Will Butler + Sister Squares - Will Butler + Sister Squares (Album Review)
Photo: Alexa Viscius When Will Butler left Arcade Fire after recording ‘We’, he said it was “time for new things.” Given that he was already three solo records deep at that stage, the statement suggested a possible handbrake turn in his near future. But the fuzzy synths, feel-good melodies, and frenetic pacing of 2020’s ‘Generations’ are all present ‘Will Butler + Sister Squares’, and so is the nagging feeling that we’re listening to Arcade Fire from another dimension, rather than anything new.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 28 September 2023
Hot Milk - A Call To The Void (Album Review)
Photo: Frank Fieber Five years. That’s how long it’s taken Manchester pop-punk duo Hot Milk to release their debut album, capitalising on a string of high-profile shows including a support slot with Foo Fighters and general next big thing hype. ‘A Call To the Void’ was pieced together between Los Angeles and Manchester and it’s ultimately an album that tells the story of its own making, including the toll it took on its creators. But was it worth the wait?
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Vic Mensa - Victor (Album Review)
Photo: Biz 3 Publicity In the six years since the release of ‘The Autobiography’, Vic Mensa has stood on shifting sands, with drugs, the law and changing creative tastes all in play. He looked inward, dabbled in short-form releases and side-projects, and found a new lease of life that his second album ‘Victor’ chronicles with varying rates of success.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
The National - Laugh Track (Album Review)
Photo: Graham MacIndoe Surprise releases are becoming more and more common, but it’s more unusual for a band such as The National to spring one like this. ‘Laugh Track’ follows quickly on the heels of ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’, which arrived earlier this year. The new album arose from the same sessions as its predecessor but, while that LP paled in comparison to many of its peers, this chapter is quietly superb.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Nation of Language - Strange Disciple (Album Review)
Photo: Shervin Lainez Presiding over a melting pot of nostalgic new wave, motorik rhythms and dancefloor-ready basslines, Brooklyn’s Nation of Language possess the ability to move listeners both physically and emotionally.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Monday, 25 September 2023
Mitski - The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We (Album Review)
Photo: Ebru Yildiz Mitski quietly made three albums before crashing into the wider consciousness with Your Best American Girl in 2016. In this time, she honed not so much a sound as a sound world, tied together by haunting melodies and cutting but syrupy vocals.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 22 September 2023
Demi Lovato - Revamped (Album Review)
Photo: Angelo Kritikos From many smiley roles on the Disney Channel through a box office pop career, Demi Lovato had plenty of expectations to subvert with the release of ‘Holy Fvck’ in 2022. The album’s rock-centric, cathartic approach served as something of a reset with both fans and critics, setting up ‘Revamped’, a collection of Lovato's biggest hits newly recast as rock songs.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Thursday, 21 September 2023
Thirty Seconds to Mars - It's The End Of The World But It's A Beautiful Day (Album Review)
Photo: Bartholomew Cubbins Whether it's down to an artist’s maturity, necessity or the shifting tides of public taste, change is the only constant in modern music. Thirty Seconds To Mars has always worn that fact on their sleeves, and over the course of 25 years have shifted from emo-flecked rock to electronic art-pop with various stops in between. With their sixth album 'It's The End Of The World But It's A Beautiful Day' their unknowable journey continues, but the scenery is a drag.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Corey Taylor - CMF2 (Album Review)
Photo: Marina Hunter It has been less than a year since Slipknot’s last album, and yet their force-of-nature frontman, Corey Taylor, is already back with his second solo outing. ‘CMF2’ riffs on the title of his first effort ‘CMFT’ — in other words, Corey Mother Fucking Taylor — and fittingly does the same with its sound, carrying the baton forward while simultaneously heading into uncharted territory.
