Russian Circles - Guidance (Album Review)

Of all the instrumental rock bands doing the rounds at present – and let’s face it, there are innumerably more than there were 10 to 15 years ago – few have attracted more deserving praise than Russian Circles. ‘Guidance’ is the trio’s sixth effort within a decade, one that has seen them rise in popularity to the extent that they have headlined the festival that has swiftly become Europe’s premier destination for off-beat guitar music: Bristol’s ArcTanGent.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 11 August 2016

Dinosaur Jr - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not (Album Review)

Since reforming unexpectedly in 2005, the original Dinosaur Jr. trio have bucked trends. ‘Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not’, their fourth post-reunion album, confirms all the reasons why. Despite the fact that, on the face of it, they are peddling a sound that hasn’t been fashionable for a good 20-plus years, Dinosaur Jr. continue to win over new fans. More importantly, these four additions to the band’s catalogue rank among the finest in their history.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 09 August 2016

Wild Beasts - Boy King (Album Review)

Aren’t Wild Beasts meant to sound…wild?

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 08 August 2016

Owen - The King of Whys (Album Review)

‘The King of Whys’ is the first album of new material from Mike Kinsella under the Owen moniker since the reformation of one of his storied former bands, American Football.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 03 August 2016

Rooney - Washed Away (Album Review)

A wise philosopher named Forrest Gump once claimed that peas and carrots went together perfectly, but if he’d grown up as a fan of Californian pop-rock then his example might have been a little different. You see, few things combine better than Rooney and the blazing summer sunshine and, after six years away, they’ve returned with an album that’s so radiant it should really come with a free bottle of sunscreen.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 02 August 2016

Bear's Den - Red Earth & Pouring Rain (Album Review)

Bear’s Den released their debut LP, ‘Islands’, in 2014 through Communion, a label partly owned by the band’s Kevin Jones alongside Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett and producer Ian Grimble. A largely well received folk-pop effort, the record drew inevitable comparisons with Lovett’s band, whom they had supported on a number of occasions.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 01 August 2016

Billy Talent - Afraid Of Heights (Album Review)

As ‘Afraid Of Heights’, the fifth album from Billy Talent, begins there is tension in the air and a number of inquisitive grumblings. Does a band that some think peaked in the early ‘00s have enough to say to sustain another spin around the block?

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 01 August 2016

Descendents - Hypercaffium Spazzinate (Album Review)

Descendents are familiar with the art of the comeback. In 1996, they released their second solid gold classic LP, ‘Everything Sucks’, after a layoff of nine years. Its follow up, the patchy but entertaining ‘Cool To Be You’, wouldn’t hit shelves for another eight. Twelve summers have fizzled since Milo was last scrawled on an album sleeve, the longest gap in a career pock-marked by absences, but ‘Hypercaffium Spazzinate’ resets the counter in some style. It’s fast, funny and home to some of the best straight-up pop songs this band have ever committed to tape.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 29 July 2016

Look Park - Look Park (Album Review)

Not everyone will know the name Chris Collingwood, but aficionados of sun-soaked power pop will certainly be familiar with Fountains of Wayne, the band he’s fronted since 1995. With that group on a protracted - possibly permanent - hiatus, the singer has returned with a very different outfit, eschewing wry character tales and power chords in favour of an enchanting and intimate melancholic pop sound.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Good Charlotte - Youth Authority (Album Review)

It's been a while. For those who have lost track of time, it’s been six years since Good Charlotte's last outing, ‘Cardiology’, and 14 since their second album, ‘The Young and the Hopeless’, helped their brew of self-loathing and glossy pop-punk pull the genre into a realm presided over by a few chart-dominating heavyweights.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Shura - Nothing's Real (Album Review)

Shura knows the power of escapism. She’s spent time travelling and is happy to lose herself in countless hours before a console. Now, she has delivered a debut album that performs the same trick through the medium of glistening synth pop.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 26 July 2016

