Alex Gallacher

Sofra Trio release their debut EP “New Dawn” today via Worlds Within Worlds — a powerful meeting of musical traditions from Syria, Türkiye and the Balkans. Recorded live in a single take in Helsinki, the trio of Melisa Yıldırım (kamancha), Merve Abdurrahmani (piano) and Hadi Hrekes (percussion) move fluidly between composition and improvisation.

Trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan announces “Peasants Revolt”, out 24th July via Gar Hole Records. The lead single “Cutbank of Cleves” — paired with a video directed and edited by Lexi Kiecker — finds Hogan playing court jester in the halls of a dying empire, sketching a rollicking medieval-Americana fable for an age of upheaval, transition and collective survival.

Peals — the Baltimore duo of William Cashion (Future Islands) and Bruce Willen (Double Dagger) — return on 31st July via Thrill Jockey with twin live albums: “The Compound 76” on limited LP and “Le Pantoum 46” digitally. Lead single “Essential Attitudes” comes from a 2016 set at Baltimore’s The Compound, with the digital album drawn from a 2013 Quebec City performance.

Sir Richard Bishop returns to Drag City on July 31st with “Hillbilly Erotica”, a sequel of sorts to 2025’s “Hillbilly Ragas”. Eight tracks, one acoustic guitar, no overdubs — and save for the closing piece, entirely improvised. Bishop again wrangles with John Fahey’s “American Primitive” tag, finding clearings, hills and valleys glimpsed in the distance… Watch his video for the lead single “Finger, Tennessee”.

Following his place on KLOF Mag’s Albums of the Year 2025 with “Fiery Gizzard” — leaning into the weird and psychedelic side of Old-time music — Joseph Decosimo returns with a solo guitar take on “Cumberland Gap,” filmed in his Durham backyard amid white-throated sparrows. The multi-instrumentalist (“fiddle, banjo, guitar, droney things”) is also touring the UK this month (May 2026) with Joe Danks.

Shearwater announce their new album “The New World,” due July 31st via their own Polyborus label in partnership with Secretly Distribution. Jonathan Meiburg’s long-running outfit shares singles “More and More” and “Daydream Unbeliever,” with the latter, accompanied by a video Meiburg filmed and edited during research in Antarctica, billows out with classic Shearwater grandeur — soaring strings, a gong smashed by Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart.

Jonathan Day returns as Jonathan Hijr Day Quartet with his new single, Cafe in the Valley of the Fire Church, born from his travels among the Amazigh and recorded at Gavin Monaghan’s Magic Garden Studios. Featuring Simon Smith on bass, Meinir Olwen on harp, Niimi Day Gough on voice and Adam Knight on vibraphone, the track fuses Celtic soul with Songhoy blues.

The latest Monday Morning Brew brings new dispatches from Aldous Harding, Robyn Hitchcock, Lemoncello, Josienne Clarke, Maisy Owen, Abigail Lapell, Zoh Amba, Lee “Scratch” Perry and lots more in a playlist featuring over two hours of music — plus Substack readers get to enjoy an advance read of our Off the Shelf feature with Abigail Lapell.

Bedouine — the project of Azniv Korkejian — shares the video for “On My Own,” the third single from her forthcoming album Neon Summer Skin, out June 5th via Thirty Tigers. The contemplative piano ballad opens an album shaped by home, displacement and inherited identity. She has also announced new UK and European tour dates including a London show at Milton Court Concert Hall.

Lambchop announce new album Punching The Clown, due 21st August via City Slang — their first in nearly four years. Inspired by lined out singing, an obscure gospel form rooted in late-1800s Scotland and Appalachia, the album frames Kurt Wagner’s songs around guitar, banjo, voice and choir, with Justin Vernon, Andrew Broder and Mark Nevers. Lead single Weakened is out now.

Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders share ‘Critical Masses,’ a new track from their forthcoming album ‘Liquid Donnon,’ out 12th June via Riot Season Records (UK) and Feeding Tube Records (US). Convened in 2019, the band — featuring members of Elkhorn and drummer Scott Verrastro, alongside guitarist-vocalist Alexander — pulls together cosmic jazz, deep psych and free improv, threaded with memory of Alexander’s late friend Donnon.

Amsterdam collective Personal Trainer have announced their third album “Human Assholes,” due 4th September via Bella Union. The 15-track follow-up to 2024’s “Still Willing” is led by first single ‘Punch Drunk Love’ — borrowing its title from the Paul Thomas Anderson film — which arrives with a typically charming new video. UK and EU tour dates run from July through October.