Welcome back to This Week on Wax, the weekly corner of the internet where we encourage you to give your credit card a workout and make some room on your record shelves.
This week’s arrivals are an absolute powerhouse. We have got indie rock royalty finally breaking a six-year silence, a country-pop legend taking things back to her deepest roots, and the ultimate pop visionary pivoting into a gritty, distorted new era.
Clear your schedule, fire up the amplifier, and let us dive into the records you will be begging to spin this weekend.
The Strokes - Reality Awaits
It has been six long years since The New Abnormal, but NYC’s finest are finally back. For their seventh studio album, Reality Awaits, Julian Casablancas and the boys decamped to Costa Rica to lock themselves away with legendary producer Rick Rubin.
The result is exactly the kind of magic you want from a Strokes record, but with a sun-drenched, slightly looser groove. It kicks off with a raw, baseline-heavy energy that feels incredibly nostalgic yet forward-facing. Singles like 'Going Shopping' and the sprawling, brilliant 'Falling Out of Love' find Julian trading his signature deadpan croon for some seriously soaring melodies over Albert Hammond Jr.’s razor-sharp guitar lines. It is a record that feels alive, warm, and completely essential on physical wax.
SHOP NOW
![]()
Shania Twain - Little Miss Twain
Let’s be honest, nobody does country-pop crossover quite like Shania Twain. Coming hot off a historic, massive summer residency (with Harry Styles) at Wembley Stadium, she is returning with Little Miss Twain, her seventh studio record.
Shania has described this album as her most personal work yet, digging deep into her teenage years and the rock and R&B influences she loved growing up, all wrapped up in that classic Western twang. From the high-energy stomp of the lead single 'Dirty Rosie' to some incredibly unexpected, genre-blurring team-ups (including Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age popping up on guitar duties), it is a fun, loud, and incredibly uplifting ride. It is pure, unfiltered Shania, and it sounds absolutely huge when cranked up on a stereo system.
SHOP NOW
![]()
Charli XCX - Music, Fashion, Film
How do you follow up a global cultural phenomenon? If you are Charli XCX, you completely blow up the blueprint and start fresh. Shifting gears dramatically from the club-ready neon world of her previous era, Music, Fashion, Film sees the pop visionary stepping into a gritty, distorted, and guitar-infused rock-pop hybrid.
Spanning a breathless 30 minutes across 11 tracks, the record is a raw, wild, and deeply British trip co-produced alongside her long-time partners in crime A. G. Cook and Finn Keane. Tracks like 'Rock Music' use heavily auto-tuned vocals slammed against blown-out, fuzzy guitars, while 'SS26' brings a driving, late-night bassline that is impossible to shake. The physical vinyl package is a work of art in itself, featuring a surreal cover photo paying tribute to subculture icons Martin Scorsese, Marc Jacobs, and John Cale. It is loud, confrontational, brilliant pop culture, and it belongs on a turntable.
SHOP NOW
From legendary indie rock returns to country-pop royalty and distorted pop reinventions, this week’s shelves are completely packed. Swing by your local store or head online to bag your copies today, and let us know: what are you dropping the needle on first?
