Tom Brosseau - Grass Punks (Album Review)

Tom Brosseau has been on the sidelines for a while. ‘Grass Punks’ is his first solo record in five years and as such will serve as a handy introduction for some into his world of acoustic folk.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 27 January 2014

Red Dragon Cartel - Red Dragon Cartel (Album Review)

Following his sizzling tenure as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist in the 1980s, Jake E Lee went on to form lauded blues rockers Badlands before largely vanishing from the musical landscape. After nearly two decades in semi-retirement, he's finally re-emerged with Red Dragon Cartel, who draw upon contemporary and classic metal influences with enjoyable, albeit inconsistent, results.  

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 27 January 2014

Skindred - Kill The Power (Album Review)

So, Skindred. You know the drill by now: slick nu-metal riffs, infectious reggae beats, samples, swinging your clothes around in the air at the end of a gig...basically, one of the most inventive bands currently plying their trade in the UK.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 24 January 2014

Mogwai - Rave Tapes (Album Review)

As we’re all now aware, the title of Mogwai’s latest record is somewhat misleading. ‘Rave Tapes’ does not herald a new direction for the Scottish post-rock veterans; they are, artfully it has to be said, fucking with us again.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 23 January 2014

Warpaint - Warpaint (Album Review)

Warpaint’s debut album, ‘The Fool’, was all about mood and texture, never stooping to engage with what would traditionally be expected from a band positioned on the periphery of the ever-expanding, but not necessarily diversifying, indie scene.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 22 January 2014

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Album Review)

For Laura Jane Grace and Against Me!, ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’ is an important record. It’s the first since Grace sat down with Rolling Stone and came out as a transgender woman, and it also follows a period of line-up changes and label upheaval that could have sunk another band.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2014

No Sinner - Boo Hoo Hoo (Album Review)

To enjoy the bluesy rock ‘n' roll whipped up by Vancouver-based four piece No Sinner, all you really need is a functioning heartbeat. In other words, if you don't find yourself digging their soulful swagger you may be clinically dead.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 20 January 2014

DripBack - Failed Futures (Album Review)

'Hometown: Fackin Landaan. Band Interests: Beer and shit that makes ya go faster. Artists We Also Like: Lionel Richie'. These aren't the sort of things you'd usually find scrawled on a death metal band's Facebook page. But then again, most death metal bands aren't like DripBack.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 17 January 2014

You Blew It! - Keep Doing What You're Doing (Album Review)

There’s really only one way to go about creating a ‘revival’: carry on regardless while the mainstream forgets what you’re doing, and then give it a couple of years.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 17 January 2014

Decade - Good Luck (Album Review)

It seems that time is of the essence to many these days. Debut albums are being rushed out to meet demand, while major artists are falling over one another in order to drop surprise releases on the unsuspecting public. But Decade, by these standards, have been patient.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Thursday, 16 January 2014

East India Youth - Total Strife Forever (Album Review)

There are two competing currents running through ‘Total Strife Forever’, the debut from William Doyle as East India Youth. But rather than dragging the album down, they work alongside one another, creating a thematic anchor for intriguing stylistic walkabouts.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings - Give The People What They Want (Album Review)

On Retreat, the opening track from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ ‘Give The People What They Want’, Jones sings: “Play with me and you play with fire.” A song that trades in steely barbs between lovers, it has assumed a new role for Jones following her recent battle against cancer.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes (Album Review)

There’s a lot to be said for striking while the iron is hot and that’s just what Bruce Springsteen, five decades into one of the defining careers in popular music, has done with ‘High Hopes’.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 13 January 2014

Stephen Malkmus And The Jicks - Wig Out At Jagbags (Album Review)

Contrary to what its title may suggest, there’s precious little wigging out going on here. ‘Wig Out At Jagbags’, the latest solo release from former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus, is one of the more straightforward records in his recent canon, offering up witty, charming alt-pop tunes with a few prog splatters.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Friday, 10 January 2014

Self Defense Family - Try Me (Album Review)

‘Try Me’, Self Defense Family’s first full-length since switching names from End Of A Year, is every bit as challenging as its title suggests. It’s a raw, emotional work, one that flatly refuses to take the easy way out.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 09 January 2014

September Girls - Cursing The Sea (Album Review)

‘Cursing The Sea’, September Girls’ debut full-length, arrives on the coattails of a string of singles, each one bearing the Dublin band’s brew of reverb, girl group harmonies and menacing Jesus And Mary Chain guitars.

Written by: Sam Jones | Date: Wednesday, 08 January 2014

Beyonce - Beyonce (Album Review)

In a world saturated by rolling news and dominated by the social media hive mind, genuine surprises are hard to come by. Hats off then, to Beyoncé. Her fifth album arrived at the end of December with so little fanfare that Kanye West’s stripped-back unveiling of ‘Yeezus’ seemed gratuitous by comparison.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 07 January 2014

French Exit - Guts & Black Stuff (Album Review)

‘Guts & Black Stuff’, the debut full-length from French Exit, is a patchwork quilt of sorts. Its title references a classic Simpsons episode, and a Movielife lyric that will ring a bell with pop-punk fans of a certain age, while its 12 tracks plot a path through ‘Pinkerton’-era Weezer via the ragged guitars of Dillinger Four and enough redemptive singalongs to floor a room full of broken hearts.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 06 January 2014

Iced Earth - Plagues Of Babylon (Album Review)

Iced Earth have been knocking about for a good while now, and across almost three decades they've pummelled the ears with some delightful treats. The 'Something Wicked' saga, in particular, is a collection of gems and with 'Plagues Of Babylon', that sprawling, grandiose narrative has once again been stretched across the course of...well, half an album.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 06 January 2014

Neil Young - Live At The Cellar Door (Album Review)

Stripped to its bare bones, ‘Live At The Cellar Door’, the latest entry in Neil Young’s 'Archive' series, may seem fairly inconsequential. It shares over half its tracklist with ‘Live At Massey Hall’ and was recorded a matter of weeks earlier during a short residency at the intimate Washington DC club late in 1970.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 12 December 2013