Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too (Album Review)

When Young Fathers were being implored to smile by photographers after winning the Mercury Prize last year, another barrier was erected. Their reaction after scooping the award was not acceptable to some, who expected bowing and scraping, gushing and tears. To another faction, ‘Dead’, their winning record, hadn’t shifted enough units to merit the victory. Their music was too complex, too “intense” for others.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 20 April 2015

Villagers - Darling Arithmetic (Album Review)

The problem faced by many of today’s singer-songwriters is one of artifice. Listeners are savvy and know the difference between the cynical tugging of heartstrings and genuine sentiments. Conor O’Brien’s third album with Villagers comfortably falls into the latter category and finds the Dubliner shunning busy, full-band arrangements in favour of delicate acoustic pieces.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 16 April 2015

The Leisure Society - The Fine Art Of Hanging On (Album Review)

Picture the scene. You’re laying back in a peaceful country park somewhere, glass in one hand and book in the other. The sun scorches down upon you, but it’s fine because you’re wearing a hat and have a sensible level of sun cream applied. There’s a few clouds in the sky and they occasionally obscure the warmth, but this is late summer and you couldn’t be more content. In a matter of weeks, though, the sun will disappear for winter.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Sam Lee - The Fade In Time (Album Review)

Sam Lee loves music. It seems obvious that you should, in order to become a musician, but with this North London-raised troubadour, the sentiment is more fitting than in most other cases.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Halestorm - Into The Wild Life (Album Review)

It takes balls to perform a volte face after the success of a hit record. Pennsylvania's Halestorm are nothing if not a fiercely unapologetic and adventurous outfit, so - following 2012's much-loved 'Strange Case Of…' - they've applied a razor to the notion of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', crafting this more experimental, and potentially divisive, third album in the process.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 13 April 2015

East India Youth - Culture Of Volume (Album Review)

‘Total Strife Forever’, William Doyle’s debut as East India Youth, revealed itself slowly. It shapeshifted, confounding expectations and leaving hooks adrift like anxious, twitching, half-formed thoughts. ‘Culture Of Volume’ is every bit as sprawling and complex, but unmistakably the work of someone with pop songs on their mind.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 10 April 2015

Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi (Album Review)

The past is a lure for most successful bands - whether they admit it or not - but for Death Cab For Cutie, the pressure to revert to type has been overwhelming. ‘Kintsugi’, their eighth LP, doesn’t bow to it, instead toeing a difficult line between former glories and the sort of widescreen songwriting their status as indie royalty demands.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Friday, 10 April 2015

All Time Low - Future Hearts (Album Review)

If imitation truly is the sincerest form of flattery, then Green Day's rock opera years remain the benchmark for arena-filling pop-punk bands. All Time Low, like Fall Out Boy before them, have embraced a belt-it-to-the-cheap-seats sense of drama, but on 'Future Hearts' their spark and purpose is mislaid.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 08 April 2015

Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp (Album Review)

‘Ivy Tripp’ is the third time around the block for Waxahatchee, Katie Crutchfield’s solo project. It’s the first of her records to arrive with real fanfare - thanks to the success of its predecessor, ‘Cerulean Salt’ - but is a reflection of a troubled time. Recorded on Long Island, it was pieced together during a time of flux and mid-20s anxiety. But the result is a bold, powerful record.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Tuesday, 07 April 2015

The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy (Album Review)

The Prodigy are still the shit. They are electronic punks, they are outcasts from the rave scene and perverts of rock 'n' roll. If you thought their 2009 comeback, 'Invaders Must Die', was the Essex trio getting back on the horse, you'd better strap yourself in, cup your balls and pray to god that 'The Day Is My Enemy' leaves your face still attached to your skull.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 02 April 2015

Only Real - Jerk At The End Of The Line (Album Review)

There is a gap between what you believe your life to be and what it actually is, and never is that difference more pronounced than in your early 20s. For many, it's a time for drink, drugs, eating awful food, chasing after people who don’t want anything to do with their sweaty bits and dancing to shit music in clubs more likely to have sticky floors than euphoric sweat dripping from the ceiling. And the next day, picturing some sort of mind-altering, foundation-shaking debauchery, there is time to reflect: ‘That was brilliant.’

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 01 April 2015

Laura Marling - Short Movie (Album Review)

There is something liberating about being a speck on a map or a face in a crowd. The anonymity is alluring and the sense of perspective often necessary. But, after a while, the open spaces stop being expanses in which to adventure and start being empty. Laura Marling has gone full circle, with ‘Short Movie’ acting as a full stop on an American odyssey.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (Album Review)

It’s only three years since Kendrick Lamar released ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’, but the album has already been assigned legendary status by fans and critics alike. Branded a short film on the front cover, that album would re-frame how listeners view mainstream hip hop, bringing a level of artistry that was perhaps missing throughout previous decade.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Friday, 27 March 2015

Toto - XIV (Album Review)

Guitarist Steve Lukather has wanted Toto’s first new album in nine years to prove that older guys can still rock, deliver fresh tricks and make meaningful music with passion and intensity. Considering 'XIV' is a stunning embodiment of classy melodic rock, rich with compositional inventiveness and bags of heart, he may have been under-selling things.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 27 March 2015

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (Album Review)

No growing pains here. ‘Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit’ is Courtney Barnett’s first LP, following up ‘The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas’, but there’s precious little evidence of inexperience. If anything, Barnett is, despite the lyric sheet’s claims to the contrary, supremely confident and in command of her voice.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 27 March 2015

James Bay - Chaos And The Calm (Album Review)

The plagues: locusts, frogs, darkness, singer-songwriters…

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 26 March 2015

Joe Bonamassa - Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks (Album Review)

Photo: Christie Goodwin ​No matter how successful they become or how many decades go by, blues musicians will always celebrate the founding fathers. Over Labor Day weekend in 2014, Joe Bonamassa and his band did just that when they rolled up at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and tore through some vintage Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf songs, before icing the cake with a few home cooked treats.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 25 March 2015

The Cribs - For All My Sisters (Album Review)

The Cribs, having drawn a line under their 10 year anniversary with ‘Payola’ a couple of years ago, are back. ‘For All My Sisters’ is the trio’s debut for a new label and is, in line with one of their more prominent base desires, unashamedly pop.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon (Album Review)

More often than not, rekindling the past results in little more than an exercise in artifice, something superficially the same, but lacking soul, detail or context. Plenty of bands want to be the Ramones, Depeche Mode or Oasis. Plenty of bands are also cheap facsimiles. Tobias Jesso Jr. isn’t. ‘Goon’, his debut, is a wholly improbable success story.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 23 March 2015

Modest Mouse - Strangers To Ourselves (Album Review)

It has been many, many years since Modest Mouse last surfaced. ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank’ dropped in 2007 and, since then, there have been some wilderness years. The hype slowly started to dissipate. Could their return produce an album as good as its predecessor? Well, 'Strangers To Ourselves' good, but it’s not earth-shatteringly good.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Friday, 20 March 2015