Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V (Album Review)
Photo: Juan Ortiz Arenas From their inception Unknown Mortal Orchestra have been musical outliers. Decidedly ‘anti-scene’, the group, fronted by songwriter Ruban Nielson, have always incorporated a twisted nest of influences into their sound.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation (Album Review)
Photo: Marcell Rév In Ken Burns’ epic documentary series Country Music, he asks guitar godfather and key architect of the so-called Nashville Sound, Chet Atkins, exactly what that sound comprises. Atkins jingles some coins in his pocket. “That’s the Nashville Sound!” he says with an accompanying grin.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 20 March 2023
Princess Nokia - I Love You But This Is Goodbye (Album Review)
When Princess Nokia dropped '1992 Deluxe' back in 2017, it seemed as if the emo-rap crown would inevitably be hers for the taking. She's not quite managed to match those heights with subsequent releases, but her new EP 'I Love You But This Is Goodbye' sets out to right the ship as a short, sharp shot of her myriad influences and styles.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Friday, 17 March 2023
Dutch Uncles - True Entertainment (Album Review)
Photo: Oliver Sangster It's not every day that you come across an album that cites Prince, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Talking Heads as key influences. Then again, it's not every day you come across a band quite like Dutch Uncles. The Mancunian art-pop quartet are back with their sixth album 'True Entertainment' and they prove here that certain sounds can be truly timeless.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus (Album Review)
Photo: Cho Gi-Seok For Kali Uchis’ third studio album, the Colombian-American R&B singer has delivered a luxurious cocktail of slow jam-soul pop. 'Red Moon in Venus' demonstrates a gorgeous high point in her catalogue, its vintage production providing an elegant background to syrupy singing and raunch. In ancient astrology, the red moon is meant as a portent of doom. In this context, it appears to predict something altogether more erotic.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Slowthai - Ugly (Album Review)
‘Ugly’ is the third album from UK rapper Slowthai, presenting raw and introspective lyricism with dark garage-rock backing, giving a compelling view into the performer’s troubled psyche.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Sleaford Mods - UK Grim (Album Review)
Releasing seven albums in 10 years is no mean feat, but when your music focuses on taking potshots at arseholes and austerity like Sleaford Mods' does, it sadly seems you'll never be short of content.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 13 March 2023
The Veils - …And Out Of The Void Came Love (Album Review)
Released as a double album after Finn Andrews hit an unexpected rich vein of form, ‘…And Out of the Void Came Love’ is the Veils’ sixth LP, and first for seven years. During that time, Andrews suffered from writer’s block, a feeling that is captured on the excellent lead single Undertow. Having both parents as writers, Andrews was fully aware of the troubles encountered when the well runs dry—at one point had lost hope that he would ever be able to create again.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 08 March 2023
Gorillaz - Cracker Island (Album Review)
At this point, Damon Albarn has likely had more airplay as the creator of Gorillaz than as the frontman of Blur. The use of the word ‘airplay’ is relevant because since Gorillaz’s debut album (‘Cracker Island’ is their eighth) the entire machinery of music listening has changed from physical to streaming. And this is relevant because to listeners of a certain vintage Gorillaz still feel somehow…new.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 06 March 2023
The Slow Readers Club - Knowledge Freedom Power (Album Review)
For a band recognised as being from the gloomy Joy Division mould, the Slow Readers Club’s new album ‘Knowledge Freedom Power’ is intentionally more optimistic as things shift over from the dark side to one of more noticeable light.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 03 March 2023
Algiers - Shook (Album Review)
Photo: Ebru Yildiz Algiers were a band on the brink of collapse. The genre-mashing collective, burnt out from relentless touring, were feeling the pressure from all sides in a world rife with turmoil and unrest. For a moment, it looked as if they would be calling it a day. “We all got shook,” says multi-instrumentalist Ryan Mahan. But rather than let it spell the end of a group that had already put out three albums and been friends for years, they retreated to where it all began and produced their new album.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Thursday, 02 March 2023
Logic - College Park (Album Review)
At the age of just 30, Logic announced he was done with the music industry and retired. A year later he was back with his seventh album ‘Vinyl Days’, cranking it out in 12 days before severing ties with his long-time label Def Jam. Now, the Maryland rapper returns to the fold as an independent artist with ‘College Park’. And he sounds even better for it.
Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Wednesday, 01 March 2023
Philip Selway - Strange Dance (Album Review)
In Radiohead’s absence, the band’s members have consistently put out projects. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have worked on acclaimed film scores as well as the band The Smile, while Ed O’Brien put out an understated and underrated solo album in 2020 titled ‘Earth’.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Shame - Food For Worms (Album Review)
Since establishing themselves as figureheads of the British post-punk revival with their 2018 debut, ‘Songs of Praise’, South London’s Shame have not been ones for complacency.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Monday, 27 February 2023
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Land of Sleeper (Album Review)
British doom metal bands occupy key spots in the genre’s canon. Black Sabbath invented it, Electric Wizard made it more evil, Iron Monkey upped the transgressive ante and, more recently, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs have imbued this dark and murky genre with crossover-friendly fun.
Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 23 February 2023
Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, The Water, The Sky (Album Review)
Photo: Nate Lemuel of Darklisted Photography For the uninitiated, Black Belt Eagle Scout is the musical outlet of Swinomish multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul. Her Native ancestry has always been an important backdrop to her music, but on what is now her third record for Saddle Creek, these themes take a greater prominence than ever before.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Shania Twain - Queen of Me (Album Review)
Showing laudable resilience after huge parts of her arsenal were torn away, ‘Queen Of Me’ is an entertaining and vibrant pop record from Shania Twain that, when it strikes the right equilibrium between her unique input and some necessary production choices, represents a nice cathartic pick me up.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Screaming Females - Desire Pathway (Album Review)
A ‘desire pathway’ is a route forged as an alternative to assigned roads, worn over time into a flat surface by individuals who have deemed it the best direction in which to travel. For a seasoned band such as Screaming Females, establishing such paths has almost become second nature.
Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Tuesday, 21 February 2023
Andy Shauf - Norm (Album Review)
Photo: Angela Lewis It's well known that there is a bar in Boston where everybody knows your name, and it seems appropriate that Andy Shauf’s latest record ‘Norm’ shares its name with one of the most recognisable characters from the iconic sitcom Cheers.
Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Monday, 20 February 2023
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You (Album Review)
Photo: Nedda Asfar It didn’t take long following the dissolution of her former band Chairlift for Caroline Polachek to step out into the world of pop under her own name. In 2019 she skipped beyond the production-focused work of her early solo career to release ‘Pang’, a top-drawer record that hummed with avant-pop promise.
Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Thursday, 16 February 2023