Written by: Rishi Shah | Date: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Baroness - Stone (Album Review)
Photo: Ebru Yildiz Few metal or metal-adjacent bands ramp up their heaviness as they age. It takes extreme skill and ambition to find new ways to deliver crushing blows across careers that span multiple albums and, potentially, decades.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 19 September 2023
Courtney Barnett - End of the Day (Album Review)
Anonymous Club, Danny Cohen’s documentary about Courtney Barnett, threw up an interesting treat for fans, offering insight into the Australian indie-rocker’s journey to international recognition. Now, ‘End of the Day’ takes the film’s score and gives it its own release, pulling down the curtain on Milk! Records, the label Barnett started a little more than a decade ago, in the process.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 18 September 2023
Giggs - Zero Tolerance (Album Review)
"I got the scene / where it needs to be / I got receipts," is a bold statemen, but coming from the opening track of Giggs's 'Zero Tolerance', it makes a lot of sense. The Peckham rapper has been at the forefront of the British scene, contributing to some of its defining moments, for almost 20 years now. He really has helped elevate the craft to the chart-topping success that it is today.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 18 September 2023
Angel Du$t - Brand New Soul (Album Review)
Photo: Elyza Reinhart Angel Du$t’s ‘Brand New Soul’ might as well be the soul of Justice Tripp pressed to vinyl, pulling together his status as a hardcore figurehead and jangle-pop experimenter in a manner that we haven’t seen before.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Friday, 15 September 2023
Olivia Rodrigo - Guts (Album Review)
Photo: Larissa Hofmann With her powerhouse voice, lyrics that nail an under-explored young female experience and A+ student attitude to musical history, Olivia Rodrigo's second album demonstrates a pop star who is still way ahead of her age.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Royal Blood - Back To The Water Below (Album Review)
Photo: Tom Beard The last time we heard from Royal Blood, they were dancing through their anxieties with their brightest, most uptempo two-person soundscapes to date. Two years on from the release of ‘Typhoons’, though, things are looking murkier.
Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit (Album Review)
Photo: Chris Carreon Meandering guitar lines and off-kilter vocal melodies have been a distinguishing feature of Speedy Ortiz’s music from the very beginning. Since the release of the Philadelphia-based band’s understated yet self-assured debut album ‘Major Arcana’ a decade ago, songwriter, producer, vocalist and guitarist Sadie Dupuis has displayed a unique ear for captivating tracks that can be enjoyed without always being fully understood.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Sparklehorse - Bird Machine (Album Review)
Photo: Danny Clinch Across four albums spanning nine years, the late Mark Linkous produced a body of work that made any announcement of posthumous Sparklehorse material a cause for trepidation. Some of those initial fears were allayed when it was revealed that Linkous’s little brother Matt and sister-in-law Melissa Moore-Linkous — confidants who were valued friends and fans alike — would be bringing them to light.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Monday, 11 September 2023
Slowdive - Everything is Alive (Album Review)
With their impressive phoenix from the flames act on their self-titled album in 2017, Slowdive proved that they are still very much alive. Staggeringly, the shoegaze greats’ fifth record ‘Everything is Alive’ is better still. Dedicated to Rachel Goswell’s mother and Simon Scott’s father – both of whom were lost during that annus horribilis of 2020 – these songs are rich and, fittingly, heavenly.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 08 September 2023
Empire State Bastard - Rivers of Heresy (Album Review)
Do you ever listen to Biffy Clyro and wish they made weird, arthouse grindcore instead? If so, here’s some great news — that's Empire State Bastard. Formed by Biffy mainman Simon Neil and Oceansize's Mike Vennart, who has been their touring guitarist for years, the band makes good on a dream they fostered by sharing the oddest, nastiest music they could find with each other while on the road.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 07 September 2023
Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode (Album Review)
There aren’t many musicians out there like Jeff Rosenstock. Returning with his fifth solo record 'Hellmode', he is now a major player in the alternative scene, boasting healthy streaming numbers and sold out tours, while still seemingly doing whatever the hell he pleases, prioritising a genuine punk ethos and an inexhaustible work ethic.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Wednesday, 06 September 2023
