Here’s a rundown of new releases out today, including new albums and EPs on DSPs and physical releases in record shops this week.
James Blake goes independent with his new album, Kim Gordon lands her third solo record and it has a Dave Grohl cameo no one saw coming, Art School Girlfriend steps out from cult status with her finest hour,, and Sturgill Simpson – going as Johnny Blue Skies – drops a funk-and-groove dance record mostly written on the spot. Plus: Irish album releases from NI buzz band Chalk, Wexford indie band Basciville, metal-leaning trad rockers The Scratch and Derry-born NYC Eamon Harkin.
Nialler9 keeps a rolling list of Irish album releases for 2026.
New Albums and Releases
New Albums
James Blake – Trying Times
James Blake’s seventh studio album is also his first fully independent release, two years after leaving Republic Records and building out his own Good Boy Records operation in response to what he described as “a massive transfer of wealth away from the artist.”
That defiance is somehow both the album’s subject and its antidote. Trying Times is a commentary on the relentlessness of modern life – love as survival directive, creativity as resistance, hope maintained against the pull of everything collapsing – but it wears all of that lightly, pulling from across his whole career without ever feeling like a best-of.
The album opens with ‘Walk Out Music’, and the line “You’re not good to anyone dead”. Lead single ‘Death of Love’ is all warbly sub bass, the London Welsh Male Voice Choir filling out the arrangement, and a lyric that sets the stakes without melodrama. ‘I Had a Dream She Took My Hand’ and the title track bring churchy organ and arpeggiated guitars into a waltzy, gospel-adjacent warmth. ‘Make Something Up’ goes Steve Lacy-esque jangly guitar – something striking in its newness for this artist, Blake stuck “in the middle of time,” frustrated and alive. ‘Didn’t Come to Argue’ features Monica Martin (former Phox) and pivots from grand piano to a lowkey house grooxve mid-track in a way only Blake could make feel seamless. ‘Doesn’t Just Happen’ features British rapper Dave continuing Balke’s run of collaborations with UK rap auteurs and is an easy highlgiht, while ‘Days Go By’ takes a Dizzee Rascal ‘I Luv U’ sample into chopped and screwed headphone club mist territory.
Generally, the production here foregrounds his soul and gospel instincts (and with soul samples used throughout) over the dancefloor density of Playing Robots Into Heaven, though neither impulse disappears – he’s just arranging them differently here, and there’s a sense of urgency, sonic playfulness and verve that was lacking on that record.
The Scratch – Pull Like A Dog
The Irish trad-folk rock band with a penchant for power chords, percussion and occasionally soft folk’s third album is released on Sony Music Ireland, and was written at Hellfire Studio in Dublin with engineer Thomas Donoghue and producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy.
On first listen, Pull Like A Dog is largely a return to foregrounding of the band’s high voltage metallic riffs after the James Vincent McMorrow-produced Mind Yourself album, a pleasant sonic bludgeoning throughline – that doesn’t stay away long as on the ‘Cracks’ which begins more in a folk vein. Various members are heard in the studio between songs, adding a refreshing looseness to the album listen, a relaxed mood that suggests a band not overthinking it too much.
Pull Like A Dog doesn’t so much evolve their sound as detonate it and reassemble it louder.
Of the record Conor Dockery says: “As a band, this feels like a new beginning. I think the changes we’ve faced have given us a lot of room to grow, maybe into roles we felt were off limits before. Openness, perseverance, and positivity – this album embodies all of that.”
The Scratch play Iveagh Gardens on July 4th 2026.
Chalk – Crystalpunk
Belfast post-punk/electronic visual director duo CHALK release their debut album on ALTER Music after a trilogy series of Conditions EPs.
Chalk is Ross Cullen (Vocals, Producer), Benedict Goddard (Guitar, Synth) and the previous singles from Crystalpunk include ‘Pain’ and ‘Can’t Feel It’. The album was produced by Chris Ryan (NewDad, Enola Gay, Just Mustard) and Ross Cullen.
