Ani DiFranco - Unprecedented Sh!t (Album Review)

Photo: Danny Clinch Perhaps unsurprisingly given its title, ‘Unprecedented Sh!t’ finds Ani DiFranco in a spiky and experimental mood, offering up a record of scraggly guitars, chunky production and direct-ish lyricism. It’s a highly listenable turn from a writer whose impressive career — she founded her own label at 19, in 1989 — has often been underscored by folksy urgency and political activism.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 06 June 2024

Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch (Album Review)

Jessica Pratt’s music is perfect for a certain niche — the horror movie trailer set to a folk song that cuts to black as the knife-wielding killer does their thing. But it’s so much more than that, with her rich, whimsical voice entirely decade-defying on her fourth album ‘Here in the Pitch’.

Written by: Emma Way | Date: Thursday, 06 June 2024

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown (Album Review)

Photo: Netti Habel If you hear that the singer of a band you like is going to work on a solo project, it’s reasonable to react with a little bit of trepidation. Will it expand upon that established sound or reveal the limits of the artist’s (or group’s) talents? Perhaps most importantly…will it break up the band?

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 05 June 2024

DIIV - Frog in Boiling Water (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez If you’re not familiar with the expression “frog in boiling water” then rest assured, it’s not something you’d want to experience. Except you are experiencing it right now – we all are – in a world that slowly crushes the life out of even the most optimistic souls. As the Verve once put it, “you’re a slave to money then you die”. 

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 04 June 2024

Crowded House - Gravity Stairs (Album Review)

Crowded House have left an indelible mark on pop music through hits such as Don’t Dream It’s Over, Weather With You and Something So Strong, but ‘Gravity Stairs’ is not the work of a band content to ride the coattails of past glories. 

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 03 June 2024

Richard Hawley - In This City They Call You Love (Album Review)

Photo: Chris Saunders Richard Hawley has enjoyed a highly eclectic career across the past 30 years, initially as a member of Britpop outfit Longpigs and briefly as a touring guitarist with Pulp. It’s his solo work, though, that has made him one of the most venerated British singer-songwriters of recent times and his 10th studio album ‘In This City They Call You Love’ is another delightful tour of his musical influences. 

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 31 May 2024

Bring Me The Horizon - POST HUMAN: NeX GEn (Album Review)

Expectations are a difficult thing to manage. ‘POST HUMAN: NeX GEn' has been a long time coming, allowing hype to build to fever pitch, but Bring Me The Horizon have also been hamstrung by the record’s protracted build up. 

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 30 May 2024

Jordan Rakei - The Loop (Album Review)

“This was the path I had to take,” Jordan Rakei sings during A Little Life. ‘The Loop’, his fifth record, is full of references like this one. Since relocating from his family home in Brisbane to London in 2015 — later collaborating with artists including Tom Misch, Disclosure, and Loyle Carner — he has grown both personally and professionally.

Written by: Emma Way | Date: Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Vince Staples - Dark Times (Album Review)

Few might have foreseen it at the time, but Vince Staples has gone on to forge one of the most interesting and consistently great discographies of any rapper once affiliated with Odd Future.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Slash - Orgy of the Damned (Album Review)

Photo: Gene Kirkland Given its heady slate of guest vocalists, from Iggy Pop to Demi Lovato and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, ‘Orgy of the Damned’ could easily feel like a compilation. It’s to Slash’s credit as a guitarist and bandleader that it hangs together, though, with his playing serving as the glue that binds these blues covers into an exciting whole.

Written by: Adam England | Date: Friday, 24 May 2024

Gatecreeper - Dark Superstition (Album Review)

Photo: Joey Maddon Since the end of the pandemic, we’ve seen a string of young metal bands become breakout stars. Sleep Token are barrelling towards stadium status, Malevolence went viral with their whirlpool-sized mosh pits and, right now, Knocked Loose are one of the most talked-about bands on the planet. ‘Dark Superstition’ declares that, if there’s any justice in the world, Gatecreeper will become the next name on that list.

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Thursday, 23 May 2024

Shellac - To All Trains (Album Review)

Photo: Daniel Bergeron We tend to become needlessly philosophical whenever a beloved musician dies just before releasing new music, joining dots in a manner that amounts to pareidolia — the human instinct to find meaning in the random. Sure, David Bowie famously made some allusions to his death on ‘Blackstar’, but that was the exception that proves the rule.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Pallbearer - Mind Burns Alive (Album Review)

Photo: Dan Almasy Life hasn’t got any more chipper for doom metal experimentalists Pallbearer. On their previous album, 2020’s ‘Forgotten Days’, the Arkansas four-piece wrote lyrics lamenting the experience of watching family members live with Alzheimer’s and die of cancer. Four years later, ‘Mind Burns Alive’ offers even more unfettered melancholy: its six songs together form an anthology about “people in various stages of mental distress”.

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft (Album Review)

Photo: William Drumm In anticipation of her third album, Billie Eilish didn’t release any advance singles. It has proved to be a smart move on a couple of counts — not only did hype reach fever pitch as the release date edged ever closer, but ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ deserves to be consumed as a whole. This is Eilish’s strongest work to date, continuing her creative evolution while maintaining her grip on the whisper-pop dynamic that made her name.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Monday, 20 May 2024

Hot Water Music - Vows (Album Review)

Photo: Jesse Korman There’s something about Hot Water Music’s latest outing that feels, in the purest sense possible, truly victorious. It takes their discography into double figures and underlines their heavy influence over a generation of gruffly emotive punk bands, displaying a sound that’s been sharpened to a point over the past 30 years.

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Friday, 17 May 2024

Kings of Leon - Can We Please Have Fun (Album Review)

Photo: Matthew Followill Their preacher family backstory and Southern-fried take on The Strokes’ garage rock revival sound made Kings of Leon an intriguing phenomenon in the ‘00s. In particular, their raw and energetic first couple of records were lapped up in the UK, while the heavy polish of the next two saw their success grow on a huge global scale, catapulted by the success of 2008 single Sex on Fire.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 17 May 2024

Arab Strap - I'm Totally Fine With It Don't Give A Fuck Anymore (Album Review)

During their initial run between 1995 and 2006 much of Arab Strap’s appeal relied on the sense of messy fun found in both the lives the band wrote about and the medium through which they were communicated. Since their reunion in 2019 it’s become clear that the duo have grown up, and yet they haven’t misplaced that spark.

Written by: Jo Higgs | Date: Thursday, 16 May 2024

Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To (Album Review)

Knocked Loose are in the process of rewriting their DNA. The Kentucky band’s early albums offered bruising metallic hardcore, but with their 2021 EP ‘A Tear In the Fabric of Life’ and last year’s Upon Loss singles they showed a desire to get heavier and weirder. 

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Wednesday, 15 May 2024

Mdou Moctar - Funeral For Justice (Album Review)

Credit: Ebru Yildiz The contents of ‘Funeral for Justice’ are as incendiary and engaging as its title suggests. It is a statement of intent that is driven through these fierce, twanging songs, where Mdou Moctar (the stage name of both musician and band, Alice Cooper-style) commits to an uphill battle for what is right, pushing back against colonialism and cultural erosion with grit beyond reach of most musicians.

Written by: Jo Higgs | Date: Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Kamasi Washington - Fearless Movement (Album Review)

Kamasi Washington’s ‘Fearless Movement’ is a trip — an intense, sprawling jazz happening that combines big arrangements, hyper-competitive instrumental solos and hip hop interludes. It’s hugely impressive and accomplished. 

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 13 May 2024