White Denim - 12 (Album Review)
Photo: Charlie Weinmann White Denim may have changed line ups several times, but they’ve remained a consistently excellent rock ‘n’ roll band for nearly two decades now. The Texan outfit began as raucous garage-rockers on their 2008 debut ‘Workout Holiday’ but in the intervening years they have developed towards a more polished, bluesy style that remains difficult to pin down.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 20 December 2024
Angel Olsen - Cosmic Waves Volume 1 (Album Review)
Photo: Maxim Ludwig Since emerging in 2010 with the EP ‘Strange Cacti’, a collection of stripped-back songs teeming with folk influences, Angel Olsen’s palette has rapidly expanded. While remaining a constant in the indie sphere, the singer-songwriter has dabbled in country, pop and heartland rock while collaborating with artists including Sharon Van Etten, Mark Ronson and Emile Mosseri.
Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Thursday, 19 December 2024
The National - Rome (Album Review)
Photo: Graham MacIndoe The National have almost delivered the perfect live album with ‘Rome’, which positions you side stage for a career-spanning show where these unlikely world-conquerors breathe entirely new life into cuts old and new.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Monday, 16 December 2024
Lauren Mayberry - Vicious Creature (Album Review)
Photo: Charlotte Patmore Following more than a decade as singer of Scottish synth-pop trio CHVRCHES, Lauren Mayberry has now stepped into the spotlight solo, promising “an exercise in empowering myself to listen to my own intuition” and largely delivering on ‘Vicious Creature’.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 13 December 2024
ROSÉ - Rosie (Album Review)
Photo: Kenneth Cappello ‘Rosie’ is the debut from BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ, with the K-pop superstar appropriately using her first solo outing to delve into her most vulnerable and honest work yet. Here she fully showcases the extreme nature of growing up in the public eye, with social media trolling walking arm in arm with heartbreak.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
Dua Lipa - Live From The Royal Albert Hall (Album Review)
Photo: Elizabeth Miranda With her distinctive blend of pop and neo-disco, Dua Lipa has become one of the most well-loved pop stars to emerge from the UK in recent years. This live album is both a celebration of that fact and a reset of sorts.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 09 December 2024
Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More (Album Review)
Given the size of her footprint on modern rock, it almost feels like a glitch in the Matrix that Kim Deal is only now releasing her debut solo album. But ‘Nobody Loves You More’ proves to be well worth the wait.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 05 December 2024
Poppy - Negative Spaces (Album Review)
Photo: Sam Cannon On her sixth album, the YouTuber-turned pop acrobat Poppy has launched herself into alt-metal. The result is largely impressive, pulling together hard-edged metalcore with tuneful asides and occasional balladry.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Juice WRLD - The Party Never Ends (Album Review)
Photo: YouTube Five years have passed since Juice WRLD’s death but with ‘The Party Never Ends’ his legacy is still shining. The rapper’s third posthumous release is as poignant as it is hotly-anticipated following years of leaks and slow-moving progress behind the scenes. Its quality ensures a bittersweet send off.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Tuesday, 03 December 2024
Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes (Album Review)
Photo: Marco Grey The title of Michael Kiwanuka’s latest record doesn’t necessarily represent an accurate depiction of the way his life has played out since he won the 2019 Mercury Prize with ‘Kiwanuka’. That prize in itself hardly fits the category of ‘Small Changes’, but it’s dwarfed by the birth of two children and a move out of his native London.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 02 December 2024
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana (Album Review)
