Marina - Princess of Power (Album Review)
Some 15 years on from her emergence with ‘The Family Jewels’, Marina Diamandis is still thriving on ‘Princess of Power’, a record that explores what power really means for a woman in the music industry, with chamber-pop, new wave and electro folded into songs that are influenced by ABBA as much as they are by Kylie Minogue.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Addison Rae - Addison (Album Review)
“Can’t a girl just have fun?” Addison Rae asks during Money is Everything, an almost-ambient interlude close to the top of her debut album that pointedly places style over substance. The answer, if these 12 songs are anything to go by, is yes. But for her listeners, the truth is more complicated.
Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Elbow - Audio Vertigo Echo Elbow EP 5 (Album Review)
Released last year, ‘Audio Vertigo’ was an eclectic record that found Elbow at the top of their game, with the contributions of new drummer Alex Reeves worthy of being singled out for particular praise. Following hot on its heels we have the companion piece ‘Audio Vertigo Echo Elbow EP 5’, a collection of tracks recorded during those sessions that will tide fans over until the release of their next full LP while showing off a mix of influences, some expected and others more surprising.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter VI (Album Review)
Photo: Cécile Boko Lil Wayne has long circled the conversation around the greatest modern rappers and a massive reason for that is his lauded ‘Tha Carter’ series. Starting in 2004, these albums have carried a lot of weight, which made ‘VI’ one of 2025’s most anticipated releases, with many fans having hoped that the last entry — 2018’s sub-par ‘Tha Carter V’ — was just a blip. Sadly, it seems it was just the start of a trend.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 09 June 2025
Turnstile - Never Enough (Album Review)
Photo: Alexis Gross On stage at Coachella earlier this year, Charli XCX declared that it was time for a “different kind of summer” in 2025, following the season-defining success of the pop icon’s latest album ‘Brat’. A video backdrop then listed a number of artists and filmmakers, including Pulp, Bon Iver, and Lorde, along with one outlier in a Baltimore hardcore band. Well, with ‘Never Enough’, Turnstile summer is officially here.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Monday, 09 June 2025
Sports Team - Boys These Days (Album Review)
Photo: Bartek Szmigulski On their third album, Sports Team have undergone a remarkable metamorphosis. Where previous efforts showcased promising indie-rock juvenilia, ‘Boys These Days’ reveals a band transformed into something approaching the Pulp of their generation, complete with the Britpop naivety of early Supergrass and Elton John’s glam-pop magnetism.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 06 June 2025
Matt Berninger - Get Sunk (Album Review)
Photo: Chantal Anderson Having fronted The National for more than two decades, Matt Berninger is today regarded as one of the most cherished singers in American alt-rock. In 2020, his solo debut ‘Serpentine Prison’ was a welcome lockdown surprise, albeit not the finished article. Five years and two albums with his band later, Berninger has bettered himself with the fantastic ‘Get Sunk’, which is textured and vulnerable, heart-aching and, eventually, therapeutic.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 06 June 2025
Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light (Album Review)
Photo: Joseph Cultice More than three decades since their formation, Garbage remain uncompromising. ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ extends a late-career purple patch they entered with 2021’s ‘No Gods No Masters’, even if its lopsided tracklist features songs that feel torn between inspiration and desperation.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful (Album Review)
Photo: Glen Luchford Miley Cyrus promised a lot for her ninth studio album. Promoted not only as a visual concept record but as one filled with “healing sound properties” — not to mention a companion film inspired by Alan Parker’s adaptation of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ — the bar for the star’s next era was certainly raised high.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
These New Puritans - Crooked Wing (Album Review)
Photo: Hedi Slimane In 2023, Bristol-based trip-hop pioneers and conscience holdouts Massive Attack posted a pointed observation on social media in response to the rise of AI-generated music: “Is the discussion ‘should AI recreate music?’ or is the discussion ‘Why is contemporary music so homogenised & formulaic that it’s really easy to copy?’.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Ty Segall - Possession (Album Review)
