Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying (Album Review)

Photo: H. Hawkline Cate Le Bon’s ‘Michelangelo Dying’ is, at its core, a breakup record, though one only she could make. Emerging from the wreckage of a long-term relationship and relocations from Joshua Tree, California back to Cardiff, her seventh LP offers heartache rendered as shimmering atmosphere.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 03 October 2025

Robert Plant - Saving Grace (Album Review)

Photo: Tom Oldham While he remains best known as Led Zeppelin’s frontman, Robert Plant’s solo career is a fascinating journey spanning country, folk, blues and Americana. He returns with his latest solo project, ‘Saving Grace’, another late career highlight and eclectic blend of covers, showing that even at 77 he’s continuing to push forward.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 03 October 2025

Geese - Getting Killed (Album Review)

Photo: Mark Sommerfield While their breakthrough album ‘3D Country’ was an unhinged, chaotic out of control rodeo, on its follow-up ‘Getting Killed’ Geese have tamed the bull. It’s left to us to decide whether that’s a good thing, and there’s a coin flip in it.

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Thursday, 02 October 2025

Mariah Carey - Here For It All (Album Review)

Photo: Dennis Leupold The lead single from Mariah Carey’s ‘Here For It All’ opened the summer with a bang. A sleek slice of R&B, with Carey’s wit and confidence front and centre, Type Dangerous reminded listeners that while she hasn’t released a full album of new music since 2018’s ‘Caution’, she’s lost none of her sparkle or relevance. It set the tone for an album that embraces her strengths rather than chasing trends.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 01 October 2025

Zara Larsson - Midnight Sun (Album Review)

Photo: Charlotte Rutherford After 2023’s unfocused ‘Venus’ failed to scale the heights of her early chart successes, Zara Larsson delivers a more cohesive statement with ‘Midnight Sun’. This 10 track collection represents a significant improvement in terms of quality control, even if it doesn’t entirely succeed in updating her sound.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 01 October 2025

Biffy Clyro - Futique (Album Review)

Photo: Eva Pentel There is no straight line for a frenetic mathcore-tinged rabble to follow in becoming arena staples but, somehow, Biffy Clyro have managed exactly that. The Scottish trio’s early work displayed great technical prowess, along with a penchant for left-field heaviness and nonsensical lyrics, that they then managed to marry with mass-appeal rock in a quite remarkable crossover success story.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Sprints - All That Is Over (Album Review)

Photo: Emilia Spitale Some might say that to be truly great, an album should resonate on first listen. It’s true that there’s a certain magic to those records that instantly light a fire inside you, but there’s also something to be said for those with a more gradual impact. 

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Doja Cat - Vie (Album Review)

Photo: Greg Swales Doja Cat has made a career of swinging between sugary pop and acidic rap, often with whiplash-inducing severity. But where her last two albums have neatly represented these swings between extremes, on ‘Vie’ it seems like she’s finally found a happy medium between her two sides, showing that the two can coexist by blending sugary sounds with fiery, sometimes playful, bars.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Monday, 29 September 2025

Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez History has not been kind to the triple album, but Jeff Tweedy doesn’t care. At 30 tracks and nearly two hours, ‘Twilight Override’ is less a record than an environment; an overflowing dispatch from a songwriter who has spent four decades offloading his heart in increasingly sprawling formats. If his band Wilco once made masterpieces of concision (‘Summerteeth’, ‘Yankee Hotel Foxtrot’) then this feels like a kind-of end point: the maximalist, everything-must-go splurge.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 29 September 2025

Olivia Dean - The Art of Loving (Album Review)

Photo: Aliyah Otchere After steadily building hype for a few years, Olivia Dean made a name for herself with her 2023 debut ‘Messy’. Nominated for the Mercury Prize, it blended neo-soul, jazz and more into an infectious cocktail that her second album ‘The Art of Loving’ develops further, adding pop flourishes while telling a cohesive story.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Monday, 29 September 2025

Joy Crookes - Juniper (Album Review)

Photo: Ewen Spencer Joy Crookes’ ‘Juniper’ offers a particularly potent pleasure: letting time melt away while succumbing to her hypnotic voice. It’s a feeling that persists throughout a record that has a noticeably nostalgic pull, reminiscent of the British soul and R&B scenes that produced Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele in short order. 

