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15 tracks of the month’s best music

The Weather Station

1 CHRIS ECKMAN

Buttercup

The Land We Knew The Best is our Album Of The Month, and finds the former Walkabouts guitarist and singer making some of the best music of his life in his adopted home of Slovenia. Head to page 26 for more on the album, and an interview with Eckman.

2 JIM GHEDI

Sheaf & Feld

The English singer and guitarist tackles the degradation of his hometown Sheffield on his new album, Wasteland; here’s one of the record’s highlights, a raging and heavy amalgamation of elemental rock and folk. Check out his own thoughts on the album on page 35.

Yazz Ahmed

The Delines

3 THE WEATHER STATION

Humanhood

Tamara Lindeman’s latest, Humanhood, is a typically brilliant mix of stellar songs and fluid instrumental improv. The rhythmic, kinetic title track is a triumph to rank alongside her finest moments, which is no mean feat considering the gems in her catalogue.

4 YAZZ AHMED

Waiting For The Dawn

A Paradise In The Hold is the long-awaited new album from the jazz composer and trumpeter, inspired by her British-Bahraini heritage and the Persian Gulf island’s history of music and pearl diving. She discusses the record on page 32.

5 RICHARD DAWSON

Boxing Day Sales

Despite Dawson’s joke that this is his attempt at a festive hit, “Boxing Day Sales” is a clever, compact look at consumerism from his upcoming album End Of The Middle: “You can’t afford to not own this/Go on, you owe it to yourself…”

6 PRISON

Eyes For Keys

Downstate is the latest LP from the Endless Boogie universe, with Sarim Al-Rawi, Matt Lilly and Paul Major teaming up with myriad guests for a set of feral, pounding and exploratory rock grooves.

7 LUTHER RUSSELL

Happiness For Beginners

When he’s not playing with Those Pretty Wrongs or SBT, Russell makes his own albums; his new LP Happiness For Beginners mines the propulsive, melodic gold of early REM and The Replacements, and this, the title track, is a perfect demonstration of the jewels found within.

ALXE BEX; JASONQUIGLEY; DAVID KASNIC

8 THE DELINES

Nancy & The Pensacola Pimp

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Mr Luck & Ms Doom might be the greatest record The Delines have produced to date, with Willy Vlautin on top form as a songwriter. “Nancy…” is closely linked to his 2024 novel The Horse, and you can find out more about their world in our lead review on page 40.

9 ECHOLALIA

Blood Moon

Here’s a lovely cut from the self-titled debut by this Nashville supergroup, featuring Spencer Cullum and Andrew Combs, incongruously recorded on the Isle Of Wight. Dominic Billett took the songwriting lead for this, a sleepily gorgeous ballad featuring pedal steel and drum machine.

10 JEAN CLAUDE VANNIER

La 2CV Rouillée (The Rusty 2CV)

Jean Claude Vannier Et Son Orchestre De Mandolines is the latest record from this most mercurial of French composers and arrangers. Strings are out, replaced by massed mandolins and accordion, but Vannier’s genius still shines through on cuts like this. He speaks to Uncut on page 43.

11 SHARON VAN ETTEN & THE ATTACHMENT THEORY

Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)

Van Etten’s band now get equal billing, and their self-titled album finds the quartet exploring airless electro-rock of an infectiously goth-y variety. Check out this highlight, then head to page 82 for a full feature.

12 BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY

London May

BRENDAN GEORGE KO

The Purple Bird is a rare Will Oldham record made with a producer, David Ferguson, and a team of crack Nashville session players. Such is Oldham’s expressive voice, and the depth of his songwriting, though, that it’s never slick or compromised: his unique vibe is front and centre. Read our lead review on page 30.

13 SUNNY WAR

Cry Baby

Sunny War’s new album, Armageddon In A Summer Dress, follows hot on the heels of 2023’s Anarchist Gospel, and finds the LA-based singer-songwriter once again working with producer Andrija Tokic. Valerie June and Steve Ignorant of Crass guest on a surprising and multi-layered record.

14 SQUID

Crispy Skin

Bristol post-punks Squid return with a new album, Cowards, that concerns itself with the nature of evil. On “Crispy Skin”, they explore those themes over a background of Terry Riley synths, krautrock rhythms and fidgety guitars, to great effect.

15 NADIA REID

Baby Bright

Now based in Manchester, the New Zealand singer-songwriter has branched out into supple soul on her fourth record, Enter Now Brightness. “Baby Bright” is a lilting, gorgeous thing, pointing to Bon Iver or the Spacebomb family as much as it does Reid’s own previous work.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy