In a statement on his website, Gabriel announced: 

“After a years-worth of full moon releases, I’m very happy to see all these new songs back together on the good ship i/o and ready for their journey out into the world.”

With “full moon releases”, the former Genesis frontman is referring to his unconventional album roll-out plan, which involved releasing a new single on the occasion of every full moon in 2023. On top of that, Gabriel gave fans the option between “bright” and “dark” side mixes of the respective songs.  

Listen to the “bright-side” version of the upcoming album’s title track:

The majority of i/o was recorded at Real World Studios in Bath, England and Gabriel’s home studio. Furthermore, a plethora of musicians and producers contributed to the record, including longtime collaborators Brian Eno, guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katché. The Soweto Gospel Choir, Swedish all-male choir Oprhei Drängar and the New Blood Orchestra also feature.

A press release on Gabriel’s official website details the upcoming LP’s concept and themes as follows: 

“Throughout the album the intelligent and thoughtful – often thought-provoking – songs tackle life and the universe. Our connection to the world around us […] is a recurring motif, but so too the passing of time, mortality and grief, alongside such themes as injustice, surveillance and the roots of terrorism.“ 

“But this is not a solemn record. While reflective, the mood is never despondent; i/o is musically adventurous, often joyous and ultimately full of hope […]”

Listen to the “dark-side” mix of Gabriel’s most recent single “This Is Home”:

To complement these themes, and building upon an idea initially developed in his Us and Up albums, Gabriel has invited a host of visual artists to create a piece of art to accompany each of the twelve songs on the new record – be it through painting, photography, sculpture or even plasticine. The dozen artists include Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson and perhaps more surprisingly, Nick Cave.

Meanwhile, Gabriel still has a few more dates left on his North American tour which ends on October 21, but so far, he hasn’t made any plans to retire from recording or touring.

Pre-order i/o here.

Taking to social media, Madness revealed their official album artwork alongside the caption:

“‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’, our new album, available to pre-order/pre-save now […] Featuring no less than 14 songs (and some other surprises!), it comes out on 17th November. […] Meanwhile, this Thursday, you’ll be able to hear 3 tracks from the album on all the usual streaming services!”

The news comes in tandem with brand-new lead single “C’est La Vie”, which the legendary group recently teased in a video featuring Dame Helen Mirren. In an unlikely collaboration, the Oscar-winning actress delivers her own spoken-word interpretation of the song, reading the lyrics directly into the camera.

Watch Helen Mirren’s dramatic reading below:

“C’est La Vie” provides a taster of what is to come, treating fans to the classic quirky sound that shot Madness to stardom in the 1980s, when they enjoyed a prolific run of hits including “Our House” and “Baggy Trousers”. Emerging from their seven-year studio hiatus rejuvenated, and with a fresh bounce in their step, the group reflects on the struggles of everyday life over surfy guitar riffs and a gnarly horn section.

Listen to “C’est La Vie” below:

In their press statement, Madness said: 

“Well, well, well, here we are… our 13th album (lucky for some). ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’ is ready for your ears. For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years – we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”

Another unexpected collaboration comes in the form of Emmy and BAFTA Awards winning actor Martin Freeman, who contributed a special prologue to the new album. His longstanding admiration for Madness led to their partnership when the band’s manager recognised Freeman in a meet and greet queue and introduced him to the members.

Madness take their new record on the road in November and December for their previously-announced C’est La Vie UK tour, with support from The Lightning Seeds.

See below for dates:

30/11/2023 – P&J Live – Aberdeen
01/12 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow
02/12 – Utility Arena – Newcastle
04/12 – Utility Arena – Cardiff
05/12 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
07/12 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool
08/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
09/12 – AO Arena – Manchester
11/12 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
12/12 – International Centre – Bournemouth
14/12 – Utility Arena – Sheffield
15/12 – O2 Arena – London
16/12 – Utility Arena – Birmingham

Get tickets here.

