the crowd's
week

Steven Wilson
— Requiem for a Village

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Fiction Records

Ninth solo album, folk horror in a village outside time. David Tennant narrates, Andy Partridge (XTC) wrote the narration. Analogue synths only, imperfections on show. Welcome to the village.

Steven Wilson swaps the modern world for a village that exists outside time and space, and Requiem for a Village, his ninth album, out on Fiction Records, is the soundtrack to that journey. David Tennant narrates, from a script by former XTC man Andy Partridge, who also wrote some of the lyrics; Randy McStine, Russell Holzman and Katherine Priddy (on "Murmuration") complete the cast. Wilson wanted music with audible human imperfections: analogue synths only, instruments not perfectly in tune, and violin, oboe and drums played by people who haven't fully mastered them. That is where the idea of the village came from. "Requiem For A Village", "A Basket Of Bees" and "On Chapel Slope" are good ways in. Critics and listeners give it 80 and 81, on a scale of 0 to 100, on AOTY, and it is a record made to be heard from start to finish, ideally with the lights down low.

critics 80 · users 81

Ciarán
— Róisín

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Ninja Tune

Ex-Bearface, ex-BROCKHAMPTON, solo debut on Ninja Tune. Funk, Prince and D'Angelo, with production that brushes against Burial. Recorded in a cabin in New Jersey. The voice that closed their records now opens his own.

Born in Belfast, Ciarán was Bearface and, before that, the voice of the ballads that closed BROCKHAMPTON's records. Róisín is his solo debut, out on Ninja Tune, and the title is the name, his mother says, he would have had if he'd been born a girl. The heart of the record took shape in a cabin in Sparta, New Jersey, in rain-soaked collaborative sessions that recall the BROCKHAMPTON method, with James Ivy, Roy Blair, boylife and the collective's producer Romil Hemani among those involved. Prince and D'Angelo are open influences; the funk gives way to haunted, Burial-like productions, and the falsetto carries almost everything. "K-Bar" and "Galvarino" are the best place to start. With 84 out of 100 from AOTY listeners, it is the week's highest-rated record among the public, and his debut show in New York, with a ten-piece band, has already sold out.

users 84

featured

Django Django
— Doveland

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Clouds Hill

Sixth album, recorded in the German countryside with Nick McCarthy (Franz Ferdinand) and Polly Ester. Grief, memory and a town that may never have existed. Hak Baker among the guests.

Django Django reach their sixth album with a change of method: tired of jumping from genre to genre, they shut themselves away for long sessions in the German countryside and went back to doing things more simply. Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand and songwriter Polly Ester produce; Hak Baker appears on "Little Me" and Max Pope on "Feel Alright". The title comes from an internet myth about a vanished town in rural Wisconsin, and the idea of searching for an impossible place runs through the songs, with grief, memory and isolation along the way, as drummer Dave Maclean lost his sister and bassist Jimmy Dixon's father died while the record was being made. "Cameos", inspired by J.G. Ballard's Concrete Island, leads the way. With 82 out of 100 from critics on AOTY, it is one of the best-rated records of the week.

critics 82

Cult of Luna
— In the Shadow of Your Shadow

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026

Tenth album from the Swedes, one of the darkest of their career. Joe Duplantier (Gojira) and David Eugene Edwards (Wovenhand) as guests. Post-metal about loss and old traumas. Weight and feeling.

Sweden's Cult of Luna reach their tenth album, the first since Vertikal I & II (2023), and Johannes Persson describes it as one of the band's darkest and most emotionally devastating works. It deals with loss and recent personal experiences, and the lead single is told from the point of view of an "inner traitor", that buried part of ourselves that comes back. Daniel Berglund co-produces, Magnus Lindberg mixes, and there are two heavyweight guests: Joe Duplantier of Gojira on "Sadness Will Reign", and David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand on "One More Day". "The Rift" and the title track are the ways in. Heavy, yes, but Cult of Luna's post-metal has always been as much atmosphere as muscle, and this record is no exception.

users 80

Oso Oso
— an exchange of information

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Feral Twin

Sixth album and the first release on Feral Twin, the label set up by Hop Along's Mark Quinlan. It all started with a phone call. 12 tracks of indie rock and emo with choruses to sing out loud.

an exchange of information is Oso Oso's sixth album and the first release on Feral Twin, the label run by Mark Quinlan, Hop Along's drummer. It's a nice story: Quinlan rang wanting to reissue the band's old records and the plan ended up changing to a new one. There are 12 tracks, from "4 am redemption" to "the days", by way of "it's all bait" and "know you know me better", the singles already out. Oso Oso move between indie rock and guitar emo, and AOTY listeners give it 77 out of 100, a solid score for a band that remains more of a well-kept secret than a festival name. They are touring North America until the end of November, and it is a good way in for anyone who likes emo and guitar-led indie rock.

users 77

Skepta
— The Fork and Knife

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Big Smoke/Epic

First solo album in seven years. Rave, sound system culture and what it means to be British and the son of Nigerians. Suggs and Chase & Status on "Innocent Smile".

Skepta returns with The Fork and Knife, his first solo album since Ignorance Is Bliss in 2019, and the sixth of his career. Out on Big Smoke/Epic, the record starts from sound system, club and rave culture to talk about identity: what it means to be British, the son of Nigerian immigrants, and to live between two cultures. The visuals follow that idea, with references to the Nigerian community in 1980s England, to football and to an almost documentary realism, linking the Windrush generation to today's London. "Innocent Smile", with Suggs and Chase & Status, was the first taste, and several new songs had already been aired on the Reading stage in August. He is a name that came out of grime and went far beyond it, from music to fashion, and this return shows why.

users 74

Rex Orange County
— Dream Fatigue

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026

Co-produced by Mustafa and Dylan Wiggins, with Brendan Yates (Turnstile), Dev Hynes, Daniel Caesar and Taylor Skye (Jockstrap). Bedroom pop with an all-star cast.

Rex Orange County returns with Dream Fatigue, 12 tracks announced in September and co-produced by Mustafa and Dylan Wiggins, names who have worked with Rosalía and Justin Bieber. The guest list is unusually interesting for a bedroom pop record: Brendan Yates of Turnstile on "Elvis", Mustafa on "The Colosseum", Daniel Caesar on "Indecision", plus Dev Hynes, dexter in the newsagent and Jockstrap's Taylor Skye. "Grandma Song", the first single, was described as gently charming. AOTY listeners give it 73 out of 100. It is a record that opens indie pop up to new worlds, melody first and genre second.

users 73

Spanish Love Songs
— Future Nausea

album

LP · 6 Nov 2026 · Pure Noise

12 tracks on Pure Noise, in the mould of a big Born in the U.S.A. rock record. Major key, political anger. The singer says it's the least sad thing they've made. Get ready to sing along.

Spanish Love Songs aim for a big rock record, inspired by the spirit of Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A.: major key, open melodies and plenty of political anger. Singer Dylan Slocum says it is "more angry than sad" and the least sad thing the band has made, which, coming from the people behind Brave Faces Everyone and No Joy, sounds like a change in the weather. Out on Pure Noise, with 12 tracks including "Good American", "Welcome To Hell" and the two-part title track, it is one of those records made to be sung in chorus. AOTY listeners give it 73 out of 100.

users 73