Synthesising ’70s punk and ’90s rave into industrial dance, Crystalpunk marks a fresh sound for Belfast music. The band draws on the city’s history of subcultural safe havens to create a sound that honours the weight of the past while steadily moving beyond it.
Kim Gordon – PLAY ME
Kim Gordon’s third solo album is sharper, shorter and stranger than The Collective (2024). Working again with producer Justin Raisen, PLAY ME draws motorik krautrock rhythms into her industrial noise framework, adds more melodic beats to the palette and tightens everything into 12 tracks that move fast.
“We wanted the songs to be short,” she says. “We wanted to do it really fast. It’s more focused, and maybe more confident.” The album processes, in her inimitable way, the collateral damage of the billionaire class: the demolition of democracy, AI-fuelled technocratic end-times, the flattening of culture. Dark humour carries a lot of the weight.
The wildest moment is ‘Busy Bee’, where Dave Grohl plays drums on top of sped-up archival dialogue – taken from a 1990s MTV Beach House episode Gordon co-hosted with Free Kitten bandmate Julia Cafritz, clattering and absurdist. The title track has an almost trip-hop feel.
I’ve seen some accusations of plagiarism on social media since Gordon’s switch to this sound claiming she is ripping off the likes of the low-end focused producers like The Bug. I don’t think that’s fair. At 72, Gordon is making some more unpredictable and experimental works than those half her age, and has earned the right to do so.
Alexis Taylor – Paris In The Spring
The Hot Chip frontman’s SEVENTH solo album is also his most ambitious – recorded partly at Air’s Nicolas Godin’s Paris studio, with an guest list that includes The Avalanches, Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, Etienne de Crecy, Pierre Rousseau from Paradis, Lola Kirke, and Pale Blue’s Elizabeth Wight. T
he result is a freewheeling genre-blender that moves between leftfield pop, cosmic country, elegant disco-house and Vangelis-inspired soundscapes with Taylor’s completely distinctive voice holding everything together.
‘Out of Phase’, the lead single featuring Lola Kirke, was inspired by David Lynch and arrives as a country-pop duet haunted by dread. ‘I Can Feel Your Love’ is a collaboration with The Avalanches built on gospel samples – euphoric and devotional. Taylor relocated to Paris for writing sessions; the title references a psychological test where things aren’t as they appear. “You have to look for those double meanings, or what’s hiding under the surface.” As far from Hot Chip as he’s gone, and arguably his finest solo statement as a result.
Art School Girlfriend – Lean In
Polly Mackey’s third album as Art School Girlfriend is the one that ought to move her from “cult bedroom artist” to fully recognised UK producer-songwriter of the first order – to quote the press release, which for once isn’t overstating it. Lean In was self-written, recorded and produced entirely in her own East London studio, and it shows a confidence and range that her previous two records were pointing toward without quite reaching. Piano and backing vocals are provided by her wife Marika Hackman.
Shoegaze and electronic pop and experimental ambient sound collide across 10 tracks, but they’re held together by an emotional through-line: grief, joy, love and anxiety, the fragility of being here at all.
Opener ‘Doing Laps’ is dreamlike contemporary electronic, ‘L.Y.A.T.T.’ (Love You All The Time) opens with a heavy sustained organ before a house beat drops that could keep you moving for days. ‘Save Something’ is Aphex Twin adjacent ambience. ‘The Peaks’ builds a Blade Runner-atmospheric tension from sharp synth drops and light keyboard notes. All Mackey’s vocals were recorded through a second-hand dynamic mic, which lends a closeness and intimacy to even the most expansive tracks.
Eamon Harkin – The Place Where We Live
The NYC-based Irish co-founder of New York club Mister Saturday Night and Nowadays releases a new solo album.
We last heard from Harkin in 2024 with the release of a four-track Noetic EP a “meditation on the lifelong search for a deep personal connection through spiritual practice.”