Pre-order Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie here.

Taking to Instagram, the Fontaines revealed the official artwork alongside the caption:

“We’ve got a new version of Skinty Fia coming out called Skinty Fia Go Deo, which translates to ‘Skinty Fia Forever’. The name memorialises a moment in time for us and brings together live sessions, covers and reworks from the Skinty Fia era.”

So far, however, fans have been deprived of a specific release date. Check out the post below:

Skinty Fia, Fontaines D.C.’s third studio album, was universally praised by critics upon its release last year. The LP became the group’s first number-one album in both Ireland and the UK and earned them a win at the 2023 Brit Awards, as well as a nomination for Album of the Year at the 2022 Choice Music Prizes.

Check out lead single “Jackie Down The Line” here:

Since Skinty Fia’s release, frontman Grian Chatten has embarked on a solo career, treating fans to a debut album in Chaos For The Fly. The project, which has been out since late June, marks a subtle departure from the electric guitar-based sound the Fontaines have cultivated over the years, favouring crooning vocals and acoustic finger-picking over driving bass-lines and snappy drums.

Listen to “Last Time Every Time Forever” from Chaos For The Fly: 

Meanwhile, a tireless Chatten has confirmed he and the band have been plotting their next move, and already have some rough ideas for their next record. Furthermore, he has admitted to becoming “increasingly bored and unsatisfied with writing for just a bassline and a drum kit”, and has even suggested that the future of Fontaines D.C. may see the band moving away from using guitars completely. 

“Whenever I have an idea for a tune, it doesn’t necessarily exist in a world of guitars and drums, even though those are the tools that we have to express ourselves with,” Chatten explained, going on to cite 808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West and ATliens-era OutKast as music that he currently finds himself coming back to the most.

Pre-order Skinty Fia Go Deo here.

Conceived during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and recorded at his home studio in New York, initial sessions for the solo project offered Clarke an opportunity to experiment with different textures and explore the more abstract, ambient aspects of electronic music.

As evidenced in his newly released lead single – “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah” - Clarke’s latest studio effort sees him tackle the Eurorack – a modular synthesiser format known for its limitless configurations. The first taster of what looks set to be a particularly somber record features composer Reed Hays performing a haunting cello line over ominous Eurorack-generated synth drones. 

Watch the official video for “The Lamentations Of Jeremiah”, directed by Ebru Yıldız, below:

“When I first heard the song, I felt like it contained a whole lifetime within itself,” says Ebru, whose pensive, black-and-white shots of Clarke in an old house portray a brooding musician in various states of contemplation. “All of the drama and peace, anxiousness and calmness, tension and hope, and everything in between. I wanted the visuals to feel like all those extremes as well.”

For the writing process of the album, Clarke followed two rules: firstly, each song would be composed using the Eurorack, and secondly, each track would stay within a single key, with one note pervading throughout. Adhering to these limitations helped the “Just Can’t Get Enough” hitmaker tap into a creative flow that eventually blossomed into a fully-fledged album.

“I could have gone on forever, I could have not stopped,” Clarke said of his creative process in a press statement. “I was enjoying the process so much and wasn’t thinking about anyone else hearing it. But hearing it develop in my studio, in my head, learning new tricks — that’s been the best thing about this. I was in a state of shock, actually, when Mute said they wanted to release this album.”

Songs Of Silence is out November 17 on Mute and available for pre-order here.

The LP, titled Autumn Variations, sees the “Bad Habits” hitmaker reunite with multi-instrumentalist and super-producer Aaron Dessner of The National, together with whom Sheeran first worked on Subtract. 

Following a series of mysterious Instagram posts teasing new music last week, the singer finally confirmed fan speculations in a video announcement posted to his socials:

“Hello everyone, the sun is shining, but autumn is coming. I have an announcement: I have an album that I’ve made called Autumn Variations. This is a record that I was sort of making at the same time as Subtract – it’s what me and Aaron went in originally to make. […]”

Sheeran revealed that the title of the new album was inspired by classical composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. “He did 14 songs about 14 friends, so I wanted to make 14 songs about 14 friends and base it on autumn.” 

