Parquet Courts - Sympathy For Life (Album Review)

Photo: Pooneh Ghana Parquet Courts’ 2018 album ‘Wide Awake!’ found the New Yorkers so invested in being the centre of the party that it almost felt like a carnival, with a post-punk sound that doubled down on grooves. But on their latest album ‘Sympathy For Life’ they wanted to create something that was inspired by the party itself.

Written by: Matty Pywell | Date: Tuesday, 26 October 2021

Coldplay - Music of the Spheres (Album Review)

Photo: James Marcus Haney On paper, it looks like Coldplay are getting desperate. Their last album, 2019’s ‘Everyday Life’, was a double record that delivered several solid gold pop tunes despite sections of creative drift. But it didn’t really butter the parsnips commercially, and they’ve moved to shore up this oversight by calling in collabs with BTS and Selena Gomez.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 25 October 2021

Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure (Album Review)

Navigating life as a woman in your 30s can be a daunting task. Should we be married with kids by now? Should we care that we’re not? Should we be wearing this, having sex with them, caring more about things? These are just a few of the many nuanced questions that Rebecca Lucy Taylor addresses on ‘Prioritise Pleasure’, her second album as Self Esteem.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 22 October 2021

Finneas - Optimist (Album Review)

On his debut album, Billie Eilish’s producer and co-writer brother reins in the gothic electronica of his superstar sibling’s records in favour of easy listening ‘70s yacht-rock cut with 2020s digital arrangement. The result is largely unconvincing.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 21 October 2021

Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes - Sticky (Album Review)

Photo: Jenny Brough Does Frank Carter ever tire? It’s a mystery. Famed for frantic live shows, fuelled by piercing punk anthems, he can often be found crawling across a stage, or swinging from the light fixtures.

Written by: Rebecca Llewellyn | Date: Monday, 18 October 2021

Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon (Album Review)

Established in the late 1990s, and now boasting 10 studio albums under their belt, Trivium deserve to be classed as metal heavyweights. The Florida band have long taken great pleasure in mixing a brooding array of heavy styles and subgenres, but ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ is perhaps their most bullish and most profound work to date.

Written by: Rebecca Llewellyn | Date: Friday, 15 October 2021

James Blake - Friends That Break Your Heart (Album Review)

In a recent GQ interview with James Blake, the London born singer-producer and Los Angeles transplant explained: “I do genuinely want to make music for people who are just sitting by the swimming pool.” His fifth album, ‘Friends That Break Your Heart’ may well succeed in this aspiration, and that may not be a good thing.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga - Love For Sale (Album Review)

With charm and pizazz to burn, this album of spirited jazz standards from the unlikely, but perfectly matched, pairing of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga joyfully pays tribute to one of the greatest songwriters and composers of all time: Cole Porter. Going out on a suitable high, Bennett couldn’t have punctuated his glorious, near 80 year, career with a more fitting swan song than this heart-warming collaboration.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 11 October 2021

Strand of Oaks - In Heaven (Album Review)

After suffering the loss of his wife’s mother in a car accident, along with the death of his beloved cat, Stan, Timothy Showalter moved to Austin, Texas from Philadelphia, quitting drinking in the process. As a result Strand of Oaks’ latest album ‘In Heaven’ faces grief and finds hope among the sorrow. 

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 07 October 2021

Sleigh Bells - Texis (Album Review)

Photo: Chris Vultaggio Over the course of four albums, New York duo Sleigh Bells have thrown everything at reimagining how electro-rock works. Saying goodbye to any sort of genre formula, they have been a brash, colourful force that’s impossible to ignore. Righting the ship just a little, ‘Texis’ doubles down on some of their best moves. 

Written by: Jessica Howkins | Date: Tuesday, 05 October 2021

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind (Album Review)

With lockdowns easing all around the western world, recording artists will hopefully be finding themselves in renewed flushes of creativity—reunited with the musicians, non-home studios and touring schedules that helped to define their output before.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 04 October 2021

Poppy - Flux (Album Review)

Photo: Frank Ockenfels III Poppy couldn’t have chosen a better title for her fourth album. If one word can precisely sum up her shifting artistry, with every album so radically different from the one that came before, ‘Flux’ is more than appropriate. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Friday, 01 October 2021

Lindsey Buckingham - Lindsey Buckingham (Album Review)

As wrenching as the split first appears, there’s some weight to the idea that getting fired from Fleetwood Mac was the best thing that could have happened to Lindsey Buckingham. His former bandmates are happy to live off their history as a touring jukebox, but the guitarist’s first solo album in a decade shows he perhaps shouldn’t be wasting his time going through the motions.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Nao - And Then Life Was Beautiful (Album Review)

Nao’s third album ‘And Then Life Was Beautiful’ is a terse 13 track investigation of diverse and listenable neo-soul, combining versatile yet distinctive vocals with guest spots from Lianne La Havas, Lucky Daye and Nigerian highlife star Adekunle Gold.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Public Service Broadcasting - Bright Magic (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Lake In crafting Public Service Broadcasting’s fourth album, J. Willgoose Esq. left London behind and sauntered off to Berlin, and ‘Bright Magic’ is certainly a product of its environment. Fascinated by the German capital's near-mythical status as a creative space, he sought to write a collection “about the city and its history”.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 27 September 2021

Various Artists - The Metallica Blacklist (Album Review)

Prior to August 12 1991, it would have been inconceivable to suggest any metal band could break out of their misunderstood and oft maligned fringe genre to become a worldwide phenomenon. But on that day Metallica only went and unleashed ‘The Black Album,’ a cross-genre, cross-cultural, cross-generational colossus that forever changed the perception and respect afforded to both themselves and heavy metal.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 24 September 2021

Thrice - Horizons/East (Album Review)

Photo: Matt Vogel It’s a tale as old as time: rock band reunites, fails to recapture the lofty highs of their youth. Kiss, System of a Down and Mötley Crüe are among the book’s infinite chapters. Yet, you can count on one hand the bands that have re-emerged from the abyss and outdone themselves. Thrice are one of them.

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Thursday, 23 September 2021

Employed to Serve - Conquering (Album Review)

Employed to Serve’s last album was called ‘Eternal Forward Motion’, and its title has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy for the Woking metallers led by Justine Jones and guitarist-vocalist Sammy Urwin. Emerging from their latest bout of line up changes, the band are back with a new record and a tweaked sound.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Low - Hey What (Album Review)

Following the departure of bassist Steve Garrington in 2020 Low have, almost inevitably, remained as a duo. Now consisting of couple Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, the heart of the Minnesota group’s 13th studio album ‘Hey What’ is, of course, their irrepressible, ever-reliable vocal harmonies.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 21 September 2021

Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort to Me (Album Review)

Photo: Jamie Wdziekonski Renowned for their chaotic live shows and frantic take on Aussie punk, Amyl and the Sniffers have quickly made a name for themselves. Led by the formidable Amy Taylor, this raucous rock band have turned heads globally, and their notoriety will only continue to grow thanks to ‘Comfort To Me’, a second album that delivers about as much raw energy as the average listener can take.

Written by: Rebecca Llewellyn | Date: Monday, 20 September 2021