Lumer - Burn/Bleed

Opening with a wail of guitars and wall of feedback, post-punk band Lumer, who are from Hull's burgeoning alt rock scene, have a bristling energy appears genuine and cathartic. Whilst they sound like they'd do a good job of kicking in a phone box, luckily they've music as an outlet to channel their impassioned anger. Huge basslines knocks us about while searing guitars give us something to hold on to. Against the odds, the drums hold the high tempo chaotic fury together, providing glue for what would otherwise be an untamed mess. The physical is being released through French cassette only label Hidden Bay Records, which adds a cheery on top of this dark and brooding cake.

Spiritualized - I’m Your Man

Spiritualized have returned with their first new music since 2012, and it’s everything you could want from them. Musically it's business as usual: neo-psych shoegaze, with massive horns and strings when needed. Lyrically ‘I’m Your Man’ sees Jason Pierce in a reflective, and confessional, mood. The chorus says it all: “But if you want wasted, loaded, permanently folded, Doing the best that he can, I’m Your Man, I’m Your Man”. Yes Jason, that is what we want. This is all we’ve ever wanted. The only downside to ‘I’m Your Man’ is having to wait until September for the album proper to come out.

Chromatics - Blue Girl

‘Blue Girl’ is the second single released from the forthcoming Chromatics album. After a near death experience in 2014 Johnny Jewel destroyed all physical trace, apparantly. Whether ‘Blue Girl’ is the original version, or re-recorded version, doesn’t really matter, as it’s glorious. The main draw of the song is Ruth Radelet’s hushed vocals, which gracefully balance out a backing track that sounds like a mash up of the Drive and Stranger Things scores. Never a bad thing, but let’s hope the new album Dear Tommy is worth the wait.

Yann Tiersen - Stang Al Laedroun

Yann Tiersen’s 2015 album EUSA was pretty flawless, but it turns out it wasn’t complete. Tiersen had lost a notebook containing his score for two songs. He looked long and hard, even petitioning online for its return, but alas it was never found. While building a new studio he found the missing notebook, at the bottom of a bag instead of behind the sofa and has now recorded the two-missing songs. Musically it’s pretty much business as usual. Delicate piano motifs rise and fall with a slight air of melancholy and hope. Tiersen has delivered two immaculate piano workouts, that leave us wondering where they would have featured on the album, and would it be stronger for it?

Normanton Street - It’s It

“Fuck Brexit it, I’m going to Paris” pretty much sums up the vibes on Normanton Street’s new single ‘It’s It’. This Bradford/Brighton hip-hop group tell a story of city, and country, hopping, watching Zidane and then moving on to the next place. Musically its business as usual, laidback beats and melodic guitar riffs, and slowly surging bass riffs, are interspersed with scatter-shot rhymes and Phoebe Freya’s graceful chorus. Rumour has it Normanton Street are working on a highly anticipated long-player. Like Brexit, its taking it time, but an album filled of insightful hip-hop like this is worth waiting for.

Gabe Gurnsey - Eyes Over

After being the driving force behind Factory Floor for more than a decade, Gabe Gurnsey is going solo with his debut album ‘Physical’. ‘Eyes Over’ is more than a single, it’s a statement of intent. It announces that Gurnsey is taking no prisoners, with warm techno motifs, dirty baselines, elegant disco melodies and gruff vocals. One thing is certain, ‘Eyes Over’ is delicately punishing synth pop for the 21st Century.

Villagers-A Trick of the Light

‘A Trick of the Light’, the first single from Villagers’ new album ‘The Art of Pretending to Swim, is a sparse and delicate affair. Never one to shy away from the big issues, ‘A Trick of the Light’ is chocked full of Villagers’ trademark existential angst and a fear that technology is slowly taking over our lives. But before you skip to the next selection, Conor O’Brien’s vocals float effortlessly above elegant guitars and airy string arrangements. If this is the first insight into the band’s new albums, we’re in for a treat, but get off that phone now though, before it’s too late…