Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood review – intimate Americana tackling life’s great tangle
Katie Crutchfield’s sixth album refines the breezy country of her 2020 breakthrough Saint Cloud and finds her as compelled by the complexities of life as its eases
Yard Act review – a band having fun in the midst of an identity crisis
Seeming to play their jagged post-punky early material with some reluctance, the Leeds band strike out into bold new territory with hypnotic electronic grooves, disco stompers – and a Napalm Death collab
Faye Webster: Underdressed at the Symphony review – petal-voiced power
The Atlanta twentysomething’s 70s-tinged alt-country is delicate and eclectic, complete with guest spots from Wilco’s Nels Cline and rapper Lil Yachty
Helado Negro: Phasor review – undimmable warmth
Digital meets analogue on the American musician’s short but sweet latest
NewDad: Madra review – unfiltered songcraft in a dreamy yet spiky debut
From Pixies to Garbage, New Order to Wolf Alice, you can clearly detect the Galway four-piece’s influences – but lyrics about shame and self-doubt make this an affecting album
Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore review – a brutal, beautiful breakup album
The synthpop quartet’s heart-on-sleeve frontman, Samuel T Herring, is by turns lovelorn and lovestruck on their affecting seventh LP
The Libertines review – raucous return for chaotic indie heroes
Previewing their first new album for nine years to a tiny but thrilled audience, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât’s band continue to stumble around greatness
Katy Kirby: Blue Raspberry review – depth disguised by breeziness
The Texas singer-songwriter makes up for time lost to her evangelical background with a second album of impeccable craft and lyricism
Torres: What An Enormous Room review – a confident declaration of rock-star ambition
The indie musician flexes the noirish power of her commanding voice on her sixth album, and embraces grand new sonic theatrics
The Smile: Wall of Eyes review – inventive Radiohead side project risks eclipsing the real thing
Despite all the lyrical disquiet, there is a lovely sense of ease to the Smile’s second album – and some of the best music Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have put their names to in at least a decade
The Vaccines: Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations review – high-octane sonic euphoria
The indie rockers’ sixth album offers more of the same boisterous widescreen anthems and big singable choruses – but with some subtler lyrical depths
Bill Ryder-Jones: Iechyd Da review – Coral co-founder’s songs of heartache and hope
Ryder-Jones’s recent production experience comes to the fore on this wide-reaching album, making use of Motown, 60s pop and a children’s choir to find the light in the darkness
Music: Kitty Empire’s 10 best albums of 2023
It was a year of avant-rap, sex-positive R&B, polyrhythmic jazz and hyper-punk pop – plus Lana Del Rey’s glossy meditations on death and loss
The Charlatans review – 90s faves feel the love in spiritual second home
Tim Burgess plays to a devoted crowd with a high-spirited set that includes fan-favourite album Between 10th and 11th
Raze Regal & White Denim: Raze Regal & White Denim Inc review – a warm, funky psych alliance
The Texas rockers enlist their former tourmates’ guitarist on this slick and soulful meeting of minds