Nils Frahm - Day (Album Review)

Nils Frahm’s ‘Day’ is a piano record that displays the composer’s ability to wring something introspective and profound from a minimalist’s palette, flowing with the ease of a brook in a tranquil valley.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Tuesday, 12 March 2024

Kim Gordon - The Collective (Album Review)

Photo: Danielle Neu Kim Gordon’s second solo album is a grimy hot mess — a sonic journey into guitar dirges, glitchy trap beats and scrawled late night iPhone notes. It's another strikingly bold record from the former Sonic Youth bassist and maintains much of the urgent energy of her 2019 debut ‘No Home Record’.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 11 March 2024

Bleachers - Bleachers (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Lockett Jack Antonoff has had a successful and varied career as both a producer and performer, but he tends to exist in the shadows cast by his megastar associates, from Taylor Swift to the 1975 and Lana Del Rey. Here he returns with the fourth Bleachers album, serving up an expectedly eclectic collection that underlines his credentials as a songwriter who can adapt to different surroundings.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Friday, 08 March 2024

Yard Act - Where's My Utopia? (Album Review)

Photo: Phoebe Fox Move over post-punk, the funk-pop revolution has begun. Yard Act have followed up their breakthrough debut album ‘The Overload’ with ‘Where’s My Utopia?’, a self-reflexive masterpiece where bangers are crafted by putting a knife to the throat of the very notion of hitmaking.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 07 March 2024

Faye Webster - Underdressed at the Symphony (Album Review)

A lot has changed since Faye Webster put out ‘I Know I’m Funny Haha’ three years ago. She’s now one of those artists whose profiles blew up thanks to organic TikTok virality, giving her previously steady rise something of a turbo boost. But you wouldn’t know it from ‘Underdressed At The Symphony’, where she continues to develop her sound as though nothing has changed, leaving no emotional stone unturned in the process.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 06 March 2024

Kaiser Chiefs - Kaiser Chiefs' Easy Eighth Album (Album Review)

Photo: Cal McIntyre Halfway through ‘Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album’ it becomes pertinent to ask if they might have instead gone for a different self-referential title: everything is average nowadays. Guided by ex-Rudimental producer Amir Amor and part-facilitated by a songwriting hook up with Nile Rodgers, the band’s latest missive is a middle-aged identity crisis.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Tuesday, 05 March 2024

Everything Everything - Mountainhead (Album Review)

Photo: Steve Gullick Following the release of ‘Get to Heaven’ in 2015 there was a hell of a lot for Everything Everything to live up to. The album was a maximalist reset for their sound, setting a benchmark that their ensuing work, while nothing to sniff at, couldn’t quite reach. But they’ve gone up a gear with ‘Mountainhead’, a record that finally stands as a worthy successor.

Written by: Adam England | Date: Tuesday, 05 March 2024

Liam Gallagher and John Squire - Liam Gallagher John Squire (Album Review)

Photo: Tom Oxley This isn’t really what anyone had in mind when it came to Liam Gallagher uniting with another Manchester legend. After so much to-ing and fro-ing with his brother Noel, and the slightest hint of an Oasis reunion, he’s chosen instead to team up with Stone Roses guitarist John Squire.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 04 March 2024

Real Estate - Daniel (Album Review)

Photo: Sinna Nasseri Over the past 15 years, Real Estate have mastered the sort of gentle jangle-pop that might soundtrack days spent at the beach following sunny road trips along coastal highways. They might one day veer from the blacktop but their sixth album continues to follow that road, drawing strength from its comforting sense of familiarity.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Friday, 01 March 2024

Mick Mars - The Other Side Of Mars (Album Review)

Given the furore over his retirement from Mötley Crüe after four decades of riffs and glam-metal excess, Mick Mars had a lot of fuel with which to approach his first solo record. On ‘The Other Side Of Mars’ the guitarist seeks to display, you guessed it, another side to his work, pairing his undimmed skills as a guitarist with the dominant vocal abilities of Jacob Bunton and Brion Gamboa. When they click, they are something of a force of nature together, but too often they don’t. 

