Alt-J - This Is All Yours (Album Review)
When a band reaches a certain size, what happens in the dead space between records becomes almost as important to some as the records themselves. Alt-J have, since wrapping things up on their debut, ‘An Awesome Wave’, lost a member - bassist Gwil Sainsbury - and let the clock run just long enough for fear to replace anticipation among some quick-fix fans.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Joanne Shaw Taylor - The Dirty Truth (Album Review)
Photo: Rob Monk It's safe to assume that, if they haven’t already, record company suits will try to turn blues-rock guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor into a more commercial property at some stage. But, they’ll have a fight on their hands, as on ‘The Dirty Truth’ she’s delivered a record that’s battered, beautiful and bubbling with passion and conviction.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 22 September 2014
The Script - No Sound Without Silence (Album Review)
Someone should really have copied the Script in on those Apple/U2 emails. It’s no joke to have to trade pop-rock blows with Bono and pals and, even given the deficiencies present on ‘Songs Of Innocence’, ‘No Sound Without Silence’ quickly fades into the background.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Thursday, 18 September 2014
Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators - World On Fire (Album Review)
It's fair to say Slash doesn't give a flying fuck about reinventing the rock ‘n' roll wheel. Although he has been known to pimp its rim from time to time, as long as it revolves with time honoured power and fluency, he's a happy cat. And, after masterfully exploring every crevice of the hard rock landscape on this epic new album, he should be ecstatic.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Catfish And The Bottlemen - The Balcony (Album Review)
If you’re going to release a record that sounds like it’s been resurrected, Demolition Man-style, from the unloved indie soup of a decade ago, then you better have a bloody good reason for doing so. ‘The Balcony’, Catfish And The Bottlemen’s debut, is a brusque answer to the challenge.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2014
U2 - Songs Of Innocence (Album Review)
U2 and Apple’s dip into breaking and entering with ‘Songs Of Innocence’ rubbed an awful lot of people up the wrong way. It was a vulgar display of power dressed as altruism, one that shunted the world’s biggest rock band back into the limelight for another run at the stadium market and, eventually, forced the tech giants to create a brand new ‘delete’ function.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Counting Crows - Somewhere Under Wonderland (Album Review)
Let's get the time honoured question that greets every new Counting Crows release out of the way, shall we? No, 'Somewhere Under Wonderland' isn't as good as their revered debut album, 'August And Everything After'. It is, though, a superbly written, exquisitely performed slice of infectious Americana that's easily the best thing they've done in years.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 15 September 2014
Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World (Album Review)
Death From Above 1979 came and went in what seemed like one movement the first time around. ‘You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine’, their 2004 debut, became an almost instant anachronism as dance-punk was put out of its misery, but managed to retain its grubby charm as its peers faded from memory.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Friday, 12 September 2014
Banks - Goddess (Album Review)
The arrival of ‘Goddess’, Banks’ debut, will either burst or further inflate a hype bubble that’s threatening to Godzilla certain corners of the internet. At a time when downtempo, sparse R&B is approaching peak popularity - not to mention over-exposure - it’s easy to see why many expect it to do the latter. But, after spending time with it, it’s easier to see how it might do the former.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Thursday, 11 September 2014
Cayetana - Nervous Like Me (Album Review)
You can see some things coming from a mile off and, while it felt a tad unfair to attach such expectations to a debut, Cayetana’s ‘Nervous Like Me’ has looked like it could be a rough-hewn gem for months now.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 11 September 2014
Niva - Incremental IV (Album Review)
If you've ever wanted AOR legends Journey to sound more like a melodic pomp-rock act with a singer whose high pitched vocals make Steve Perry’s sound like a restrained baritone, then behold Niva. Be warned, though, you'd best remove the glassware before spinning ‘Incremental IV’.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams (Album Review)
If an artist tends towards the prolific, it can be more difficult to gauge a dip in form. If you fire a hundred shots, after all, a few will hit their intended targets. But, with this self-titled effort, it’s clear that Ryan Adams is in good shape; confident and exhibiting the sort of swagger we haven’t seen around these parts in a while.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 10 September 2014
In Flames - Siren Charms (Album Review)
Never ones to stand still, In Flames have had a somewhat tumultuous career. Since helping create, modify and perfect the Gothenburg death metal sound with the immortal triptych of 'The Jester Race', 'Whoracle' and 'Colony' the band have, in the eyes of many, stretched to unfathomable lengths to piss their fans off.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 08 September 2014
Interpol - El Pintor (Album Review)
Four years on from their eponymous fourth LP, Interpol are back, reinventing themselves as a trio following the departure of bassist Carlos Dengler just prior to their last release.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 08 September 2014
Danny Bryant - Temperature Rising (Album Review)
Photo: Barbara van Geffen When an artist releases a new album and claims it's their best to date, the cliché police should really spring into action and slap on the handcuffs. But, when British blues guitarist Danny Bryant rolled out that familiar phrase when discussing ‘Temperature Rising’, he whacked the nail on the head with a definitive hammer blow.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 05 September 2014
The Kooks - Listen (Album Review)
On ‘Listen’, the Kooks have set out to prove that you can teach an indie band new tricks. This is an almost feverishly diverse effort when placed next to the post-millennial Kinks shuffle of their early stuff. And it’s nowhere near as good.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Friday, 05 September 2014
Pulled Apart By Horses - Blood (Album Review)
Imagine psyching yourself up to fight Pulled Apart By Horses’ debut album. Picture its moves: flailing limbs, unhinged swings and, probably, a bit of biting. ‘Tough Love’, though, that’d be a different proposition; more boxing match than street brawl. ‘Blood’, the band’s third album, would be something else again. It’d set its feet and try to knock you the fuck out.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 03 September 2014
Miss Behaviour - Double Agent (Album Review)
Contrary to what The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Killing would have us believe, it's not all crime-infested doom and gloom in Scandinavia. Over the last decade, an increasing number of quality melodic rock acts have emerged from the region, bashing out stadium-sized escapist anthems doused in the pheromones of LA's hedonistic Sunset Strip, circa 1985.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2014
Maroon 5 - V (Album Review)
On ‘V’, it’s hard to pin down exactly what Maroon 5 do well. The early pop smarts of ‘Songs About Jane’ were long ago cast aside, with the dancefloor ubiquity of Moves Like Jagger and ensuing producer-heavy thump of ‘Overexposed’ drawing a line in the sand between past and present.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2014
Incite - Up In Hell (Album Review)
Photo: Glen LaFerman As a rule of thumb, metal folk are a tad sceptical when it comes to the issue of nepotism. It’s sketchy and, some might say, downright unfair for bands to receive publicity based even partially on their blood ties.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 01 September 2014
