Ministry - AmeriKKKant (Album Review)
[Insert witty jibe about Ministry saying they’d break up, only to return a few years later.] Great, now that’s out of the way we can start talking about album 14 from Al Jourgensen’s industrial institution, ‘AmeriKKKant’. Its title, a play on words relating to the state of affairs in the US right now, has been lovingly nicked from Ice Cube’s classic ‘AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted’. There’s a 28 year gap between those two records, yet the joke still lands.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 12 March 2018
Tracey Thorn - Record (Album Review)
If it weren’t for the xx, specifically Romy Madley Croft, you could probably describe Tracey Thorn’s musical oeuvre as completely unique within British music. Her sultry style and low-slung melodies have hovered elegantly just outside of the mainstream for nearly 40 years.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 09 March 2018
The Men - Drift (Album Review)
It often helps to be uncompromising, whether you’re a DIY purist, a pop perfectionist or simply out to make the most obtuse record you can. The Men have made a career out of it. The Brooklyn band have resolutely stuck to their own path, wandering through gritty punk, shoutalong bar-band rock and campfire acoustic curios and back again on their way to ‘Drift’, their difficult new record.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 09 March 2018
Camp Cope - How To Socialise & Make Friends (Album Review)
Photo: Naomi Beveridge “Just get it all out, put it in a song.”
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Moby - Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt (Album Review)
Moby’s had a bit of a raw deal over the years. Granted, the astronomical success of 1999’s ‘Play’ was always destined to become a millstone around his neck. But since then he’s put out 10 albums, including the impressive ‘Innocents’ from 2013, and most flew well under the radar.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 08 March 2018
Andrew W.K. - You're Not Alone (Album Review)
Does the world need a new Andrew W.K. album in 2018? If your answer to that question is a curt ‘no’, then you are turning your nose up at the concept of fun itself. Sure, he’s largely remembered for songs he released almost 20 years ago, but at this point he is more than just a musician.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Embrace - Love Is A Basic Need (Album Review)
Following a seven year hiatus, indie-rockers Embrace resurrected their career in superb fashion on 2014’s electronically flavoured self-titled effort. But, rather than continuing down that road, they have immediately returned to their signature sound on ‘Love is a Basic Need’, an uneven record that’s bogged down by an overload of decent, but rarely spectacular, ballads.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 07 March 2018
Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It (Album Review)
Rolo Tomassi are weird. They’re a weird band. But you can forget bizarre little cartoons. Forget 8-bit silliness. Forget Myspace and rawr and quirky haircuts and all that nonsense. Rolo Tomassi are not anything like that. With their fifth full-length, ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’, they have cemented themselves as one of the UK’s best bands and contenders on the world stage.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 06 March 2018
Moaning - Moaning (Album Review)
In the promo video for The Same, Moaning frontman Sean Solomon wears a playful denim-cotton cap. It’s the type of cap that one might find in an American Apparel or Urban Outfitters: ‘90s retro with a dash of the university stoner about it. It’s sartorially direct and jaunty, yet it belies a certain foggy introversion. In many ways, that cap epitomises Moaning’s eponymous debut album.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 05 March 2018
Neal Morse - Life & Times (Album Review)
Photo: Joey Pippin Anyone who has watched The Leftovers, a HBO drama about the aftermath of a rapture-like event where 2% of the world’s population vanished for no apparent reason, will be familiar with a character called Holy Wayne. The leader of a devoted following, he could allegedly take away people’s pain with a single hug. While the validity of his ‘gift’ was debatable, Neal Morse’s new album feels like the real thing. ‘Life & Times’ will wrap its loving arms around you and brighten up your day.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 05 March 2018
Turnstile - Time & Space (Album Review)
Turnstile probably didn’t make their second record, ‘Time & Space’, by melting their dads’ record collections into a mound of congealed plastic and shouting over the remains. It sounds like they did, though. With its mash-up of hardcore punk and everything from boogie rock riffs to lounge music, it’s a weird mix. It shouldn’t work but it does and, like melting plastic, it’s a lot of fun.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Friday, 02 March 2018
Rae Morris - Someone Out There (Album Review)
Rae Morris pushes herself on her second release, ‘Someone Out There’, and the result is a collection of charming alternative pop tracks that celebrate everyday bravery and reflect a period of change in the singer-songwriter’s life.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Ought - Room Inside The World (Album Review)
It’s been a couple of years since we heard something new from the Montreal art-punkers Ought, which is surprising given the bombardment of material that the world was subjected to a couple of years back: an EP and a couple of albums in the space of 18 months. But what an exciting bombardment it was.
Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Thursday, 01 March 2018
Loma - Loma (Album Review)
Photo: Bryan C. Parker Loma’s self titled debut is a record that requires multiple attentive listens. A collaboration between two bands is bound to bring a fascinating quality to any record, and this melding of alt-folk duo Cross Record - Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski - with Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg is certainly one to get lost in. Throughout their self-titled debut, the trio develop, grow, and work out what Loma is, just as the writing process allowed Cross and Duszynski to develop, grow, and work out what their marriage is. Or isn’t, as the case may be.
Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Wednesday, 28 February 2018
Dashboard Confessional - Crooked Shadows (Album Review)
Dashboard Confessional forget the importance of being earnest on their seventh release, ‘Crooked Shadows’, which is troubled by confusing production choices and lacklustre lyrics. Still, some elements that made the emo veterans so engaging over a decade ago remain.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 27 February 2018
Superchunk - What A Time To Be Alive (Album Review)
Photo: Lissa Gotwals There’s nothing quite like the slow death of a laptop. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, attempts one to four at summarising Superchunk’s new LP all went up in smoke, along with eight weekend hours. Still, they weren’t entirely wasted. In that time you can listen to ‘What a Time to Be Alive’ roughly 15 times, and that is a fine way to spend the best part of a day.
Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Tuesday, 27 February 2018
S. Carey - Hundred Acres (Album Review)
Photo: Cameron Wittig With Bon Iver between albums, the band’s drummer, S. Carey, has found time to record his third solo album, ‘Hundred Acres’. He shouldn't have bothered.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 26 February 2018
The Temperance Movement - A Deeper Cut (Album Review)
There was a time in rock ‘n’ roll’s glorious history when a band’s third album was seen as a pivotal moment, one that would either catapult them to stardom or sound their death knell. In today’s climate the chance of any rock act achieving huge success seems about as likely as Cristiano Ronaldo voluntarily removing all the mirrors from his mansion. Yet fans have never given up hope that maybe, just maybe, a group will emerge to buck the trend.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 23 February 2018
The Wandering Hearts - Wild Silence (Album Review)
Armed with a fairytale backstory that almost makes their very existence seem predetermined, the Wandering Hearts have generated a massive amount of early momentum thanks to an alt-folk Americana sound dripping with sublime melodies and spine-tingling harmonies.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 22 February 2018
Pianos Become The Teeth - Wait For Love (Album Review)
The accusation that a post-hardcore band has somehow sold out by softening their sound is commonplace, but that shift is often the secret to longevity. So it made sense when Baltimore five-piece Pianos Become the Teeth reinvented themselves on their 2014 album 'Keep You', with vocalist Kyle Durfey abandoning his screamo-esque delivery for a more a melodic approach.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Brian Fallon - Sleepwalkers (Album Review)
In any walk of life, successful people are the ones who know how to maximise their strengths while working on, or disguising, their weaknesses. It’s a philosophy the Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon has adopted as his modus operandi to great effect in recent years, including on his impressively diverse second solo album, ‘Sleepwalkers’.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Saxon - Thunderbolt (Album Review)
Since getting their act together again towards the end of the last century, and with a misjudged mid-late 1980s detour into American hair metal territory a distant and somewhat disturbing memory, NWOBHM stalwarts Saxon have been enjoying what seems like a never ending Indian Summer.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 19 February 2018
Fischerspooner - Sir (Album Review)
Photo: Rinalto Sata As one of the key progenitors of electroclash, New York’s Fischerspooner have always embodied a particular form of smashy, digital camp. While the songwriting on their fourth album, 'Sir' lacks hooks, it is a record of intense, virile creativity that develops their sound a full nine years after the release of their previous album, ‘Entertainment’.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 19 February 2018
Dan Patlansky - Perfection Kills (Album Review)
Photo: Tobias Coetsee If South African singer, songwriter and guitarist Dan Patlansky is proficient at DIY he’d best have his tools handy come December. Following hot on the heels of breakout release ‘Dear Silence Thieves’ and its follow-up ‘Introvertigo’, two fantastic modern blues-rock albums that landed multiple prizes, ‘Perfection Kills’ is another superb offering that’s liable to add more gongs to his growing collection. In other words, Patlansky’s going to need a bigger mantelpiece.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 16 February 2018
The Wombats - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life (Album Review)
Photo: Tom Oxley The Wombats clearly aren’t concerned with being the world’s most prolific band. Since their inception in 2003, they’ve released only four full-length records, clocking in at an average of about one every three-and-a-half years. Their latest is ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’, and it offers up an explanation for why Wombats albums are as scarce as their marsupial namesakes.
Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Friday, 16 February 2018
MGMT - Little Dark Age (Album Review)
MGMT’s Kids is legitimately one of the most accomplished, colourful, lavish electro-pop anthems of the past 20 years. Reinventing the fluro themes of their hero and musical forefather David Bowie, the duo earned stratospheric success with the single and their debut LP, ‘Oracular Spectacular’, in 2007.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Thursday, 15 February 2018
Ezra Furman - Transangelic Exodus (Album Review)
Road songs are part of the fabric of rock ‘n’ roll. From the earliest greaser anthems through the open roads of west coast pop and manic rockabilly chase scenes, they’ve always been there. On ‘Transangelic Exodus’, Ezra Furman offers a new twist on the style, keeping both the wings and the wheels as he soundtracks “a personal companion for a paranoid road trip. A queer outlaw saga”.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending (Album Review)
The most telling thing about the early 2000s post-punk revival was its lack of staying power. Razorlight, Maxïmo Park, the Futureheads and countless others came flying out the gates, but by the end of the decade they had more or less faded out. You could cite over-saturation, or cycles in trends, as the reason behind that, but much of it had to do with the style's limited scope.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Rhye - Blood (Album Review)
Photo: Genevieve Medow Jenkins Rhye’s music unravels gently, each song blossoming like a slowly unfurling flower. The Canadian vocalist and composer Milosh - who’s now riding solo alongside a live band following the exit of collaborator Robin Hannibal - attempts to communicate ethereally, reaching out soul to soul.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Awolnation - Here Come The Runts (Album Review)
On 'Here Come The Runts', Awolnation’s third full album, Aaron Bruno’s ever-changing band of miscreants have leaned into powerful dirges that offer up spiky vocals alongside noisy riffs and textural switcheroos. It’s a fine turn from a band who typify a certain brand of metropolitan West Coast rock.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 12 February 2018
Field Music - Open Here (Album Review)
That the Brewis brothers are now fathers to young children is evident on ‘Open Here’, and parenthood has given Field Music a brand new way of experiencing the world, its politics and its stereotypes.
Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Friday, 09 February 2018
Hookworms - Microshift (Album Review)
Hookworms’ third album, ‘Microshift’, represents a change for the Leeds outfit. Here they emerge from beneath the mysterious shroud they previously adopted, with layers of fuzz evaporating and frontman MJ’s vocals, for once, clearly audible above the noise.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 08 February 2018
Justin Timberlake - Man Of The Woods (Album Review)
Justin Timberlake’s fifth solo album combines country music with funky pop and, despite some real high points, the result is a good case study in the why people don’t generally try that particular genre fusion.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 08 February 2018
Bat Fangs - Bat Fangs (Album Review)
Listening to Bat Fangs’ self-titled bow could feel like taking inventory. After all, its shelves are overflowing with rock staples: chunky riffs, driving drums and snotty hooks. But the duo - guitarist Betsy Wright, lately of Ex Hex, and Flesh Wounds drummer Laura King - consistently make them feel vital, alive and, perhaps most importantly, fun.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 07 February 2018
Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa - Black Coffee (Album Review)
Natural chemistry, be it as a friend, lover or creative collaborator, rarely fades over time. Often, it grows exponentially stronger. That’s undoubtedly true of blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa and vocalist Beth Hart. It may be nearly five years since the pair last lit up some classics on ‘Seesaw’, but they’ve returned as though it was yesterday. The hitch, though, is that ‘Black Coffee’ is an uneven album that doesn’t quite do their combined talents justice.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
The Spook School - Could It Be Different? (Album Review)
There is strength in vulnerability on the Spook School’s third album, ‘Could It Be Different?’. And it’s more than just a rush of power chords that fills the listener with enthusiasm. Over fuzzy feedback and infectious guitar hooks, the band reveal their fears and hopes about politics, relationships and their own selves.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Machine Head - Catharsis (Album Review)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Those lines, spat out by Robb Flynn over 20 years ago, still ring truer than a shotgun blast.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 05 February 2018
Joe Perry - The Sweetzerland Manifesto (Album Review)
There are few things scarier than an Aerosmith song with Joe Perry on lead vocals, which makes the prospect of him fronting an entire album decidedly terrifying. But, let’s assuage those fears early. On ‘The Sweetzerland Manifesto’, as with most of the guitarist’s solo offerings, he’s roped in some guest singers to deliver exactly the kind of record you’d expect from such an old school gunslinger.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 05 February 2018
Migos - Culture II (Album Review)
On Migos’ 2017 album 'Culture', the trio delivered a mean, lean study in trap, with massive hits that announced the Atlanta trio as hip hop’s next big thing.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 02 February 2018
Starcrawler - Starcrawler (Album Review)
Photo: Autumn de Wilde It’s difficult to create something new. Every week the musical landscape changes, with more new releases and riffs dropped into an already vast industry that is only getting bigger. The question remains: how can you be heard above the noise?