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Friday, 26 September 2025

NewDad - Altar (Album Review)

Photo: Peter Eason Daniels Galway’s NewDad launched themselves onto the scene at the start of 2024 with ‘Madra’, a debut that displayed an infectious blend of shoegaze, indie-pop and indie rock. They now return barely 18 months later with their sophomore record, ‘Altar’, which underlines their status as one of Ireland’s fastest-rising bands and shows real progression from their debut. 

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 26 September 2025

Wednesday - Bleeds (Album Review)

Photo: Graham Tolbert Wednesday’s sixth studio album announces them as creative alchemists, transforming the emotional wreckage of relentless touring throughout 2024 and the dissolution of vocalist Karly Hartzman and guitarist MJ Lenderman’s romantic relationship into their best work yet. Lenderman’s presence looms large across these 12 tracks, many written before the split but prescient in capturing the entropy of romance.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 25 September 2025

Nation of Language - Dance Called Memory (Album Review)

With a sound that incorporates elements of pop, post-punk and heavy synths, Nation of Language’s sound is eclectic and inviting, with their fourth LP ‘Dance Called Memory’ suggesting once again that they should be on more people’s radars.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Thursday, 25 September 2025

KennyHoopla - conditions of an orphan// (Album Review)

Photo: Brittany Young When you hit shuffle on KennyHoopla’s discography you’re met with a whiplash-inducing mix of sounds. Across the past few years, the Wisconsin-born musician has gleefully hopped between genres, from pop-punk and emo revival to indie-pop and new wave-tinged alt-rock. The 28-year-old has zig-zagged between sounds at an impressive rate, but on his latest EP conditions of an orphan//’ he plants his feet firmly in the jagged, sweat-soaked world of mid-2000s dance-punk.

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Baxter Dury - Allbarone (Album Review)

Photo: Tom Beard On his ninth studio album, Baxter Dury is still dabbling in dry wit and observational storytelling, elevated by electro-pop and dance beats. It’s a tried and tested formula that has garnered him critical acclaim but, while there are moments of brilliance on ‘Allbarone’, at times it feels like he is trying to be a bit too clever.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Tuesday, 23 September 2025

Ho99o9 - Tomorrow We Escape (Album Review)

Photo: Nick Fancher Ho99o9 have always been tough to define. Punk-rap, hardcore hip-hop, horrorcore, noise-punk — all of these labels and more have been affixed to the New Jersey duo’s music, which is a chaotic blend of electronics and rock instrumentation, poetic lyrics and anarchic yells. Within this context, the band’s third album flips expectations in a wholly new way.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 22 September 2025

JADE - That's Showbiz Baby! (Album Review)

Following her success as a member of Little Mix, many expected big things from JADE as a solo artist. Her debut album ‘That’s Showbiz Baby!’ doesn’t just meet those expectations, it exceeds them in every way. Pushing back against the difficulties of going it alone, this is loud, powerful and innovative pop music.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 19 September 2025

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Perimenopop (Album Review)

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s post-Saltburn resurgence continues with ‘Perimenopop’, a record that showcases the singer at her most confident and self-assured. Following Murder On The Dancefloor’s viral TikTok resurgence in late 2023, her eighth LP stays true to the sounds that made her a megastar at the turn of the millennium, putting out infectious chart-topping hits in quick succession.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Thursday, 18 September 2025

Algernon Cadwallader - Trying Not To Have A Thought (Album Review)

