Maybe July doesn’t have to mean sunshine and tinnies in the park. Maybe an occasional day of sunshine is enough to erase a month of summertime sadness marked by lousy weather and what feels like neverending Brat discourse (I’m writing this in London, before you ask). But the thing is, music doesn’t care about the temperature outside, the lack of aircon, or whether you slept with one leg out of your duvet last night. This month, we’ve welcomed a great selection of releases to keep our auras intact – from Clairo’s rich and whimsical 70s soft rock aesthetic on Charm, which the songwriter punctuates with gentle arpeggios and ascendant piano licks, to Kamixlo’s pummeling sophomore album Deathwork, welcoming collaborations by the likes of Bladee, Mechatok and Isabella Lovestory (listen to his Dazed mix here). 

Following on from her single collabs with the likes of PinkPantheress, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, Ice Spice returns with her debut album, with artwork by the legendary photographer David La Chapelle. There’s a lot to munch on. London artist Lava La Rue shoots off to space with a future-spinning concept album about an alien landing on Earth to learn about how horrible human relationships can be (she describes it as a “lesbian Ziggy Stardust”), and everyone’s favourite IRL anime boy Porter Robinson returns with a lovesick record of pop-rock thrashers, which dwells on fun themes such as fame, parasocial relationships and past lives (a special mention goes out to the Frost Children-starring track, “Mona Lisa”) – enjoy!

BASHY, BEING POOR IS EXPENSIVE

CLAIRO, CHARM

BLK ODYSSY, 1-800 FANTASY

KAMIXLO, DEATHWORK

LAVA LA RUE, STARFACE

LUKA EK, CONSUMED

PORTER ROBINSON, SMILE! :D

ICE SPICE, Y2K!