The Magic Numbers - Outsiders (Album Review)

Isn’t it great when a band returns sounding better than ever? After four years away, ‘Outsiders’ isn’t just a wonderful comeback from the Magic Numbers, it’s their best effort since 2005’s Mercury nominated debut and the most fun-filled, enjoyable and consistent record to play host to their trademark harmonies.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 18 May 2018

Dimmu Borgir - Eonian (Album Review)

Guns N’ Roses did not have a good time without Slash and Duff. The Misfits were not living their best lives after Danzig left to be spooky on his own terms. And let’s not talk about Iron Maiden in the mid-’90s.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 18 May 2018

Beach House - 7 (Album Review)

Beach House don't make bad albums, which is perhaps unsurprising given the nature of their sound. The most striking thing about all of their records is how similar they've sounded, repeatedly making use of the same successful formula to the point where the Baltimore duo have become the reference point for an entire genre. If you're making dream pop in the 21st century and you've not listened to Beach House, are you really doing it right?

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2018

Leon Bridges - Good Thing (Album Review)

Leon Bridges appeared to have time travelled from the 1960s when he arrived out of nowhere in 2015. His suave suits and smooth vocals perfectly matched the retro soul of his debut album, ‘Coming Home’. Three years later and his second release, ‘Good Thing’, sees him update his sound, taking influence from several different decades, including our own.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2018

Peace - Kindness is The New Rock and Roll (Album Review)

When Peace burst onto the indie-rock scene five years ago, amid a maelstrom of tie-dye t-shirts and reverb-smothered, well, everything, it was clear they wanted to sound big. The Worcester four-piece set the foundations with their debut LP, ‘In Love,’ and built further with its grander follow-up, ‘Happy People’. But, as ‘Kindness is The New Rock and Roll’ shows, bigger doesn’t always mean better.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Tuesday, 15 May 2018

Gaz Coombes - World's Strongest Man (Album Review)

Still regarded in some quarters as ‘the guy from Supergrass’, Gaz Coombes’ latest collection, ‘World’s Strongest Man’, is his third solo outing since the Oxford trio split eight years ago. His previous effort, ‘Matador’, received high praise, with its concoction of Radiohead’s originality and occasional U2-esque anthemic highs netting a deserved Mercury Prize nomination.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 15 May 2018

Ihsahn - Àmr (Album Review)

Ihsahn is a genius. It’s a big, divisive word, but he’s proven it time and time again. From his contribution to, and eventual commandeering of, Norwegian black metal’s most important band, Emperor, right through his six solo albums since 2006, he’s found ways to innovate with every string, every key of each instrument he has picked up.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 14 May 2018

Frank Turner - Be More Kind (Album Review)

Frank Turner’s sound has changed little over the course of his 13 year career as a solo artist. The edges have been smoothed somewhat, while the instrumentation has grown more varied (and, when it needs to be, lavish), but his feelgood folk-punk USP has remained the same.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Monday, 14 May 2018

Middle Kids - Lost Friends (Album Review)

‘Lost Friends’, the debut album from Sydney indie-rockers Middle Kids, is a future soundtrack to an indie movie about lost millennials. The band are able to perfectly capture a feeling of intense insecurity through a retro Instagram filter.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Friday, 11 May 2018

TesseracT - Sonder (Album Review)

TesseracT’s first three albums earned them, in vocalist Dan Tompkins’ own words, “three different fanbases”. If you can stomach scrolling through online opinions, you’ll find this to be true. Fans adore their forays into djent, brooding soudscapes, unfathomable prog wizardry, and their mix of clean and screamed vocals, to varying degrees.

Written by: Guy Hirst | Date: Friday, 11 May 2018

Jon Hopkins - Singularity (Album Review)

Photo: Steve Gullick Historically, Jon Hopkins has been the kind of musician you come across at a festival and choose to pass by based on his tedious audience of hallucinating electro snobs - the kind of people who ‘shhh’ at a techno gig.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 10 May 2018

Blossoms - Cool Like You (Album Review)

Did you hear the one about the band who recorded two versions of their second album, and then released the wrong one?

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 10 May 2018

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer (Album Review)

According to Janelle Monáe, dirty computers are those of us with bugs and viruses that society wants to clean away, but that we as individuals don’t see as flaws.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 09 May 2018

A Perfect Circle - Eat The Elephant (Album Review)

Many critics don't put much stock into dissecting album art, but it's tricky to talk about 'Eat the Elephant', California supergroup A Perfect Circle's first album in 14 years, without at least a passing reference to its sleeve. Fronted by an Uncle Fester-esque character cradling an octopus, the ostentatious cover will trigger a gut response from anyone who grew up listening to angsty alternative rock in the early 2000s.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 09 May 2018

Rae Sremmurd - SR3MM (Album Review)

In a trap environment where quantity is often more important than quality (Gucci Mane, anyone?), a triple album could well mean two hours of abject tedium. Not so in the case of Atalanta superstars Rae Sremmurd, whose monster ‘SR3MM’ record is a catalogue of impressively consistent tracks that demonstrate noteworthy musical development from their previous offering, 2016’s ‘Sremmlife 2’.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 08 May 2018

Speedy Ortiz - Twerp Verse (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez ‘Foil Deer’, Speedy Ortiz’s 2015 album, cemented their place as a band who are always worth listening to. Sadie Dupuis constantly has her head on swivel, picking anecdotes that on closer inspection veer away from the autobiographical and into the universal.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 03 May 2018

Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician (Album Review)

The dichotomy facing the average Melvins fan is this: hating their new music because it doesn't resemble that of their heyday, while respecting Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover because they keep doing whatever the fuck they want. Their 27th studio album, ‘Pinkus Abortion Technician’, weighs heavily on this divide. It doesn't sound like classic Melvins because it’s a Butthole Surfers parody album with a Beatles cover in the middle. That’s something nobody asked for, and therefore precisely what the band intended.

Written by: Guy Hirst | Date: Thursday, 03 May 2018

Brothers Osborne - Port Saint Joe (Album Review)

In its purest (some would say most noble) form, artistic expression presents us with an undiluted, singular vision. Alas, whether it’s record company meddling, meeting fan expectations, satisfying commercial trends or striving to make a living, it’s hard for musicians to adopt this idealistic approach while dealing with real world pressures. Hailing from Deale in Maryland, the Brothers Osborne have certainly given it a good, albeit flawed, go on this follow up to 2016’s ‘Pawn Shop’.  

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 02 May 2018

Alexis Taylor - Beautiful Thing (Album Review)

Photo: Ronald Dick  Anyone who has followed the ebbs and flows of Alexis Taylor’s solo output over the past decade will be well versed in the changing styles of his music.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Tuesday, 01 May 2018

Grouper - Grid of Points (Album Review)

Photo: Tanja Engelbert Liz Harris is an interesting musician.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 30 April 2018