Jamie T - Trick (Album Review)

Do you remember when Jamie T first broke through?

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 06 September 2016

Crystal Castles - Amnesty (I) (Album Review)

If Crystal Castles were always a box of sharp objects waiting to be upended, Alice Glass was the one most likely to do serious damage. Her exit from the band, and the mess left behind by Ethan Kath’s public statements on the split, immediately cast a pall over any new record he’d seek to put out under the name. The surprise, perhaps, is how it lifts a little on ‘Amnesty (I)’.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 05 September 2016

Cowtown - Paranormal Romance (Album Review)

“There’s not a minute to lose,” croons Jonathan Nash, Cowtown’s vocalist and guitar-slinger, on ‘Paranormal Romance’ opener Clock In. The band take their own advice on board, with their fourth LP clocking in and out within 23 minutes.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 02 September 2016

Banks & Steelz - Anything But Words (Album Review)

Rap-rock's charge sheet is a mile long and home to crimes that we can't forgive and forget.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 02 September 2016

AJJ - The Bible 2 (Album Review)

Andrew Jackson Jihad are dead. ‘Christmas Island’ landed in 2014, expanding the folk-punk quartet’s sonic palette as far as it could go. Two years later, they’ve returned under the initialism AJJ. Is it for artistic purposes, to symbolise a new beginning after the tumultuous journey to ‘Christmas Island’? Well, kinda. “We are not Muslims, and as such, it is disrespectful and irresponsible for us to use the word jihad in our band’s name,” Sean Bonnette recently observed. So they followed that up by, er, calling their sixth LP ‘The Bible 2’.  

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 01 September 2016

Cass McCombs - Mangy Love (Album Review)

Being a professional singer-songwriter is hellfire difficult.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 31 August 2016

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - After The Rain (Album Review)

From the outside, it’s surprising that Benjamin Francis Leftwich left it five years to follow up his incredible debut, ‘Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm’. The York-born, north London-resident songwriter saw the album garner some high-profile fans on its way to cracking the UK top 40 at a time when albums released on indies rarely found a home among higher echelons of the charts.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Tuesday, 30 August 2016

John Paul White - Beulah (Album Review)

Some albums are slices of joy that get the party started and dancefloor heaving, raising downtrodden spirits with their uplifting elan. And then there are those best consumed alone in a darkened room amid feelings of simmering vengeance, crushing heartbreak and self doubt. Would you like to guess which style John Paul White, formerly of the Civil Wars, embraces on his first solo offering in eight years?

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 26 August 2016

Creative Adult - Fear Of Life (Album Review)

‘Fear of Life’, the second album by Bay Area post-punks Creative Adult, sees them explore a new sense of melody without losing any of the dark intensity that characterised their debut, ‘Psychic Mess’.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Thursday, 25 August 2016

Sabaton - The Last Stand (Album Review)

Sabaton are a heavy metal Happy Meal. Basically, you know what you’re going to get but the toy might be different from time to time. But, stick with us here, if you ordered a Happy Meal and it had Popcorn Chicken in it, would you take it back? Because Sabaton’s eighth LP, ‘The Last Stand’, isn’t exactly what you’d expect the Swedes to serve up.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 25 August 2016

Big Eyes - Stake My Claim (Album Review)

Kait Eldridge has hit power-pop paydirt with Big Eyes before. As early as the second song on the band’s debut - Pretend To Care from 2011’s ‘Hard Life’ - she had nailed her aim of pairing sick guitar riffs with pop melodies between the eyes. To date, though, that balance has been tough to sustain across the course of a record. ‘Stake My Claim’ is Big Eyes ironing out the creases.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 24 August 2016

Ezra Furman - Big Fugitive Life EP (Album Review)

‘Big Fugitive Life’ is Ezra Furman drawing a line under things. The six tracks that make up the EP have been described as “orphaned songs” from his solo debut, 'The Year of No Returning', and last year’s 'Perpetual Motion People', with focus set to turn to new avenues of expression.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 24 August 2016

Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife 2 (Album Review)

‘Second album syndrome’ is a challenge for any successful musician, but it's particularly difficult for one whose initial message was rooted in gritty tales about busting out of poverty. Atlanta-based trap duo Rae Sremmurd may have found a temporary fix with their new release, the sequel to 2015’s ‘SremmLife’: rein in the hard-bitten lyrics in favour of hedonistic sloganeering while revisiting the musical primitivism inherent in trap.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 24 August 2016

The Cadillac Three - Bury Me In My Boots (Album Review)

If you cut the Cadillac Three straight down the middle you’d probably find the word ‘southern’ grinning back at you with an empty bottle of whiskey in one hand and battered pack of smokes in the other. Faithful to their Tennessee heritage and genuine to a fault, they’ve poured heart and soul into ‘Bury Me In My Boots’, a truly special second album that, without a hint of compromise, retains the band’s roughhouse swagger while adding electrifying mainstream appeal.  

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Noname - Telefone (Album Review)

‘Telefone’ might be Noname’s debut mixtape, but it’s also the first time that she has truly broken out of her shell. It’s brimming with confidence and character, something that we might not reasonably have expected to be saying as recently as a year ago.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 22 August 2016

Asylums - Killer Brain Waves (Album Review)

Asylums appear to mark themselves as a good fit among the current crop of chart indie bands on their debut album, ‘Killer Brain Waves’, but the Southend band also succeed in placing themselves outside of the mainstream with their blend of erratic energy, social commentary and strong DIY ethics.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Monday, 22 August 2016

Puppy - Vol. II (Album Review)

Now this really shouldn’t work. At all. On their second EP, Puppy have travelled further down a rabbit hole of influences that would normally make for uneasy bedfellows and produced something deeply, unfathomably enjoyable. From its love of guitar harmonies to its power-pop hooks and - to gasps from the gallery - even a nu metal riff or two, ‘Vol. II’ is an examination of enthusiasm as a binding agent.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Moose Blood - Blush (Album Review)

Among emo and pop-punk’s rank and file, Moose Blood’s success story stands out. It’s one based on a strong touring ethic and critical regard, but also on the sort of transatlantic appeal that many bands shoot for and miss. ‘Blush’, their second album, doubles down on that formula.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 15 August 2016

Gov't Mule - The Tel-Star Sessions (Album Review)

If this archival release from American rockers Gov’t Mule were a blockbuster movie, its trailer might sound something like this: “If you thought you knew how it began you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. Buried for over two decades. Unearthed for their fans. Prepare to witness the genesis of a southern rock legend. Brace yourselves for the birth of the Mule.”

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 12 August 2016

Nao - For All We Know (Album Review)

Debut records often stand or fall on an artists’ ability to effectively curate their own influences as a manageable whole. On ‘For All We Know’, Nao does just that. But there’s something else. Propelled by her effervescent delivery, each nod to the ‘90s, every snappy beat and each strange melody sounds brand new.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 11 August 2016