Ashnikko - Weedkiller (Album Review)
Photo: Vasso Vu Ashnikko doesn’t do things by halves. After their breakthrough single Stupid and mixtape ‘Demidevil’ showcased an artist unafraid to marry the fantastical with alt-pop, rock and rap, the multifaceted musician slowly but surely put the finishing touches to their debut album ‘Weedkiller’, a sci-fi concept album that explores trauma, sexuality and more through their own unique pop lens.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Morgan Wade - Psychopath (Album Review)
Photo: Matthew Berinato Although some people are genuinely fearless, tackling everything in their path without flinching, can that really be classified as brave if they don’t experience apprehension beforehand? Surely real courage is when someone feels scared about the road ahead but still pushes forward? In which case, if it weren’t already synonymous with a former Nashville darling, ‘Fearless’ would definitely be the perfect title for Morgan Wade’s bold and beautiful return.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 04 September 2023
Ratboys - The Window (Album Review)
Photo: Alexa Viscius ‘The Window’ is the latest full length from Chicago four piece Ratboys, and while it may provide a view of the world that surrounds them, it also acts as a portal into their innermost workings.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Thursday, 31 August 2023
Buck Meek - Haunted Mountain (Album Review)
Photo: Shervin Lainez Listening to Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek’s solo work is like exploring Marvel’s cinematic universe — it offers the chance to spend more time with characters you love, while exploring worlds that feel fresh and reassuringly familiar all at once.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
The Armed - Perfect Saviors (Album Review)
If you’re unfamiliar with The Armed, go read about some of their reality-smashing pranks. From sending journalists on bizarre wild goose chases to stealing Frank Turner’s vocals, the Detroit collective were once as much a postmodern art experiment as they were a band.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 29 August 2023
Hiss Golden Messenger - Jump For Joy (Album Review)
Photo: Graham Tolbert Over the past 20 years one consistent trait displayed by Hiss Golden Messenger’s M.C Taylor has been his love of music, and his unwavering belief in its power to overcome. In the face of failures, periods of depression and the general toll that life can take he has been steadfast in his commitment to creativity, and the restorative effect it has on both him and his listeners. His latest release ‘Jump for Joy’ may well be the best example of the jubilant feeling that lurks deep within all of his work.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Friday, 25 August 2023
Hozier - Unreal Unearth (Album Review)
Photo: Barry McCall Make no mistake about it, this is going to be huge—one of those records that sticks around. Employing an army of outside writers and producers to help fashion its ruminative collection of eclectic and ambitious sonic paintings, Hozier’s third record, despite its tortured sentiments, is a hugely accessible offering. Yet, by surrendering creative control in order to push his sound forwards, it also represents a disappointing step into homogenous territory at the expense of its creator’s most bewitching traits.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 24 August 2023
Osees - Intercepted Message (Album Review)
Photo: Titouan Massé Disruption seems to have become the most common, if not the only real way, to enact radical change. Upsetting the status quo, upending beliefs and subverting expectations enacts a competitive edge; something California's Osees can attest to since their own campaign of disruption started in the late 1990s.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Fiddlehead - Death Is Nothing To Us (Album Review)
On their aptly titled third record ‘Death Is Nothing To Us’, Fiddlehead’s Pat Flynn puts forward the idea that we should not let loss define the rest of our lives. The band’s material has always dealt with his personal experiences of grief, and it feels like now is the right time for the final revelatory instalment.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Monday, 21 August 2023
The Hives - The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (Album Review)
Photo: Ebru Yildiz It might clock in at only 31 minutes but it’s not all that easy to listen to the Hives’ latest bombardment of relentless punked-up rock ‘n’ roll glory from start to finish. As soon as the first riotous cut ends it’s almost impossible not to hit repeat. Same with the next track. And the next. And so on. But, their own cheeky braggadocio aside, that’s exactly what makes this hugely addictive return every bit the “soon to be award winning new album” the band have repeatedly claimed.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 17 August 2023
