New releases last four weeks: All genres

Review: Survival horror franchise Alan Wake saw its second instalment in 2023, following the game series' 2010 debut. Again, we follow novelist Alan Wake, as he attempts to escape his imprisonment in an alternate dimension by penning a horror story about an FBI agent, Saga Anderson. Both a detective story and a shoot 'em up, the second game bolsters the franchise's neo-noir and gothic Midwestern tropes; the soundtrack is fittingly both lachrymose and chilling, with its contributing scorers - Petri Alanko, Old Gods Of Asgard, Jean Castel and more - portraying Nordic moods of modern, nailbiting mystery. Through stark, grim, minor-keyed anthems, trip-hop furrowers and trembly orchestral laments, we find dead bodies found in the woods, fight spriggan-esque creatures, and soak in moods of noir crime psychodrama, all chillingly captured in a single sonic melange.

Review: Canadian rock outfit Big Wreck celebrates this year's Record Store Day with the first-ever vinyl release of their acclaimed Albatross album. This deluxe anniversary edition includes a bonus track, 'Fade Away', as well as alternate versions by Eric Ratz and Ian Thornley, plus a live recording from Suhr Guitar Factory. The original album came back in 2012 and saw Albatross earn chart-topping success and critical praise for its soaring guitar work and powerful vocals. They make just as much of a mark now, more than a decade on and with the addition of the new cuts, this reissue brings all new depth to the record.

Review: Who can argue with them for wanting to repress this beauty? It's quite simply one of the best pop albums of all time. Tracy Chapman's voice is inimitable and she is, frankly, a genius. The timeless yet nostalgic 'Fast Car' is the unmistakable standout here - be teleported back to late-80s Britain (when it was a ubiquitous presence in public spaces) but know that if an emerging artist wrote that today it would still be a number one. Strictly speaking this is a 37th anniversary reissue - but who's counting? The label, with Chapman herself involved, have gone to meticulous steps to ensure it's an audiophile delight: Heavyweight vinyl and sourced from the analog master. The trusty Bernie Grundman, who is one of the best mastering engineers in the world, was the honoured hire in bringing this work of art back to life.

Review: Spiritmuse Records presents Journey to Nabta Playa, the dialogic result of Angel Bat Dawid and multidisciplinary artist Naima Nefertari, as they team up to honour the ancient Nubian astrological site of the same name. An ancient Neolithic site in Egypt's Nubian Desert predating Stonehenge, Nabta Playa incorporates a stone circle whose lithic configuration aligns with celestial events. Fittingly, then, this clash-of-titans record astrologises celestial electronics and divines ancestral predestinations, sewing a starry sonic tapestry - in Bat Dawid's terms "this is not just an album, it's a constellation". Picking up where Don and David Ornette Cherry left off with 'Bishmillah', and carrying out such further original, summative sonic burial and resurrection rites such as 'Black Stones Of Sirius' and 'Procession Of The Equinox', we hear a dance of featuring flute, clarinet, and vibraphone, and enraptured voice.

Review: Upon its release in 1970, Donny Hathaway's latest album was met with critical acclaim but modest commercial success. The LP showcased Hathaway's extraordinary versatility, blending gospel, jazz, blues and soul into a cohesive whole. It was a rich tapestry of influences, marked by Hathaway's stunning vocal prowess and his ability to craft arrangements that felt both intricate and organic. The album also set the stage for his subsequent works, cementing Hathaway as one of the most important voices of his generation. Tracks like 'The Ghetto' and 'Tryin' Times' revealed his commitment to addressing social issues, while songs like 'Thank You Master' and 'Je Vous Aime' showcased his personal and spiritual depth. In the decades since its release, Everything Is Everything has grown in stature, celebrated as a cornerstone of soul music.

Review: INXS have gone all in and hired the best in the business to provide a brand new stereo mix of their 1985 Listen Like Thieves album, namely Giles Martin and Paul Hicks, who have been remixing and remastering the Beatles back catalogue together. Ill content to let a better sounding album be enough of a package, the Australian 80s icons add previously unreleased sessions tracks, outtakes, demos and a live recording the BBC did at the Royal Albert Hall in 1986. Of the tunes on here, 'This Time' has a U2-esque stadium-filling atmosphere that is undeniably empowering. But it's also great hearing another, more stripped back side to the new wave icons and 'Kiss The Dirt' is a great place to start with this - you can hear a work in progress and let your imagination can fill in the gaps.

