Sonnyjim & Lee Scott - Ortolan & Armagnac

British hip-hopper Sonnyjim teams up with Lee Scott for a finely crafted project full of funky references and exquisite taste. Rooted in underground styles, 'Ortolan & Armagnac' offers plenty of gritty street tales juxtaposed against Sonnyjim's polished delivery and at 10 tracks O&A is a breezy listen. Sonnyjim is a funny lad as well, which offers room to breath and the opening track 'Sakuraba' encapsulates what is to come over the next nine songs as Sonnyjim balances all elements perfect. Lee Scott's production covers all musical pockets with jazzy, minimal, and regular hip-hoppy beats. Slower pockets like 'Dude, Where's My Car', 'Barry McGuigan' and 'Fetch My Mink' sum up O&A as there is so much substance in the poetry and production that you'll still find yourself noddin' along.

Ty Segall - Three Bells

Ty Segall is back and he’s keeping it weird. Three Bells is his first solo full-length since 2022’s Hello, Hi which, for a bloke as prolific as this, is like a Frank Ocean timespan between records. This one took some preparation though, you can tell. Always one to lean into experimentation, Three Bells takes Segall into some progressive-psych territory as he embarks upon “a fifteen song cycle that takes a journey to the centre of the self”. There are some complicated arrangements here... and he sustains that over 65 minutes (making Three Bells his second longest solo album). At times it recalls Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – Syd Barrett has always been a strong influence – at other times he’s taking things into the spectral realms like something that’d pair nicely with a Kenneth Anger film. The production is spectacular. Segall lets his guitar sear and slash. Frank Zappa would love this thing. Segall’s known for his relentless creativity and effortless jams but Three Bells is an album he’s really sat down and carefully crafted. Thrilling stuff from start to finish.

DARTZ – Dangerous Day To Be A Cold One

DARTZ absolutely burst upon the kiwi music scene a couple of years ago with their particularly raucous style of hard rock – heavy on the riffs but even heavier on the chant-able choruses, full of hilariously relatability. They’re fun and they’re wild. The live gigs are surely a blast. But would the gimmick begin to wear thin on their second album? Well the first track is called Earn The Thirst and it’s about thirty seconds in when the words “dumptruck arse” are used and at that point all reservations fly out the window (“Walk to it, walk to the pub/Don’t Uber, Uber is corrupt”). In fact if anything their new tunes take the group to a new musical level, with more complicated arrangements and smoother playing. Plus they’re still the most quotable band going around. Still hilarious. Still raucous. Still guaranteed to summon a great big smile out of any listener. DARTZ are timeless and it’s always a dangerous day to be a cold one.

Slift – ILION

Keeping it on the wild side, Slift are French prog group who border on the fringes of metal with their heavy sounds. And this, their third album, is huge. Eight tracks long and most of them soar around the ten minute mark, really allowing them to latch onto a groove and sustain it. The heaviness of it can weigh things down sometimes but ILION’s epicness is also its strength. They’re absolutely going for it. The Bandcamp write-up features words like ‘towering’, ‘steamrolling’, and ‘ferocity’. Slift have a cosmic vision. Ilion was the Greek name for the city of Troy and we know how that tale ended (or, we do if we paid attention in Classics... consult your Iliad). Referring to that Bandcamp yarn again, this album “represents the fall of humanity and the rebirth of all things in time and space”. Heady stuff. So, like, what are you waiting for?

Leonard Powell - Slow Mover

Calm down and give Leonard Powell's 'Slow Mover' a jam. Powell takes the listener on a relaxing journey through lovely tales, patches of anxiety, and observational notes about 'Age', 'Irish Summers', and 'Parallel Parking Phobia'. All of which is delivered with a slither of humour and lightness that offers a positive tinge to the eight track project. 'Lucky' is a track that won't stop playing over in your brain and Slow Mover is perfect for an easy listening experience that will flip your perspective on a gloomy ol' day.

Itasca – Imitation of War

Known previously more for her darkly pastoral folk guitar picking, this latest Itasca album turns the volume up significantly with rock band arrangements. Kayla Cohen’s vocals have a lovely birdsong quality that allows her tunes to float on the breeze, definitely some Joni Mitchell influence in there, but her guitar playing (and she plays all the guitars here) is where this thing transcends into the realms beyond. The whole thing makes the most sense with headphones after midnight, when Cohen’s mythology-loaded lyrics about El Dorado and Olympia and Genevieve take on ethereal qualities. It’s gorgeous music. Unique and enchanting.

Katy Kirby – Blue Raspberry

Second album here from Tennessee-via-Texas’s Katy Kirby, delivering another batch of cleverly-written intimate tunes that fit tidily within that wider country/folk/rock intersection. Blue Raspberry is a little different though. Whereas most singer-songwriter albums these days are all about emotional yearning and lyrical vulnerability – elements that Katy Kirby has no lack of – what shines here is how much variety she’s able to bring to the table in a musical sense. Some of the rhythms on tunes like Redemption Arc or Drop Dead. The pulsing thump of Alexandria. There are levels to this. Kirby makes regular allusions to imitation, of performance masquerading as reality, such as having a song named Cubic Zirconia and then reusing that image elsewhere. Or when she refers to someone as being “the prettiest mermaid in the souvenir shop”. Again, levels. Lots to dissect... yet packaged in an instantly enjoyable sound. Big artist to watch vibes here.

Torres - What An Enormous Room

Funky new project from one of the more regal voices of indie rock over the past decade, although this one’s a little different. Lots more electronic elements, a sound that has always been in there for Torres though never quite to this extent. Granted, a tune like Collect still shreds with a grunge attitude. Overall it’s a slower record, revelling in emotionally taut moments that border on the edge of catharsis without ever quite tipping over into it. The artsy side of Mackenzie Scott, following after the more bombastic territory of Thirstier (2021) and Silver Tongue (202), both of which still stand above as Torres’ best work, and those albums aren’t going anywhere. She’s done them. We can listen to them anytime. Now she’s trying something else, no less poetic and with plenty of waves to ride.

Office Dog – Spiel

This one actually came out in the latter months of last year but we’re an independent website and we make our own rules so here it is. Gotta give the local tunes their rightful pedestal. Office Dog are an indie rock three-piece hailing out of Dunedin though mostly based in Auckland these days, and you might know lead guitarist/singer Kane Strang from a few excellent albums under his own name. Office Dog are much heavier than Strang’s gentle melancholy solo stuff. The themes are similar but the sounds are not, as Strange hovers over that distortion pedal and turns the volume right up... whilst also offering plenty of room for the rest of the band to stomp and strut (Rassani Tolocaa on bass, Mitchell Innes on drums). Big Air is an absolute banger, love that track. Love this album.

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