HotSpotMusic.

Oh hi there. Maybe you’re new around these parts. Let me show you around. HotSpotMusic was started with a very simple premise - to be a guide and a filter for an overwhelming amount of new music being released and to restore the focus on the music and not the hype. We prioritise album reviews - the best way to consume an artist’s work - and we try and post one review a day tending to focus on indie rock but always roaming the prairies for more. We’re also tired of arbitrary decimal ratings so we have a very simple ranking system: albums you should stop whatever it is you’re doing and listen to right now, albums you should plan on listening to soon and those that can probably wait until later. What else? Oh yes: - Monthly playlists of all the reviewed albums - Sunday Sermons is a special review one day of the week to reflect on some of the forgotten, classic or revived albums that deserve some attention - Monday Miscellany is a new column with a roundup of random tracks from the blogosphere. - An upcoming releases page so you can get excited about the things we’re excited about too Some of these happen more frequently than others but all of them do, in some form, exist. Want to recommend something or just say hi? Do it over on Twitter, Facebook, on our collaborative Spotify playlist or if you're an artist, drop us your sounds! a.soundcloud-dropbox:hover {color: #1896D1 !important; background-color: transparent !important;}*html a.soundcloud-dropbox {background-image: none !important; filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader(src='(http://a1.sndcdn.com/images/dropbox_small_white.png?1e7f8e7)', sizingMethod='crop') !important;}/* if you want to have valid HTML, please be so kind and put the style part in the head of your page */Send me your sounds Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy it. @thomcummings

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This Monday mix is all over the map.  

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Glory Hallelujah, the miscellanies are back.  

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This is a party mix.  Or, perhaps, not a party mix.  Listen to the first two tracks and decide for yourself if you’re going to move your regular party location from the attic to the pool.  After that, you can get down to rollin’ some cuban cigars and catching (or skipping) dreams.

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We’re back!  And so is Wendy James, formerly of Transvision Vamp, after decades in the doldrums.  Alongside that return, we have a plethora of new talent from the charming Lucy Dacus to Weaves and Twin River as well as the new, bold sounds of Pillar Point and Kirin J Callinan - both artists who are narrowing in on a style truly of their own.

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If you take one part Courtney Barnett and one part Angel Olsen, you may just end up with the wonderful Lucy Dacus (who, of course, deserves greater plaudits than a lazy X+Y comparison).  Her song I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore is one of the tracks of 2016 so far and bodes well for an upcoming release.  Speaking of upcoming releases, Twin Peaks are back!  This time with a more countrified twinge to their unique brand of garage rock.  The miscellanies keep rolling...

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Getting back in the habit, at least for now, here’s a new batch of miscellanies for your week featuring a lost Bond song penned by the good chaps of Radiohead, a new track from Shuggie Otis of all people, covers from Ex Hex and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart as well as a few other new tracks to brighten up your day.

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HotSpotMusic’s Best Albums of 2015

Another year.  Another cosmic rotation around the great gramophone in the sky.  Another list.  Proudly presenting the seventh annual HotSpotMusic Best Albums of the Year list.

As is customary, a look back at last year’s musical themes reveals trends that, at least for this blog, are indicative of musical culture in the mid-2010s, namely: expectations.  There were a number of albums this year that lived up to and even surpassed the crazed hype that was built around them (specifically the top two), whilst others didn’t quite scale the heights on album form that their early brilliant singles had promised (despite putting out very, very good albums Shamir and Leon Bridges come to mind).  

You have records from Ought and John Grant, whose previous efforts were HSM Top 5 records, that while great in their own right, didn’t quite stick in the way that the previous ones did.  Then you have brilliant records from artists you thought had gone away (Neon Indian) or were winding down into comfortable territory (Wilco) or took a huge leap forward (Susanne Sundfør).  So a normal year I guess - high expectations met, lower ones exceeded.  

So, without further ado, here's the countdown.... 

