new releases on cd & dvd
Guy Oddy |

In all honestly, 2025 has not been a vintage year for new recorded music and there certainly seems to have been a significant paucity of high-profile album releases that are likely to be viewed as stone-cold classics in years to come. Nevertheless, there has been gold for those prepared to look hard enough.

Guy Oddy |

Among millennials, Taylor Momsen is likely to be primarily remembered as an actor of things relatively sweet and family friendly. She appeared in Spy Kids 2 and TV’s Gossip Girl, but most notably as Cindy Lou Who with Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the turn of the century.

Thomas H. Green
According to the fifth song on their first Christmas album, seasonal shenanigans in Old Crow Medicine Show’s family are boozy and raucous. Step aside…
joe.muggs
Well, this is a surprise. Not so much that the Sunderland band should do a Christmas album, mind. Despite their raw and spiky hardcore framework,…
Tim Cumming
American R&B singer Eric Benet is the latest star to throw Santa’s hat into the ring and spin a Christmas album out of the seasonal market – the…

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Ibi Keita
A perfect selection for sound system veterans, and newcomers too
Guy Oddy
Gallic psychedelic pop that struggles to change gears
Kieron Tyler
The Icelandic singer-songwriter acknowledges that one’s own traditions can be enough
peter.quinn
Textural variety and sonic clarity captivate from first note
Tim Cumming
McMurray is joined by Don Was and R&B singer Kem
Tim Cumming
The north African griot and her band release long awaited third album
Guy Oddy
Michael League’s jazzers reconnect with old friends
mark.kidel
A master-class in male vulnerability
Kieron Tyler
Dreaminess and frostiness from the Gallic singer-songwriter
graham.rickson
Thoughtful micro-budget British sci-fi, deservedly revived
Sebastian Scotney
Barbra Streisand's son as singer and songwriter
Guy Oddy
Dystopian uneasy listening that is far from the mainstream
joe.muggs
A particularly British torch song tradition hits some grandiose highs
Liz Thomson
Soul sister sings on
joe.muggs
Young composer and esoteric veteran achieve alchemical reaction in endless reverberations
Kieron Tyler
The Denton, Texas sextet fashions a career milestone
Thomas H. Green
Contagious yarns of lust and nightlife adventure from new pop minx
Tom Carr
Hauntingly beautiful, this is a sombre slow burn, shifting steadily through gradients
joe.muggs
A charming and distinctive voice stifled by generic production
Tim Cumming
Eight CDs encompass Dylan’s earliest recordings up to his first major-league concert
Kieron Tyler
The former bassist of the grunge-leaning trio JJ72 embraces the spectral
Thomas H. Green
Singer's return after seven years away from music is autofiction in the brutally raw
graham.rickson
Down-and-out in rural Oregon: Kelly Reichardt's third feature packs a huge punch

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