Milk Teeth - Be Nice (Album Review)

When people compare your band to Nirvana, Sonic Youth and the Pixies, you should probably realise you're on to something half-decent. Milk Teeth have taken this on board and, instead of becoming a carbon copy of the bands they reference or going all out viking death metal in an attempt to distance themselves from their influences, they've found the hallowed middle ground.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 04 August 2017

Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile To The Surface (Album Review)

Manchester Orchestra have seen their career gradually build like a crescendo across four studio albums and the trend continues on the excellent ‘A Black Mile To The Surface’, the Atlanta band’s new LP.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 03 August 2017

Mr. Big - Defying Gravity (Album Review)

A lot can happen when the pressure is on. Just ask pop-rock veterans Mr. Big, who put together their new LP, ‘Defying Gravity’, in six days. The gauntlet was thrown down by the band’s label and the workload of returning producer Kevin Elson but, under the gun, they have emerged with a surprisingly strong effort.   

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 01 August 2017

Arcade Fire - Everything Now (Album Review)

Arcade Fire gave us a modern classic with their debut, ‘Funeral’, following it up with two further top notch albums of ambitious indie-rock on ‘Neon Bible’ and ‘The Suburbs’. With the release of the occasionally overblown and over-hyped double LP ‘Reflektor’, though, cracks began to show after an almost flawless start to their career.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 31 July 2017

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Lay It On Down (Album Review)

When Kenny Wayne Shepherd began writing for ‘Lay It On Down’, his eighth 'solo' record, his aim was low on ambiguity and high on ambition. He wanted to put the emphasis on songwriting and produce his best music to date. After the dust settles around this splendid concoction of melodically lustrous, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll, one thought immediately leaps to mind: mission accomplished.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 28 July 2017

Nine Inch Nails - Add Violence (Album Review)

Spending an extended period of time in Trent Reznor’s mind is terrifying. It’s not that you shouldn’t do it, just that ‘Add Violence’, Nine Inch Nails’ second EP in a proposed triptych of new material, is enough to give you nightmares. And not sexy nightmares, either. The nasty kind.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 27 July 2017

Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy (Album Review)

Tyler, the Creator hasn’t been an easy guy to like over the years. Sure, he’s funny and charismatic when he wants to be, but his confrontational and aggressively homophobic lyrics have understandably turned off a lot of listeners.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 27 July 2017

Oh Wonder - Ultralife (Album Review)

Attempting to encapsulate happiness, sadness, optimism, innocence and anger in a single aesthetic is a tough challenge, even for the most accomplished of musicians.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Toro Y Moi - Boo Boo (Album Review)

Hurray! It’s summer and that can only mean one thing: chillwave artists the world over are pushing to get their albums out while the sun is shining. Hot on the heels of a long-player from contemporary and friend Washed Out comes the fifth album from Toro Y Moi, ‘Boo Boo’.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Wednesday, 26 July 2017

Declan McKenna - What Do You Think About the Car? (Album Review)

Declan McKenna’s debut, ‘What Do You Think About the Car?’, is a handsome collection of songs, written with precocious energy and produced with expertise. The latter duties fall mostly to Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford, but there is also help from producer du jour, Rostam Batmanglij, who pitches in on Listen to Your Friends.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Dizzee Rascal - Raskit (Album Review)

Sometime in the last century, Louis Armstrong was asked by a journalist whether he felt threatened by newcomers aping his musical style. The jazz pioneer responded: “A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.”

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 24 July 2017

Waxahatchee - Out In The Storm (Album Review)

Neil Sedaka was right. Breaking up is hard to do. And then there’s the question of what happens next. There are the basics of deciding what to do and where to go, but also the reality that these tasks must be navigated while carrying a jarring, raw set of emotions on your back.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Broken Social Scene - Hug of Thunder (Album Review)

On ‘Hug of Thunder’, Broken Social Scene provide a soundtrack for the modern times of Generation X. The record finds the collective back together after a gap of seven years and turning to their musical community to provide solace at a time of great anxiety.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Monday, 17 July 2017

Sheer Mag - Need To Feel Your Love (Album Review)

Photo: Marie Lin Sheer Mag keep their cards close to their chest; we only ever see as much of their hand as they want us to. The band formed only three years ago in Philadelphia and have since amassed a following the old way, with basement shows, a slew of 7”s and a fistful of riffs that fuse Thin Lizzy with righteous power-pop in place of a social media presence and network of industry people.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 14 July 2017

The Telescopes - As Light Return (Album Review)

Photo: Carlo Emme Since their 1987 formation, Stephen Lawrie’s Telescopes have released a slate of albums that sit at varying levels of listenability. Initially battling against record magnates’ demands for hits, Lawrie has gradually filtered out third party expectations and honed in on his core instincts to produce creations based on uncompromised beliefs.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 13 July 2017

TLC - TLC (Album Review)

TLC owned a definitive moment in modern R&B’s golden era. T-Boz, Chilli, and the late Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes inspired female empowerment and, with songs like Waterfalls and No Scrubs, secured a place in pop history. ‘TLC’, a final album fronted by T-Boz and Chilli, ensures that their legacy is left intact.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Public Service Broadcasting - Every Valley (Album Review)

Photo: Dan Kendall Public Service Broadcasting are a rare breed of band. An instrumental group whose work utilises a wide range of subject matter lifted from archived interviews, speeches and (in the case of their live shows) footage of turning points in modern world history, they have cornered a level of commercial appeal usually divorced from such a niche style.

Written by: Ben Gallivan | Date: Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Jay-Z - 4:44 (Album Review)

Jay-Z represents an era of rap that has all but run its course. More so than anybody else, the self-made superstar and business mogul has embodied hip-hop’s most wealth-obsessed era. He rang in the millennium by splashing millions on the music video for his single Big Pimpin’ and began the next decade by rhetorically asking “what’s 50 grand to a motherfucker like me?” on the single Niggas in Paris.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Great Grandpa - Plastic Cough (Album Review)

Photo: Buggo Vigor There’s a song on Great Grandpa’s ‘Plastic Cough’ called Fade. It’s about being confronted with the same stuff time and time again and yearning for a jolt of excitement. It’s also a neat summation of what this record does so well; namely remind us that gritty, power chord-happy indie-rock can still be vital and thrilling.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 10 July 2017

Haim - Something To Tell You (Album Review)

What a treat. Let’s start with the vocals on Haim’s long-awaited second LP, ‘Something to Tell You’, shall we? One reason that sibling pop groups appeal is that the timbre of their voices often match, so when singing together there is an unusually cohesive blend.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 10 July 2017