In other news: Ashes and Diamonds, the trio of singer\/guitarist Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets), drummer Bruce Smith (PiL, The Pop Group) and Sade bassist Paul Denman, announced their debut album<\/a>; Just Mustard announced their third album<\/a>; and Cindy Lee has come out of hibernation and is playing shows again<\/a>.<\/p>\n Head below for this week\u2019s reviews\u2026<\/p>\n Cass McCombs \u2013 Interior Live Oak (Domino) Cass McCombs has been one of the most consistent and underrated artists of the last 20 years, exploring a few different sonic avenues \u2014 getting weird, going country, jamming \u2014 while continually honing his songwriting chops. His understated style, paired with his reliability, can make him a little undervalued, taken for granted. This writer included. You can\u2019t call Interior Live Oak a return to form \u2014 he\u2019s stayed great all along \u2014 but it does feel like some kind of return. It\u2019s his first since re-signing with Domino after a decade on ANTI-, and he\u2019s working with some of his longest-time collaborators, including Papercuts\u2019 Jason Quever, Chris Cohen, and Mike Bones, plus help from Sam Evian, Brian Bettencourt (Hospitality, Destroyer), and Matt Sweeney (Hard Quartet, Chavez).<\/p>\n There\u2019s a little bit of everything Cass has ever done here: lo-fi indie rock, twangy cowboy ballads, hazy folk, deserted highway atmosphere, and baroque beauty. Some rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, too. Few set a scene like Cass, and he\u2019s in fine form here. From the San Francisco-set \u201cAsphodel,\u201d one of the album\u2019s highlights:<\/p>\n A junky on Leavenworth said Cass crafts perfect little vignettes \u2014 Polaroids from the fringe \u2014 featuring construction workers, off-the-grid wanderers, former lovers, and ghosts of the past. Interior Live Oak is a double album that takes its time across 16 songs and 74 minutes, but it\u2019s a great, easy hang full of warm melodies, memorable characters, and even warmer production. It\u2019s always worthwhile hanging in Cass\u2019 orbit.<\/p>\n Interior Live Oak by Cass McCombs<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Silver Synthetic \u2013 Rosalie (Curation Records) The 2022 debut<\/a> from New Orleans\u2019 Silver Synthetic was a surprise and delight: a wonderfully melodic album of memorable, gentle psych rock that mixed hooks and choogle in equal measure. Four years later, they\u2019re finally back with their second album, out via Curation Records\u2014the indie label run by Brent Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks\u2014which feels like a more spiritual home than Third Man, who put out the first.<\/p>\n Silver Synthetic make it all sound so easy, as these songs beam with warm yet chill vibes, big hooks, and understated flash. There\u2019s more than a little Grateful Dead here\u2014\u201cChoose a Life\u201d owes a bit to \u201cTouch of Grey,\u201d and swoony pedal steel glides throughout\u2014but also shades of Buffalo Springfield, The Velvet Underground, and a touch of Television. The musicianship is killer, but they rarely show their hand until it\u2019s time to clean house. Rosalie is perfect for these late summer days, a cool breeze across your face as the sun goes down in glowing amber.<\/p>\n Rosalie by Silver Synthetic<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Alison Goldfrapp \u2013 FLUX (A.G. Records) Alison Goldfrapp\u2019s singular voice remains pristine 30 years into her career, capable of elevating any track she\u2019s part of. On her second solo album, she teams with two dance music producers whose styles seem tailor-made for her: Stefan Storm of Sound of Arrows and Richard X, who has worked with Annie, Kelis, and Saint Etienne.<\/p>\n FLUX is a bit hit and miss, though, as Alison\u2019s vocal talents shine brightest when paired with more idiosyncratic backdrops. \u201cHey Hi Hello\u201d and \u201cSound & Light\u201d are gorgeous sonic creations but aim straight down the middle, never quite achieving the euphoric liftoff you want, even though she does her best to take flight. \u201cOrdinary Day,\u201d ironically, offers a few nice twists and turns, while \u201cReverberotic\u201d benefits from inspired, woozy production. FLUX isn\u2019t bad\u2014just safe and uninspired. (It\u2019s extra disappointing given this is her first release on her own A.G. Records.) Alison\u2019s pipes deserve more interesting music than this.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Elbow \u2013 AUDIO VERTIGO ECHO\u00a0(Universal) Three decades into their career, Manchester\u2019s Elbow released AUDIO VERTIGO<\/a>, an album unlike anything they\u2019d made before: playful, rhythm-forward, and\u2014shockingly for them\u2014fun. (Elbow have been many things over the years, including frequently great, but \u201cfun\u201d has never cracked the top five descriptors.) Energized by both the experience and the fan response\u2014it debuted at #1 in the UK\u2014they\u2019ve kept that momentum going with this new, similarly titled EP.<\/p>\n The AUDIO VERTIGO ECHO EP isn\u2019t made up of leftovers but four brand-new songs with the same joyous spirit. \u201cWe\u2019re having more fun in the studio than ever,\u201d says frontman Guy Garvey. \u201cCraig\u2019s on fire, Pete and Alex are the coolest rhythm section going, and Pot\u2019s unpredictable guitar is in a really soulful, accomplished place.