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 01 February 2018
Nils Frahm - All Melody (Album Review)
When German minimalist composer Nils Frahm first emerged in the mid-2000s, he was often lumped in the same category as modern classical pianists Olafur Arnalds and Ludovico Einaudi. While such comparisons did him no disservice – both musicians are wildly gifted – Frahm’s penchant for drum machines and glitchy production betrayed his more left-field ambitions.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 01 February 2018
Marmozets - Knowing What You Know Now (Album Review)
The north of England has given us a great many weird and wonderful things over the years. With the release of Marmozets’ second LP, ‘Knowing What You Know Now’, that list has grown a little bit longer.
Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Porches - The House (Album Review)
On ‘The House’, Aaron Maine explores the loneliness of the bedroom producer. Taking the synth-pop sound of his last album, ‘Pool’, and moving the dial a few degrees to a colder temperature, we find Porches in a much more isolated place as Maine reveals personal fragility.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Django Django - Marble Skies (Album Review)
Django Django are an odd band. Even within the amorphous boundaries of art-rock it’s still quite difficult to put a finger on what exactly they are. It’s even more difficult to imagine when precisely the right time is to listen to their music. In a field in the middle of summer, perhaps? Flatcaps donned, glowsticks grasped?
Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Monday, 29 January 2018
Tribulation - Down Below (Album Review)
Photo: Ester Segarra Netflix used to be rubbish. Remember? Then slowly, surely, surreptitiously, so sneakily, it became the irresistible, sexy, sleek bastard it is today. Tribulation are a bit like Netflix.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 29 January 2018
Glen Hansard - Between Two Shores (Album Review)
It was never going to be easy for Glen Hansard to top 2015’s ‘Didn’t He Ramble’. The Irish troubadour’s second solo effort, following his time with angst-ridden rockers the Frames and haunting balladeers the Swell Season, saw the singer-songwriter at the peak of his creative powers. Although there’s been a drop in quality, and his trademark lyrical panache isn’t close to its evocative best, ‘Between Two Shores’ is still teeming with delightful moments.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 26 January 2018
The Xcerts - Hold On To Your Heart (Album Review)
Behind the mainstream’s back, the Xcerts have been refining their craft with each release. On their fourth record, ‘Hold On To Your Heart’, they repeatedly showcase their speciality: anthems that make you want to punch the air like John Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Friday, 26 January 2018
Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life (Album Review)
On Tune-Yards’ fourth studio album, 'I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life', Merrill Garbus has awoken to her own white privilege.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 26 January 2018
The Shins - The Worm's Heart (Album Review)
It’s now nearly a decade since James Mercer cut ties with his bandmates in the Shins and took all creative matters into his own hands. While subsequent records may have left listeners in no doubt as to whether he was the project’s true auteur, they’re also evidence of a misshapen band.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Fall Out Boy - Mania (Album Review)
Fall Out Boy have been hanging on to their pop-punk label by their fingernails since they emerged from hiatus in 2013. ‘Mania’ now sees the quartet loosen their grasp entirely, and fall hard because of it.
Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Thursday, 25 January 2018