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Wednesday, 28 February 2024

Nadine Shah - Filthy Underneath (Album Review)

Photo: Tim Topple Anyone attending recent Depeche Mode shows would have been treated, however briefly, to a bewitching support slot from Nadine Shah. In her grasp she held a clutch of new songs from ‘Filthy Underneath’, an album that encompasses so much about what makes the Tyneside artist so deeply admired and loved.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 28 February 2024

iDKHOW - Gloom Division (Album Review)

Photo: MANIC PROJECT ‘Gloom Division’ is the second studio album from former Panic!At the Disco bassist Dallon Weekes under the not-at-all-clunky name I Dont Know How But They Found Me, or iDKHOW for short. For the most part, it’s a sunny synth-drenched popsicle, balancing chunky rhythms and bass with catchy-ish melodies and theatrical vocals.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 28 February 2024

The Snuts - Millennials (Album Review)

Photo: Gaz Williamson ‘Millennials’ is the Snuts’ third studio album, but notably the first the Scottish indie-rockers have released on their own label, Happy Artists. Finding that their vision no longer aligned with that of their major label, Parlophone, the name of their new home is decidedly pointed.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 27 February 2024

MGMT - Loss of Life (Album Review)

Photo: Jonah Freeman Since invading indie-rock with their hugely successful debut ‘Oracular Spectacular’ in 2007, MGMT have hummed along in the background, leaning heavily into electronic music and releasing records that led to a heady fusion of several styles. Returning with their fifth album ‘Loss of Life’, their first in six years, Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser prove that they still aren’t comfortable playing it safe.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Serpentwithfeet - Grip (Album Review)

Even when viewed alongside such luminaries as Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy, and Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, Serpentwithfeet’s unique vocal inflections and heart-rending melodies have helped him to stand out in a blossoming R&B scene informed by the experiences of queer black men. He has one of the most haunting voices in the entire genre but ‘Grip’ shows that he also has his share of unrealised potential. 

Written by: Jay Fullarton | Date: Monday, 26 February 2024

Paloma Faith - The Glorification of Sadness (Album Review)

A lot can change in four years. Paloma Faith’s sixth album ‘The Glorification of Sadness’ offers quite the contrast to ‘Infinite Things’, flipping that record’s focus on all-consuming love to something closer to triumph despite heartbreak. What we have here is “a divorce album without the divorce” as the chart-topping singer-songwriter leans heavily on her work following a turbulent split with her long-term partner.

Written by: Issy Herring | Date: Monday, 26 February 2024

Laura Jane Grace - Hole In My Head (Album Review)

Photo: Bella Peterson Since the pandemic, Laura Jane Grace’s solo career has become less of a side quest than a main adventure. In the first two years of this decade, the Against Me! frontwoman pulled two stellar releases from her sleeve — 2020’s ‘Stay Alive’ and 2021’s ‘At War With The Silverfish’ EP — with no prior warning. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Friday, 23 February 2024

William Doyle - Springs Eternal (Album Review)

‘Springs Eternal’ is the latest missive from William Doyle, the Bournemouth electronic (and occasionally ambient) producer also known for a time as East India Youth. It finds this tender soul in diverse spirits, delivering a record of impressive versatility, if not always solid gold songwriting.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Thursday, 22 February 2024

IDLES - Tangk (Album Review)

Each new IDLES album has come to feel like a turning point, with the Bristol band always reaching for something approaching a defining statement. ‘Tangk’ is no different, stepping into a revolving door of love songs that are alternately angry, soft, or gleeful. 

Written by: Jack McGill | Date: Thursday, 22 February 2024

Grandaddy - Blu Wav (Album Review)

Photo: Dustin Aksland Fans of sad, cosmic alt-country rejoice! This small but fervent group will be ecstatic at the release of ‘Blu Wav’, the latest from California cult heroes Grandaddy, who looked for a while like they were finished.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 21 February 2024