Photo: Denée Segall A lot of artists strive for a retro sound, but scratch away the top layer and often there’s a lack of creativity lurking underneath. Not so with Ty Segall’s ‘Possession’. With this gem of an album, the prolific psych-rock songwriter has assembled a well-rounded, classic-sounding record that pays homage to greats such as Tom Petty, The Eagles and Neil Young alongside nuanced strings, commanding wind arrangements and electrifying guitar solos. It may be his best yet.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Friday, 30 May 2025
Joe Jonas - Music For People Who Believe In Love (Album Review)
Photo: Gleeson Paulino Joe Jonas has had his finger in various pies over the last two decades, with the former Diney star’s most notable outings coming with the Jonas Brothers and DNCE after his successful stint on Camp Rock. Having rekindled his sibling group a couple of years back, Jonas ends another long wait with ‘Music For People Who Believe In Love’, his second solo album.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025
Sparks - MAD! (Album Review)
Photo: Munachi Osegbu Sparks’ Ron and Russell Mael first burst onto the scene more than 50 years ago with the smash hit This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both of Us and their accompanying 1974 LP ‘Kimono My House’. Since then they’ve found it hard to stand still, with a string of critically and commercially successful records setting the table for a late-career purple patch encompassing some of their finest work and cool side quests such as their FFS collaboration with Franz Ferdinand and Edgar Wright’s documentary on the group. ‘MAD!’ builds upon this run and, for a pair in their 70s, their creativity still astounds.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Skunk Anansie - The Painful Truth (Album Review)
Photo: Rob O'Connor Skunk Anansie will not accept a future as a relic. Although their Glastonbury-conquering commercial peak was decades ago, and there’s been a further nine-year drought without an album, there’s nothing about their comeback that indicates they’ve become rusty.
Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Tuesday, 27 May 2025
Ezra Furman - Goodbye Small Head (Album Review)
Photo: Eleanor Petry Ezra Furman makes an unflinching, ebullient return to music with ‘Goodbye Small Head’, an album that chronicles feelings of losing control and becoming disillusioned with the world around you.
Written by: Nieve Elis | Date: Friday, 23 May 2025
Rico Nasty - Lethal (Album Review)
Photo: Chris Yellen Rico Nasty’s ‘Lethal’ is an explosive blend of beats, bars and bangers — it’s loud and garish while also being tonally varied and carefully-crafted, stacking up as perhaps the Maryland rapper’s finest work to date.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Kali Uchis - Sincerely, (Album Review)
Photo: Amaury Nessaibia ‘Sincerely,’ finds Kali Uchis luxuriating in a dreamy, sensual soundscape that feels intimate yet expansive. Across 50 minutes of lush, groove-laden R&B, she explores themes of love, family, and desire with a tone that oscillates between wistful reverie and euphoric joy. It feels like the soundtrack to a long, solitary drive — reflective, sultry, and tinged with the bittersweet glow of a love affair that, while it lasted, was heavy on sex.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
MØ - Plæygirl (Album Review)
Photo: Betty Krag “Hold on, I don't understand / Where all the roads are going, man,” MØ sings during Meat on a Stick, the mission-statement opener from the genre-defying ‘Plæygirl’. A decade on from her breakout, the Danish pop icon is at her most introspective on her fourth LP, with its immediate drop into an atmospheric a capella intro and sparse instrumentation placing her meditative lyrics front and centre.
Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Wretch 32 - Home? (Album Review)
Photo: Frank Feiber It’s been a long time since Wretch 32 established himself as British rap’s new poster boy. In 2011 alone, he released a trio of top five singles with Traktor, Unorthodox and the chart-topping Don’t Go, all taken from ‘Black and White’, a second album steeped in tales of a reckless youth. Now aged 40, ‘Home?’ gloriously captures a sense of maturity that shows his attention is now driven in more worthwhile directions.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 19 May 2025
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse (Album Review)
Photo: Jack Dallas-Chapman ‘Metalhorse’ is the emotionally charged and sonically enriched third album from Billy Nomates, signifying a considerable transformation in Tor Maries’ creative approach. It is her first produced in a studio with a full band and was profoundly influenced by personal challenges, including the recent death of her father and her own diagnosis with MS.
Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Friday, 16 May 2025
Billy Woods - Golliwog (Album Review)
Photo: Natalia Vacheishvili ‘Golliwog’ is a bruising and impactful body of work that takes after the best horror films, trudging through the forest no matter how creepy it may get. The central theme on Billy Woods’ eighth solo album is discomfort — the New York rapper is an expert in weaving lyrical tapestries and here, the threads are all blacks, greys, browns and reds. It’s an ugly, uncompromising affair, a festering wound that becomes more and more intriguing for those with the stomach for it.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Friday, 16 May 2025
Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant (Album Review)
Photo: Danny Clinch Arcade Fire emerged as giants of the ‘00s indie scene with their acclaimed debut, ‘Funeral’, which remains a baroque-rock masterpiece. Subsequent albums, up to 2013’s ‘Reflektor’, earned strong reviews and revved up a huge, adoring fanbase. Since then, it’s been harder to keep things on the rails.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Låpsley - I'm A Hurricane, I'm A Woman In Love (Album Review)
Låpsley celebrates polyamorous love on her fourth album, ‘I’m A Hurricane, I’m A Woman In Love’, exploring the period of time when the singer-songwriter was in an open relationship, and in love with two people at once.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Thursday, 15 May 2025
Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales (Album Review)
Photo: Pierre Toussaint While Thom Yorke needs no introduction, his ‘Tall Tales’ collaborator, Mark Pritchard, perhaps does. A veteran British electronic musician now based in Australia, Pritchard has been crafting beats of all genres since the early ‘90s, but is still a figure that few will know, other than those who’ve closely followed the releases of Warp Records.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia (Album Review)
Sleep Token’s rise from cult metal oddities to Download headliners has generated plenty of buzz, but in a creative sense the band reaches fresh heights with ‘Even In Arcadia’, a record that shatters genre boundaries with breathtaking confidence.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Mclusky - The World Is Still Here And So Are We (Album Review)
Photo: Damien Sayell Mclusky’s return with their fourth record after a mammoth 20-year dry spell will doubtless thrill die-hard fans, but for anybody looking in from the outside the main question to ask is simply: why now? There are a lot of typically sardonic answers scattered throughout ‘The World is Still Here and So Are We’ but perhaps the only one that matters is: because everything’s broken.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Monday, 12 May 2025
Blondshell - If You Asked For A Picture (Album Review)
Photo: Daniel Topete On ‘If You Asked For a Picture’, Blondshell’s Sabrina Teitelbaum assembles a scrapbook of the significant moments that have shaped her in an attempt to give form to the album’s title. Duly, its songs encompass painful memories of past romantic relationships, fraught family bonds, and a confrontation with her own inner critic. But, like the Mary Oliver poem that inspired its name, there is also room to contemplate the extent to which she should share parts of her life through her music.
Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Friday, 09 May 2025
Lights - A6 (Album Review)
Lights has always existed in a space between gentle indie-pop and dancier electronic music, with her later albums growing more confident in the array of influences displayed. With her sixth album, the aptly and simply titled ‘A6’, the Canadian songwriter doesn’t so much push herself in new directions as she does bring everything full circle, combining her various eras under one umbrella.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2025
PUP - Who Will Look After The Dogs? (Album Review)
Photo: Vanessa Heins Indie-punks PUP can seem like the ultimate dysfunctional family bound by proximity and complementary neuroses. Following 2022’s ‘The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND’ there were a series of shifts in their world that suggested a balancing out — guitarist Steve Sladkowski got married, bassist Nestor Chumak became a dad, and drummer Zack Mykula moved away. For a band who thrive on being at each other’s throats in a creative sense, the idea of any of them settling down could spell the death knell.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2025
Davido - 5ive (Album Review)
Davido may not occupy the same space at the forefront of Afrobeats’ global domination as Burna Boy and WizKid, but he has been steadily backing up the vanguard with a string of rock-solid records. Now, his fifth album tries to capitalise on that groundwork, but the results are shaky.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Model/Actriz - Pirouette (Album Review)
Photo: Kane Ocean ‘Pirouette’ is the second full-length release fromModel/Actriz, the Brooklyn-based quartet fronted by the captivating Cole Haden. It follows their 2023 breakout ‘Dogsbody’, broadening their genre-bending style, and weaving impressively between punishing industrial techno, radio-ready pop and unexpectedly tender ballads.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 07 May 2025
Sacred Paws - Jump Into Life (Album Review)
Sacred Paws’ third album evolves the sound of their afrobeat-infused indie-pop, pairing its expanded sonic palette with a more wistful outlook.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Wiz Khalifa - Kush + Orange Juice 2 (Album Review)
Photo: Daniel Kelly Everything gets a sequel nowadays. Call it the death of originality, call it nostalgia-dosing, call it what you like, but it’s a trend that has gripped hip hop as much as movies in recent years, with Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Food & Liquor’, Lil Uzi Vert’s ‘Eternal Atake’, Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday’ and Eminem’s ‘Marshall Mathers LP’ gaining follow ups years later.
Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Employed To Serve - Fallen Star (Album Review)
Photo: Bethan Miller Metal can be one of the purest forms of fun going. For all of the devastating permutations of heavy music that are out there, the genre can be a blast, packing energy and momentum that makes you smile, feel exhilarated and maybe, just maybe, get you to pull the ‘invisible oranges’ hand gesture.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Friday, 02 May 2025
Stereophonics - Make 'em Laugh, Make 'em Cry, Make 'em Wait (Album Review)
Photo: James D Kelly Stereophonics have been one of the UK’s biggest bands for almost 30 years, amassing eight number one albums and 26 top 40 hits, but their new record ‘Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Cry, Make ‘em Wait’ is proof of a still-functioning sense of ambition. It packs a welcome amount of variety, with their distinctive sound bolstered by strings and some more stripped back moments.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 02 May 2025
Sunflower Bean - Mortal Primetime (Album Review)
Photo: Anna Nazarova Sunflower Bean are known for shaking things up musically and this latest effort certainly exceeds all prior expectations. ‘Mortal Primetime’ is an exhilarating, genre-bending 10-track rebirth for the New York indie-pop trio, encompassing creative freedom and vulnerability while embracing both euphoria and gut-wrenching heartache.
Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys (Album Review)
Photo: Fredrik-Bengtsson Here, Viagra Boys reassert their belief in music’s fundamental purpose by offering an exhilarating journey into visceral enjoyment, infused with their signature sardonic wit. ‘Viagr Aboys’ dissects the band’s idiosyncratic charm and dark humour while delving deeper into their post-punk roots.
Written by: Katie Macbeth | Date: Thursday, 01 May 2025
Beach Bunny - Tunnel Vision (Album Review)
Photo: bassealec Beginning life as a bedroom-pop solo venture by Chicago-based musician Lili Trifilio as a petty move to get back at an ex, over the past decade Beach Bunny has evolved into something far bigger than she could have anticipated.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Self Esteem - A Complicated Woman (Album Review)
Photo: Scarlett Carlos Clarke ‘A Complicated Woman’ is a big swing for Rebecca Lucy Taylor, better known by her stage name Self Esteem. Her third record is her first for a bona fide major label and the follow up to ‘Prioritise Pleasure’, her thrilling breakthrough. It struggles with that weight — while it initially appears innovative and original, it doesn’t deliver on that promise.
Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Sumac and Moor Mother - The Film (Album Review)
Photo: Paulo Gonzales A collision of sludge-metal, spoken word, rap and free jazz, ‘The Film’ is that rarest of things — a genuinely new sonic fusion. But we have come to expect nothing less from its creators. Post-metal trio Sumac are at the vanguard of heavy innovation, while the work of brilliant MC Moor Mother confronts complex subject matter head on.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Beirut - A Study of Losses (Album Review)
Beirut’s seventh album had an unusual starting point. ‘A Study of Losses’ was prompted by Zach Condon falling under the spell of unfamiliar art, having been commissioned to write the soundtrack for an acrobatic stage show by Swedish circus Kompani Giraff, itself inspired by German writer Judith Schalansky’s novel Verzeichnis Einiger Verluste.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz (Album Review)
Photo: Xaviera Simmons When you’re able to reflect upon your work in a beloved cult band such as TV on the Radio, it must be tempting to rest on your laurels. But, with his first solo album, Tunde Adebimpe dismisses that idea out of hand. On ‘Thee Black Boltz’ he stands as a wisdom-stricken protagonist, delivering a richly layered record that feels like a natural step for an artist who does not know the meaning of the word boundary.
Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Monday, 28 April 2025
Julien Baker and Torres - Send A Prayer My Way (Album Review)
Photo: Ebru Yildiz Country’s moment in the mainstream is ongoing, whether it’s Beyoncé and Post Malone’s forays into the genre or, more recently, Chappell Roan’s dalliance with her single The Giver. But as with any changing of the guard, sometimes our pursuit of the new can make us overlook the beauty of what made the old great; when the right chord progression or turn of phrase could elicit a feeling that resonated beyond a record’s end.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 24 April 2025
Superheaven - Superheaven (Album Review)
Photo: Vincent Guglielmo It seems that Superheaven chose the best possible moment to get back into the studio. In the decade between the release of ‘Ours is Chrome’ and this self-titled effort, there blend of hardcore and shoegaze has become big business. They were doing it before it was cool, and now they’ve returned to show everyone how it’s done. Superheaven’s third album is loud, textured and nuanced but, above all, it’s huge-sounding.
Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Mamalarky - Hex Key (Album Review)
On their third album, indie outfit Mamalarky venture further into unpredictability and eclecticism through 13 excellent, sun-kissed songs. Where other bands of this ilk might prioritise consistency throughout an album, this Los Angeles-via-Atlanta quartet’s latest thrives thanks to that ability to combine variety with a central vibe that emphasises breezy cool.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Röyksopp - True Electric (Album Review)
Photo: Stian Andersen Röyksopp’s ‘True Electric’ is a 19-track time capsule inspired by 2023’s tour of the same name, with the Norwegian electronica duo attempting to harness the energy of those oscillating live sets. Like diving headfirst into an arctic pool only to emerge in a neon-lit club, it achieves its goal by sliding seamlessly between icy atmospherics and sweat-inducing beats.
Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 17 April 2025
Bon Iver - SABLE fABLE (Album Review)
Photo: Graham Tolbert Bon Iver head honcho Justin Vernon has explained the origins of his latest album’s title as “sable is the darkest black on Earth and it rhymes with fable.” Depending on your feelings towards Vernon and his work, you’ll either find this profound or you’ll think it sounds like something uttered in the unintentionally hilarious rock doc Bros: After the Screaming Stops.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Craig Finn - Always Been (Album Review)
Photo: Dan Monick Here’s a dream pairing to restart the heart of any middle-aged indie-rock fan as Craig Finn, singer of barroom heroes The Hold Steady, enlists The War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel to produce his sixth solo LP. And ‘Always Been’ is a treat — a brilliant collection of protagonist-focused stories, uncovering one man’s drive for redemption, self-improvement and the act of confession.
Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Tuesday, 15 April 2025
Djo - The Crux (Album Review)
Photo: Neil Krug Joe Keery made a name for himself as Steve Harrington in Netflix’s smash hit Stranger Things, but running in parallel to his acting career he has carved out a niche as a highly eclectic musician. His third LP under the name Djo is called ‘The Crux’ and it draws on everything from LCD Soundsystem to Television, The Beatles and MGMT. With such a wealth of influences considered the key question is whether it can make a cohesive whole, and the answer is an emphatic yes.
Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 14 April 2025
Scowl - Are We All Angels (Album Review)
Hardcore was perhaps always going to be too small to contain a band such as Scowl. Their breakout debut ‘How Flowers Grow’ might’ve been fiery but in its title track there was unexpected tenderness, setting the scene for further shapeshifting as the subsequent EP ‘Psychic Dance Routine’ pushed on into grunge and alt-rock.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Friday, 11 April 2025