Noname - Sundial (Album Review)
Though Noname has built her short but acclaimed career on a compassionate and likeable brand of hip-hop, the Chicago native is no stranger to controversy. She’s feuded with J. Cole, has briefly retired and is currently taking heat for the content of Jay Electronica’s verse on her latest album ‘Sundial’.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Public Image Ltd - End Of World (Album Review)
Photo: Andres Poveda Photography Public Image Ltd. spin a defiant tale on their 11th studio album ‘End of World’ — their first missive since ‘What the World Needs Now…’ in 2015 — with John Lydon in typically pugilistic voice. Around him, the music remains feverish and fitfully interesting, but there is a dispiriting amount of attention-grabbing from the group’s fabled singer, who is in danger of being left behind.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Monday, 14 August 2023
Mammoth WVH - Mammoth II (Album Review)
Photo: Travis Shinn While chatting with US shock jock Howard Stern back in 2006, Eddie Van Halen wasn’t shy about bigging up his then teenage son. “Wait ‘til you hear this kid play bass, guitar and drums,” the late shred-legend said. “He can do anything I do on guitar. If I excel at the speed of sound, this kid excels at the speed of light.” More than 15 years later that declaration about Wolfgang Van Halen seems less like parental cheerleading than it does a reserved understatement.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 10 August 2023
Girl Ray - Prestige (Album Review)
Photo: Eerie Rose Girl Ray appear to be in a constant state of transition, moving from their charming indie debut ‘Earl Grey’ through the pop-R&B tones of their second release ‘Girl’ and on to ‘Prestige’, a third album that drags us to the dancefloor, embracing all things disco with catchy synth work and floaty vocals.
Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
Nils Lofgren - Mountains (Album Review)
Photo: Carl Schultz Aged 72, and with and more than 50 years on the road alongside Neil Young in Crazy Horse and as a key member of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, Nils Lofgren has a reputation as one of the most prolific workhorses in classic rock.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Thursday, 03 August 2023
Ten Tonnes - Dancing, Alone (Album Review)
Photo: Phoebe Fox Ethan Barnett isn’t the first musician to find creative fuel in splitting from a major label, and his excellent second album as Ten Tonnes suggests he won’t be the last. After parting ways with Warner Music, had the chance to reevaluate and reclaim a sense of agency. ‘Dancing, Alone’ maintains the charming indie of his self-titled debut while presenting a more mature and seasoned sound.
Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Thursday, 03 August 2023
Post Malone - Austin (Album Review)
Photo: Adam DeGross Self-loathing has rarely sounded as good as it does on ‘Austin’, Post Malone’s hip-hop-denying, guitar-embracing, synth-pop follow-up to last year’s comedown ‘Twelve Carat Toothache’. Produced by Post himself, and sharply assisted by some of pop’s biggest hitmakers — think Andrew Watts, Louis Bell, Max Martin — it’s the perfect soundtrack for lazy sunday brunches by the pool. And not much else.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
Anne-Marie - Unhealthy (Album Review)
Photo: George Muncey Conceiving a follow up to her 2021 record ‘Therapy’, which hit number two in the UK charts and set up a jump to headlining arenas, was always going to be a challenge for Anne-Marie. Following a promising start, ‘Unhealthy’ proves precisely how difficult the task was.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 02 August 2023
Jessy Lanza - Love Hallucination (Album Review)
With their glossy textures, candy floss colour and melancholic beats, the 11 tracks of Jessy Lanza’s ‘Love Hallucination’ approximate their title in glorious fashion. The Canadian producer and vocalist resides in a middle ground—signed to the forward-thinking label Hyperdub since her 2013 debut 'Pull My Hair Back', her approach can often feel too adventurous for the mainstream but too approachable to remain underground.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 01 August 2023
Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760 (Album Review)
Richard D. James rarely pops his head out from beneath the parapet without good reason, so when he does people take notice. ‘Blackbox Life Recorder 21f / in a room7 F760’ is the first new Aphex Twin project since the ‘Collapse’ EP in 2018 and it represents quite a shift in creative priorities.
