My bumper, blow up review of new stuff I've listened to this week, some of which came out on Friday and some of which came out earlier...
Electric Sufi: this is like one of those mid 90s albums made by hippies who'd discovered dance music and the music of Asia, Africa and Latin America at the same time. Decent enough but there's no "Templehead" by Transglobal Underground here.
Ricardo Dias Gomes: as mentioned above, exceptional. A 1 man tropicalia Yo la Tengo.
Daniel O'Sullivan: this operates on the border between modern classical music and post-rock. It's very engaging and very good!
Sally Potter: she's a 73 year old film director/screenwriter (best known for Orlando), who has made her debut album. It's pretty good. Nuanced, francophone slightly retro indie is the name of the game (as Abba didn't sing).
Marcel: noisy, highly promising post-punk from Belgium. There's a lot to like here.
Soccer Committee: more an EP than an album (5 songs, 21 minutes). Fragile, folkish tunes, very good songs.
Mama Terra: jazz from Glasgow encompassing a lot of sub and micro genres. Promising.
Bobby Lee: the Sheffield guitarist (not the band The Bobby Lees). Marvellous panoramic instrumental tunes, ideal for a train journey.
Boris & Uniform: the Japanese noise masters meet the US industrial metalists. If you like loud things, this is pretty good and zips along.
Blue Lake: more instumental pieces. Quite introspective with a meshing of guitars with drones, woodwind and, probably, zithers. Good.
L.A. Edwards: very good, engaging Americana, clearly influenced by both Petty and Springsteen.
Irma Ferreira: the sound of the Candomble religion of Brazil. This is, I guess a fusion of African and Latin influences. Very light on instrumentation and big on voice (and what a voice Irma Ferreira has). It's bloody marvellous TBH!
Blake Mills: the producer and sideman goes solo again with an album of rich, understated songs which seems likely to improve with multiple listens.
Domenico Lancelotti: synths and samba in unison. The aforementioned Ricardo Dias Gomes produces. Good.
Youth Lagoon: not sure how I missed this when it came out, as it was in my weekly list. Lyrically complex tales of middle America with androgynous vocals.
Joanna Sternberg: enjoyable, slightly ramshackle, eccentric singer-snogwriter stuff. Sounds like something from the anti-folk movement of days gone by. Reminds me variously of Jeffrey Lewis, early Joanna Newsom and Regina Spektor. Impressive.
James & the Giants: the new name for Wooden Wand, seemingly. Excellent, chugging Americana that reminds me of Teenage Fanclub and Neil Young.
Oxbow: big, hooky noise rock sounds, with thread fave Kristin Hayter, of Lingua Ignota, involved in a duet. I can see a lot of people liking this. Their 8th album over 25 years or so but a new name to me.
Mull Historical Society: Scottish indie, all co-writes with authors, some of whom are pretty famous. Really good, literate (as expected) songs.
Wren Hinds: nowt to do with Hinds. Quiet, summery introspection is the name of the game here. A little bit Jose Gonzales.
Cut Worms: retro, melodic indie rock/pop. The Lemon Twigs are mates of his (Cut Worms are, essentially, Max Clarke). Good.
Blur: very, very good, as always. Mostly the quieter side of Blur but they do get upbeat at times. A national treasure etc.
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway: excellent bluegrass/Americana. She's developing quite the catalogue of albums.
Half Japanese: eccentric American indie which kind of flirts with something that's heard of the mainstream but moves away from it. Surprisingly catchy throughout.
The Holy Family: as with their earlier work, largely instrumental rock (the vocals are generally wordless), which is hard to pin down. Interesting.
Andrew Bird: an instrumental companion piece to last year's "Inside Problems". Enjoyable.
Guided By Voices: their 800th album, or something. It doesn't break the mold. Very good alt-rock/powerpop.
The Lilac Time: indie folk type stuff from the now veteran Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy. Low key but enjoyable.
Album(s) of the week: this is trickt but I'm going to go for a three way tie between Ricardo Dias Gomes, Irma Ferreira and Oxbow. Massive nods to Blur, Mull Historical Society, Joanna Sternberg and Bobby Lee as well though...