Biffy Clyro - Ellipsis (Album Review)

It’s virtually impossible to tackle a new Biffy Clyro record without acknowledging the shift that took place mid-way through their career. After kicking off with three scatter-brained post-hardcore records, the Scottish trio signed to a bigger label, effectively tweaked their sound for a mainstream audience and were soon headlining stadiums.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 25 July 2016

Scour - Scour EP (Album Review)

Let’s start where we need to start. Philip H. Anselmo’s actions last winter, when he yelled “white power” from the stage at Dimebash, were wrong. This EP, by the black metal supergroup Scour, is the former Pantera vocalist’s first musical statement since that day. For now, we’re here to judge the music. That’s why you’re here too, right? Because you live, breathe, eat and shit heavy metal.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Steven Tyler - We're All Somebody From Somewhere (Album Review)

Country carpetbagger. It’s a pejorative phrase used to slight musicians who relocate to Nashville, hell-bent on exploiting country music’s commercial pulling power. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler is the latest artist to walk that way, but while the singer’s rock fans may have dreaded the prospect his debut solo release would have been much better if he’d actually made a flat out country album, rather than this unfocused, messy effort.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 20 July 2016

The Avalanches - Wildflower (Album Review)

The wait for the Avalanches’ second album was so long that it became an in-joke; a white whale for those who spent the turn of the millennium hunting through the mountain of samples from which they sculpted their debut, ‘Since I Left You’. It’s been almost 16 years, but ‘Wildflower’ is finally here and it demonstrates that they have lost none of their compositional guile, nor misplaced their appetite for flights of fancy.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Cane Hill - Smile (Album Review)

Nostalgia can be great, but you only need a passing glance at the latest swathe of sub-par Led Zeppelin worshippers to know that it can also be dreadful. New Orleans’ Cane Hill pay tribute to the nu metal era without sounding like they’re straight out of ’99, with baggy trousers, backwards caps and all that might entail. This isn’t ‘Chocolate Starfish’.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 18 July 2016

Martha - Blisters In The Pit of My Heart (Album Review)

Bubbling just below the surface, there’s a group of UK bands keen to redress the unfair assumption that pop songs are music’s emptiest vessels. Among them you have Trust Fund, Alimony Hustle and Happy Accidents, but at the front of the line, and with their second LP, ‘Blisters in the Pit of My Heart’ tucked under their arms, are Martha, a power-pop quartet from Pity Me, Durham who grew up punk and now spend their spare moments cramming as many hooks into three minute songs as they can.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 14 July 2016

The Julie Ruin - Hit Reset (Album Review)

Three years on from the release of ‘Run Fast’, ‘Hit Reset’ finds the Julie Ruin deploying the same relentless energy they started out with, just like a child picked up mid tantrum with legs still flailing. Kathleen Hanna, who first used the band’s name back in the late ‘90s before forming Le Tigre, has still got the pipes and an acid tongue, while Kathi Wilcox, Kenny Mellman, Carmine Covelli and Sara Landeau paint a dance-worthy, synth-filled backdrop throughout.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 14 July 2016

Joey Purp - iiiDrops (Album Review)

The lines between hip hop albums and mixtapes have become increasingly blurred over the years, to the point that some critics are prepared to deny that there are any.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 12 July 2016

Blink-182 - California (Album Review)

There are a few ways to view Blink-182. To some, they are that band from the late ‘90s who got naked a lot. To others, they were a gateway into punk rock and the soundtrack to, you guessed it, growing up. But since the heady days of ‘Enema of the State’ and ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’, their road has sometimes been a rocky one. They split for a while, following the release of their 2003 self-titled album, and reconvened for the disappointing ‘Neighborhoods’ five years ago. Now, they're back with a new line up. For a band that released a live record called ‘The Mark, Tom and Travis Show' at their peak, this is a big deal.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 11 July 2016