It’s tempting to say that Ireland’s Gilla Band have quietly become one of the most innovative alt-rock bands around, but there’s absolutely nothing quiet about their music, which owes as much to extreme avant garde electronics as it does to punk. The two singles thus far released from Pugnello display no letup in the intensity of their approach: Placeholder might have been shoutier than Giraffe, but both deal in thrillingly intense sonics. Released 25 September The former Smiths guitarist’s fifth solo album arrives hot on the heels of his appearance at Gorillaz’s lauded shows at Tottenham Hotspur’s ground.
For a musician who once seemed an eternal sideman, Marr has made an impressive fist of his solo career: Top 10 albums, gigs bolstered by his willingness to sprinkle Smiths classics throughout. If the wheel is unlikely to be reinvented on The Age of Everything, he remains a rich and purposeful songwriter. Released 2 October The London electronic duo clearly prize their anonymity, or at least their ability to wrongfoot their audience: they’ve sent decoys to interviews and to DJ for Boiler Room; their last album, a remix collection, appeared for sale online then vanished without trace or explanation.
This is diverting, but it’s ultimately the music that matters – and the four tracks already available from Infinite Now are brightly hued pop-dance that’s also somehow deeply weird, even unsettling. It’s a unique and fascinating space. Released 16 October The Guardian recently called Chinouriri “every pop star’s favourite UK pop star”: Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, Olivia Rodrigo, Florence + the Machine and Wolf Alice have all selected her as a support act, a testament not just to the fact that she’s one of the few high-profile Black British female artists in alt-rock, but to the quality of what she does.
Her second album, more synth-focused than her guitar-heavy debut, is understandably eagerly awaited. Released 16 October Like Kendrick Lamar, J Cole is a 21st-century rapper deeply rooted – both stylistically and thematically – in the genre’s past. He audibly prizes technical virtuosity as both a lyricist and MC and his most recent releases have been steeped in hip-hop history; he even promoted this year’s The Fall-Off by touring the US in a Honda Civic, selling CDs from the boot.
Rumours abound that it is to be his last album: he’s worth catching live now, on the off-chance they’re right. Tour begins 19 October, O2 Arena, London Furman’s most recent album, Goodbye Small Head, set unflinching self-examination to music that sounded like heartland US rock in the process of falling to pieces: a set of fantastic songs bolstered by a hint of chaos. A similar raucousness attends her live shows: she’s a sharp, funny, self-deprecating and genuinely charismatic presence, as anyone who’s heard her too-infrequent presence as a guest presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music can attest.
Tour begins 20 October, Cottiers theatre, Glasgow London indie quartet the Big Moon are not a band that deals much in flash: their following is based on really good songs, and possibly the sense that they’re growing up alongside their audience. Debut album Love in the 4th Dimension was a scrappily exuberant celebration of youth; almost a decade later, the first single from Forever, Gravity, deals with picking up your child from nursery. It is, typically, excellent.
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