Asher White – ‘Jessica Pratt’

Release Date: February 4th, 2026 | Producer: Asher White | Label: Joyful Noise Recordings

Call me a funsucker, but I often approach cover versions with a degree of apprehension, especially when they’re of an artist whom I already greatly admire. The last thing I want to hear is a sub-standard rendition of the music of Jessica Pratt, let alone a poorly-crafted reimagining of her full-length debut album, but it would appear that when left in the capable hands of Asher White, there’s nothing to fret about. With 16 albums of original material to her name already, her first dalliance with a cover album is a doozy.

Jessica Pratt rarely sounds anything like its identically-named source material, but the lengths that the Illinois-born White has gone to transform Pratt’s haunting and spacious folk compositions into wondrous psychedelic pop masterpieces instantly gives you the impression that this isn’t a project simply constructed for the acquisition of cool points, but one that was made with the utmost love and adoration for the record it so deftly recreates. It might not be ‘new’ per se, but it’s an entirely novel take on something that was already brilliant to begin with, and a fantastic advertisement for White’s prolific and unpredictable output.

MPTL Microplastics – ‘Sod in Heaven’

Release Date: February 6th, 2026 | Producer: Armando González Sosto | Label: The state51 Conspiracy

London’s eight-strong collective MPTL Microplastics would like to insist that they’re borne from a variant of what most would consider to be folk, but aside from sharing some of the instrumentation that you might associate with the genre, this is about as extra-terrestrial and esoteric as folk gets. With a mouthful of a name semi-borrowed from a Lana Del Rey lyric (“my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola”, if you were wondering) and inspirations that duck and dive from The Microphones to Throbbing Gristle on a whim, it’s apparent without listening that Sod In Heaven is something of a ride.

But listen, you should, and despite its frequently uninviting atmosphere and chaotic tendencies, this debut offering from the octet is one of the most original releases to have emerged from London’s experimental underbelly in a hot minute. For all of the moments where it veers into abrasive and atonal territories, they’re matched by luscious explosions of expressive carnage, all in all delivering the sort of record that will either repulse you or rewire the way you think about music altogether. Listen at your own mercy, I guess.

elsas – ‘APORIAMOR’ [EP]

Release Date: February 13th, 2026 | Producer: Elsa Hackett | Label: Lapsus Records

Almost five years on from her breathtaking debut EP, The Art of the Concrete, British-Spanish songwriter and producer Elsa Hackett, better known mononymously as elsas, returns with another stunning micro-offering in the shape of APORIAMOR. Given her early co-sign from art pop duo Jockstrap and the subsequent guest feature on the band’s Beavercore remix EP, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Hackett traverses a wide range of styles in a brief window of time, but the way she flits between influences is a thrill to behold.

Taking the listener on a joyride through smatterings of Latin traditional folk, ethereal synthpop and deconstructed club bangers, Hackett’s commitment to variation means that her music doesn’t comfortably sit alongside any contemporaries, but rather expertly takes cues from other hard-to-pigeonhole acts and creates its own space to exist in. Many will argue that the hyperactive blending of styles that Björk and Rosalía have made names for themselves through is an insight into what the future of pop music might look like, and with elsas, it’s becoming clear that we’re edging closer to this foreshadowed future.

Work Money Death – ‘A Portal to Here’

Release Date: February 13th, 2026 | Producer: Neil Innes | Label: ATA Records

After impressing the folks at Far Out with their 2024 spiritual odyssey, People of the Fast Flowing River, Leeds-based jazz outfit Work Money Death have upped their game once more with the release of an expansive exploration of grief, joy and community. While the four tracks, collectively approaching an hour in length, take plenty of inspiration from the likes of Alice Coltrane, Joe Henderson and Sun Ra, their ability to channel these cosmic energies and translate them into something deeply personal to them is sublime.

The first album made since the passing of bandmate Chris ‘Earl’ Dawkins, A Portal to Here is bookended by pensive lamentations while erupting into what feels like a celebration of life on its two central tracks, with ‘Brother Earl’ being a buoyant tribute to a beloved figure who helped to shape the band into what they are today. Rich with detail and overflowing with carefully-crafted arrangements that spill over into improvised bliss, this is potentially as good a jazz record as you’ll hear all year; par for the course for Work Money Death.

Tony Bontana – ‘My Name’

Release Date: February 27th, 2026 | Producer: Jacques Groce | Label: Everything Is Perfect Records

Birmingham-based rapper Tony Bontana has quietly been crafting his own interpretation of what rap music can sound like since the turn of the decade, but on his latest full-length, My Name, he appears to have tapped into something that feels both cohesively crafted yet boundless in its approach. Born and raised in a city that brought the world Black Sabbath and The Streets to name but a few, Bontana does his best to approach his art in a fashion that entertains the possibility of these artists sharing more than just a hometown, marrying together a myriad of sounds that one would otherwise consider unpairable.

Yes, this is something of a scattergun approach to beatmaking that would put the fear into most UK hip-hop aficionados, but the sheer breadth of his musical interests is what makes his latest record so instantly engaging. If you imagine the woozy hypnagogia of Nourished By Time, whose last record Bontana features on, and pair it with the stumbling and cryptic flow of Earl Sweatshirt, you’re at least part of the way to imagining what My Name sounds like. The remaining elements, however, draw from such a vast array that repeated listens reveal even more layers to Bontana’s seemingly infinite inspirations.