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All copies of the September issue of Uncut magazine come with a free, 15-track CD – Now Playing – that showcases the wealth of great new music on offer this month. All of these artists appear in the pages of Uncut’s September 2023 issue – either in features or our essential reviews section. Here, then, is your guide to Now Playing…
1 Blur
St Charles Square
Messrs Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree return with the second track from their new album, The Ballad Of Darren, and it’s a spiky, Scary Monsters behemoth that’s been opening all their recent gigs – and now appears here in its first ever physical release. The full record is our Album Of The Month, reviewed alongside a Q&A from Graham.
2 Cut Worms
Don’t Fade Out
Brooklyn-based Max Clarke has been making music as Cut Worms for a while, but his new self-titled LP is his best yet: 10 tracks of vintage garage-folk filtered through modern sensibilities. Here’s the lovely, melancholic opening cut.
3 Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Stand Anthem
The Ones Ahead is Glenn-Copeland’s first album since the Canada-based artist was rediscovered and showered with long-deserved acclaim. A soulful, wistful set recorded with his live group Indigo Rising, it’s quite unique – new-age gospel-folk, dripping with emotion.
4 James Blackshaw
Why Keep Still?
An increasingly legendary player of modern British guitar, James Blackshaw is currently working on a new album, due out later this year. You can hear more about his difficult journey in the Instant Karma section.
5 Hiss Golden Messenger
Shinbone
MC Taylor is back with Jump For Joy, a loose, rhythmic expression of delight after a couple of darker detours. “We are going to be playing these songs to rooms full of people, so let’s give them something to move to, not just think about,” explains Taylor.
6 Public Image Limited
Car Chase
The highlight of PiL’s new LP, End Of World, “Car Chase” is a breakneck voyage into madness, with death disco beats and an Arabic flavour. Read our review and chat with Lydon in the mag.
7 Dot Allison
Moon Flowers
The Scottish singer teams up with Andy Bell and Hannah Peel on Consciousology, her sixth album and a peak in her work. In the review section, she tells us about her lofty ambitions for the record, and her duet with a plant.
8 Rhiannon Giddens
Wrong Kind Of Right
The musical polymath tries her hand at country-soul on her latest album, You’re The One, her first bona fide solo album since 2017’s Freedom Highway. The result is impressive songs like this, which mix her rootsy folk with a new soulful swagger.
9 Bush Tetras
Walking Out The Door
On their first new record in over a decade, these NYC No Wavers are joined by Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on drums for an abrasive, powerful set of songs. Singer Cynthia Sley is an especially vital presence on this careening highlight.
10 Ricardo Dias Gomes
Muito Sol
Gomes has spent years playing with some of the biggest, bravest Brazilian artists, most notably Caetano Veloso, but his third solo album, experimental and welcoming in equal measure, strongly deserves wider attention.
11 Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek
Flitting Splits Reverb Adage
On their first album together, New Future City Radio, this dynamic Chicago duo create their own futuristic sci-fi radio station, mixing glitching electronica collage with leftfield hip-hop to startling effect.
12 Be Your Own Pet
Goodtime!
16 years after splitting, Jemina Pearl and co return with a new album and new thirtysomething concerns but the same joyfully snotty, noisy sound. With Mommy, they’re now on Third Man, but otherwise it’s business as usual, in the best way.
13 Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Bananas
Will Oldham unveils Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, his first solo album this decade, and it’s a bold, sparse record recorded with friends in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. His return’s reviewed at length in the magazine.
14 Jim Wallis
Parachute
When he’s not drumming in Modern Nature, Still Corners and others, Wallis makes exploratory music of his own. In Huge Gesturing Loops is a sparkling celebration of ambient Americana drift, made in collaboration with pedal steel player Henry Senior.
15 Sally Potter
Dance Girl Dance
Better known as a pioneering film director and writer, Potter has finally ventured into the world of the singer-songwriter on Pink Bikini. Experimental master Fred Frith assists on guitar, but Potter’s evocative exploration of youth leads the way here.
Buy Uncut’s September 2023 issue – with the free Now Playing CD – here