SeeYouSpaceCowboy - Coup de Grâce (Album Review)

SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s music hails from a vivid recent past, when 2000s metalcore met at the corners of screamo and post-hardcore. While 2021’s ‘The Romance of Affliction’ pushed that concoction to its limits, the San Diego band have cannily embraced a neo-noir aesthetic and concept to help ‘Coup de Grâce’ to sound fresh and suitably fiery.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Friday, 26 April 2024

Lucy Rose - This Ain't The Way You Go Out (Album Review)

Photo: Josh Shinner After 2019’s stripped back ‘No Words Left,’ Lucy Rose had plans to rest and write her next album at her own pace, away from the road and its all-encompassing demands. Instead, life had something else in store for her. ‘This Ain’t The Way You Go Out’ was inspired by maternal osteoporosis, an excruciating condition that left the songwriter with a broken back following the birth of her son, Otis.

Written by: Emma Way | Date: Thursday, 25 April 2024

Pearl Jam - Dark Matter (Album Review)

Photo: Danny Clinch Twelve albums down the line, it’s kind of an honour to have Seattle grunge icons Pearl Jam still cooking as part of the current musical landscape. There are arenas and stadiums still to be filled, with Eddie Vedder’s signature bellow finding a new generation of fans to back up the die-hards, who will be thrilled by the back-to-basics ballast of ‘Dark Matter’.

Written by: Rishi Shah | Date: Thursday, 25 April 2024

Melvins - Tarantula Heart (Album Review)

Melvins are grafters. Hailing from working class and rural Washington state, vocalist/guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover are hyper-prolific, hard-touring musicians with a monstrous back catalogue.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 24 April 2024

James - Yummy (Album Review)

Photo: Paul W Dixon Photography More than 40 years into their career, Manchester darlings James are still going strong. Few would have thought that when they entered a seven year hiatus in 2001, a split described as necessary by vocalist Tim Booth in order to preserve one another’s wellbeing. Their sign off was ‘Pleased To Meet You’, a fitting peak in an indifferent album catalogue. Now, all these years later, ‘Yummy’ reaches those heights again.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 24 April 2024

Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department (Album Review)

Photo: Beth Garrabrant You have to hand it to Taylor Swift — she knows how to spring a surprise. Two hours after releasing the heavily-anticipated ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, she swapped it out for an updated version called ‘The Anthology’, turning it into a monster double album stacking up at 31 songs and more than two hours. 

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 23 April 2024

Nia Archives - Silence is Loud (Album Review)

Photo: Lola Banet On her first album, Nia Archives artist fully embraces her ‘Emotional Junglist’ mantra, pushing at the outer reaches of the style. On ‘Silence is Loud’ thunderous basslines and choppy breakbeats serve not as constraints but as a canvas for experimentation.

Written by: Emma Way | Date: Monday, 22 April 2024

Metz - Up On Gravity Hill (Album Review)

Photo: Vanessa Heins Metz are changing as they age. You might remember the Canadian trio being noisy for the sake of it in their early work, but now they have a relationship with the more aggressive elements of their sound that is caustic but tempered by greater textural ambition. Their fifth album ‘Up On Gravity Hill’, for example, is their most refined work to date, with core elements still firmly in place but subject to some judicious self-editing.

Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Monday, 22 April 2024

Bodega - Our Brand Could Be Yr Life (Album Review)

Photo: Pooneh Ghana Two years ago, ‘Broken Equipment’ found Bodega throwing post-punk and art-rock into a blender, rejecting the flavours of modern society in favour of their own favourite tastes. Its follow up, ‘Our Brand Could Be Yr Life’ is less consistent – its ingredients are duly coated in anti-consumerist sentiment, but the recipe is off. The result? A bloated, uneven tasting menu that leaves you feeling as empty as you do full. 

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 19 April 2024

The KVB - Tremors (Album Review)

Photo: Mila F.  The KVB have been releasing albums for more than a decade now, but the duo continue to fly under the radar. It’s a shame, as the self-styled “dystopian pop” of their seventh LP ‘Tremors’ is mighty rewarding, pulling in a blend of post-punk, industrial and darkwave, often with a danceable element. 