Review: Released in 2000, Poison is the third studio album by Swedish singer-songwriter Jay-Jay Johanson, having earned his place as a stalwart figure thanks to his melancholic vocals set to perspirant trip hop. From 'Believe in Us' to 'Colder,' not to mention the toxicologist's favourite 'Poison,' we're met again with Johanson's signature downtempos and experientially charged lyrics. Sophisticated atmospherics abound, bridging the all-to-intimate gap between sexuality and the unknown.

Review: Lady Gaga's latest album is as bold, chaotic and emotionally charged as you would expect of the singular artist as she returns to her pop roots. Blending electro-grunge with theatrical flair, Gaga embraces fame and identity across 14 tracks that span snarling anthems like 'Perfect Celebrity' to raw love songs like 'Blade of Grass.' Along the way are nods to Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and disco, which all bring many layers of intrigue next to the vulnerability and bombast of the vocals. To that point, Gaga's voice shapeshifts from snarling to purring to belting as she examines fame's toll and personal transformation. Though maximalist to the core, MAYHEM never loses its heart and is messy, loud, and thrilling proof Gaga is still defining pop on her own terms.

Review: Accomplished US star Lil Baby celebrates the five year anniversary of his breakthrough album My Turn with a special Tangerine reissue via Quality Control Music. The record was originally released in 2020 and very much launched the Atlanta rapper into superstardom and was the first long player of that year to go double platinum and eventually earn a rather impressive 7x platinum status. Famous for its era-defining hits like 'Emotionally Scarred' and 'We Paid,' the album cemented Lil Baby's status as a generational voice in hip-hop and listen back now, despite how fast this genre moves on, it still stands up as an album that marked the moment Lil Baby took the lead.

Review: An exciting, previously unreleased live recording of the iconic US jazz bassist Charles Mingus captured in Buenos Aires in June 1977. The performance features a stellar lineup with Ricky Ford on tenor sax, Jack Walrath on trumpet, Robert Neloms on piano and Dannie Richmond on drums, and now comes transferred from the original tape reels, recorded by engineer Carlos Melero, having been meticulously mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. This limited-edition triple album set is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Le Vinylist, and comes with an elaborate booklet featuring newly commissioned liner notes and interviews with artists influenced by Mingus. Released in with the authorisation of the Charles Mingus Estate, this is an exclusive offering for Record Store Day 2025.

Review: Recorded at the storied Slugs' Saloon in Manhattan's Lower East Side, this unified collection captures the Charles Tolliver-led Music Inc quartet in blistering form. New York runs through the musiciits restlessness, density, sharp corners. Tolliver, a Brooklyn-born trumpeter with a militant edge and lyrical touch, fronts a group that helped define the forward-looking jazz of the early 70s. Beside him are Strata-East co-founder Stanley Cowell on piano, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Jimmy Hopps, all embedded in the New York avant-garde at the time. On pieces like 'Felicite' and 'Wilpan's', they stretch out with blistering force, melting structure into raw, insistent groove. Even in quieter momentsi'Ruthie's Heart', or the shadowy 'Repetition'ithere's a tension that never quite releases, the sense that every note is carved in real time. This is the first time both volumes are presented as one continuous document, expanded with three previously unreleased tracks. It's a vital capture of a quartet thinking collectively, improvising with unrelenting intensity and total mutual trust. The sound, newly remastered, gives space to the grit and nuance of the live sessioniCowell's cascading runs, McBee's deep pull, Hopps' unpredictable propulsion. There's no studio polish here, just a direct line to the spirit of a time and place, when New York jazz burned fast, political and free.