Photo: Scott Troyan As the Boss once sang: maybe everything that dies some day comes back. We are haunted by recursions and revivals. In music, this has manifested largely as defunct acts rarely staying dead. Streaming technology means that we no longer consume art in a perpetual present, meaning that bands of the past are, essentially, as alive today as any active band.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 18 September 2025

Nova Twins - Parasites & Butterflies (Album Review)

Photo: Nicole Chen Nova Twins have certainly been living up to their name. With the one-two of their 2020 debut album ‘Who Are The Girls?’ and the ensuing ‘Supernova’ accompanied by some massive live shows, vocalist-guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South have been burning bright. But the duo’s third album ‘Parasites & Butterflies’ dims their light a little.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2025

Ed Sheeran - Play (Album Review)

Photo: Petros Studio   Ed Sheeran always seems to be riding high, topping charts, scooping platinum records and selling out stadiums, but ‘Play’ shows that he’s still able to adapt to changing surroundings. Following the mixed reception afforded to his last couple of LPs, it is his attempt at a gamechanger, seeking to offer a slice of individuality while pulling from some wide-reaching influences. 

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2025

Djo - The Crux Deluxe (Album Review)

Photo: Piers Greenan Until recently, Joe Keery was best known for portraying lovable jock Steve Harrington in the global Netflix hit Stranger Things. Lately, though, he’s changed that perception by finding success in the music world as Djo. In March, a Brit Award nomination came for hazy online sleeper hit End of Beginning and, in May, his third studio album ‘The Crux’ arrived to critical acclaim. Now, he’s re-upped that record with a deluxe edition that is, essentially, a whole new record.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Tuesday, 16 September 2025

Shame - Cutthroat (Album Review)

Shame’s ‘Cutthroat’ brings fierce, intense energy from the get-go, reinforcing the idea that the south London post-punks are a band unafraid to try new things.  Produced by John Congleton, whose oddball pop approach has been employed by everyone from St. Vincent to Mannequin Pussy, it’s a bold record that justifies their confidence.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Monday, 15 September 2025

Suede - Antidepressants (Album Review)

Photo: Dean Chalkley Suede never quite fit into the blokey Britpop box in the 90s, though their self-titled debut could be said to have pioneered the genre, and they have subsequently done much to distance themselves from the label, instead pointing to the importance of glam-rock and grittier post-punk  in shaping their sound. Now 10 albums into their career, and five into their dazzling second act post-reformation, ‘Antidepressants’ drives that idea home in fine style.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Friday, 12 September 2025

Big Thief - Double Infinity (Album Review)

Not many bands have been quite as prolific and consistent as Big Thief over the past decade. From their aptly named 2016 debut ‘Masterpiece’ to 2022’s ambitious ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’, they have produced some of the most beautiful and celebrated alternative music in recent memory. A three year gap between albums, then, has built quite the sense of anticipation for ‘Double Infinity’.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Thursday, 11 September 2025

CMAT - Euro-Country (Album Review)

After a string of triumphant festival appearances and a viral Tik-Tok dance craze, CMAT is finally having her moment. The country-pop singer’s signature tragicomic songwriting and enviable vocal range are turned up to 11 on ‘Euro-Country’, a third full length LP that runs on sharp song-writing and brutally honest self-assessment.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Thursday, 11 September 2025

Saint Etienne - International (Album Review)

Photo: Rob Baker Ashton It’s never easy saying goodbye. In a year already heavy with cultural farewells, Saint Etienne’s announcement that their 13th studio album would be their last carried a particular sting. For three decades Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Cracknell have been purveyors of bittersweet pop, folding club textures and wistful references into something recognisably their own. ‘International’ is their parting shot — a colourful, guest-heavy affair that’s less a solemn wake and more a leaving do in a pub with a cake.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 10 September 2025

