"Big, queasy guitars, bloated bass, drums that hit like a medicine ball to the forehead—the album exudes a sense of both revulsion by and fascination with bodies and the things they do" - Bandcamp goes presenting their recent Album of the Day, 'Dogsbody' by the New York industrial/post-punk band Model/Actriz. Flood Magazine lists a number of references it can detect on the album, whereas Pitchfork declares it Best New Music (grade 8.2), saying "the band’s expertly contained noise-rock din is the perfect foil to frontman Cole Haden’s white-hot charisma".

London studio and music venue Total Refreshment Centre has just released compilation 'Transmissions From Total Refreshment Centre', produced in collaboration with Blue Note. Pitchfork hears a modern type of fusion here, with a nod to the points in the past: "What’s striking about each of the compilation’s featured artists is how thoroughly they integrate adventurous improvisation to the skittish rhythms. Groove and vibe are present but they’re not the key to the music; exploration is". Guardian says it "captures a complex, thrilling moment in a fast-expanding musical community", whereas The Quietus announces "you’ll hear genres such as jazz, hip-hop, soul, funk and drill combined, putting together an incredible gumbo of sounds that connects avant-garde jazz to the more modern sonics of contemporary London".

Last week, South London post-punk band Shame released their third album, 'Food For Worms'. The New Cue talked to frontman Charlie Steen about how different making of it was compared to their covid-album 'Drunk Tank Pink'. "When you’re writing for live, you’re not over-thinking it. You’re like, fuck transitions or whatever, it needs to go verse chorus verse chorus and we can deal with that stuff later. We did those shows and two months later we were in the studio making the album... I think you need to get to a stage for something to happen, you need to be at a crossroads for something to happen".

"On this album, Algiers wants it all: righteousness and humility, dignity and disgust, hurting and joy, cynicism and hope... Algiers lashes out at injustice, exults in its sonic mastery and insists on the life forces of solidarity and physical impact. But it refuses to promise any consolation" - New York Times reviews the fourth album by the Atlanta, Georgia band. The Line of Best Fit looks into the poetry and its meaning - "the record is largely knit together by a series of spoken-word passages and recordings, splitting the distance between poetry, confessionals, and sermons." Stereogum heard an album of the week - "The music is provocative, but it’s pleasurable, too. In 'Shook', I hear some of the grand catharsis of rap and punk and MC5-style bomb-throwing garage-rock. Parts of 'Shook 'feel freaked-out and terrified, and parts of it feel triumphant. Sometimes, those are the same parts". The Quietus believes both the band, and this record are deeply unique: "Here, they sound like a band.. utterly revitalised, and now only reaching their peak, through a record loaded with collaborations that are never perfunctory or box-ticking exercise, but joyous and celebratory... 'Shook' is a record that exudes zeal, sweat and effort – heart, mind and body music of the highest order".

"There is melancholy here but wonder too. Love, death, family, home, religion, and even the enormity of the universe... appear more personally realized, revealing vulnerabilities and emotionality that are at once recognizable, stirring, and occasionally profound" - PopMatters reviews 'All Of This Is Chance' by singer-songwriter Lisa O'Neill, adding - "raw yet arresting, it can pull at the heart and transport one to different worlds, sounding both timeless yet contemporary and unmistakably Irish, not only by accent but by power and depth of feeling". Uncut highly recommends these "songs of love, loss, wonder and despair", whereas Hot Press describes it as "a breathtaking and incredible record". Guardian is equally decisive: "transcendent and original – a triumph."

"'Raven' isn’t a magpie record, and the shifts between sounds are never jarring or overwhelming. Kelela has too much command over her own sound for that... Tracks flow into and out of each other, speeding up or slowing down at their conclusions" - Stereogum goes reviewing the newest album by the American singer (tagged it their Album of the Week). Pitchfork hears a "masterful display of tension and release, centering queer Black womanhood through blasts of heated dance music and ambient comedowns" (tagged it best Best new music, score 8.4). Telegraph says the "Ethiopian-American artist Kelela Mizanekristos has blessed us with a sexy, sultry masterclass in RnB".

Edinburgh threesome Youing Fathers have released their fourth album 'Heavy Heavy' - "a project that still manages to be equal parts anthemic and infectious... a passionate, soulful and often mesmerising work that will stick around long past the first listen" - NME points out. The Quietus is in awe of how "they’ve managed to create something more massive, more explosive and more earnest than ever before". Stereogum picks it out for their latest Album of the Week - "this is eminently welcoming, empathetic music that rewards engagement on levels both deep and superficial". In a Guardian interview, the band defines their sound - “We don’t think our music is weird. It’s just the context it exists within makes it seem weird. We love choruses, hooks. This is the pop music that we want to listen to.”

"The glacial post-punk that first launched the band to greatness remains, but this time it’s augmented by a host of different aspects. These fresh angles have pulled the band out of the increasingly overdone genre and have seen them start to carve out a space that they can truly call their own" - Far Out magazine reviews the second album by the Dublin quintet. Guardian argues in a five-star review that it "extends their post-punk palette brilliantly beyond the monochrome grief and pain of their 2019 debut. Piercing the gothic gloom are new textures that broaden and deepen their sound", whereas Louder Than War hears duality in its lyrics - "self-discovery full of uplifting highs clash with moments where self-doubt threatens to crucify an uncertain and wavering mind. Gigi is a metaphor for one of us or all of us."

"Truculent, technically gifted rapper who appears ambivalent about his chosen career... Spends most of these 90 minutes poring over his bad behaviour with much wit, if little humour... The chill, sparse productions foreground Clavish’s economical delivery beautifully, as he flirts with imploring vulnerability and vicious querulousness without ever committing to either" - Guardian's Damien Morris points out about Clavish's mixtape 'Rap Game Awful'. Alexis Petridis hears a voice of the generation - "his worldview is strikingly drawn and bleak, devoid of politicking, expressions of anger at societal injustice or indeed optimism: this is just what it’s like, he seems to say, and it’s unlikely to change. Life on the streets is an endless, numbing round of cheffings and nittys and opps getting splashed".

"This surprise 10-track collection is a clear-headed riposte to the fame game and the industry hangers-on trying to take a slice" - NME reviews the new Little Simz album 'No Thank You', adding that this "quiet, understated release" has a "certain looseness and freedom to the tracks, and... a clear-headed Simz has something to say urgently". Alexis Petridis points out the sonic element - "There’s no doubt that No Thank You’s impact is vastly potentiated by the work of producer Inflo... whose approach to his project Sault – no promotion, no live performances, no interviews, music apparently released as and when he feels like it, even if that means putting out five albums on the same day – seems to reflect the manifesto outlined on 'Angel': 'Fuck rules and everything that’s traditional.'”