FKA Twigs - 'LP1' (Album Review)
Cultivating an air of mystery used to be a hell of a lot easier than it is now. To do so these days takes time, patience and an appreciation of the long game, not to mention faith in your record to underpin it. ‘LP1’, FKA Twigs’ full-length debut, has bubbled up in recent months through a potent brew of hype and ambiguity, becoming a journo byword for everything a little weird and exciting. And has it delivered on that promise? Yes, but perhaps not in the manner we initially expected it to.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 14 August 2014
Sinead O'Connor - I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss (Album Review)
Other people’s expectations don’t really factor into anything that Sinead O’Connor does. ‘I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss’ is testament to the fact, as she turns her singularly direct gaze on the machinations of love, lust and the mess inbetween.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 13 August 2014
The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt (Album Review)
Although they'd just released a fourth cracking album of blue collar, punky rock ‘n' roll, there was a feeling after 2012’s 'Handwritten' that the Gaslight Anthem were treading water. 'Get Hurt' may be a well intentioned attempt to shake up that formula, but, unfortunately, it's also easily the band's worst effort to date.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 11 August 2014
Owl John - Owl John (Album Review)
Solo albums have been an avenue of escape for a long time and on Owl John’s self-titled bow it’s the turn of Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison to work through a few things.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 08 August 2014
Spoon - They Want My Soul (Album Review)
The world keeps spinning, and Spoon go on with their business. ‘They Want My Soul’ is really very good, but of course you already knew that, didn’t you? Their ability to deliver, even with a different approach in place and a couple of new stylistic tricks to play with, has become something of an indie-rock constant.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Thursday, 07 August 2014
Magic! - Don't Kill The Magic (Album Review)
The first thing that might strike you about Magic!’s debut is that there’s not a hair out of place. This is a record by a band who know what they’re doing. It’s measured, well-performed and boasts sparkling production. And, it’s really quite dull.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 06 August 2014
Alestorm - Sunset On The Golden Age (Album Review)
Cats and dogs don’t get on, Brits moan about the weather and Alestorm continue to sing about pirates. But, on their fourth full-length, 'Sunset On The Golden Age', could our Scottish heavy metal mutineers possibly have run dry of nautical references?
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 05 August 2014
Pixie Lott - Pixie Lott (Album Review)
You shouldn’t give too much credence to pre-release hype or soundbites. That way madness lies. But, listening to Pixie Lott’s third album, it’s impossible to ignore the 'Motown' elephant in the room.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 04 August 2014
Jenny Lewis - The Voyager (Album Review)
A six year absence needs explaining, particularly if you’re Jenny Lewis. Both with Rilo Kiley and as a solo artist, she’s meant a lot to a lot of people and the gap between ‘Acid Tongue’ and ‘The Voyager’ is one that seemed as though it might go on forever. Well, it didn't. She's back, with an album that confronts a troubled time with her inimitable wit and candour.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 01 August 2014
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye (Album Review)
If there were such a place as the Cool Islands, populated only by cool people whose sole purpose was exuding utter cool, Tom Petty would be the undisputed king. Thus, when he said his band's new album was a return to their rock roots, you knew it wouldn't be an embarrassing attempt by a gang of golden oldies to recapture their youth. If anything, you knew it would be super fucking cool.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 01 August 2014
The Inside Is Live - The Great Brand New (Album Review)
What is 'radio rock'? Who decides this stuff? Which buffoon thought it was a good idea to inflict Nickelback upon the ears of an unsuspecting nation? The 'rock' music you hear on the airwaves very rarely represents what's actually brewing in any country’s scenes and the UK is no different.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 31 July 2014
Neon Jungle - Welcome To The Jungle (Album Review)
Neon Jungle, unlike so many of their contemporaries, aren’t afraid of the odd sharp edge. Their debut, which unsurprisingly cashes in on the ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ thing, features its share of beats capable of knocking a hole in the side of your head. What it doesn’t always have are the hooks to make them palatable.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again (Album Review)
‘Never Hungover Again’ marks something of a coming-of-age for Joyce Manor, who have made the leap into the deeper waters of Epitaph look easy.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Blues Pills - Blues Pills (Album Review)
These days, it seems that you have to constantly reinvent the face of music in order to remain relevant; we have Dillinger Escape Plan making the sort of noise nobody has ever heard in their lives before, we have Mastodon abandoning their caustic roots to create a commercially viable album and we patiently wait for Tool to do something. But, even with this crop of exciting, genre-pushing musical excursions, we have to give credit to the AC/DCs and Motorheads of the world. They have ploughed on through the decades, never changing.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 25 July 2014
PS I Love You - For Those Who Stay (Album Review)
The ability of two-piece bands to make a racket seemingly beyond their means has become a rock ‘n’ roll constant. PS I Love You have taken the idea a step further on ‘For Those Who Stay’, an unashamedly ambitious record complete with hazy jams, keyboard swirls and Paul Saulnier’s familiar nasal yowl.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Thursday, 24 July 2014
Alvvays - Alvvays (Album Review)
A great single is both a blessing and a curse. We’re not talking a smash hit here either, simply a great single. A song that could be pressed on a 7” and left alone for all time. Alvvays have one in Archie, Marry Me, but they’ve managed to avoid the accompanying pitfall: the filler record.
Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2014
La Roux - Trouble In Paradise (Album Review)
In the five years since La Roux’s self-titled debut knocked a hole in the discerning pop fan’s summer playlist, much has changed. Two have become one, with Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid severing ties, while Jackson has battled performance anxiety, her relationship with fame and frequent ham-fisted media jabs at her sexuality. ‘Trouble In Paradise’, then, would seem an apt title for a thunderous dud. Instead, what we have here is one of the pop records of the year.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Jungle - Jungle (Album Review)
With a somewhat pretentious don’t-even-attempt-to-Google-it band name, an air of mystery about their identity and record deal with XL, Jungle could easily be dismissed as hipster nonsense. Fortunately, though, the duo, known only as J and T, have produced some unbelievably soulful beats on their self-titled debut.
Written by: Ryan Crittenden | Date: Monday, 21 July 2014
Slow Club - Complete Surrender (Album Review)
Bands generally like to talk the talk when it comes to their creative evolution. It’s an accepted part of the pre-release merry-go-round, like a football manager telling you that the team will be taking things ‘one game at a time’. Slow Club, though, have walked the walk.
Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 18 July 2014
Rise Against - The Black Market (Album Review)
Fuelled by Tim McIlrath’s call-to-arms lyrics and throat-shredding delivery, Rise Against have fired shots at their share of deserving targets - take a bow big business and war-mongering governments - over the course of the last decade or so, but ‘The Black Market’ finds them in a self-analytical frame of mind.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 July 2014
