Kosheen - Solitude (Album Review)

With four full lengths and hits such as Hungry, Catch and All In My Head in their repertoire, Kosheen must surely go from strength to strength with the release of ‘Solitude’, right?

Written by: Emma Dodds | Date: Thursday, 21 November 2013

Jake Bugg - Shangri La (Album Review)

The meteoric rise has become something of a music cliché, a regular occurrence in the age of social networks and viral campaigns, but that doesn’t make the last year of Jake Bugg’s life any less remarkable. Having released his self-titled debut in October 2012, he’s since swept Mercury and Brit nominations into a swag bag alongside a #1 album in the UK and a spot on the Billboard 200.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Thursday, 21 November 2013

Joanne Shaw Taylor - Songs From The Road (Album Review)

There's plenty to admire about British blues-rock's current first lady, Joanne Shaw Taylor. She plays guitar like a seething demon, hammering out fire and brimstone grooves and feisty solos with power, poise and total control. Add to that strong tunes, a bubbly stage presence and complete lack of pretension and she's almost the complete package. Almost.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe (Album Review)

Dev Hynes has never been one to sit still. Having dabbled in punk, with Test Icicles, and indie, as Lightspeed Champion, he’s fashioned an exciting niche of late as a producer to the stars of alt-pop and R&B. His work adorns recent releases from Solange, MKS and Sky Ferreira, while his first album under the Blood Orange banner, ‘Coastal Grooves’, was uneven but loaded with potential.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Robbie Williams - Swings Both Ways (Album Review)

Robbie Williams, still riding the wave created by his return to Take That and the chart-topping success of ‘Take The Crown’, has revisited the scene of one of his greatest successes on ‘Swings Both Ways’, the follow-up to his phenomenally successful ‘Swing When You’re Winning’ album.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 18 November 2013

Less Than Jake - See The Light (Album Review)

There are few music scenes as widely derided as ska-punk. Almost 20 years on from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones gatecrashing the upper reaches of the Billboard charts with The Impression That I Get, the movement is sneered at by hipsters and dismissed by critics. But it shouldn’t be, and Less Than Jake are one reason why.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 15 November 2013

Funeral For A Friend - Between Order And Model EP (Album Review)

Eleven years ago, history was made. They may not have realised it, but Funeral For A Friend were entering the opening stretch of a monumental journey that would take them tearing into the UK album charts, into the ears of mainstream listeners and even to a slot opening for Iron Maiden.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 14 November 2013

Sandi Thom - The Covers Collection (Album Review)

Sandi Thom's 'The Covers Collection' has Stevie Nicks’ smouldering angst running right through it, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the Scottish singer-songwriter’s ‘obsessive’ devotion to Fleetwood Mac.

Written by: Helen Grant | Date: Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Black Joe Lewis - Electric Slave (Album Review)

On ‘Electric Slave’, Black Joe Lewis has some things he’d like to get off his chest. Well, if we’re being perfectly honest, he’s actually got some things that he’d like to scream at the top of his lungs over sledgehammer blues-rock riffs.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Ghost - If You Have Ghost EP (Album Review)

It's 2013. The London Underground still smells funny, Freddo bars are extortionately priced and Ghost have covered an ABBA song. With a ridiculous curve ball following their salacious sophomore effort 'Infestissumam' earlier this year, the Swedish masters of devilment have returned with a covers EP. Produced by Dave Grohl and featuring tunes originally penned by Depeche Mode and ABBA, could this be one step too far?

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Lady Gaga - ARTPOP (Album Review)

Every now and again, the scales tip over and a new record becomes ‘an event’. With the pre-release hype, leaks and online babble about it being a career-ending trainwreck, ‘ARTPOP’, Lady Gaga’s third full-length, was on course to end up on the wrong side of that equation.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 11 November 2013

Jamie Lenman - Muscle Memory (Album Review)

When Reuben split up in 2008, it’s no exaggeration to say that a chunk of the UK’s alternative music scene was left devastated. On a personal level they were, alongside the likes of Biffy Clyro, Hell is for Heroes, Mclusky, Million Dead and Oceansize, fundamental to me becoming a genuine music fan instead of some NME-worshipping scenester.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 08 November 2013

Crusades - Perhaps You Deliver This Judgment With Greater Fear Than I Receive It (Album Review)

Crusades’ debut full-length, ‘The Sun Is Down And The Night Is Riding In’, marked them out as one of the most interesting bands to emerge in punk for some time, dragging behind it some pitch black lyrical themes and melodies that just wouldn’t quit.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 08 November 2013

Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne (Album Review)

Having navigated the tricky path from rebellious teen rock chick to established pop star, Avril Lavigne finally seems to have settled down emotionally. Many of the messages on her self-titled fifth studio record are to do with acceptance, and she’s not really all that mad at the world anymore.

Written by: Katie Vowles | Date: Friday, 08 November 2013

Septicflesh - Ophidian Wheel (Album Review)

Think of the most terrifying nightmare you've ever had. Revel in the horror, bask in the madness. Clowns, haunted houses, murderers – whatever. It's doesn't make sense, does it? It's utterly petrifying and you don't fully understand why. If you were to bottle up that tumult of terror and grind it through a mixing desk, Septicflesh would be the sonic result.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 07 November 2013

Swearin' - Surfing Strange (Album Review)

When Swearin’, a fuzzy little bundle of noise fronted by PS Eliot’s Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride of Big Soda, first landed a couple of years ago their sound was a neat offshoot of their previous work, knitting together influences from slacker punk and the loud-soft dynamics of ‘90s indie-rock.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 06 November 2013

Motorhead - Aftershock (Album Review)

Lemmy Kilmister isn't just a man. He isn't just a musician. He is the living, breathing, whiskey-necking, cigar-smoking embodiment of rock 'n' roll, and has been bulldozing his way through the music industry for over 40 years. But, after 20 previous studio albums, their iconic frontman’s recent health troubles and constant accusations of every album sounding exactly the same, have Motörhead actually got anything left to say?

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 06 November 2013

M.I.A - Matangi (Album Review)

‘Matangi’, M.I.A’s fourth album, is every bit as confrontational as you’d hoped. An often jarring explosion of samples, thunderous beats and the fierce words of Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam, it isn’t subtle or pretty, but it’s very effective.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 05 November 2013

Plini - Sweet Nothings (Album Review)

These are good days for musicians seeking to build a name in their bedrooms and Plini, a 21-year-old songwriter from Sydney, recently added the ‘Sweet Nothings’ EP to his small, yet weighty set of DIY works.

Written by: Jonathan Lin | Date: Monday, 04 November 2013

Worriers - Cruel Optimist (Album Review)

“What doesn’t kill you just makes you a mess, but no-one ever wants to tell you that,” muses Lauren Denitzio on the title track of Worriers’ new 12”, a collection of reflective, smart and ferociously catchy punk songs.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 01 November 2013