David Byrne - Who Is The Sky? (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez Thanks to his peerless work with Talking Heads, David Byrne needs no introduction. But, in the years since the seminal post-punk group disbanded, he has continued to make pioneering music that spans genres. ‘Who Is The Sky?’ is his first album since ‘American Utopia’ arrived in 2018 and it shows an artist continuing to push boundaries and further define his legacy into his 70s.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 09 September 2025

Blood Orange - Essex Honey (Album Review)

Photo: Vinca Petersen Dev Hynes is a singular talent: a genre-hopping auteur with an exquisite ability to capture a feeling in scattered soundscapes. Informed by grief at the death of his mother and the rose-tinted nostalgia of revisiting his hometown of Ilford, his fifth album as Blood Orange, ‘Essex Honey’, does all that and more, its reflections on life and loss held aloft by complex melodies and poignant vocal performances.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Monday, 08 September 2025

The Beaches - No Hard Feelings (Album Review)

The Beaches are an impressive, underrated band. Their third album ‘No Hard Feelings’ is an assured follow up to ‘Blame My Ex’, which catapulted them up festival bills and set up a long period of touring. It packs plenty of pop punch and should secure them some of the credit they deserve.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 05 September 2025

The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie (Album Review)

Photo: Frances Carter The Beths have emerged from their longest creative gap with an album that transforms personal struggle into artistic breakthrough. Following Elizabeth Stokes’ battles with Graves’ disease and SSRI-induced writer’s block, ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ is at once a document of recovery and self-discovery, and a collection of indie-rock bangers. Ultimately, it’s proof that overcoming creative obstacles can yield unexpected rewards.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 05 September 2025

Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman (Album Review)

Photo: Yana Yatsuk Nearly a decade after ‘Midwest Farmer’s Daughter’ established her as one of country’s most compelling outsiders, Margo Price delivers her most frustrating album yet. ‘Hard Headed Woman’ finds the Nashville firebrand retreating into something resembling tradition, trading the raw authenticity that made her essential for formulaic compositions that feel oddly hollow.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 04 September 2025

Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend (Album Review)

Sabrina Carpenter has been a supreme performer since her days as a Disney star, but over the past couple of years her profile has shifted in explosive, unexpected ways. ‘Short n’ Sweet’ was a huge hit, catapulting her name onto the lips of pop fans the world over, and she has struck while the iron is hot, releasing ‘Man’s Best Friend’ only 12 months later.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 04 September 2025

Jehnny Beth - You Heartbreaker, You (Album Review)

It’s often fun to interpret music as having a colour palette. It’ll be different for everyone, but we’ll all have our ideas of how music ‘looks’ — some sounds are warm hues, others cold, some are vivid, others stark.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 03 September 2025

Laufey - A Matter of Time (Album Review)

Photo: Emma Summerton It is no surprise that Laufey’s rise has occurred during a time of such uncertainty. Her knack for crafting entrancing jazz and classical music seems to refer back to simpler times, while her lyrics offer contrast by lending themselves to modern woes.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2025

The Hives - The Hives Forever Forever The Hives (Album Review)

It doesn’t break the mould, but ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ captures the celebratory air of the Swedish garage-punk legends’ sound wonderfully — almost 30 years since the release of their debut they remain playful, energetic and propulsive.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2025

Black Honey - Soak (Album Review)

Photo: Frank Fieber Across the course of a decade, it is easy for a band to settle into a groove, especially once they taste success with a certain formula. Fortunately, Black Honey just don’t get that way of thinking. Led by Izzy B. Phillips, the Brighton quartet have spent the past 11 years making dents in the charts and playing big shows while still steadfastly doing things on their own terms. 

