Mac DeMarco – ‘Here Comes the Cowboy’

Return of the Mac: the follow-up to 2017’s ‘This Old Dog’, Mac DeMarco returns in May with ‘Here Comes the Cowboy’, which the slack-rocker wryly labels as his “cowboy record”. Don’t expect a Mac-goes-country left-turn though, as DeMarco states: “Where I grew up there are many people that sincerely wear cowboy hats and do cowboy activities. These aren’t the people I’m referring to.”

 

The National – ‘I Am Easy To Find’

‘I Am Easy To Find’, The National’s eighth album, sees frontman Matt Berninger and his signature full-bodied baritone take a bit of a backseat. “There are a lot of women singing on this,” he explains, adding the band wanted to “have more of a fabric of people’s identities” on the LP. He jokes: “It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn’t let that happen.” Featuring guest spots from Sharon Van Etten, Kate Stables of This Is The Kit and more, we’re excited to hear how this shakes up an already near-perfect formula.

 

Stella Donnelly – ‘Beware of the Dogs’

The Welsh-born, Australia-based singer-songwriter’s breakthrough 2018 EP ‘Thrush Metal’ was praised for its direct nature and brutally honest lyrics and Stella Donnelly’s first full-length ‘Beware of the Dogs’ is just as impressive, perhaps even more so: assured, unflinching, witty and at all times effortlessly cool.

 

Flight of the Conchords – ‘Live in London’

Kiwi comedy duo Flight of the Conchords’ reunion show at London’s Hammersmith Apollo last year was so much of a must-see that it was later turned into a one-hour TV special by HBO. If you haven’t managed to see it yet – actually, even if you have – you want to invest in this 22-track vinyl release of the concert, as it features a host of previously-unaired material.

 

Big Thief – ‘UFOF’

Folk-rockers Big Thief have been busy since their breakthrough album ‘Capacity’ in 2017, with several members pursuing side-projects. Now they reconvene for ‘UFOF’, their first album on indie heavyweight label 4AD, coming on 3 May. Singer Adrianne Lenker” says the album is about “making friends with the unknown,” further pondering: “If the nature of life is change and impermanence, I’d rather be uncomfortable awake in that truth than lost in denial.” Strap yourself in for some heady stuff.

 

New Order – ‘Movement Definitive Edition’

It’s been 37 years since the release of New Order’s ‘Movement’, a seminal album that changed both indie and electronic music forever, but there’s still plenty to explore about the record. The band’s new ‘Movement Definitive Edition’ box set contains demos, rarities, rehearsal takes, a DVD of live performances and a 48-page hardback book, as well as the original classic album, of course. It arrives on 5 April.

 

Royal Trux – ‘White Stuff’

When NME last spoke to US alt-rock duo Royal Trux in 2015, they had just reunited and were about to play their first shows in a decade and a half, but still hadn’t been in the same room together in years. Someone they managed to hold it together to record their first album since 2000, and it’s exactly this kind of unbridled chaos that makes the scrappy LP all the more enthralling.

 

Meat Puppets – ‘Dusty Notes’

Famously one of Kurt Cobain’s favourite acts (Nirvana performed with and covered the group during their iconic MTV Unplugged set in 1993), Meat Puppets have reunited their original line-up for their first album together in 24 years. Their aims for their new LP were clear, as returning drummer Derrick Bostrom told his bandmates during the recording sessions: “You know what people are gonna do after they listen to this? Listen to it again.”

 

Morton Subotnick – ‘Silver Apples of the Moon’ (50th Anniversary Edition)