The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness (Album Review)

Since releasing his debut mixtape, ‘House of Balloons’, The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, has had the world waiting eagerly for each mysterious new collection. Keeping details of his personal life and music watertight, while harmonising on the subjects of drugs, sex and all things between, his ability to write music to entice and instigate some murky menage-a-trois may appear shocking as a concept, but his tones are seductive beyond compare.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 07 September 2015

Against Me! - 23 Live Sex Acts (Album Review)

Against Me! have made damn sure that ‘23 Live Sex Acts’ is a career spanning insight into their live show and, although at some points a little rough around the edges, it’s genuine and honest, choosing the warts and all approach over a slick, edited sheen.  The band have been touring almost constantly for the last two years, since the release of ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’, and it makes perfects sense for them to frame a snapshot of this moment in their career.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 07 September 2015

Bon Jovi - Burning Bridges (Album Review)

Although the title of this record suggests a swipe at departed guitarist Richie Sambora, it's actually a bitter parting shot at Bon Jovi's long-time, soon to be former, label, Mercury Records. Initially billed as “special release for the fans” to accompany a forthcoming tour, the album now represents the dreaded filling of a contractual obligation.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Foals - What Went Down (Album Review)

Foals represent a perfect storm of emotional anarchy, characterised by their staggering new record, ‘What Went Down’. Here, the sinister intent that reflects in the band’s aesthetic evolves into a standalone beast. They are a raging ego, covered in wounds.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There (Album Review)

Photo: Dusdin Condren A new Yo La Tengo release is usually a cause for celebration. As one of the most outstanding bands of their generation, the New Jersey indie rock trio have a discography most bands their age would die for. From the graceful swells of 1993’s ‘Painful’, to the krautrock-infused pop of 1998’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ and the concise beauty of 2013’s ‘Fade’, this is a band that rarely fail to deliver.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 03 September 2015

Destroyer - Poison Season (Album Review)

Along with stints elsewhere, most notably as a member of the New Pornographers, Dan Bejar has been knocking out albums under the Destroyer moniker for the best part of two decades. While the much-revered ‘Kaputt’, released in 2011, was of his most accessible collections, ‘Poison Season’ offers the listener a far more challenging experience, at times reflecting his own rough edges.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2015

FKA Twigs - M3LL155X (Album Review)

Since the release of 'LP1', FKA Twigs' world has been one of perpetual motion. First came the boundary-pushing videos, then the live shows that fused her music with dance and thematic musings bordering on performance art.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 September 2015

Beach House - Depression Cherry (Album Review)

How do you solve a problem like Beach House? Adored by an ever-growing cult fanbase, and by many critics, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have been crafting consistently gorgeous dream pop for a decade now. Their last three albums, ‘Devotion’, ‘Teen Dream’ and ‘Bloom’, have almost single-handedly proved that there is still life in a genre that was beginning to look irrelevantly twee even during its late '80s/early '90s heyday.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 28 August 2015

Motorhead - Bad Magic (Album Review)

Your government has bent you over a barrel, your employment prospects have dwindled and a Freddo bar now costs more than your mortgage. In a world polluted by uncertainty and doubt, it's reassuring to hear Motörhead's 22nd LP, 'Bad Magic'. It sounds exactly how you'd want a Motörhead album to sound in 2015.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 27 August 2015

Queen Kwong - Get A Witness (Album Review)

Carré Callaway snarls and screeches her way through Cold Daggers, the first song on Queen Kwong’s debut, ‘Get A Witness’, sounding something like the love child of Karen O and Lux Interior. But on a record produced by the notoriously spiky Joe Cardamone, he of The Icarus Line, you’d expect no less.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Jess Glynne - I Cry When I Laugh (Album Review)

Jess Glynne’s remarkable recent run - five number one singles in the UK since the start of last year - is a nostalgic treat. It speaks of a time when the charts were dominant and streaming revenues were the preserve of only the most forward-thinking. It’s fitting, if disappointing, then, that her debut album, ‘I Cry When I Laugh’ feels more than a little outdated.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 26 August 2015

Ghost - Meliora (Album Review)

“It made you want to kick down walls and ascend the sky on steps of fire. It made you want to pull all the switches and throw all the levers and stick your fingers in the electric socket of the Universe to see what happened next. It made you want to paint your bedroom wall black and cover it with posters."

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 20 August 2015

Radkey - Dark Black Makeup (Album Review)

The brothers Solomon, Isaiah and Dee Radke are ready. They've been brown-nosed to the point of never needing a prostate examination again, but their debut album is finally here and the fickle hype machine must be held to account.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 19 August 2015

Dr. Dre - Compton (Album Review)

‘Detox’ is gone, saved a ‘Chinese Democracy’-style unveiling and, per Dr. Dre’s own assessment of its quality, subsequent dismissal. In its place we have ‘Compton’, the album that he is intent on signing off with and one that is both immersive and expansive in a manner that its scrapped predecessor likely could not have been.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Chris Cornell - Euphoria Mourning (Album Review)

Let’s get this straight, Chris Cornell has one of the most recognisable voices in rock music. Armed with only a basic knowledge of his work, many could pick out his mournful tones on Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun, or his screams on Audioslave’s anthemic Cochise. But many might have missed his first, and for a long time only, solo album, released way back in 1999 to form a bridge between the end of Soundgarden and the start of Audioslave.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - Blossom (Album Review)

For every Rob Zombie or Henry Rollins, you've got a Scott Weiland Christmas album. No matter what Jason Derulo says, riding solo isn't always a case of feeling like a star with your head in the sky. More often than not, someone will definitely stop your shine.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 14 August 2015

Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss (Album Review)

This could not have been more aptly named. Chelsea Wolfe stares into the titular abyss throughout, constantly threatened with being swallowed up by an all-consuming album that overpowers and overwhelms with decibel-smashing industrial fuzz.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 13 August 2015

Lianne La Havas - Blood (Album Review)

Just out of sight on ‘Is Your Love Big Enough?’, Lianne La Havas’ accomplished debut, was a looming sense of stardom. A superb vocalist, stylish guitarist and the author of low-key, almost effortlessly charming pop songs, she nevertheless displayed a self-deprecating wit live and was very much happy to enjoy the moment. ‘Blood’ is a little different. It’s grander in scope and at times bristles with fresh confidence as La Havas paints from a more expansive palette of sounds.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 12 August 2015

The Maccabees - Marks To Prove It (Album Review)

Success is a complicated, unpredictable adversary. The Maccabees, we could have been forgiven for thinking, were set fair to follow up ‘Given To The Wild’, a confident record that opened up new, exciting routes for their expansive indie to run along. ‘Marks To Prove It’, their fourth album, is one that has turned its back on that picture. It’s introspective and awkward, created at a time when the band’s world was changing against their will.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Worriers - Imaginary Life (Album Review)

Though ‘Imaginary Life’ is Worriers’ first album, following up the not-quite-feature-length ‘Cruel Optimist’, it bears the hallmarks of an experienced hand. Helmed by punk veteran Lauren Denitzio, who brings to the table a decade’s worth of experience with this band and The Measure [SA], the record is the encapsulation of a songwriting style thousands of shows in the making.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 10 August 2015