Richard Thompson
Ship To Shore
NEW WEST
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On his 19th solo album, Fairport Convention’s guitar maestro and folk rock's Sisyphus Richard Thompson rolls his ball of gloom back to the top of the hill for a set that takes a wry look at life's missed opportunities.
“… Ship To Shore is a record about defeat despair and humiliation delivered with an unsettling avuncular twinkle ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Paul Weller
66
POLYDOR
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Arriving the day before his sixty-sixth birthday, Paul Weller’s 17th solo album found him bringing in a raft of star collaborators for a soulful, reflective record of recurrent intrigue and frequent sublimity. The Modfather’s late period purple patch continues.
“… There’s a sense throughout of Weller, the inveterate seeker, grasping for something tantalisingly out of reach ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Richard Hawley
In This City They Call You Love
WESTERN VINYL
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On his tenth album Richard Hawley’s viewfinder was still firmly set on his hometown of Sheffield. Yet by now, his love of 50s and 60s balladry and skill at rendering lush textures, exquisitely recorded vocals and sustained, artisan guitar tones is so well tuned, it’s produced one of his finest albums to date.
“Parochial Hawley’s world often may be, but his themes are universal and timeless, and this is a vocation, you sense, not just a career ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band
Loophole
MODERN SKY
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Hot on the heels of MOJO’s album of 2022, Dear Scott, former Shack/Pale Fountains leader Mick Head delivered another set of sparkling, timeless melodies, with songs this time nostalgically looking to his own wayward past.
“It all makes for a scrappier and less cohesive set than Dear Scott, but possibly a more characterful one, with even better songs ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Beth Gibbons
Lives Outgrown
DOMINO
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Thirty years after the release of Portishead’s debut, Beth Gibbons finally released her first solo album. On Lives Outgrown, Gibbons' distinct vocals move through a sometimes stark, but always beautiful meditation on time’s merciless forward march.
"A record alert to shed skins, sensitive to the inexorable damage caused by the years ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Kamasi Washington
Fearless Movement
★★★★
YOUNG
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Coming off the back of 2018’s sprawling masterpiece Heaven And Earth, jazz sax colossus Kamasi Washington’s first album in six years clocked in at a relatively concise 86-minutes. It was still a heavy brew, however, André 3000, George Clinton, Thundercat and more guesting on a dense, hip-hop informed journey through the past, present and future of Black American music.
“… An unabashed, cross-country, transgenerational manifestation and celebration of Black American music ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
St Vincent
All Born Screaming
VIRGIN/FICTION
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Following the lush 1970s sounds of 2021’s Daddy’s Home, Annie Clark pivoted back to face bubbling synths, dirty guitars and conspicuous modernity. A modernity that found her perhaps more aggressive and in-your-face than ever before as she pin-balled masterfully between sounds and styles.
“… An album that further proves Annie Clark to be a brilliant and multifaceted musical force ★★★★" Read MOJO’s review in full
Shabakka
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge It’s Grace
IMPULSE
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On his first solo album proper, British jazz lynchpin Shabaka Hutchings put down his saxophone and embraced a plethora of woodwind instruments for a deeply meditative exploration of spiritual jazz and New Age-influenced aural serenity.
“...Hutchings’ mission is to transcend what he has become renowned for, and to strive for a greater physical and spiritual self-knowledge ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Sam Lee
Songdreaming
COOKING VINYL
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A trained survival expert who leads trips into the Sussex countryside to sing with Nightingales, folk-art evangelist Sam brought his deep connection to the landscape to the fore in a suitably awe-inspiring record about our relationship with nature.
“… It’s suffused with a belief that music might begin the process of healing the planet at a time of ecological apocalypse ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full
Liam Gallagher John Squire
Liam Gallagher John Squire
PARLOPHONE
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A match made in cagoule-wearing heaven for music fans of a certain stripe, but the collision of Liam Gallagher's vocals and John Squire's Hendrixian guitar playing is an alchemy that can mesmerise more than just Oasis/The Stone Roses diehards. Arguably the best record either has been involved in for decades.
"... Gallagher's quartz-edged voice is the perfect plating for Squire’s roving guitar gymnastics ★★★★" Read MOJO's review in full.
IDLES
Tangk
PARTISAN
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On their fifth album, Bristolian post punks IDLES laid down their more overtly political lyrical Molotovs for a more personal approach. With Radiohead producer Nigel Goodrich helping to expand the group's sonic horizons, Tangk's love-bombing proved to be as effective as anything they've done.
“... IDLES have sought other means beyond brute force – the art of persuasion. ★★★★" Read MOJO’s review in full.
Brittany Howard
What Now
ISLAND
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For her second solo album, the former Alabama Shakes singer pushed further and deeper into the sonic terrain she began to map out on 2019’s Jamie, fusing pulsating Moroder disco, On The Corner-like jazz, future funk and more to dazzling effect.
“...What Now captures Howard’s joy – the joy that she finds in singing, in flitting through different forms, and in saying the difficult bits through brilliant song ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full.
The Smile
Wall Of Eyes
XL RECORDINGS
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On 2022’s A Light For Attracting Attention, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s Radiohead-adjacent project The Smile delivered an album that stood up next to Radiohead’s very best. For the follow-up, Yorke, Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner ventured further out, Wall Of Eyes’ proggy textures revealing their charms and details only upon repeat listens.
“... Until Radiohead return, or even if they never regroup, The Smile will do just nicely ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full.
Gruff Rhys
Sadness Sets Me Free
ROUGH TRADE
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The former Super Furry Animal’s 25th (or so) solo LP delivers an exquisite balance of the melancholic and melodious, its songs delivering self-criticism and sadness from within a trojan horse of buoyant chamber pop (Bad Friend), breezy Tropicália (They Sold My Home To Build A Skyscraper), ‘70s pop-soul (Celestial Candyfloss) and gingham-clad honky-tonk (the title track).
“... A stoical and pro-active salve against troubles local and global ★★★★” Read MOJO’s review in full.
Sleater-Kinney
Little Rope
LOMO VISTA
Unmoored by personal tragedy, on their eleventh album Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker find strength in one another and the defiant power of their music, tracks such as opener Hell stringing a classic Sleater-Kinney highwire between the personal and the political. ★★★★
“... If Little Rope offers consolation, it mainly comes from the fact of its existence – dynamic, defiant, self-aware…” Read MOJO’s review in full
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Bill Ryder Jones
Iechyd Da
DOMINO
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Triumphant songs of defeat and desperation from the finest piano-in-the-sandpit songwriter of his generation. For his fifth solo album, the former Coral guitarist pulls an achingly beautiful set from the depths of his inner turmoil. ★★★★
“... Iechyd Da is lyrically stark, but Ryder-Jones saves his most silvery linings for its darkest clouds…” Read MOJO’s review in full.