Photo: Bradley J. Calder Father John Misty has parlayed a distinctive sense of humour, unique vocal delivery and undeniable songs into a silken sound that’s always been undercut by a sense of restlessness. Josh Tillman’s music is hard to categorise, slipping seamlessly from pop to jazz and singer-songwriter fare to indie-folk, often covering multiple genres in one album. On his sixth LP this mix is as beguiling as ever, with ‘Mahashmashana’ charting sounds both familiar and new for the chameleonic artist.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 29 November 2024
Kendrick Lamar - GNX (Album Review)
Photo: pgLang In many ways, 2024 has been Kendrick Lamar’s year. From his high-profile beef with Drake and the slew of accompanying (some might say career-defining) diss tracks he gave us, to being announced for this season’s Super Bowl halftime show, it’s been impossible to avoid him. It only makes sense, then, that he’s closing it out with ‘GNX’, a surprise album that’s also one of the best things released in the past 12 months.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 26 November 2024
070 Shake - Petrichor (Album Review)
Photo: Gianni Gallant ‘Petrichor’ is the third album from New Jersey native and former Kanye West protégé 070 Shake. Now signed to Def Jam Records, the rapper-turned-singer has delivered an album of thrashy pop R&B synth dirges that are sometimes angry, sometimes tender, but frequently quite low-slung, stodgy and a bit difficult to listen to.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 25 November 2024
Warmduscher - Too Cold To Hold (Album Review)
Photo: Babycakes Romero If a monologue from Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh about DMT doesn’t sell you on an album, then perhaps Warmduscher’s fifth outing isn’t for you. But if you are in the market for a bit of maximalist surrealism, then look no further.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Monday, 25 November 2024
Westside Gunn & DJ Drama - Still Praying (Album Review)
When Westside Gunn announced that he wouldn’t be making albums anymore, many fans probably thought he’d go quiet musically. But in fine hip hop retirement tradition, it turns out the Buffalo rapper and record exec isn’t going anywhere. His new collaborative mixtape with DJ Drama serves as a bit of a victory lap.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Friday, 22 November 2024
Mary J. Blige - Gratitude (Album Review)
‘Gratitude’ is the latest album by the self-styled queen of hip hop soul Mary J. Blige, and it sees the multi-time Grammy winner deliver rich storytelling and vocal expertise while retracing some of the musical motifs of her 1990s heyday. But, despite its talented and varied cast of collaborators, it sounds like she’s phoning it in a bit.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 21 November 2024
Freddie Gibbs - You Only Die 1nce (Album Review)
Photo: Nick Walker Freddie Gibbs has been one of hip hop’s most consistent artists for 20 years now. The Gary, Indiana native has long stood out for his singular ability to fashion his flows and lyrics into wicked tools of destruction, entertainment and insight. He’s a rapper’s rapper, if ever there was one. ‘You Only Die 1nce’ continues that legacy, but it also threatens to undo it at times, with some questionable and unfocused moments blotting his copybook.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Linkin Park - From Zero (Album Review)
Photo: James Minchin III Linkin Park’s ‘From Zero’ faced an uphill battle from the off, with sky-high expectations in place as the band sought to uphold a tremendous legacy. It’s telling, then, that their first record since reuniting isn’t a continuation but a reset.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Ab-Soul - Soul Burger (Album Review)
‘Soul Burger’ is the sixth studio album from Ab-Soul, and it finds the Californian rapper, singer and Kendrick Lamar collaborator spit dynamic, versatile bars over an understated range of beats, motifs and samples. It is a decent enough hip hop album, with the occasional avant-garde flourish, but it doesn’t really deliver any bangers or live long in the memory.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 18 November 2024
Gwen Stefani - Bouquet (Album Review)
Gwen Stefani’s early solo work slotted into a vibrant era of pop music, with the infectious energy and bold attitude of songs such as Hollaback Girl and What You Waiting For? offering a refreshing extension of her latter-day work with No Doubt. If her new album is anything to go by, though, the past couple of decades have eroded the rebellious spirit that once defined her music.
Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Friday, 15 November 2024
Primal Scream - Come Ahead (Album Review)
Photo: Peter Johnson If Primal Scream somehow ended up amid the tea towels, mixers and gingham of Bake Off, ‘Come Ahead’ wouldn’t put them in line for a handshake. Their 12th studio album, much like their entire career, is an inconsistent series of 11 bakes. Some are burnt, some underdone, and a few are cooked to perfection. They simply can’t weigh their ingredients.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake 2 (Album Review)
Photo: Garrett Bruce It’s been four years since Lil Uzi Vert’s much-anticipated second album ‘Eternal Atake’ landed, delivering on the promise shown throughout the rapper’s mixtapes and on their debut record ‘Luv Is Rage 2’. The intervening years have been a mess of dramas and beefs and it seems that all of that has become distracting — the terrible ‘Eternal Atake 2’ is the work of someone who has forgotten what made them such a hot commodity in the first place.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Friday, 08 November 2024
Tyler, The Creator - Chromakopia (Album Review)
Photo: YouTube Tyler, the Creator is 33, and you can tell. Proof that the rapper has settled into the fourth decade of his life can be found throughout ‘Chromakopia’, a record that is just as textured, challenging, exciting and rewarding as that period of time can be.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 07 November 2024
Autre Ne Veut - Love, Guess Who?? (Album Review)
Photo: Bellamy Brewster Autre Ne Veut first emerged from the New York underground scene in 2010 as a bruised but soulful solo artist, and over three albums developed a sound and persona that was one part Usher, one part Justin Timberlake and one part Frank Ocean. They made a name for themselves in a scene that is referred to semi-pejoratively as PBR&B — a pun on the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer that is often associated with hipster dive bars and warehouse gigs.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 06 November 2024
Kelsea Ballerini - Patterns (Album Review)
Photo: Nyk Allen While on 2022’s ‘Subject To Change’ it felt like Kelsea Ballerini was pulling her punches, the following year’s ‘Rolling Up The Welcome Mat’ EP found the country-popper hit the reset button with a right hook. Stepping off the genre’s customary carousel of songwriters by choosing to write and produce solely with Alysa Vanderheym, Ballerini channelled a divorce-sized stack of feelings into six stripped-back numbers.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Soccer Mommy - Evergreen (Album Review)
Photo: Anna Pollack On ‘Evergreen’, Sophie Allison takes us back to the start. The singer-songwriter has been making music under the name Soccer Mommy since she was 17 and first began uploading her home-recorded songs to Bandcamp. In the years that have followed she’s become known for her dreamy, shoegazey sound and sentimental lyrics, but here she trades indie-rock bite in for a stripped-back sound akin to her lo-fi early days.
Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Tuesday, 05 November 2024
Underworld - Strawberry Hotel (Album Review)
Since forming in 1987 Underworld have helped redefine British electronic music with a style that is hard to put your finger on but familiar and easy to get lost in. ‘Strawberry Hotel’ is their 11th studio album and their first since 2019 and, with 15 tracks spanning close to 70 minutes, it is another highly ambitious project that shows the duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 04 November 2024
Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat (Album Review)
Photo: Tamsin Topolski Laura Marling’s no longer playing house. On 2020’s ‘Song For Our Daughter’, the singer-songwriter made the transition into starkly sparse arrangements as she wrote guidance for a fictional daughter. Its follow up, ‘Patterns In Repeat’ follows its title’s lead — delving into motherhood again, but for real this time. Despite pulling zero punches, it still offers the warmth of a winter morning’s freshly roasted coffee.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Monday, 04 November 2024
Beth Hart - You Still Got Me (Album Review)
To listen to Beth Hart's music is to know her. Pouring her experiences into songs that reflect the daily emotional roller coaster of living with bipolar in an increasingly turbulent world, there’s a level of necessity to her songwriting that moves beyond simply processing complex feelings. More than ever, music feels like her salvation on this thrill ride of a record.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 01 November 2024
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness (Album Review)
Photo: John Angus Stewart We already know that Amyl and the Sniffers are loud and boisterous, and that they have a penchant for a trip to the pub. But thanks to ‘Cartoon Darkness’ we also know that they haven’t been too busy clowning to stop and take notice of the slowly deteriorating world around them. On album three their gritty punk vibrancy remains firmly intact, but there are added shades of grey that make any washes of bright colour pop even more.
Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Friday, 01 November 2024
Halsey - The Great Impersonator (Album Review)
Halsey’s ‘The Great Impersonator’ was introduced with a bit of hero-worship. Recreating iconic photoshoots from Fiona Apple, Aaliyah, Dolores O’Riordan, Britney Spears, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen, she provided a fascinating peek into the musical influences that informed album five. Equally, though, it was shaped by her experience of living with lupus and a rare T-cell disorder while being a young mother. As a result, this is a profound exploration of identity, illness, and the power of music.
Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Courteeners - Pink Cactus Café (Album Review)
Manchester’s Courteeners have been one of the UK’s leading indie bands since the release of 2008’s ‘St Jude’, a record that set out blueprints for rock-solid songwriting and communal feeling. The group now return with the eclectic ‘Pink Cactus Café’, which takes their sound in some intriguing and ambitious directions, resulting in one of their most accomplished and varied records to date.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Pixies - The Night The Zombies Came (Album Review)
Photo: Travis Shinn It feels like every new Pixies album gets praised by some as a reinvention and criticised by others for being too familiar. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Today, as they always have done, the band revel in taking small left turns, while retaining their signature quirky pop songwriting chops.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Megan Thee Stallion - Megan: Act II (Album Review)
It seems inevitable these days that whenever a major artist releases a new album, it’s swiftly followed by a deluxe re-release within about six months. Such is the case with ‘Megan: Act II’, which follows just three months behind Megan Thee Stallion’s eponymous third album.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 29 October 2024
Confidence Man - 3AM (LA LA LA) (Album Review)
Photo: Julian Buchan Confidence Man have recently graduated from a guilty pleasure to key players in the UK dance scene. In 2022, the Australian electro-pop outfit’s stock rose considerably thanks to their second album ‘TILT’, and after following it up with a viral Glastonbury performance and a 2023 summer hit in Now U Do (with DJ Seinfeld) their appeal has only grown.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Monday, 28 October 2024
Bon Iver - SABLE EP (Album Review)
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon will always be an enigma. Since 2007’s ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ stumbled from a Wisconsin hunting cabin into the hearts and homes of people seeking emotionally intelligent indie-folk, he has been remodelling their music to serve whatever purpose he sees fit. On their first new release since 2019’s Marmite, ‘i,i’, the ‘SABLE’ EP serves as a stripped-back system reboot.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Monday, 28 October 2024
Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol (Album Review)
When it comes to making a final album there are umpteen approaches you could take. But, really, it boils down to this: are you going to double down on what has endeared you to fans on previous releases, or are you going to take one last chance with something new? Japandroids very much go for the former on ‘Fate & Alcohol’, but in a way that manages to avoid feeling old hat.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 25 October 2024
Kylie Minogue - Tension II (Album Review)
Photo: Erik Melvin Sometimes things take on a life of their own. What began as a few more songs for an extended version of 2023’s ‘Tension’ turned into a sequel for Kylie Minogue, and one that matches its predecessor. Here the Australian icon showcases her ability to evolve while keeping the shimmering dance-pop coming.
Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Thursday, 24 October 2024
Porridge Radio - Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (Album Review)
With a band name like Porridge Radio, you’d be forgiven for expecting a certain degree of fun musical whimsy. The Brighton band’s first couple of records delivered that, exuding colourful, if straightforward, indie energy with charming vigour, leading to them steadily becoming one of the UK touring circuit’s most cherished darlings.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 23 October 2024
Myles Kennedy - The Art of Letting Go (Album Review)
Photo: Chuck Brueckmann During a recent interview on Justin Hawkins’ YouTube series, Myles Kennedy was heralded as “the pre-eminent rock vocalist of our time” by someone who should know. But although that claim is merited, the Alter Bridge man’s hard-rocking third solo album once again showcases an artist who’s got more to offer than a recognisable voice. ‘The Art of Letting Go’ showcases his potent all-round game, from instinctive compositional smarts and sublime guitar playing to pensive lyricism and dynamic craftsmanship.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 22 October 2024
Touché Amoré - Spiral In A Straight Line (Album Review)
Photo: Sean Stout You can feel the emotion that roars from Jeremy Bolm’s voice in your bones and to know anything about Touché Amoré’s music is to know that their frontman should have been broken a long time ago. The California hardcore band’s previous two records dealt with the gravitational pull of grief following the death of his mother, finding catharsis but not necessarily a way out. Now, ‘Spiral In A Straight Line’ maps the way to exit.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Monday, 21 October 2024
Goat - Goat (Album Review)
Goat’s sixth studio record sees the masked Swedish rockers saunter through afrobeat, funk, pastoral folk and more in a psychedelic journey of extreme joy. The result is a record of interstellar overdrive and creative overflow that jinks and zigs and spirals while just about hanging together.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 17 October 2024
Caribou - Honey (Album Review)
If earlier Caribou albums hadn’t already, ‘Honey’ proves that Dan Snaith is a sure pair of hands for energetic and musically intellectual dance music. But what sets it apart from previous endeavours is the pace. From the opening track, Broke My Heart, this record picks up momentum that evolves throughout and never wavers.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Drug Church - Prude (Album Review)
Photo: Manuel Barajas On the surface, Patrick Kindlon is one of the most comically cynical writers in hardcore’s recent history. But Drug Church’s fifth album ‘Prude’ is so much more than that — there is painfully catchy and arresting guitar work that keeps the record moving, along with genuine depth of feeling.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2024
The Hard Quartet - The Hard Quartet (Album Review)
Photo: Atiba Jefferson The Hard Quartet’s lineup reads like a Comic Con lineup for indie heads, bringing together Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, The Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly, Chavez’s Matt Sweeney, and Dirty Three’s Jim White. Reflecting its members’ wandering tastes, the supergroup’s self-titled debut is a sprawling buffet of decades and genres.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 11 October 2024
Jake Bugg - A Modern Day Distraction (Album Review)
Photo: Kevin Westenberg When Jake Bugg burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, his debut album’s distinctive throwback blend of indie, folk and skiffle set him up as a future giant. In the decade since, though, he has opted to experiment with different sounds, incorporating elements of country and electronic music with varying degrees of success. His latest ‘A Modern Day Distraction’, sees a return to the more raw sound of his early work.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 11 October 2024
Geordie Greep - The New Sound (Album Review)
Photo: Yis Kid Geordie Greep’s debut solo album is a smutty mix of chamber pop, Baxter Dury and Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. Over 11 tracks we are introduced to energetic, desperate characters envisioned and performed by the former Black Midi guitarist — they plead and prate and ultimately fail to reassure. As a group they seem locked in an occasionally delicious death spiral of substance abuse and sexual ennui. You’re going on a journey, or actually, several.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 10 October 2024
Godspeeed You! Black Emperor - No Title As of 13 February 2024, 28,340 Dead (Album Review)
Photo: Yannick Grandmont Godspeed You! Black Emperor have always excelled at crafting poignant, expansive post-rock, telling instrumental stories where words won’t do. Never has that sentiment been more true than with ‘No Title as of 13 February 2024, 28,340 Dead’. The band’s eighth album’s title makes explicit reference to the death toll in Gaza and its six movements are odes to both the devastation wrought and also small glimmers of hope.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 10 October 2024
The Smile - Cutouts (Album Review)
Photo: ShinKatan x Weirdcore It has been almost a decade since the last Radiohead record landed, but it’s not like that space has been filled with silence. ‘Cutouts’ is the second release by The Smile — Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner — in 2024 and their third in two years. As we have come to expect it is another varied album charting their diverse range of influences in a more playful manner than Yorke and Greenwood might have in the past.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Coldplay - Moon Music (Album Review)
Photo: Anna Lee It feels like Coldplay aren’t really making albums anymore, instead they’re making setlist alterations for their stadium tours. ‘Moon Music’, like 2021’s ‘Music Of The Spheres’ before it, feels more like listening to the second disc of a best of compilation — you’ve heard all the hits so here’s some more, just not as good.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 09 October 2024