Written by: Jo Higgs | Date: Monday, 31 July 2023
Bethany Cosentino - Natural Disaster (Album Review)
When you are young, time is on your side. Plans are impermanent and changed at will. It’s a cruel trick that advancing age teaches us newfound respect for it, only to also make it harder to know what to do with it. Bethany Cosentino wrangles with this idea on her first solo record ‘Natural Disaster’, stitching that feeling to a soaring piece of power-pop on Outta Time. “I am only human / And I don’t wanna run outta time,” she sings.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Friday, 28 July 2023
Palehound - Eye on the Bat (Album Review)
Photo: Tonje Thilesen El Kempner has never been one to shy away from life's humorous, ugly truths. As Palehound, they have made a habit of wrapping wry tales of sexual escapades and emotional turmoil in knotty, unusual guitar patterns. With ‘Eye on the Bat’ they continue to do so in breezy, if slightly underwhelming, fashion.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Tuesday, 25 July 2023
J Hus - Beautiful And Brutal Yard (Album Review)
Photo: Elliot Hensford In the wake of 2020’s ‘Big Conspiracy’, a critical hit and his first UK number one album, J Hus has established himself as one of London’s foremost voices when it comes to bringing the gritty underground to the masses in colourful and inventive ways.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 24 July 2023
Blur - The Ballad of Darren (Album Review)
Photo: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis “Looked in the mirror, so many people standing there,” Damon Albarn sang to introduce The Narcissist, the first single from Blur’s ninth album. In fewer than 10 words he conveyed an awful lot about the band, reminding us of the many guises they have worn over more than 30 years in each other’s company.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Friday, 21 July 2023
Rita Ora - You & I (Album Review)
Photo: Edward Cooke On ‘You & I’, Rita Ora opens the door to the reality faced by many artists caught in the machine-like jaws of the music industry, using the skirmishes that have accompanied her massive chart success as creative fuel. The end result is a patchy collection that manages to neatly synthesise her battle to be heard with a sense of positivity taken from her relationships with her loved ones while often missing the mark musically.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 20 July 2023
PVRIS - Evergreen (Album Review)
Photo: Matty Vogel In her work with PVRIS Lyndsey Gunnulfsen has never been bound by genre, but with the multi-instrumentalist’s new album ‘Evergreen’ any remaining lines between their alt-rock roots and pure, euphoric pop are erased completely.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Claud - Supermodels (Album Review)
Taking in Claud’s second album is like watching a musician grow up in real time. Where their 2021 debut ‘Super Monster’ was over-reliant on prescriptive and kitschy bedroom-pop tropes, ‘Supermodels’ brandishes diverse arrangements and ecstatic production.
Written by: Jo Higgs | Date: Tuesday, 18 July 2023
Local Natives - Time Will Wait For No One (Album Review)
Photo: Zac Farro Local Natives have always run on the belief that they can reinvent themselves. For 14 years, the band have consistently found new settings that make sense for their brand of jangly, arty indie-rock, and that largely remains the case on their fifth album, 'Time Will Wait For No One'. The big twist is that they’re happy to indulge in a little bit of self-referential fun at the same time.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 17 July 2023
Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (Album Review)
Photo: Beth Garrabrant Just imagine being an awkward teenager on the cusp of adulthood, with all that entails, while simultaneously becoming a global megastar whose every move is dissected and condemned by bloodthirsty tabloids. Spurred on by relentless attacks about her artistic and personal worth after ‘Fearless’ had exploded into the public consciousness, a 19-year-old Taylor Swift found herself in this exact spot before releasing ‘Speak Now’ in 2010.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 13 July 2023
PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year Dying (Album Review)
Photo: Steve Gullick A companion piece to her 2022 poetry book Orlam, the 12 tracks on PJ Harvey’s ‘I Inside the Old Year Dying’ are enigmatic and enthralling fragments that find her looking inwards to a ghostly place filled with folklore and memories.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