25. Blur - The Magic Whip 24. Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color 23. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style 22. Blank Realm - Illegals in Heaven 21. Ought - Sun Coming Up 20. John Grant - Grey Tickles Black Pressure 19. Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect 18. The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World 17. Ghost Culture - Ghost Culture 16. FFS - FFS 15. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love 14. Max Richter - Sleep 13. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People 12. Shamir - Ratchet 11. Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School

10. Leon Bridges - Coming Home

The smooth soul of a young legend in waiting

9. Wilco - Star Wars

A welcome return to experimentation, noise and the sound of a group of incredible musicians having fun and pushing their boundaries for our pleasure.

8. Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too 

Building on their previous effort with style, substance and, surprisingly, hooks.

7. Ólafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott - The Chopin Project

One of the most sublime and perfect ways to spend an hour.

6. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

Back with a bang, Sleater-Kinney were 2015′s most successful reform bands with a record that may just be their best.

5. Tame Impala - Currents

Trying something new with more electronics than guitars but still equally bold and psychedelic.

4. Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs

Probably the biggest surprise on this list is the Norweigan artist’s collection of danceable, baroque pop pieces that just got stuck in the back of the head.

3. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness

A sublime record collecting different sounds, styles and poetic thoughts.

2. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think and Sometimes I Just Sit

Probably the best single of the year in Pedestrian at Best, Sometimes I Sit... is Courtney at her best, witty, charming and rocking. 

And finally, introducing HotSpotMusic's favourite album of 2015:

1. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

Love him or hate him (and it’s clear that HSM loves him), 2015 belonged to Josh Tillman’s beloved Father John Misty character.  From extravagant and belligerent live performances, to penning some of the most scathingly funny and yet heartwarmingly captivating songs, this oddball paean to love is infinitely repeatable.

So there you have it: 2015's best releases in a nutshell.  And now here they are in a lovely playlist: 

Here's to 2016...

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A new year means a new mixtape and while this one has been a little long in the brewing, that just makes it all the more stronger.  Wake up to 2016 and listen to your own Teutonic Shift.

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We start off this week’s miscellanies with a new single from an artist that has been around almost the exact length of this blog (and puts out music almost as frequently), Wild Nothing.  Getting To Know You seems to be quite a return to form too.  But from there we take a large leap to Africa with a number of funky, erm, numbers from the Friimen, SK Kakraba and, arriving late, Bachar Mar-Khalifé from Lebanon,  The world tour continues with Fumaça Preta before we’re back in the comfort of familiarity towards the end.  

Merry Festivus to everyone!

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Rediscovering the Speedy Wunderground collection this week with a great collaboration between Warpaint's Theresa Wayman and Guro Gikling (All We Are) and Sarah Jones (Hot Chip), yielding the funky and soulful I’m Down With That.  We also see the impact of PWR BTTM and Ezra Furman with their unique takes on rock and roll.... alongside an rediscovered gem from Tunisia’s Fadaul.

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Back in action, through the turnstile and ready to dissolve... this is a mix that reaches vanishing point, all too quickly.

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Diving deep into the long lost catacombs for the cataclysmic, this is a belated Miscellany that should resuscitate the catatonic. We have Sports, Dopamine, Candy and Apocalypse.... enough to get the heart racing.

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A bolt of fresh winter air for your fresh summer faces in this week’s miscellanies.  Mike Krol melts it, Gems tangles it and DaM-FunK brings it back in kaleidoscopic order.

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A truly eclectic mix this week moving from the throwback soul music of Portland legend Ural Thomas through the perfect pop of Sjowgren to Dam-Funk’s, erm, funk... we continue.... Car Seat Headrest supply some Jonathan Richman style indie sensibility whilst Ebony Bones provides the disco and Lastlings the dreamy vibes to send us out on a high.

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We go from the slick to the slack in this week’s miscellanies with TV Girl’s Natalie Wood kicking us off before we meander our way towards the more scrimshanking Spencer Radcliffe and Alex G

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This week’s miscellanies feature the delicate delicacies of CocoRosie and Ori alongside the chaotic cries of Wavves and Michael Stasis.  A true mix of tunes for your wekk...

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From the sublime to the ridiculously sublime, this week’s miscellanies feature new tracks from Protomartyr and Telegram alongside strange and beautiful cuts from Aero Flynn and Berlin-based bsn.