in Liverpool in 1999, known for synthesizing EDM, shoegaze, and 70s new wave with a synth focussed approach. Now consisting only of trio Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt, since longtime member Reuben Wu left in 2023.
José González – Against The Dying Of The Light (City Slang) (13th Floor Album Review)
José González’s Against The Dying Of The Light arrives after another measured gap, shaped between touring, soundtrack work, and his band Junip, and carries the sense of something considered rather than accumulated.
Black Label Society – Engines Of Demolition (Spinefarm) (13th Floor Album Review)
This isn’t just another release – Engines Of Demolition reinforces what makes Black Label Society unique: gritty groove metal, soaring solos, and bluesy, introspective ballads.
Deva Mahal – Future Classic Vol II: Future (13th Floor EP Review)
Aoetearoa’s soul singing globe trotter Deva Mahal has built her reputation on vocal power and emotional depth, and her new EP, Future Classic Vol II: Future, shows an artist expanding her creative universe with confidence.
Courtney Barnett – Creature Of Habit (Fiction) (13th Floor Album Review)
Heft in simplicity is how I’d describe Courtney Barnett’s fourth studio album, Creature of Habit. It’s weighty in its emotion, purity, and honesty, which qualities are given breathing space amidst (often) lean instrumentation and straightforward song structure.
Melissa Etheridge – Rise (Sun Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
Newly-signed to Sun Records, Melissa Etheridge teams up with producer Shooter Jennings to make a record where she says, “sometimes you’re gonna taste the dirt, but then you’re gonna rise”.
Matt Sephton – Vā (13th Floor Album Review)
Some music is made to entertain; other music engages deeply and takes the listener places. Vā is definitely in the latter camp. This album by the Coromandel based producer and sound explorer Matt Sephton has its origins in his 2025 residency at the Tiapapata Art Centre in Samoa.
J Callander – Shadows in the Shade (13th Floor Album Review)
J Callander’s Shadows in the Shade is a carefully shaped debut, built over several years and grounded in atmosphere and intent. Spanning nine tracks, each running beyond five minutes, ideas have space to develop through extended structures and shifting arrangements.
BTS – Arirang (Bighit Music) (13th Floor Album Review)
K-pop royalty, BTS have made their rather-hyped return after a lengthy break with Arirang. Arguably one of the largest acts in the world, the comeback has seen their devout fanbase (The BTS Army – which is currently so popular, that its membership is capped!) push ticket sales to capacity around the world.