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
Noah Kahan review – unlikely star leads a cathartic mass singalong
With his raw lyrics about mental health, shame and alcoholism, Kahan taps into the zeitgeist – yet his rousing tunes make this a reaffirming live show
Beirut: Hadsel review – joyously positive healing hymns
The ‘unfathomable beauty’ of a remote Norwegian island has inspired Zach Condon to create a triumphant celebration of life