Review: Lacinia is the newest cycle of compositions by Italian composer and guitarist Stefano Pilia and it extends the metaphysical and mathematical explorations introduced in his acclaimed 2022 album Spiralis Aurea. Drawing from sacred geometry, number theory and ancient musical traditions, Lacinia unfolds as a series of immersive sonic meditations. Acoustic and electroacoustic textures from strings, horns, organ, percussion and synths are all carefully interwoven and Pilia creates cyclical, ritualistic structures that evoke composers like Arvo Part, Eliane Radigue and Sarah Davachi. Inspired by liturgical music and the eternal return of transformation, Lacinia aims to seek meaning through harmony, stillness and resonance. The

Review: This Price album was originally part of the 2023 Diamonds and Pearls Super Deluxe box set, but now the triple vinyl live recording arrives on standalone yellow vinyl in a fancy triple gatefold sleeve. It was initially captured on January 11, 1992, at Prince's Glam Slam club in Minneapolis and is a performance that showcases Prince and The New Power Generation at their creative peak, just ahead of their epic world tour. Spanning over 100 minutes and 14 tracks in all, the still electrifying set focuses on material from the Diamonds and Pearls era and includes a preview of the then-unreleased 'Sexy M.F.' to make for a fine snapshot of a new era in Prince's evolving sound.

Review: Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard revive the collaboration first aired on the latter's 2016 album Unde The Sun, this time across a full album reportedly four years in the (top secret) making. It's a compelling synthesis of Yorke's atmospheric melancholy and Pritchard's textured production. It expores a range of moods, from the uneasy tension of 'A Fake In A Faker's World' to the hypnotic rhythms of 'Back In The Game', while the eerie, spectral qualities of 'This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice' reveal the pair's ability to intertwine experimental soundscapes with a visceral emotional pull. Standout moments include 'Gangsters,' where Pritchard's intricately layered beats mesh with Yorke's haunting vocal delivery, and 'Wandering Genie,' which closes the journey with a strange sense of release. The music takes unexpected turns, not just as a statement of collaboration, but as a reflection of two artists playing with the unknown, pulling their sonic worlds into unexplored spaces. Each track is a feather in the cap of their combined ingenuity, with Yorke's vocal vulnerability and Pritchard's production wizardry in full synergy.

Review: If you at first mistakenly read the title of the new Pye Corner Audio box set as "Where Things Are Now: No Tomorrow", you're not alone - Martin Jenkins' effortless blend of retro-nostalgia and forward-facing production is a keen match for reflexive cynicisms like this. His use of sizzling vintage audio-tropes could only have been achieved in the 21st Century and helps foster a reinstated optimism. The name of the full series is actually Where Things Are Hollow; and while two volumes have been released already, a third original one now comes added here, on top of a full remix roundoff featuring Alessandro Cortini, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and John Talabot, producing this rather banging four-volume set.

Review: Originally released in 1978, Road To Ruin would serve as the fourth full-length from leather jacket-clad punk pioneers The Ramones. While a rejected, mitigated flop upon release due to the band's swing for the radio fences (or airwaves) complete with sonic elements at the time alien to the punkosphere such as acoustic guitars, lead guitar solos and 60s pop ballads, in the near five decades since release, the project has been reevaluated as a bold successor to 1977's iconic Rocket To Russia (although that album did place 50 places ahead on the Billboard 200 at the time of release). Marking (no pun intended) their first effort to feature drummer Marky Ramone, who replaced Tommy Ramone after his departure due to the inability to keep up with the rigors of touring and lack of residuals from their previous record; the album's glossy, clean production has slowly morphed from malaise to praise over the ensuing decades, while offering up some of their most timeless and essential bangers including 'Needles & Pins' and 'I Wanna Be Sedated' (which if Spotify metrics are anything to go by, is the band's most popular song after, of course, 'Blitzkrieg Bop').

Review: The Ramones had long reshaped the world of music in their beautifully twisted image by the time they recorded this, their second live album, in Spain in 1991. But the New York punks were seemingly addicted to playing live, touring relentlessly throughout the 80s and 90s, and their tightly drilled act is at fever pitch here, careering through an incredible 32 'blink and you'll miss them' tracks across four sides of vinyl. A handful of covers - there's a blistering version of The Trashmen's early rock 'n' roll stormer 'Surfin' Bird', for instance - nestle alongside timeless originals such as 'I Wanna Be Sedated', 'Beat On The Brat' and 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker', with a healthy selection of deeper cuts from the late 80s here too. Top mayhem.

Review: The Pumpkins' sophomore effort, originally released in 1993, remains a masterclass in balancing raw emotion with lush, layered production. Opening with the iconic 'Cherub Rock', the album immediately asserts its originality, blending Billy Corgan's searing guitar work with Butch Vig's pristine production. The track's dynamic shifts and explosive energy still sounds like nothing since. 'Today', with its deceptively upbeat melody and darker lyrical undertones, became a radio and MTV staple, while 'Disarm' showcased the band's range, swapping distortion for orchestral strings and highlighting Corgan's vulnerable songwriting. For longtime fans, 'Mayonnaise' often emerges as the album's hidden gemia track that marries melancholic melodies with cathartic, crashing crescendos. Throughout the album, Jimmy Chamberlin's drumming is nothing short of phenomenal, adding weight and complexity to tracks like 'Geek U.S.A.' and 'Soma'. Siamese Dream still resonates with the same potency, blending anthems of adolescent angst and shimmering beauty. A reissue that reaffirms the album's enduring legacy as a cornerstone of its genre.

Review: Henley-born British soul singer Dusty Springfield's time in Memphis marked a turning point in her careeriboth an artistic triumph and a personal gamble. By the late 60s, she had outgrown the UK's pop scene, craving the depth and authenticity of American soul. Recording in the same studios as her heroes, backed by Atlantic Records' finest, she delivered some of her most breathtaking performances. The smoky tenderness of 'Just A Little Lovin'' and the aching vulnerability of 'I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore' showcase her gift for storytelling, while 'No Easy Way Down' and 'I Can't Make It Alone' push her voice to extraordinary places, balancing control with raw emotion. But despite the album's brilliance, commercial success eluded it, deepening her self-doubt. Springfield was a perfectionist, often wracked with insecurity, yet here she sounds unshackledifully immersed in the music she loved, even at great professional risk. Decades later, its impact remains undeniable.

Review: This 3LP set commemorates 25 years of South Park, recorded live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Featuring creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, alongside Primus and Ween, the album includes the most memorable songs from the show, a special highlight among which is the guest appearance by Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, who perform 'Closer To The Heart' with Primus and Matt Stone. The set is pressed on black vinyl, capturing a landmark celebration of the show's legacy.

Review: 10 years of Amsterdam's Vault Records is celebrated on this latest edition of their Vault Sessions techno compilation. While many a label can lay claim to ownership of and control over a "vault" of music, how many of them can submit to surrender 20 such golden sonic ingots when faced with a ransom to release music, *and* still keep enough in the strongroom to keep the books balanced? While we've now the keys to many a high-profile private client's dirtiest collateral deposits - Jpsrv35's twinkling blood garnet 'Soulsearch', Quelza's illegal software 'Automated Assistance Program', Grace Dahl's precious heirloom 'The Green Room' , Stef Mendesidis' diplomatically immune 'License To Fly' - we suspect that many more such greats lay hidden behind astringent locks, impervious to the next heist. All tunes leave us Vaulting!

Review: This special Anniversary Edition celebrates the groundbreaking band War's 55th year with a remastered version of the original album by legendary engineer Bernie Grundman. The iconic, multi-million selling, Billboard 200 Top Ten original has plenty of seminal WAR classics such as 'Low Rider' and the title track 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' and next to this eon disc one is a second disc filled with unreleased tracks from the original sessions, along with unedited mixes that offer deeper insight into the group's creative process. Blending funk, soul, jazz, pop and Latin influences, this genre-defying band has remained a cornerstone of Los Angeles's scene for over five decades.

Review: Xmal Deutschland commemorate their influential 4AD years (1983-1984) with a brand new release, literally presenting us with Gift. The collection celebrates the band's profound impact on British audiences in the early 80s, marked by a unique and half-devised lyrical language, as well as a magnetic feminine mystique commandeered by the women in the group. Their breakthrough support slot with Cocteau Twins accompanied the first two albums to come out via 4AD, which grabbed audiences by the collective ear with a painter's stroke of hard-graded darkwave and goth. Gift brims with a penumbral presence, while the titular "gift" is intended as pharmakon, both a present and a poison; Xmal's music is appropriately contradictory and complex, skating thin ices of beauty and elusivity. This limited-edition 3xLP boxset includes Abbey Road remasters of their albums Fetisch and Tocsin, along with tracks from related releases like Incubus Succubus II and Qual, packaged with striking artwork and a photo booklet. The magic of Xmal Deutschland lingers like radiation and has an indelible half-life.