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. 'This Thing We Call Love' brings the soul and the funk with another of the smoothest instrumentals you could imagine. As does the brilliant 'A.D.D. Through the Roof', albeit in a slightly more understated. Sure, there are a couple of lulls like 'Pozole' for example, but this is a highly enjoyable record that warrants the praise it seems to be earning by the bucketload.
7.5/10
Snoop Dogg - 10 Til' Midnight
As far as West Coast rap goes, they don't come as iconic as Snoop Dogg, and 33 years on from debut album
Doggystyle comes album number 22. The rapper is on a fairly prolific run of late, dropping three albums in the last three years, and five since the turn of the decade. Does the music still pack any kind of punch though?
Well, kind of. While it's not the kind of album you'd go back to again and again, it still has its occasional moments of quality. For example 'Leave That Dogg Alone' is probably the closest thing here to classic Snoop Dogg, as is 'No Ticcet Needed'.
That said, the duds are too many for this to be a consistently good album. Tracks like 'Lied 2 U' and 'Bread Under the Bed' just come across as repetitive and annoying as a result. The latter is particularly guilty of this - no song needs to keep repeating the word 'rubber bands' so often. Anyway, this is pretty much what you'd expect of a Snoop Dogg album in 2026...
6/10
Arlo Parks - Ambiguous Desire
Arlo Parks first caught the attention with her superb debut,
Collapsed in Sunbeams back in 2021, which despite being five years ago, feels like yesterday. Tracks like 'Too Good' 'Eugene' and 'Hurt' bridged the gap between indie and soul to perfection.
This latest effort, Arlo's third album, is certainly a departure from these indie sensibilities, as Ambiguous Desire lives up to its title and even the album cover. The tracks have more of a disco or electronic vibe, while also drawing influences from genres like UK garage, especially regarding the style of the beats at times.
Unfortunately, not a lot of it comes across as immediate or as exciting as Arlo's debut, with the lot of the songs essentially blending into one another without standing out. It does foster a great vibe, especially as the kind of album that would pre-empt a night on the town, but it does quite little beyond that. On that basis, picking highlights is a challenge - the Sampha feature on 'Senses' goes hard, as does closing track 'Floette'. But ultimately it's an album of ambiguity - neither great nor terrible.
7/10
Metric - Romanticise the Dive
One dive that I would certainly romanticise would be my deep-dive into Metric's magnificent and stacked discography back in 2020. From that exploration, I deduced there are so few bands with as solid an album runs as theirs from 2003 to 2012. There were always shades of synth pop, but at its core Metric have always been at the forefront of the millennial indie movement.
Much of that is down to the brilliant Emily Haines who continues to be spellbinding as front-woman on
Romanticise the Dive. The disco shimmer of 'Crush Forever' is when the album really starts to come into its own, then the infectious chorus of 'Tremolo' -
it's a slippery slippery slope, honey/Instead of asking for answers, dance with me is certainly a mood in these existentially bleak times. 'Anti-Gravity' lyrically and sonically does exactly what the title suggests in escaping the bleakness of the deadweight on the surface, and it's all the more brilliant for it.
As a whole, the album is easily something that could sit alongside former glories such as Live It Out or Fantasies, and it's a testament to a band sticking to a formula that works. If writing great indie pop songs is as easy as Metric make it seem, then why isn't everyone doing it? Moreover, why aren't Metric one of the biggest bands in the world at this point?
8/10
Dalek - Brilliance of a Falling Moon
New Jersey industrial hip-hop duo Dalek (pronounced Di-a-leck, with an umlaut which I'm too lazy to add here...) have been doing their thing since their 1998 debut, though I can honestly say I've never listened to any of their stuff prior to checking out this 10th album,
Brilliance of a Falling Moon. It takes its title from Erik Larsson's
In the Garden of Beasts - a non-fiction book concerned with witnessing a country's descent into Fascism.
Though the book of course refers to Nazi Germany, the parallels with modern America are frightening, and that's exactly what Dalek rallies against on this album. Everything from the genocide in Gaza to the demonisation of Haitian migrants is covered here, and the obvious fury is there throughout, aided wonderfully by the industrial and minimal instrumentation. Live drums in particular add so much more to the production, especially on the outstanding 'I Am A Man'. The instrumental is perhaps the most unsettlingly brilliant thing here, like being stalked down a dark alley.
'Expressions of Love' is also sinister sounding and all the more magnificent for it - echoing voices permeate the repetitively menacing beat. At just eight tracks long, there's absolutely no filler here - everything has its rightful place - from the confident 'Better Than' right the way through to the brilliant closer 'By the Time We Arrive in El Salvador'. Quite frankly it might be one of the most necessary albums of 2026.
9/10
Reverend and the Makers - Is This How Happiness Feels?
I haven't listened to a Reverend and the Makers album since their 2007 debut,
The State of Things, mainly due to the fact the album was pretty disappointing, Nothing really came close to the excellent and timeless 'Heavyweight Champion of the World'. There were a couple of excellent tracks elsewhere on the album, but on the whole it just came across as a little annoying.
I decided to add Is This How Happiness Feels? out of curiosity despite my indifference toward the band, and it suffers from a lot of the same issues - opening track 'Haircut' is just horrific for instance. If you like mediocre songs about not noticing your wife's haircut, look no further. Things pick up on Robbie Williams collaboration 'F**ked Up', but it still feels like some kind of pastiche to a wedding singer.
The truth is McClure doesn't really have the croon of an Alex Turner or even Robbie Williams, and weirdly he sounds a lot like Adam Levine from Maroon 5 most of the time. I'm sad to say this album is not how happiness feels...
4/10
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