Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War (Album Review)

As a band with a new-found wedge of reality TV capital to trade, Kaiser Chiefs are an easy target. Give them a kicking and, to many, all you’re doing is reinforcing the belief that their appeal never really stretched beyond lager-toting students and Soccer AM devotees.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 03 April 2014

Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo (Album Review)

Pretty much every band has inspired divisions among their fanbase at one time or another. There are the “I only like the early stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a pig's anus” fans, and there are those who love the the new stuff as much as the old stuff.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 02 April 2014

Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else (Album Review)

Photo: Pooneh Ghana ‘Here And Nowhere Else’ works as a continuation of a theme, picking up from Cloud Nothings’ visceral leap into full band territory with ‘Attack On Memory’ and running with it. Here, Dylan Baldi again proves that the quiet man in the room is often capable of making the most noise.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 April 2014

Johnny Cash - Out Among The Stars (Album Review)

Few artists get a second chance, but Johnny Cash was one of them. His reinvention in the 1990s, in tandem with producer Rick Rubin, yielded some of the best music of an already illustrious career, albeit one that had seen him walk alone throughout much of the preceding two decades.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Tuesday, 01 April 2014

Monks Of Mellonwah - Turn The People (Album Review)

Monks of Mellonwah's debut album, 'Turn The People', packs a significant punch. The quartet are quickly making a name for themselves in their native Australia, producing quality alternative, melodic and occasionally funk-filled rock music.

Written by: Sam Hailes | Date: Monday, 31 March 2014

The Used - Imaginary Enemy (Album Review)

Frustrating as it is, your favourite bands will let you down. Ask any Metallica fan and, no matter what argument they can come up with, you will see the pain in their eyes and the 'St. Anger'-shaped hole in their heart. When a band achieves so much so early on in their career, anything else they do is considered a disappointment.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 31 March 2014

The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams (Album Review)

Photo: Danny Clinch ‘Teeth Dreams’, the Hold Steady’s sixth album, is one that embraces a grim reality. It’s less about hopeless romanticism than it is about unravelling half truths to reveal real hopelessness. As Craig Finn sings on On With The Business, it’s imbued with an “American sadness”.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 28 March 2014

The Dandy Warhols - Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia Live At The Wonder (Album Review)

Last year marked the 13th anniversary of ‘Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia’, the Dandy Warhols’ third, and most enduring, album.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 28 March 2014

Tony Molina - Dissed And Dismissed (Album Review)

Got 12 minutes spare? Of course you have. That’s all the time you’ll need to get acquainted with ‘Dissed And Dismissed’, a sharp burst of pop brilliance from Bay Area native Tony Molina.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 28 March 2014

The Robert Cray Band - In My Soul (Album Review)

Photo: Jeff Katz If you get a dictionary and look up the word smooth, it's likely that a photo of Robert Cray will appear alongside it, such is the nonchalant cool he brings to his music. This latest release is no exception, as the veteran master once again provides a bridge between Motown and the Mississippi with a laid back collection of cuts that pushes more in the direction of Detroit soul than Delta grit.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 27 March 2014

Magnum - Escape From The Shadow Garden

Magnum are, as their name would suggest, like a vintage bottle of champagne. They are, perhaps improbably, getting better with age and never has that more evident than on ‘Escape From The Shadow Garden’, the band’s 18th studio album.

Written by: Gemma-Louise Johnson | Date: Thursday, 27 March 2014

Finch - What It Is To Burn X (Album Review)

We’re all growing older, and we’re all changing. Accordingly, the various loves and obsessions that characterised our youths are becoming more difficult to relate to by the day. That’s certainly been the case for many who took ‘What It Is To Burn’, Finch’s debut album, to heart 12 years ago.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Chuck Ragan - Till Midnight (Album Review)

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Chuck Ragan and his music is that it's not steeped in mystery; what you see is quite simply what you get. Never one to shy away from putting himself into his work, ‘Till Midnight’ continues down a path of tried and tested storytelling, with a few friends along for the ride.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Jimi Goodwin - Odludek (Album Review)

It’s been almost five years since Doves’ last broadcast, the excellent ‘Kingdom Of Rust’, and they have been sorely missed. It’ll come as a relief to a starved fanbase that their break is just a time out, with vocalist Jimi Goodwin focusing on a debut solo effort in the meantime.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa - Live In Amsterdam (Album Review)

Photo: © Christie Goodwin ​​When Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa performed the majority of their two collaborative albums at Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam, the result was truly spell binding. Now, the dynamic duo, and their astonishing band,  have packaged up those two hours of spunky rock, soul and blues covers for consumption in the comfort of your living room. It’s safe to say that if you like their studio records, you're going to love this.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Foster The People - Supermodel (Album Review)

It’s called the difficult second album for a reason, as Foster The People have discovered on the uneven ‘Supermodel’.

Written by: Gavin Rees | Date: Monday, 24 March 2014

Liars - Mess (Album Review)

The question to consider before listening to a new Liars record these days is not so much ‘what will Liars do next?’ as ‘what can Liars do next?’ Since emerging as part of the mostly depressing and awful dance punk scene of the early 2000s, Liars have spent their career hopping between stylistic terrains with such consummate ease that, with each shift in their sound, it looks alarmingly like there really might be very little they can’t do.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 24 March 2014

The Darcys - Warring

‘Warring’ is a stamp of artistic competence from Toronto indie-rockers the Darcys; the result of playing with soundscapes and things taking an altogether more elusory turn. Compared to their pristine eponymous debut, released in 2011, this is one big musical experiment.

Written by: Josh Adams | Date: Friday, 21 March 2014

Yearbook - Old Bones

Despite forming only three years back, 2014 could be the year for this lot, and not just for the sake of a convenient play on words.

Written by: Gemma-Louise Johnson | Date: Thursday, 20 March 2014

Black Lips - Underneath The Rainbow (Album Review)

Seven albums in isn't really the time to start orchestrating a grand departure from an established sound. Black Lips have built a fanbase over the years thanks to the fact that their old school garage-punk sound provides a refreshing change to the gloss of the modern day, and 'Underneath the Rainbow' is no different.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 19 March 2014