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 19 April 2024

Girl In Red - I'm Doing It Again Baby! (Album Review)

It has been a whirlwind time in the life of Norwegian bedroom pop artist Marie Ulven Ringheim, who went from internet sensation to superstardom after the release of Girl in Red’s 2021 debut album ‘If I Could Make It Go Quiet’. 

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 18 April 2024

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard - Skinwalker (Album Review)

Photo: Charlie Harris Given its analog horror-channelling cover, you’d be forgiven for assuming ‘Skinwalker’ was some eerie dark ambient album. In reality, it’s the latest (and best) release from Cardiff indie-rockers Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 17 April 2024

The Black Keys - Ohio Players (Album Review)

Photo: Jim Herrington The Black Keys’ 12th studio LP took more than a year to complete, although it’s a wonder it didn’t take longer given the duo’s extra-curricular commitments. Dan Auerbach’s side project the Arcs released their excellent ‘Electronic Chronic’ collection as recently as early 2023, for example, while he and Patrick Carney hammered out ‘Ohio Players’ with a helping hand from a plethora of contributors.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 17 April 2024

Maggie Rogers - Don't Forget Me (Album Review)

Photo: Maggie Rogers Maggie Rogers built a solid reputation across her first two records — ‘Heard It In A Past Life’, propelled by the viral Alaska, and the expansive ‘Surrender’ — offering an exquisite blend of folk, pop, indie and classic singer-songwriter fare. Her third LP ‘Don’t Forget Me’ is a luscious patchwork of textures that displays her singular talent as an artist. 

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 16 April 2024

Bob Vylan - Humble As The Sun (Album Review)

Photo: Ki Price Bob Vylan have developed into one of the UK’s most important bands, fusing their anti-establishment attitude and promotion of health and self-care together with the same flair that they meld grime and punk. On their third album ‘Humble As The Sun’ the duo add further elements to this heady mix, developing their sound to take in everything from electronica to grunge. 

Written by: Adam England | Date: Monday, 15 April 2024

Sinkane - We Belong (Album Review)

Photo: Dani Barbieri The world has changed since Ahmed Gallab last released a full album. On 2019’s ‘Dépaysé’, the Sudanese-American musician and bandleader delivered an album of joyous communitarian indie-pop shot through with influences from African music and funk. Since then, Covid and Joe Biden have happened and, perhaps most importantly for this album, Gallab has completed a Master’s degree in Composition. The result is an enormously accomplished work of musical, tonal and generic flexibility.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 12 April 2024

The Libertines - All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade (Album Review)

Photo: Ed Cooke That The Libertines are still producing music 20 years after their initial break up is nothing short of a miracle. Pete Doherty and Carl Barat’s relationship deteriorated so much during the process of making their second album that the band’s future appeared permanently dashed. 

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 11 April 2024

Ride - Interplay (Album Review)

Photo: Cal McIntryre When Ride began working on their seventh studio album, lockdown was very much a recent memory. When they eventually got together, they found inspiration from different avenues: jamming sessions, demos, backing tracks. With each member contributing significantly, drummer Loz Colbert’s suggestion of ‘Interplay’ as a title proved to be right on the money.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 11 April 2024

Khruangbin - A La Sala (Album Review)

Photo: David Black ‘A La Sala’ finds Khruangbin returning to low-key grooves, mixing spaghetti Western guitars with old-school drums and sauntering basslines. It is an excellent addition to the Houston trio’s catalogue, who continue to explore a distinctive, meticulous sound.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 10 April 2024

Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us (Album Review)

Photo: Michael Schmelling Five years in the making, Vampire Weekend’s ‘Only God Was Above Us’ is a far cry from the group’s self-titled debut. Where that 2008 LP offered up insouciant indie-pop, here we have perhaps their most experimental work to date, combining a fixation on raga with slick production and dark, sombre lyrical themes.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Tuesday, 09 April 2024