On March 10th, the Derry-born Harkin releases the full-length album The Place Where We Live draws on his 25 year experience of running clubs like Mister Saturday Night, Mister Sunday, Planetarium and Nowadays with an introspective body-forward collection of electronic music operating in house, techno and ambient circles.
The title comes from psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott’s idea of “the place where we live,” the psychic space between the inner and outer world — where play, art, and culture help us build meaning. For Harkin, an Irish immigrant long settled in another land, that idea resonates both philosophically and personally.
The Place Where We Live captures the tension and beauty of the pulse of the club and the quiet of reflection — an album about belonging, transition, and the quiet resonance of finding home somewhere in between.
E L U C I D & Sebb Bash – I Guess U Had To Be There
ELUCID’s fourth solo album and his first full collaboration with Swiss producer Sebb Bash arrives to considerable anticipation – The Alchemist has called Sebb Bash his favourite producer, and ELUCID’s status as the more elusive half of Armand Hammer helps. Where ELUCID’s 2024 record REVELATOR was experimental and abstract, I Guess U Had To Be There is more grounded in rap braggadocio – Bash’s production pushed him that way, building a canvas of colour-blurred neo-noir soundscapes that ELUCID tightropes across with athletic precision. Guests include saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and Billy Woods.
Carrie Baxter – Seven
The Waterford-born, London-based neo-soul and R&B artist releases a debut album – an 11-track record is her most personal work to date, exploring identity, healing and personal growth across two sonic worlds shaped by producers Chris Bubenzar and James Berkeley.
Opening track ‘Change’ sets the tone with gospel-tinged warmth; ‘Patience’ brings reggae-flecked reflection; closer ‘St John (Be Good to Me)’ is a clear-eyed meditation on faith written after Christmas Mass in Waterford’s St John’s Church.
Baxter headlines The Lower Third in London on March 27th.
Basciville – Love In The Time Of The State
Irish folk-rock duo and Wexford-born brothers release their second album on Faction Records. The album is said to capture “the duo at their most urgent and unflinching: a collection of songs wrestling with disillusionment, existential weariness, and a love that persists despite the rot.”
“How do you sing a love song when the world is disgusted with you – or you’re disgusted with the world?” they ask with music that channels classic rock influences of late-90s Radiohead, Nirvana Unplugged, Jeff Buckley, with the duo’s folk roots, and Ailbhe Reddy appears on a duet ‘Your Own Head’.
This album is a return to Basciville’s own project after a few years spent working as collaborators, writers and producers with names including Susan O’Neill, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, The Ocelots, and Reddy.
Basciville live
March 20th – Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
April 2nd – Whelan’s, Dublin
April 10th – Coughlan’s, Cork
April 11th – Levis’, Ballydehob
Crack Cloud – Peace And Purpose
Crack Cloud’s fourth album – and their first back on Meat Machine, who released debut Pain Olympics – was written and recorded entirely by frontman Zach Choy in his basement over a year of prolonged grief. One SM57 microphone, junk instruments and speakers, a hardline return to DIY principles. The 14 tracks channel the discordant energy of factory farming and the grinding din of machinery – dungeon dub, sour milk vox, avant-protest music that doesn’t treat punk as an art-project reference but as a visceral necessity.
Lead single ‘Safe Room’ is wistful and folky with steam-fuelled drums and lines about what you can and can’t close the door on. ‘Marathon of Hope’ nods to Terry Fox’s relentless cross-Canada run – a one-legged defiance in the face of the inevitable that becomes the record’s central image. “Every goddamn stupid day is a sublime slice of fresh hell. That’s the point. Gotta go through it.”
The full collective is reunited for the live shows; Crack Cloud play The Grand Social in Dublin on May 7th.
Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniawy – Dying Is The Internet
French producer Simo Cell and Egyptian singer-poet-trumpeter Abdullah Miniawy return for their second full collaboration – their debut came in 2020 – with eight tracks for Dekmantel’s UFO series that dissect digital fatigue from inside the dancefloor with glitchy electronic trap, molten bass movements and dubbed out half-step grooves.
The album’s title is Simo Cell’s mantra about “how the internet lost its soul” as it became less about sharing ideas and more about surviving a digital business ecosystem. Miniawy calls it “a playful prophecy about the triggers of a new global revolution.” Both things are true simultaneously.
Brigitte Calls Me Baby – Irreversible
Chicago alt-rock band Brigitte Calls Me Baby marked themelves out on their 2024 debut with frontman Wes Leavins’ Roy Orbison/Morrissey-adjacent voice and a sound that drew from classic new wave and modern indie pop without sounding like a tribute act.
Since then they’ve toured relentlessly and Irreversible is what came out the other side. Produced by Yves and Lawrence Rothman (Blondshell, Yves Tumor), the 11 tracks were recorded live in four-hour sessions at Lawrence’s home studio, prioritising intuition over excess: the songs, written largely in hotels and Airbnbs and road-tested in soundchecks, knew what they wanted to be.
Ora Cogan – Hard Hearted Woman
The Vancouver-born, Nanaimo-based singer-songwriter makes her Sacred Bones debut with a record that mixes haunted folk, psych rock, and a shadowy strain of country into something that “glows like it was pulled from smoke and seawater”. Hard Hearted Woman was written during a winter of cold-water plunges, long river swims, late-night conversations with friends, and drives through the Lillooet landscape; recorded with producer David Parry (Loving) at Dream Club in Victoria, BC, with string players including Lori Goldston – who performed with Nirvana – and violinist Ester Thunander.
Opener ‘Honey’ is a slow-blooming burn written in response to anti-trans legislation, building to a chorus of resilience that radiates strength without losing tenderness. ‘The Smoke’ nods toward JJ Cale in a groove for end times with congas, cracked guitars, and ghost-weathered textures. ‘Division’ builds like a flare in the night over a stark, reverberant landscape. The album carries traces of Angel Olsen, Grouper and Vashti Bunyan, but the voice and sensibility are distinctly Cogan’s own. She plays Whelans in Dublin on March 28th.
Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds – Mutiny After Midnight
Sturgill Simpson – still operating as Johnny Blue Skies, with an expanded band now called The Dark Clouds – started out this month by announcing Mutiny After Midnight would be physical-format only (vinyl, CD, cassette). Then he put the whole thing on YouTube two weeks before the official release date.
The nine-track record was made at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound in Nashville, largely written on the spot in the studio, with a single goal: make a dance record. A side step from his country canon.
Olive Jones – For Mary
London singer-songwriter Olive Jones draws on soul, jazz and alt-folk with honey-drenched vocals and a lived-in musicality on her debut album. Jones writes about love, loss and the nuances of human experience in ways that feel genuinely personal rather than genre-exercise. The Mary of the title is a fictional person inspired by people in Jones’s life affected by mental health issues: “I think it’s changed a lot since, but the song felt to me like an opportunity to explore that feeling of wanting to be there for someone, and the helplessness of perhaps realising that you can’t.”
Sugaboo, Lil Skag – Skagaboo EP
Five-track joint EP from two of Ireland’s premiere serious-but-messing rappers – Enniscorthy and Kimmage together on a fine collection of Owin-produced breezy cultural-referencing rap tunes with guest turns from Curtisy and Beddyminaj.
Also released this week
- Clark – Modal Stims EP
- Foy Vance – The Wake
- Laurel Halo – Midnight Zone (Original Soundtrack to the Film by Julian Charrière)
- Prostitute – Attempted Martyr
- Shy One – Mali
- Tenderness – True
- Tinariwen – Hoggar
- The Notwist – News From Planet Zombie
- The Orielles – Only You Left
Recent posts on New Albums:
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
