Ice Spice - Y2K! (Album Review)

Photo: Coughs Ice Spice’s debut does everything you want it to, but too often it does plenty of things you don’t. At its most accomplished, ‘Y2K!’ oozes confidence at every intersection, silencing haters each step of the way. At its worst, the album is brash and unnecessarily boastful with lacklustre songwriting at its heart.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Denzel Curry - King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2 (Album Review)

Just two years after a foray into jazz-rap on ‘Melt My Eyez See Your Future’, Denzel Curry has upended expectations once again with ‘King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2’, serving up an ode to the music that raised him.

Written by: Jay Fullarton | Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Soft Play - Heavy Jelly (Album Review)

Photo: Jude Harrison With their first album as Soft Play, Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent have flipped a switch. Having ditched their problematic former name and emerged from a hiatus sparked by devastating life events and music industry malaise – Vincent’s partner died of cancer in 2020, while Holman struggled with his mental health, at one point considering quitting the band altogether to become a gardener — ‘Heavy Jelly’ is an attempt to wring the fun out of things again.

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Johnny Blue Skies - Passage du Desir (Album Review)

Photo: Semi Song In a recent episode of the popular podcast ‘The Rest is Entertainment’, quiz show producer and all round brainbox Richard Osman presented his own study of UK number ones in the 21st Century. Though the exact stats were sometimes a little shaky the general gist was unmistakable: since the year 2000, popular music has pivoted wildly away from bands and groups, and towards individual performers.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 29 July 2024

Joe Goddard - Harmonics (Album Review)

Photo: Louise Mason In the mid 2000s, Hot Chip suddenly became ubiquitous in a music scene tired of landfill indie and macho rock. They brightened dancefloors with a particular brand of undemanding electro pop, and when Joe Goddard, one of the band’s founders, released his first solo album as a producer in 2009, it felt like a natural development for easy-going, clubbable music loved by hipster-accountants. 

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 26 July 2024

Los Campesinos! - All Hell (Album Review)

Photo: Martyna Bannister Los Campesinos! have returned just in time. The world feels like it’s going to hell in a handcart (or in a “handjob” as one of the punny titles on ‘All Hell’ suggests) so the Cardiff indie band’s compassion and intelligence feels all the more vital in these dark days.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 25 July 2024

Speed - Only One Mode (Album Review)

Photo: James Hartley In case you hadn’t noticed, hardcore is having a moment. Between Knocked Loose playing eye-popping shows in huge rooms and bands such as Gel, Zulu and Scowl igniting the scene’s foundations with boundary-pushing records, the post-Turnstile glow up continues at breakneck pace. Another name to keep a very close eye on is Speed.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 24 July 2024

Childish Gambino - Bando Stone And The New World (Album Review)

Donald Glover’s creative output epitomises ‘metamodern’. His work bulldozes irony in search of complex, messy layers of emotional sincerity. As Childish Gambino, he crafts dense, ambitious albums, rife with self-awareness, juxtaposed genres and cautiously optimistic explorations of human identity.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 23 July 2024

Glass Animals - I Love You So F***ing Much (Album Review)

Photo: Lillie Eiger Glass Animals have been a popular band for a decade but the breakout success of their 2020 album ‘Dreamland’ – in particular the slow-burn smash hit Heat Waves – propelled them to unexpected heights. 

Written by: Adam England | Date: Friday, 19 July 2024

Remi Wolf - Big Ideas (Album Review)

Photo: Ragan Henderson ‘Big Ideas’ is a transformative release for Remi Wolf, boldly, almost audaciously redefining genre boundaries, but it’s reflected by the emotional minutiae of her life. These songs draw heavily on the transient nature of her life experiences — from her brief time as a competitive skier to her appearances on American Idol — and pull together an overall theme of impermanence that’s reflected by its many shifts in tone.

Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Friday, 19 July 2024

Cigarettes After Sex - X's (Album Review)

Photo: Ebru Yildiz White lines, wine, and a wild imagination are all you need to spend a weekend wallowing with Greg Gonzalez. On the band’s third album ‘X’s’, the Cigarettes After Sex frontman chases that heady mix with a deep dive into a toxic relationship. On paper, it sounds perfect. On record, it's a deadening 40-minute slide through 10 songs that are all indistinguishable from one another.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 18 July 2024

Griff - Vertigo (Album Review)

In 2021, Griff won the Brits’ rising star award, catapulting her into a creative production mode and a touring schedule that left the singer-songwriter nearly burnt out. Now, after an inspiration-seeking grand tour of European Airbnbs, the Hertfordshire native is back with ‘Vertigo’, a debut album defined by exciting and breathy pop.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 17 July 2024

Clairo - Charm (Album Review)

Photo: Lucas Creighton Clairo has come a long way since her debut. Where ‘Immunity’ traded in hook-heavy, scratchy bedroom-pop, she has followed up her acclaimed 2021 record ‘Sling’ with her most fully realised album yet. Each track on ‘Charm’ is brimming with full-bodied, rich instrumentals produced in collaboration with Leon Michels, whose past attachments to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and The Black Keys offer a glimpse of its palette.

Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Tuesday, 16 July 2024

Eminem - The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (Album Review)

Much has been made of Eminem’s decision to revive his iconic, foul-mouthed alter ego Slim Shady only to kill him off — supposedly for good this time — but ‘The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)’ isn’t really interested in the big question. Namely, do we need Shady in 2024?

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Monday, 15 July 2024

Previous Industries - Service Merchandise (Album Review)

Photo: Robyn Von Swank For a minute it felt as though hip-hop’s axis had shifted, with wordplay and storytelling ushered out by lean, face tats and Soundcloud rap. What a relief it is, then, to hear ‘Service Merchandise’, the debut album from Previous Industries.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 11 July 2024

Stefflon Don - Island 54 (Album Review)

It’s wild to think that — after almost a decade in the game, multiple mixtapes and features on tracks by Ne-Yo, Wiley and Mariah Carey — this Stefflon Don is only now ready to unleash her debut studio album. ‘Island 54’ arrives steeped in anticipation and promise, just about delivering.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Megan Thee Stallion - Megan (Album Review)

Right now, Megan Thee Stallion is where most artists want to be — wherever you look in the world of hip-hop, the Houston rapper is right at the heart of it, setting the agenda rather than following it. Her third album ‘Megan’, then, could not come at a better time.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 09 July 2024

Gracie Abrams - The Secret Of Us (Album Review)

Photo: Abby Waisler It rarely hurts to receive a co-sign from the biggest pop star on the planet, as Gracie Abrams recently discovered. ‘The Secret of Us’, her second album, features Us, a co-write and duet with Taylor Swift that the pair recently teamed up to perform together at the Wembley Stadium leg of the Eras Tour. But there’s more to Abrams than this glossy endorsement.

Written by: Emma Way | Date: Tuesday, 09 July 2024

Kasabian - Happenings (Album Review)

Photo: Neil Bedford Kasabian have been one of the most successful indie bands of the past 20 years thanks to enduring hits including Club Foot, Underdog and Fire, seeing off the exit of singer Tom Meighan in 2020 to continue their popularity under Serge Pizzorno.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 08 July 2024

Washed Out - Notes From a Quiet Life (Album Review)

Photo: Landon Speers The name Washed Out has long been synonymous with dreamy chillwave and ‘Notes From A Quiet Life’ slips neatly into Ernest Greene’s catalogue. Following a four year absence,  he returns with a typically rich and textured retro synth-pop sound, which is admirable chiefly for its smooth, immaculately polished sonics.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 04 July 2024