Music24

  Broken Social Scene - Remember the Humans 2026 has been a stellar year as far as Canadian indie veterans are concerned, with Wintersleep, The New Pornographers, and Metric already having released superb albums. Now it's the turn of perhaps one of the most celebrated, Broken Social Scene, whose sixth album has been almost a decade in the making. One strength of the band over the years has been making anthemic, emotive pearls of indie, and Remember the Humans  is no different in that regard. Perhaps the albums main flaw is that it takes a while to get going - the first couple of tracks are a little underwhelming. 'Mission Accomplished (Kingfisher)' and 'The Call' are where things begin to gather pace and both feel like the band starting to find some form, but there's still something missing. 'Relief' has slight Fleetwood Mac vibes with its sun-kissed harmonies, and then there's the gorgeously sprawling 'And I Think Of You' which snowballs int...

  Daughn Gibson - Lake Mary Not Mysterious Daughn Gibson is an artist whose style is really difficult to pinpoint. It has a bit of everything - indie, experimentalism, country, blues, soul, Americana. It's perhaps surprising that a man of such talent has only released two albums prior to this latest effort, Lake Mary Not Mysterious . Where prior albums such as Me Moan  have wonderfully experimental songs like 'You Don't Fade', Lake Mary...  is a lot more back to basics in terms of its style. And this is what makes the album such a compelling listen. Despite its relative simplicity and conventional nature, there are still multiple genres - primarily country, Americana, and some bluesy/garage rock style sleaziness throughout. Daughn's crooning baritone vocals  are majestic on opening track 'So Good (I Was)', which certainly lives up to its title. A good comparison point would be someone like Mark Lanegan. Then there's the gorgeous alt-country lilt of '...

  Thundercat - Distracted Thundercat ticks a particular niche that straddles between cool and nerdy, although he simultaneously reveals that there's not a lot of difference between the two these days. On the LA bassist and singer's latest album, Distracted , the features list is absolutely stacked - Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, Lil' Yachy, ASAP Rocky, The Lemon Twigs, Willow, and even a posthumous feature from Mac Miller. So star-studded it may be, but does that translate to a quality and cohesive album? Most of the time, yes - the summery 'No More Lies' uses Kevin Parker pretty well, and the subsequent posthumous Mac Miller feature 'She Knows Too Much' brings his trademark swagger (which of course is sorely missed). 'Funny Friends' is the undoubted high point of the whole album, however, with ASAP Rocky absolutely killing it on one of the smoothest instrumentals you could imagine. It's the second half that sees Distracted  find its feet. 'Th...

  Melvins and Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March Grind and sludge might be words more befitting of a 1930s miner heading down the pit, but in actual fact it's pretty much what this album is. I mean this in the sense that Melvins are long renowned innovators of Sludge Metal, where Napalm Death are seen as the foundation of Grindcore. Though both are sub-genres of the metal genre as a whole, their differences are fairly significant, which makes such a collaboration album quite a unique proposition. It's an album that essentially functions as two legendary bands  spreading their wings and having some fun. 'Nine Days of Rain' is definitely the high point as it leans more toward sludgier textures, where opening track 'Tossing Coins into the Fountain of F*ck' leans more toward Napalm Death's grindcore style. 'Rip the God' also goes pretty hard in finding a nice balance between the two. All that said, there are too many moments that are just odd and...