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

Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly (Album Review)

Photo: Eimear Lynch Angular, aggressive and acerbic, last year's ‘Skinty Fia’ found Fontaines D.C. setting an increasingly stagnant post-punk scene alight. Now, though, vocalist Grian Chatten has temporarily struck out on his own with ‘Chaos For The Fly’, revealing a far more introspective and mellow side to his songwriting.

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 10 July 2023

Bdrmm - I Don't Know (Album Review)

Bdrmm see themselves as four fools from Hull, and their disbelief at the prospect of their second album ‘I Don’t Know’ charting upon release was a refreshing example of humility. The reality is a little bit more complicated. The quartet are a great new hope for the shoegaze scene, having won a legion of fans with their 2020 self-titled LP, but its follow up sits far more loosely under that umbrella, leaning towards a softer, dream-pop state rather than the abrasive nature of their root sound.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 07 July 2023

Militarie Gun - Life Under The Gun (Album Review)

Photo: Daniel Topete Originally known for delivering the scabrous powerviolence assault of Regional Justice Center, hardcore veteran Ian Shelton re-emerged during the pandemic with Militarie Gun, eschewing immediate fury for short, sharp melodic bursts inspired by ‘90s alt-rock. In just 27 minutes their debut LP ‘Life Under the Gun’ turns in a strong case for album of the summer.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Tuesday, 04 July 2023

Kim Petras – Feed The Beast (Album Review)

Sometimes things don’t go the way you expect them to. And Kim Petras serving up a dud of a debut album was not what most people expected to happen. Over the course of multiple EPs and mixtapes released over the past decade or so, the German pop artist has carved out a space as an LGBTQIA+ icon, fusing sex-positive lyrics with massive hooks and no little flair.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Monday, 03 July 2023

The Japanese House - In The End It Always Does (Album Review)

Photo: Jay Seba The cover of ‘In the End It Always Does’ depicts an imperfect circle drawn crudely by hand. It is an apt summation of the themes driving Amber Bain’s second album as The Japanese House. 

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Friday, 30 June 2023

Portugal. The Man - Chris Black Changed My Life (Album Review)

It perhaps shouldn’t take six years for a Grammy-winning band to follow-up their breakthrough record, but for Portugal. The Man, broken jaws, global pandemics, and a death in the family derailed their takeover.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Kelly Clarkson - Chemistry (Album Review)

Photo: Brian Bowen Smith Kelly Clarkson has now presided over a chart-topping solo career spanning more than two decades, parlaying her show-stopping voice into eight studio albums that have gone top three at home in the US, with six of them running all the way to Platinum certifications. And there are no signs of Clarkson coming up for air anytime soon on her superb new LP ‘Chemistry’.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Tuesday, 27 June 2023