2025

Alabaster DePlume’s new LP, A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, is both a soother, a coping mechanism and a healer. This one might be the State of the Nation address that truly resonates.

Featuring Ruth Clinton of Landless, Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum and John Dermody of The Jimmy Cake, Poor Creature announce debut album ‘All Smiles Tonight’ and share video for ‘The Whole Town Knows’.

Listen to the latest Monday Morning Brew featuring Michael Hurley, James Yorkston, dbh, Cass McCombs, Micah Blue Smaldone, Sufjan Stevens, F.J. McMahon, Mendrugo, Zoé Basha, Will Lawrence, Lefty Parker, The Handsome Family, Anna St. Louis and Aurora Birch.

Legendary outsider folk singer Michael Hurley has passed away. In a statement, his family said: “The “Godfather of freak folk” was for a prolific half-century the purveyor of an eccentric genius and compassionate wit. He alone was Snock. There is no other…”

Taken from his new album ‘time indefinite’, William Tyler shares his Carl Yung-inspired ‘Anima Hotel’; it’s one of the most tender and moving pieces I’ve heard him perform. I can see myself revisiting this album a lot.

It is still early days for nominating a “best debut album of year”, but Kin’Gongolo Kiniata’s debut album ‘Kiniata’ which successfully ploughs a bold new furrow through the world of Congolese music and beyond, will surely be up there in the mix.

The latest Folk Show features Ultan O’Brien, Zoé Basha, Anna & Elizabeth, Rachael McShane, Sam Amidon, Clara Mann, Eli Winter, Alex Rex, Pelt, Natalie Wildgoose, Annie A, more eaze & claire rousay, Nico Paulo, Violeta Garcia and Loose Diamonds.

Macie Stewart’s ‘When the Distance is Blue’ feels even more cerebral than her debut, more improvisational, and more rooted in landscape. But for all the meditativeness and all the improvisation, there is a single-minded artistry at work behind these pieces. 

With Te Whare Tīwekaweka, Marlon Williams turns to the Māori tongue of his ancestors for inspiration. In nurturing his cultural and spiritual ties, Williams has found a way into his most expansive and majestic album yet.

Ahead of next month’s tour, watch Toby Hay and Aidan Thorne perform a track from their album ‘after a pause’ – music of sharply defined brilliance, brimming with consideration for the spirit of collaboration and the natural world.

Delivered with eloquence, fire and an impressive eye for poetic detail, Lonnie Holley’s ‘Tonky’ is a work of multitudes. It follows unlikely trails, expands on themes other artists would pass over, and invites a depth of thought and engagement rarely found in contemporary music.

Asthmatic Kitty announces a 10th Anniversary Edition of Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell. The double-LP, out on May 30th, features seven previously unreleased bonus tracks and a 40-page Booklet. Listen to the previously unreleased “Mystery of Love (Demo)”.

Two decades after their initial foray into Zimbabwean music, Analog Africa revisits the fertile grounds where their crate-digging journey commenced with “Roots Rocking Zimbabwe – The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975-1980”.

Musically, lyrically and thematically, a fire rages through the Brown Horse’s sophomore album, All The Right Weaknesses. It’s a stupendous follow-up that should see it easily featured on many year-end best-of lists.