Against Me! - Shape Shift With Me (Album Review)

Four years on from coming out as transgender in an interview with Rolling Stone, Laura Jane Grace has decided it’s time to change the conversation again. Having put out the excoriating, captivating ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ 18 months after sitting down with the magazine, Grace’s focus has shifted to a trans perspective on love and sex with Against Me!’s ‘Shape Shift With Me’.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 26 September 2016

Giraffe Tongue Orchestra - Broken Lines (Album Review)

It’s not a supergroup’s members that make it ‘super’. It’s the quality of the music and, where this type of thing is concerned, that usually means flaccid songwriting and lots of rubbing of hands as money lands in bank accounts.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 26 September 2016

Trentemoller - Fixion (Album Review)

Anders Trentemøller’s brand of electronica has brushed shoulders with many of its sub-genres since his debut, ‘The Last Resort’, dropped a decade ago. That record - his first in his current guise – was propelled to the top reaches of many critics’ end of year lists and gained favourable comparisons to fellow Scandinavians Röyksopp (whom he has since remixed) and the hugely influential Brazilian producer Amon Tobin. It was a dark affair, focusing primarily on dub electronica with a pinch of lighter, ambient techno thrown in for good measure.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Friday, 23 September 2016

Airbourne - Breakin' Outta Hell (Album Review)

After three records of head-cracking, ear-dicing, nun-kicking rock ‘n’ roll insanity, Aussie hellraisers Airbourne have completely revamped their sound on album four. Perched on stools with acoustic instruments in hand, the newly short-haired gents have crafted a tender, introspective effort that explores masculine insecurity, environmental issues and overwhelming feelings of sexual inadequacy. And if you believe that…

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 23 September 2016

King 810 - La Petite Mort or a Conversation With God (Album Review)

La Petite Mort: The Little Death. In the language of love, we’re talking the throes of an orgasm. There is nothing about King 810’s second LP that would induce that blissful state, unless you’re into some really weird shit. Which is fine.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 22 September 2016

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez Almost five minutes into Jackson, the first song on Cymbals Eat Guitars’ 2014 LP ‘LOSE’, Joseph D’Agostino tumbles into a guitar break. At this point on previous records, the band might have spiralled away and left any sort of structure behind altogether. But here, they refuse to let go of a captivating hook. The solo roars into life, wrenching more emotional weight from a song already heavy on it, before seamlessly slipping back into the chorus. It’s immensely satisfying. Like the giddy, harmonica-driven punk of Xr, the song became emblematic of a change in focus for a band that had previously only looked inward. It gave the crowd what they wanted. Two years later, they are inviting us to join in more than ever before.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Joe Bonamassa - Live At The Greek Theatre (Album Review)

Photo: Christie Goodwin Following 2014’s highly acclaimed Muddy Wolf tribute shows, Joe Bonamassa again set out to honour his heroes when, earlier this year, he staged a number of shows devoted to the groundbreaking music of Freddie, Albert and BB King. Recorded at Los Angeles’ famous Greek Theatre on the final night of that tour, this is a dazzling testament to those legendary bluesmen, highlighting the immortal power of their music as it continues to find new life beyond any one artist or generation.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Deap Vally - Femejism (Album Review)

There is an annoying habit shared by some west coast Americans: they will respond to a joke by saying ‘that’s hilarious’ instead of laughing. ‘Femejism’ is a title engineered to solicit that response. It seems to allude to humour without necessarily making you smile.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Bastille - Wild World (Album Review)

Describing a song, or a melody, as “arena-sized” is a popular backhanded compliment. It implies ambition and grandeur, but with a qualifying sense that the whole thing is a little calculated. It suggests a band writing to suit their future plans rather than following the pure artistic impulse we hope is at the heart of the music we enjoy. Bastille’s second studio album, ‘Wild World’, is arena-sized.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Whiskey Myers - Mud (Album Review)

No sane person would willingly excavate the contents of a deep south swamp, but while listening to this countrified rock ‘n’ roll masterclass from Texan dudes Whiskey Myers, the thought occurs that someone has done just that. Flipping the bird at anything vaguely resembling a current trend, ‘Mud’ is so unashamedly vintage it’s as though a criminally discarded collaboration between the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Band has been salvaged after decades marinating in the Tennessee wetlands.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 19 September 2016

Zomby - Ultra (Album Review)

On the fidget-heavy ‘Ultra’, the elusive Zomby makes his latest advancements within a distorted genre that’s increasingly becoming self-defined.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Friday, 16 September 2016

Clipping. - Splendor & Misery (Album Review)

Go big or go home, right? That’s precisely what Clipping. aim to do on their second studio record, ‘Splendor & Misery’, a hugely ambitious concept album. It’s been a busy few months for the trio, with the release of their ‘Wriggle’ EP sandwiched by Daveed Diggs picking up a Grammy and Tony for his work on the Broadway smash Hamilton, but their desire to look beyond hip hop’s established horizons hasn’t been weathered by scheduling or an uptick in media scrutiny.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 16 September 2016

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree (Album Review)

Photo: Kerry Brown In July of last year, Nick Cave lost his 15-year-old son, Arthur, in a tragic accident. He was already working on a new record, the follow up to 2013’s ‘Push The Sky Away’, and the completion of it was understandably thrust into turmoil.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 15 September 2016

Pain - Coming Home (Album Review)

You were expecting hulking, heavier-than-Hercules’-pecs riffs. You were expecting dunderheaded choruses. You were expecting a blend of electronica and industrial metal that makes Deathstars sound like Whitesnake, weren’t you? Well, with Pain’s eighth smattering of sing-along sin, ‘Coming Home’, you get all that and a little bit more.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 15 September 2016

M.I.A. - AIM (Album Review)

During the ‘90s, there was a subgenre of dance music that lived halfway between Amazonian children’s choirs and Soul II Soul. It was called Worldbeat, was led by the likes of Enigma and Deep Forest and was almost universally derided outside the safe haven of WOMAD.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 15 September 2016

Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence (Album Review)

‘Transcendence’, the seventh full length by the Devin Townsend Project, opens with a glossy, reworked version of Truth, a song that initially made itself at home on 1998’s ‘Infinity’. It’s a pretty bang-on indicator of what this record stands for. This is an example of undiluted, completely liberating artistic expression at work and the culmination of 20-plus years of touring, recording, touring, recording and puppets.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Young Thug - Jeffery (Album Review)

Let’s get straight to it: if Young Thug's lyrics were less shallow, a little less off-the-shelf gangsta, we might be talking about him as one of hip hop’s bankable arena draws. It’s true that the professional rules that get you out of playing clubs and into arenas often need revision if you want to get to the next level.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Twin Atlantic - GLA (Album Review)

A distinct identity is something Twin Atlantic have always struggled to find. From the Biffy Clyro-esque idiosyncrasies of their early efforts to the arena rock of 2014’s ‘Great Divide’, their only quirk has often been the uncompromising Scottish twang of lead singer Sam McTrusty.

Written by: Liam Turner | Date: Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Frank Ocean - Blonde (Album Review)

Other than The Weeknd, during his ‘Trilogy’ era, it’s hard to think of an R&B artist as natural when it comes to playing with mood and aesthetic as Frank Ocean.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Angel Olsen - My Woman (Album Review)

For a while, during years that seemed at the time to be post-vinyl, hanging on to the idea of Side A and Side B, of an artist and listener sharing a moment as the record was flipped, was an indulgence. As playlist culture, streaming services and mixtapes have grown in prominence, the broader concept of rigidly pacing a record has also become an endangered pastime: is it strictly necessary if the end result is destined to be deconstructed in an app?

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 07 September 2016