The Black Angels - Death Song (Album Review)
‘Death Song’ is the Black Angels’ fifth album, their first release on Partisan Records and also possibly the finest work they’ve set to wax since their 2004 formation.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Maximo Park - Risk To Exist (Album Review)
Prior to the release of their 2014 album ‘Too Much Information’, Maxïmo Park’s lead vocalist Paul Smith said: “Our lyrics and our music will never be too-cool-for-school - we are an emotional band even if it might be too much information for some.” Never has a truer word been spoken.
Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Future Islands - The Far Field (Album Review)
It’s a reliable music industry trope: the breakthrough that becomes a millstone.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Kendrick Lamar - Damn (Album Review)
On ‘Damn’, the melancholic, paradoxical rhyme-weaver Kendrick Lamar casts himself in the lead role. He utilises real life characters to rep good vs bad, writing poignant poems that deliberate over the corruption and creativity he encounters on the daily.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 24 April 2017
Brian May and Kerry Ellis - Golden Days (Album Review)
You may think that combining the genres of musical theatre and rock ‘n’ roll will result in a listening experience that’s about as palatable as a marmite sandwich laced with ball bearings. But when the hard rocker in question is Queen’s Brian May, a man whose band aren’t exactly known for subtlety or restraint, it’s a much more plausible marriage that, at its best, offers a bombastic buffet of pure cheesy goodness.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 21 April 2017
Little Dragon - Season High (Album Review)
It is both a blessing and a curse that Little Dragon have become so popular since their debut arrived a decade ago. A blessing in the sense that they have been invited to collaborate with some of music’s big hitters (DJ Shadow, Gorillaz, Outkast’s Big Boi), but also a curse when it comes to their own material.
Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Thursday, 20 April 2017
The Big Moon - Love In The 4th Dimension (Album Review)
Juliette Jackson always wanted to be in a gang. So, while working as a waitress in London, she eventually gave up on finding a band to join and decided to form her own. Putting the message out among friends she eventually met Soph Nathan, Celia Archer and Fern Ford, who form the rest of the Big Moon. The collective energy that these four produced on stage made people take notice early on and ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’, their first full length, doubles down on it.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Father John Misty - Pure Comedy (Album Review)
Photo: Guy Lowndes Father John Misty’s ‘Pure Comedy’ is philosophically dense and poignantly intellectual. Its lyrics are complex and intricate, detailing dystopian predictions for modern man’s moral devolution. It is also dark and humourless.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Wednesday, 19 April 2017
Michelle Branch - Hopeless Romantic (Album Review)
With reinvention to the forefront, former teen star Michelle Branch has returned after a lengthy hiatus armed with a new album’s worth of too-cool-for-school indie-styled synth-pop that imagines what Taylor Swift’s ‘1989’ might have sounded like if produced by Patrick Carney of the Black Keys. Whether it’s an inspired creative rebirth or calculated career move, it’s a mostly successful metamorphosis either way.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 13 April 2017
San Fermin - Belong (Album Review)
Folktronica, or electro-folk, is a complicated sell. On the one hand, it seems like a natural money pit given the relentless rise of EDM and the deep ethnographic resonance of folk music.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Blaenavon - That's Your Lot (Album Review)
From the moment Take Care, the opener on Blaenavon’s debut album, ‘That’s Your Lot’, edges into range, it’s clear that they mean business. The sound is crisp, immediate and contemporary, and the songs feel highly literate, cerebral even. It’s unlikely that they will kickstart a third golden age of indie - the horse may have bolted on that - but they will surely awaken potentially dormant sensibilities in fans of the Vaccines, the Kooks and, somewhat inevitably, the Smiths.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Diet Cig - Swear I'm Good At This (Album Review)
Gimme a D, gimme an I, gimme an E, gimme a T, gimme a C, I and G. Who’s got spirit? Diet Cig do, by the buttload. Whether they’re singing about being slut-shamed at 16 or loving a bath, Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman deliver sincere songs with refreshing energy, creating a confident debut album that leaves behind the insecurities present on their first EP, ‘Over Easy’.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions (Album Review)
The New Pornographers, the Canadian power-pop conglomerate led by AC Newman, have always somehow evaded the spotlight in the UK compared to how they are viewed back home. Their success on this side of the Atlantic is somewhat muted despite their indisputable ability to conjure up catchy, sugary pop nuggets.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
White Reaper - The World's Best American Band (Album Review)
Hey, want to do something fun? Go listen to ‘The World's Best American Band’. White Reaper’s second LP is, from its title through its knee-slide of a cover and the fizzing power-pop songs packed within, deeply, unabashedly fun.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2017
British Sea Power - Let The Dancers Inherit The Party (Album Review)
Over the past 17 years, British Sea Power have unfortunately developed from precocious critical darlings to a bit of a nothing band. They peddle rock anthems that can soar like a jet or sink like the Titanic and their latest album, ‘Let The Dancers Inherit the Party’ is, sadly, more sink than soar.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Tei Shi - Crawl Space (Album Review)
Elegant and stealth-like, opener Creep sets the bar sky high for Tei Shi’s debut album, ‘Crawl Space’. Slinking sexily onto track two, the gentle swing lullaby Baby, she infuses her mysteriously beautiful, understated aesthetic with moments of hope amid an air of melancholy.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 10 April 2017
Jamiroquai - Automaton (Album Review)
Jamiroquai occupy an odd space in the British public consciousness. Their 25-year career has been sustained through a thrilling combination of catchy funk hits and the undeniable charisma of leading man Jay Kay. Furthermore, their first three albums - which were reissued several years ago - are stone cold modern classics and sound as fresh and full of ideas today as they did in the ‘90s.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 06 April 2017
Sorority Noise - 'You're Not As _____ As You Think' (Album Review)
As Sorority Noise’s star has risen, the band’s vocalist and guitarist, Cameron Boucher, has continued to deal with his own mental health issues, as well as the deaths of several close friends. Their third LP, ‘You’re Not As _____ As You Think’, finds him pulling together these threads, which have been touched upon on previous releases, alongside a deeper exploration of his Christian faith. The result is a record that delves into more complex ideas and emotions, and sonically cherry picks from pop-punk, alt-rock and post-hardcore on a level that emo bands are rarely given credit for.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Thursday, 06 April 2017
Bob Dylan - Triplicate (Album Review)
We live in the post-truth age. Europe is lurching dangerously to the right, while democracy appears to be under attack in Russia, Turkey and the US. It's a fractious, volatile environment, and it seems natural to look to artists, poets and intellectuals for guidance. Bob - you just won a Nobel Prize - speak to us! Tell us what to think! As if.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
Mastodon - Emperor of Sand (Album Review)
Photo: Jimmy Hubbard To give a face, a name, to something as abhorrent as cancer is a bold move. For Mastodon, who have recently seen friends and family members face the disease, it was essential. Because this band feel everything they do: every nuance, every note, every grain of static on every riff. The heaviness all comes from the heart, as glib and throwaway that may sound. ‘Emperor of Sand’ is Mastodon’s seventh full-length, a concept album about time and mortality and yet another towering release.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 04 April 2017