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 01 September 2025

Wolf Alice - The Clearing (Album Review)

Photo: Rachel Fleminger Hudson When ‘My Love Is Cool’ arrived a decade ago, Wolf Alice became a shining light in an otherwise floundering British guitar scene. Each of their three albums to date have been nominated for the Mercury Price, with 2017’s ‘Visions of a Life’ winning the award, while adding fresh colours to their palette with each release. ‘The Clearing’ continues that wonderful trend.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Monday, 01 September 2025

Superchunk - Songs In The Key Of Yikes (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Cox Fridays can be cruel. Superchunk can attest to that, with their latest record emerging alongside Deftones’ stunning return, fascinating, critically-acclaimed oddities by Water From Your Eyes and Nourished By Time, and a surprise drop courtesy of one of the great modern rappers, Earl Sweatshirt. ‘Songs In The Key Of Yikes’ could easily feel like the runt of such a litter, but it’s to the amiable US indie rockers’ credit that it stands its ground.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Friday, 29 August 2025

Mac DeMarco - Guitar (Album Review)

Die-hard Mac DeMarco heads might still be working their way through 2023’s 199 song compilation ‘One Wayne G’, but the Canadian singer-songwriter is back with more. On ‘Guitar’, though, he opts for quality over quantity with a handful of short, rich, and poignant tracks.

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Thursday, 28 August 2025

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Dreams Of Being Dust (Album Review)

Photo: Lisa Johnson After 16 years of gradual evolution, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die appear to have reached their final form. ‘Dreams of Being Dust’ doesn't just mark a stylistic shift, it represents the band’s full artistic actualisation and reveals the beast that was lurking beneath their post-rock exterior.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Rise Against - Ricochet (Album Review)

Photo: Mynxii White The world’s on fire, so Rise Against must have something to say, surely? As artists line up to rally against the myriad injustices that face us day-to-day, the Chicago punks have the wisdom that comes with being on the front line for longer than most. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Deftones - Private Music (Album Review)

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine Ten studio albums is a special milestone for any band and Deftones mark it in style with ‘Private Music’, with some of their best work emerging almost 30 years on from the arrival of their debut ‘Adrenaline’.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Conan Gray - Wishbone (Album Review)

Photo: Dillon Matthew Barely a year ago it felt like Conan Gray had misplaced his artistic identity. But where the Max Martin-produced synth-pop of ‘Found Heaven’ felt calculating, its rapid follow up ‘Wishbone’ strips away the glossy veneer to reveal something altogether more authentic.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 22 August 2025

Orianthi - Some Kind of Feeling (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Brown Orianthi’s fifth album is a rip-roaring blues-rock affair that taps into her formative ‘60s and ‘70s influences with glee, showcasing a fully-rounded artist whose authentic, passionate music now holds equal footing with her status as a supreme guitarist.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2025

The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers (Album Review)

Photo: Larry Niehues The Black Keys have been in a prolific mood of late, releasing four albums between 2019 and 2024 and now returning once again with ‘No Rain, No Flowers’, a project born from frustrations with their cancelled US tour. It’s a sprightly mix of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s trademark blues-rock sound and something a little breezier, belying the turmoil behind its creation.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 19 August 2025

Alison Goldfrapp - Flux (Album Review)

Photo: Mat Maitland In following up her solo debut ‘The Love Invention’, Alison Goldfrapp’s ‘Flux’ still faces the dancefloor, but its gaze is turned inward. Known for her work in the electronic duo that bears her surname, this is a project built on themes of impermanence, home to songs that dissolve and swell, mapping the uncertain space between stability and change. But, despite the auteurism inherent in the project, it lacks form and personality.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 18 August 2025

Good Charlotte - Motel Du Cap (Album Review)

Photo: Jen Rosenstein Still known by many as the sneering, spiky-haired poster boys of 2000s pop-punk, over the past 25 years Good Charlotte have expanded their sound far beyond the bratty outcast anthems, suburban angst, and soaring choruses that defined their early days. 

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Friday, 15 August 2025

JID - God Does Like Ugly (Album Review)

Photo: Neri With a title that cheekily cribs from Atmosphere’s ‘God Loves Ugly’, one of the greatest underground rap albums of all time, JID is seemingly not short of confidence on his fourth studio record.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 14 August 2025