In his video description, the prolific songwriter further elaborated on his decision to centre the album around an autumnal theme:

“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded. When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”

Check out the album artwork below:

Autumn is finally coming! Autumn Variations, the new album, will be released on 29th September.

Pre-order & pre-save nowhttps://t.co/KTL8XSvxkR pic.twitter.com/B3LhoLjElZ

— Ed Sheeran HQ (@edsheeran) August 24, 2023

Sheeran went on to credit his father and brother for introducing him to Elgar and the idea of writing 14 songs for 14 friends, before acknowledging Dessner’s contributions to the new project:

“When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

The new album comes as Sheeran approaches the end of his record-breaking Mathematics Tour, which wraps up on September 23 in Los Angeles – just under a week before Autumn Variations hits stores worldwide. View the new track-list below:

1. “Magical”
2. “England”
3. “Amazing”
4. “Plastic Bag”
5. “Blue”
6. “American Town”
7. “That’s On Me”
8. “Page”
9. “Midnight”
10. “Spring”
11. “Punchline”
12. “When Will I Be Alright”
13. “The Day I Was Born”
14. “Head > Heels”

Pre-order Autumn Variations here.

Our sixth album, My Big Day, is coming out Oct 20. It is a shared endeavour with old and new friends and we can’t wait to share it with you. The title track is out now and you can preorder the album here – https://t.co/7DjzS4qaEj pic.twitter.com/xqTCyS12wy

— Bombay Bicycle Club (@BombayBicycle) June 14, 2023

The North London based band have also shared the title track from the upcoming LP, complete with an absurdist music video that combines frontman Jack Steadman (or Mr Jukes as he is known by those who know) as a newscaster, the song’s lyrical content and wacky headlines and stories.

Watch the music video for “My Big Day” below:

The indie rock group, consisting of Jack Steadman (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Jamie MacColl (guitar), Ed Nash (bass), and Suren de Saram (drums), formed in 2005 with all but Nash attending the same secondary school, with Nash joining the band a year later. After releasing demos of songs on Myspace, the band entered the music scene for good after winning Virgin Mobile’s “Road to V” competition in the summer of 2006, enabling them to perform at the 2006 V Festival with the opening slot.

Bombay Bicycle Club then released their debut EP, The Boy I Used to Be, in 2007 and recorded their debut album, I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose, the following year, eventually releasing it in the summer of 2009. The LP received a reasonably positive reception, peaking at number 46 on the UK Albums Chart, and the lead single, “Always Like This“, released two months prior to the album, reaching number 97 on the UK Singles Chart.

Watch the music video for “Always Like This” below:

The band’s next album, Flaws, an acoustic dive into indie folk, came in 2010, reaching number 8 on the UK Albums Chart, marking a significant increase in the group’s popularity. The group then returned to their electric guitar based indie rock beginnings with their following two albums, with A Different Kind of Fix released in 2011, and So Long, See You Tomorrow in 2014.

Bombay Bicycle club announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016, with Steadman and Nash each releasing solo material, before returning in 2020 with the group’s fifth studio album, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong. 2020 also saw the band release a charity EP, Two Lives, covering Bonnie Raitt, release a live album wherein they performed their debut album in full at Brixton, and perform a virtual livestream at Konk Studios. They also headlined Latitude Festival in 2021. Their sixth and most recent album, My Big Day, will be released on October 20th and you can pre-order the album here.

