Noname - Room 25 (Album Review)

You get the impression Noname still doesn't realise how immensely likeable she is – both as an artist and a human. There was much about the Chicago rapper's 2016 mixtape 'Telefone' that was impressive in a conventional sense, whether it was her smooth, jazz-inflected flows, impeccable taste in neo-soul production or ability to create crystal-clear imagery. But what listeners connected with most was her magnetic personality. More specifically, they bought into her compassionate worldview and propensity to derive hope from the bleakest of topics or circumstances.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 17 September 2018

Anna Calvi - Hunter (Album Review)

Anna Calvi’s voice, an enormous wailing thing, is the dominant presence on her first album in five years, ‘Hunter’. It takes over and demolishes anything that stands in her path. In many ways, the record’s message does the same thing. Don’t fall into the trap of using gender stereotypes. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. Be yourself.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Monday, 17 September 2018

Pig Destroyer - Head Cage (Album Review)

Photo: Joey Wharton Opeth went ‘70s prog rock. Metallica cut their hair. Celtic Frost did ‘Cold Lake’. And yet, even after all that, people still shit the bed over this stuff. So when grindcore heroes Pig Destroyer released Army of Cops, a song with discernible vocals and a riff that could give Slipknot a leg-up on their next album, there was a bit of a hoo-hah.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 14 September 2018

Paul McCartney - Egypt Station (Album Review)

Photo: MPL Communications There’s lots of context that goes into reviewing work by established artists, and they don’t come much more established than Paul McCartney. Actually, there may be too much context; too much love and affection for the most influential living songwriter in the western world. In this case, one must rely on that reliable yet oft-overlooked metric: quality. And ‘Egypt Station’ is an album of exceptional quality.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 14 September 2018

Muncie Girls - Fixed Ideals (Album Review)

‘Fixed Ideals’ begins in medias res. Lande Hekt is tired, anxious and furiously angry. “I’m gonna get a tattoo that says: fuck Jeremy Clarkson and fuck you too,” she sings. The album’s opener is something of a blueprint for what follows, fusing fabulous melodies with brass tacks insights into her own life and a vivid, despondent view of a world that has lurched right with little concern for the people getting crushed in the gears.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 13 September 2018

Spiritualized - And Nothing Hurt (Album Review)

North American and British indie do fundamentally different things. The former emanates from a land of introverts as an alternative to the blood and guts of rock music and an intellectual safehouse, born as much from the druggy gentility of Laurel Canyon as the broken factories of Detroit. The latter, however, is largely a battleground of extroverts who peacock their way through shouty choruses at beer-sodden festivals. It is an extension of rock, as opposed to its alternative.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 13 September 2018

Idles - Joy As An Act Of Resistance (Album Review)

‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ is an emotional call to arms. On their second album Idles tell us that they want us to strive to be happy despite the things that try to bring us down. They want us to see that there is strength in allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, while opening the floor to discussions of issues such as toxic masculinity and xenophobia.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 12 September 2018

Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine (Album Review)

Photo: Graham Tolbert A collaboration between two indie heavyweights - Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner of the National - Big Red Machine is exactly what you’d expect it to be. This multifaceted new project finds two musicians bringing what they know best to the party while also letting the other do their thing.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Tuesday, 11 September 2018

Troye Sivan - Bloom (Album Review)

Pop phenomenon Troye Sivan’s second album communicates, with precision and depth, just how love, lust and loss can feel. Conjuring stirring crescendos, stimulating deep emotions and delivering spine-tingling energy, ‘Bloom’ is a brave and brilliant anthology of a life lived with an open heart and mind.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 10 September 2018

Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions (Album Review)

Despite being poster boys for gritty guitar licks, quirky lyrics and bluesy, boozy funk-rock, Clutch have never achieved the mainstream attention that their self-sustaining march over the years should merit. Even though 2015’s superb ‘Psychic Warfare’ broke them through to an extent, there remains a boatload of charm in the Maryland groovelords’ way of modestly churning out one outstanding record after another. The gloriously titled ‘Book of Bad Decisions’ doesn’t buck that trend.

Written by: Jon Stickler | Date: Friday, 07 September 2018

Mass Gothic - I've Tortured You Long Enough (Album Review)

Photo: Addison Post Mass Gothic. ‘I’ve Tortured You Long Enough’. Sounds like the project of some perpetually sad emo band, doesn’t it? On the contrary - this is dirty, guitar-driven synth-pop at its finest.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Thursday, 06 September 2018

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog (Album Review)

Named after an ominous volcano near Seattle, while acting as a tribute to the music scene that shot them to prominence in the early 1990s, ‘Rainier Fog’ is Alice In Chains’ third record since reforming after the death of frontman Layne Staley in 2002. Erupting with flavours old and new, it’s a classy effort that demonstrates exactly what master craftsmanship looks like. So why is it difficult to shake the feeling something’s missing?

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 06 September 2018

Alkaline Trio - Is This Thing Cursed? (Album Review)

Photo: Jonathan Weiner Perhaps we place too much stock in being surprised - or at least in the pursuit of something shiny and new to entertain us - because we often laud ambition and apparent boundary-pushing at the expense of craft. After all, why should we be impressed by the execution of dog-eared blueprints?

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 05 September 2018

Interpol - Marauder (Album Review)

Photo: Jamie-James Medina Having dispensed with the anagrams following the release of the excellent ‘El Pintor’ four years ago, Interpol’s sixth album ‘Marauder’ is the subject of a production shift. Not since 2007’s ‘Our Love To Admire’ have they employed an outside producer, so it’s somewhat surprising to find Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, the Flaming Lips) at the helm here.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 04 September 2018

The Kooks - Let's Go Sunshine (Album Review)

Photo: Andrew Whitton The UK indie boom of the early noughties produced some genuinely great bands, with Arctic Monkeys, the Libertines and Bloc Party all exploding onto the scene. Many of them are still going strong today, having maintained at least some semblance of cultural relevance and commercial success.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Monday, 03 September 2018

Wild Nothing - Indigo (Album Review)

‘Indigo’ is the fourth album from L.A.-based dream pop troubadour Jack Tatum as Wild Nothing and it comprises 11 skilfully written tracks that directly ape ‘70s and ‘80s British art rock - in particular Roxy Music.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 31 August 2018

Dan Owen - Stay Awake With Me (Album Review)

Courtesy of a period that saw commercially-minded, and often painfully bland, singer-songwriters dominating the airwaves, the very label is enough to inspire a healthy amount of cynicism these days. But Dan Owen’s debut album is a stellar example of how the genre can, in the right hands, be both radio friendly and artistically satisfying.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 30 August 2018

The Lemon Twigs - Go To School (Album Review)

Rock operas are a risky business. If you pull it off, maybe with your own ‘Tommy’ or ‘Quadrophenia’, you’re forever heralded as a genius. If you fail, and produce something as aimless as it is pointless, you’re marked for the rest of your career as something of an overblown bore. Well, the Lemon Twigs have accepted the challenge. And in true Twigs fashion, it’s completely and utterly bananas.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Thursday, 30 August 2018

White Denim - Performance (Album Review)

Photo: Pooneh Ghana The late summer bank holiday is gone and the leaves are beginning to brown. It’s a time for reflection and calmness before we drag ourselves into the long autumnal evening.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Justice - Woman Worldwide (Album Review)

It's hard to shake the feeling Justice have become victims of their own success. The French house duo's debut '†' felt perfectly timed when it dropped back in 2007, its combination of fist-pumping hooks and chunky synth lines announcing them as natural heirs to Daft Punk's throne. 

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 29 August 2018