Grouplove - Spreading Rumours (Album Review)

If you were taken in by Grouplove’s easy-going, sun-kissed debut, ‘Never Trust A Happy Song’, chances are you’ve already wrestled with its follow-up, ‘Spreading Rumours’, which received a UK release this week after making its bow across the pond last autumn.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 30 May 2014

Neil Young - A Letter Home (Album Review)

‘A Letter Home’ finds Neil Young embracing his status as an artist who, at this stage in an almost untouchable career, can do pretty much as he pleases. So, just a couple of months on from the launch of Pono Player, a new adventure in high-fidelity, we have this collection of 11 covers close to his heart, presented in grainy lo-fi.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Thursday, 29 May 2014

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There (Album Review)

‘Are We There’ is a record that hits you in the gut, peeling back layers of hurt, uncovering old wounds and laying bare emotions long neglected.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Echo & The Bunnymen - Meteorites (Album Review)

There comes a time in almost every band’s career when they are no longer relevant. Echo & The Bunnymen, some 36 years after their formation in Liverpool, haven’t reached that point.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 27 May 2014

REM - Unplugged 1991-2001: The Complete Sessions (Album Review)

This collection, which pulls together REM’s appearances on MTV’s Unplugged, paints a picture of a band at two extremes. In 1991, they were the indie darlings gone rogue, blinking in the glare of a smash hit album, ‘Out Of Time’, and the contempt of their college radio devotees.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Friday, 23 May 2014

The Black Keys - Turn Blue (Album Review)

The first thing to say about ‘Turn Blue’, the Black Keys’ eighth studio record, is that it sounds gorgeous. It’s one to drink in slowly, letting each rolling beat, lethargic solo or scuzzy bass note do its thing.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Thursday, 22 May 2014

Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain (Album Review)

“Moved to a town that time forgot, where I don’t have to shave or be approachable. No, I can do just what I want,” Conor Oberst sings in the opening lines of Time Forgot, a song that gently introduces a man growing older both in a literal and creative sense.

Written by: Matt Williams | Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Coldplay - Ghost Stories (Album Review)

Break-ups have provided inspiration for many of the finest songs and albums ever written, with the accompanying loneliness and despair an all-too-relatable situation for many.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014

La Sera - Hour Of The Dawn (Album Review)

As Vivian Girls’ flame guttered out, Katy Goodman turned her attention to La Sera, a solo project begging for a little extra care and attention. Fleshed out to a four piece, the band laid down ‘Hour Of The Dawn’ in LA last summer, repurposing a little of the city’s punk energy in the process.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Only Crime - Pursuance (Album Review)

‘Pursuance’, the third album from melodic hardcore supergroup Only Crime, finds the band regrouping after a seven year absence and with a new home, having shifted from Fat Wreck to Rise Records, who continue to add a punk spine to their existing metalcore roster.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 19 May 2014

Foxes - Glorious (Album Review)

There’s little doubt that if you’re a fan of modern pop, then you like your tunes delivered in as slick a package as possible. ‘Glorious’, the debut album from Foxes, ticks that box like a champ.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Sabaton - Heroes (Album Review)

Power metal isn't cool, and if we’re being honest, it never has been. Years of blokes singing in falsetto about dragons and shit have cemented the genre as the Crocs of the metal world, but Sabaton have always been content to buck this trend.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Michael Jackson - Xscape (Album Review)

There’s no getting away from it; posthumous albums make for a pretty ugly bunch. Almost universally cynical and money grabbing, they are right up there with musicals as the weapon of choice for destroying legacies worth protecting. ‘Xscape’, the second effort released since the death of Michael Jackson, though, has just enough about it to avoid the pitiful fate of its predecessor, ‘Michael’.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island (Album Review)

Taking on a new Andrew Jackson Jihad record is not a suitable task for the faint of heart, as it’s something that requires willingness to enter the world of Sean Bonnette, which is at times overwhelmingly sad, hilarious, colourful and loaded with pop culture references and in-jokes.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

Lily Allen - Sheezus (Album Review)

So, ‘Sheezus’. A witty comeback record from an arch pop commentator, or an empty exercise in baiting? Well, as is so often the case, it’s a bit of both.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

Black Stone Cherry - Magic Mountain (Album Review)

Although their last album cemented Black Stone Cherry's status as a major force in Europe and finally broke them in the USA, the band have since reacted to its overly slick formula, implying that it was the result of too much outside interference. It's something they rectify on an uncompromising fourth album that's more aggressive than anything they've done before.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 09 May 2014

The Horrors - Luminous (Album Review)

In under 10 years, Faris Badwan and troops have evolved from Bauhaus-influenced goth-tinged oddballs to an act that people sit up and take notice of whenever a release is thrust forth.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2014

The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Goin' Home (Album Review)

Photo: Mark Seliger This worthy follow up to 2011’s superb 'How I Go' finds Kenny Wayne Shepherd taking a trip down memory lane as he pays tribute to the artists that inspired him. Ably assisted by some famous musical chums and steering clear of the usual done-to-death-covers, 'Goin' Home' is a banquet of bluesy brilliance that will leave purists salivating like the proverbial Pavlovian canine.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 08 May 2014

Lykke Li - I Never Learn (Album Review)

The third act is always tough. ‘I Never Learn’ finds Lykke Li further expanding on the reverb-soaked world sketched out on ‘Youth Novels’ and ‘Wounded Rhymes’, with things taking a further sombre turn. After all, it’s not as though her last two outings were entirely comprised of sweetness and light.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 07 May 2014

Apologies, I Have None - Black Everything EP (Album Review)

Photo: Marco Christian Krenn As its title not so succinctly suggests, Raging Through The Thick And Heavy Darkness Of A Bloodlust is by some distance the bleakest, most suffocating thing that Apologies, I Have None have committed to tape to date.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 06 May 2014