See below for summer tour dates:

15/06/2023 – Concert Hall, EartH – London
16-18/06 – Festival 8 2023 – Vilnius
24/06 – Hangar 34 – Liverpool
06-08/07 – Mad Cool Festival 2023 – Madrid
07-09/07 – Otherside 2023 – Slane
26/07 – Project House – Leeds
28-30/07 – Low Festival 2023 – Benidorm
28-30/07 – Y Not Festival 2023 – Matlock
17-20/08 – Pukkelpop 2023 – Kiewit-Hasselt

You can purchase tickets for these live shows here.

Furze said of the new album: “Somehow we got here! Our record is about to be released. Thank fuck for that! Getting to this point has been one of the craziest journeys in my life. I truly thought this day would never come. I got so lost, so confused, went down so many rabbit holes, at times running completely blind, so much so that I nearly lost everything that was ever important to me, everything I ever truly loved. This record symbolises so much, it’s my flag on top of the summit. It shows that I finally understand what is truly important. This is the soundtrack of my journey to get here.”

He then added “It was frightening, but beautiful at the same time, full of fun, but hand-in-hand full of terror and sadness, the outcome is that I’m incredibly proud of this work that came out of all of it. I think these may be the best songs that I’ve ever written, they’re certainly the most honest. I would love to thank everyone who was involved in this record because without them we would have never got to this point and maybe I would have not been here at all.”

The Love That’s Ours is preceded by a new lead single “Rage”, which follows on from recent singles “No Angels” and “Love Spins On Its Axis”.

Of the single Furze said: “This was the first song I wrote with the incredible Ryn Weaver. I met Ryn out one night in LA. We locked in on each other at some stupid party and I think we truly fell in love with each other. Not in a sexual way, but in a brother-sister way. We stayed up all night chatting about music and played one another our ideas. We just got each other, it was magical.”

In the last 10 years Furze has relocated to LA from London where he DJd and connected with fellow creatives and in the interview with NME the musician discussed how Wolf Alice helped inspire him to regroup, and why “indie sleaze” is now making a comeback. The Love That’s Ours is available to pre-order now and you can view the album artwork and tracklisting below.

The Love That’s Ours tracklisting:

01. ‘How Far We’ve Come’
02. ‘No Angels’
03. ‘Love Spins On Its Axis’
04. ‘Rage’
05. ‘Outside In’
06. ‘I’m Not Away To Stay Away’
07. ‘Safe And Sound’
08. ‘Murder’
09. ‘Back To My Arms’
10. ‘Even If I Wanted To’
11. ‘Lucky One

Depp has been featured in the news recently due to the ongoing defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard but also made headlines last month (May 29) when he was a surprise guest at Beck’s show in Sheffield. The pair performed covers of John Lennon, Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix, and the actor went on to join the legendary rocker on stage at a handful of other gigs whilst still awaiting the verdict of his defamation trial against Heard. Depp played the song “This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr,” for the new album and you can hear the new track below.

Johnny first met Beck back in 2016 and the two formed a close friendship; Beck previously appeared on a track by Depp’s classic rock supergroup, the Hollywood Vampires. Ahead of the album’s release, the musician will also kick off another month-long tour throughout Europe starting June 19, reportedly with Depp alongside him.

The actor has also thanked his fans for their support in a message on social media after winning his defamation trial against ex-wife Heard. He won the trial earlier this month, where a jury found that Heard had defamed her ex-husband when she wrote a 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post about being a survivor of domestic violence. Following the ruling Depp was awarded $10million (£8million) in compensatory damages and $5million in punitive damages. Heard was also awarded $2million in compensatory damages for her counterclaim against Depp although the actress plans to appeal the verdict.