\u201d All four tracks deliver: \u201cDis-Graceland 463\u2013465 Bury New Road,\u201d co-written with longtime friend Jimi Goodwin of Doves, boasts the second-best bassline on the EP; \u201cAdrianna Again\u201d marries wild rhythms to a soaring Elbow melody; \u201cTimber\u201d brings spy guitar atmospherics; and the surprise standout \u201cSober\u201d claims Best Bassline honors and instantly joins the Elbow canon. It\u2019s thrilling to see a band this deep into their career hitting a new creative high.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n Steve Gunn \u2013 Music for Writers (Three Lobed Recordings) Very talented guitarist Steve Gunn describes his first-ever solo instrumental album, Music for Writers, as \u201cmeant to accompany thought and inspire another way. It is music made in both stillness and motion, music that listens as much as it speaks. Each track offers a space\u2014open, textured, often slow-moving\u2014where ideas, images, and feelings drift in and out.\u201d Using his guitar alongside synthesizers and field recordings, Gunn has created a tranquil world that delivers exactly what he envisioned: a sonic environment that encourages you to slow down and reflect. It\u2019s free-flowing yet purposeful, and uniformly beautiful\u2014a much-needed respite from the outside world.<\/p>\n Music for Writers by Steve Gunn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014<\/p>\n INDIE BASEMENT CLASSICS:\u00a0The Rakes \u2013 Capture\/Release (2005) We\u2019re 20 years on from the height of the \u201900s indie revival, and I\u2019ve been doing a little Remember When-ing lately. I wrote about Clor<\/a> a few weeks ago, and this week it\u2019s the debut album from one of my favorite bands of the era.<\/p>\n The Rakes had it all: angular guitars, dance-punk songs crammed with hooks, a killer rhythm section, and a debut album produced by Paul Epworth, who worked on almost all the biggest post-punk revival records of the era (Bloc Party, Futureheads, Maximo Park) before graduating to the big leagues of Adele and Florence. They also had arguably the best frontman of the scene in Alan Donahoe, a charmingly awkward beanpole with amazing dance moves (mostly via his arms) and a magnetic presence that brought tons of charisma to their tales of 20-something ennui and trying to get by in big-city London. (He was, in many ways, the scene\u2019s Jarvis Cocker.)<\/p>\n Capture\/Release is loaded with these tales. \u201cEverything is temporary these days \/ might as well go out for the fifth night in a row,\u201d Alan sings on \u201cRetreat,\u201d a sentiment echoed on \u201cWork Work Work (Pub Club Sleep),\u201d which feels like dancing through last night\u2019s hangover. The singles are unimpeachable: their punky debut \u201cStrasbourg,\u201d the frantic \u201c22 Grand Job\u201d (still painfully relatable 20 years later in cities like London or New York, where the allure of urban life outweighs having seven roommates), and the slash-and-burn title track. But the deep cuts are just as good \u2014 the Wire-y \u201cOpen Book,\u201d the nervy \u201cWe Are All Animals,\u201d and the panic-attack urgency of \u201cTerror!\u201d<\/p>\n Capture\/Release is unmistakably of its time, yet still sounds fresh today. The band went on to make two more albums \u2014 2007\u2019s Ten New Messages and 2009\u2019s Klang (maybe their best) \u2014 but they never again captured the zeitgeist the way they did here.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Cass](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/cassmccombs-interiorliveoak.jpg\")
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Yet another terrific album from one of the most reliable singer-songwriters of the last 20 years<\/p>\n
Below the Transamerica Pyramid
There\u2019s a tunnel to the underworld
She was just that type of girl
To crawl through demonic steam
Through a dead dog\u2019s mouth
A flower grows in the dark
That\u2019s what she\u2019s all about<\/p>\n![\"Silver](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Silver-Synthetic-Rosalie.jpg\")
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New Orleans chooglers finally return with their second album of warm, melodic psych-pop<\/p>\n![\"AlisonGoldfrapp-FLUX\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AlisonGoldfrapp-FLUX.jpg\")
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The second solo album from the namesake half of duo Goldfrapp sounds great but plays it safe<\/p>\n![\"elbow](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/elbow-audio-vertigo-echo.jpg\")
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Veteran Manchester band keeps the groove and the joy flowing on this excellent companion to last year\u2019s AUDIO VERTIGO\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Steve-Gunn-Music-for-Writers.jpg\")
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Steve Gunn\u2019s first-ever solo instrumental album is a welcome and tranquil respite to our stressful times<\/p>\n![\"rakes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/rakes-capture-release.jpg\")
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Two decades later, The Rakes\u2019 underappreciated gem of a debut still brims with restless energy<\/p>\n