Ahead of the announcement, Florence Welsh and her band have also been unveiling song titles via slowly turning playing cards on their official website. As well as the previously released singles, six song titles out of the 15-song tracklist were uncovered – “Free”, “Choreomania”, “Back In Town”, “Girls Against God”, “Dream Girl Evil” and “Prayer Factory” – with the full album tracklist dropping yesterday (April 14). The record was Produced by Welch alongside Jack Antonoff and Glass Animals‘ Dave Bayley, the album was largely recorded in London over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic as Welch anticipated the return of clubs, live music and dancing at festivals. You can check out the social media announcement below:

A fairytale in fourteen songs
Dance Fever, May 13th.
Pre-order: https://t.co/eI39aoJEXg pic.twitter.com/dmSr7AkQu2

— florence welch (@florencemachine) April 14, 2022

Alongside the exciting news fans will get to see the band showcase their latest material at a trio of intimate UK shows later this month before then embarking on a full arena tour in November. The gigs, which will be their first in the UK since the COVID outbreak in 2019 and will see the singer and her band “play music from the new album for the first time, along with some favourites from previous albums”.

A huge North American tour will also take place later this year, with support from other big acts such as Arlo Parks, Sam Fender, King Princess, Yves Tumor, Japanese Breakfast and Wet Leg on select dates. The full tracklist can be found below as well dates for the band’s UK shows, tickets for said shows can be found here.

Florence And The Machine ‘Dance Fever’ Tracklist:
1. ‘King’
2. ‘Free’
3. ‘Choremania’
4. ‘Back In Town’
5. ‘Girls Against God’
6. ‘Dream Girl Evil’
7. ‘Prayer Factory’
8. ‘Cassandra’
9. ‘Heavn Is Here’
10. ‘Daffodil
11. ‘My Love’
12. ‘Restraint’
13. ‘Time Bomb’
14. ‘Morning Elvis’

Florence And The Machine UK Dates:

15/04 Newcastle, City Hall – Newscastle
16/04 King George’s – Blackburn
19/04 Theatre Royal – London
16/11 Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff
18/11 The O2 – London
19/11 The O2 – London
21/11 BIC – Bournemouth
22/11 AO Arena – Manchester
24/11 Utilita Arena – Birmingham
25/11 First Direct Arena – Leeds
27/11 OVO Hydro – Glasgow
28/11 Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
30/11 3Arena – Dublin, Ireland

However, the album has now been delayed even further, until April 29th. The pair posted this statement on Twitter “Really sorry to announce that due to ongoing global vinyl delays we’ve had to move our album release date back to 29th April 2022. We’ve been singing CDs in the meantime.” Despite the somewhat disappointing news the duo also revealed in the post that more “new music” was “coming soon” which you can view below:

Really sorry to announce that due to ongoing global vinyl delays we’ve had to move our album release date back to 29th April 2022. We’ve been signing CDs in the meantime – you can preorder the album at https://t.co/X5cnrNDA87 new music coming soon… pic.twitter.com/c4yxm2IVO5

— Let’s Eat Grandma (@thelegofgrandma) March 10, 2022

Back in January, the band released the latest single off Two Ribbons a synth-heavy track, ‘“Happy New Year”. According to Far Out Magazine Walton said she “wrote “Happy New Year” after a breakdown between us that lasted for a long period of time, to communicate to her (Hollingworth) how important she is to me and how our bond and care for each other goes much deeper than this difficult time, I used the setting of New Year as both an opportunity for reflection, looking back nostalgically through childhood memories that we shared, and to represent the beginning of a fresh chapter for us.”

She then continued “I’d been struggling to come to terms with the fact that our relationship had changed, but as the song and time progresses I come to accept that it couldn’t stay the way it was when we were kids forever and start to view it as a positive thing — because now we have been able to grow into our own individual selves.”

The release will follow on from their second studio album I’m All Ears which was released in June 2018 and won the Album of the Year at the Q Awards. You can view the full tracklisting from the new album below:

Two Ribbons Track List:

1. ‘Happy New Year’
2. ‘Levitation’
3. ‘Watching You Go’
4. ‘Hall Of Mirrors’
5. ‘Insect Loop’
6. ‘Half Light’
7. ‘Sunday’
8. ‘In The Cemetery’
9. ‘Strange Conversations’
10. ‘Two Ribbons’