The Hold Steady - The Price of Progress (Album Review)

Photo: Shervin Lainez "It's hard to make friends when your job is so demanding." You can almost hear the lump in Craig Finn's throat as he delivers this line during Sixers, a standout on The Hold Steady’s ninth album ‘The Price of Progress’. 

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Monday, 03 April 2023

Liturgy - 93696 (Album Review)

Photo: Alexander Perrelli The world is starting to catch up with Liturgy. Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix’s experimental black metal project was once the subject of immense opprobrium, stemming from her genre-busting music as much as her highbrow philosophical themes.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Friday, 31 March 2023

Fall Out Boy - So Much (For) Stardust (Album Review)

Photo: Pamela Littky It’s been a while since Fall Out Boy have been truly great. Released in 2015, ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’ was a sanitised attempt at radio rock that periodically came off as bland, while 2018’s ‘Mania’ was a maximalist car crash that buried the band’s idiosyncrasies under ultra-processed production. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Thursday, 30 March 2023

Depeche Mode - Memento Mori (Album Review)

Photo: Anton Corbijn ‘Memento Mori’ is Depeche Mode’s 15th studio album, and the first to be released following the sudden death of founding member Andy Fletcher in 2022, at the age of just 60. Coming as a crushing blow to remaining members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, Fletcher’s loss could easily have spelled the end for the band, but instead we have a record that serves as both a tribute to their friend and an admission to themselves that they too are mortal.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 29 March 2023

The HIRS Collective - We're Still Here (Album Review)

Photo: Chris Suspect The HIRS Collective has never been a group to shy away from pushing the limits of extreme music, either in sound or scope. Whether they’re putting out a collection of 100 songs at a time, or collaborating with pioneers, their brand of grindcore has always been about inclusivity and equality. 

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Tuesday, 28 March 2023

Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Album Review)

Photo: Chuck Grant When Lana Del Rey stepped into the pop hemisphere a decade ago, she was a creature of intense curiosity. Her breakout single Video Games still captures a unique moment in space and time: retro storytelling through the prism of social media filters, full of artifice and yet somehow in her own way, utterly authentic.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 27 March 2023

Black Honey - A Fistful of Peaches (Album Review)

Photo: Jamie Noise There are few places scarier than the confines of your own mind. We are, for the most part, our own worst enemies: overly critical, self-loathing and holding ourselves to standards higher than anyone around us would expect us to meet. 

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Friday, 24 March 2023

Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord... (Album Review)

Photo: Jordan Hemingway Another fabulous example of the post-genre future that we seem to be rapidly heading towards, Yves Tumor’s latest is as unclassifiable and engrossing as contemporary rock-leaning music comes.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 23 March 2023

100 Gecs - 10,000 Gecs (Album Review)

Photo: Chris Maggio ‘10,000 Gecs’ is the second studio album from American hyperpop duo 100 Gecs and arrives a year after it was initially slated for release. If the delay was due to adding final touches to the music, then it sort-of shows. This album is a frenetic, hyperactive melange of styles and genres with enough diversity of noise to keep the listener guessing for months.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V (Album Review)

Photo: Juan Ortiz Arenas From their inception Unknown Mortal Orchestra have been musical outliers. Decidedly ‘anti-scene’, the group, fronted by songwriter Ruban Nielson, have always incorporated a twisted nest of influences into their sound.

Written by: Craig Howieson | Date: Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation (Album Review)

Photo: Marcell Rév In Ken Burns’ epic documentary series Country Music, he asks guitar godfather and key architect of the so-called Nashville Sound, Chet Atkins, exactly what that sound comprises. Atkins jingles some coins in his pocket. “That’s the Nashville Sound!” he says with an accompanying grin.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 20 March 2023

Princess Nokia - I Love You But This Is Goodbye (Album Review)

When Princess Nokia dropped '1992 Deluxe' back in 2017, it seemed as if the emo-rap crown would inevitably be hers for the taking. She's not quite managed to match those heights with subsequent releases, but her new EP 'I Love You But This Is Goodbye' sets out to right the ship as a short, sharp shot of her myriad influences and styles.

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Friday, 17 March 2023

Dutch Uncles - True Entertainment (Album Review)

Photo: Oliver Sangster It's not every day that you come across an album that cites Prince, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Talking Heads as key influences. Then again, it's not every day you come across a band quite like Dutch Uncles. The Mancunian art-pop quartet are back with their sixth album 'True Entertainment' and they prove here that certain sounds can be truly timeless.

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Thursday, 16 March 2023

Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus (Album Review)

Photo: Cho Gi-Seok For Kali Uchis’ third studio album, the Colombian-American R&B singer has delivered a luxurious cocktail of slow jam-soul pop. 'Red Moon in Venus' demonstrates a gorgeous high point in her catalogue, its vintage production providing an elegant background to syrupy singing and raunch. In ancient astrology, the red moon is meant as a portent of doom. In this context, it appears to predict something altogether more erotic.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 15 March 2023

Slowthai - Ugly (Album Review)

‘Ugly’ is the third album from UK rapper Slowthai, presenting raw and introspective lyricism with dark garage-rock backing, giving a compelling view into the performer’s troubled psyche. 

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Sleaford Mods - UK Grim (Album Review)

Releasing seven albums in 10 years is no mean feat, but when your music focuses on taking potshots at arseholes and austerity like Sleaford Mods' does, it sadly seems you'll never be short of content. 

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Monday, 13 March 2023

The Veils - …And Out Of The Void Came Love (Album Review)

Released as a double album after Finn Andrews hit an unexpected rich vein of form, ‘…And Out of the Void Came Love’ is the Veils’ sixth LP, and first for seven years. During that time, Andrews suffered from writer’s block, a feeling that is captured on the excellent lead single Undertow. Having both parents as writers, Andrews was fully aware of the troubles encountered when the well runs dry—at one point had lost hope that he would ever be able to create again.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 08 March 2023

Gorillaz - Cracker Island (Album Review)

At this point, Damon Albarn has likely had more airplay as the creator of Gorillaz than as the frontman of Blur. The use of the word ‘airplay’ is relevant because since Gorillaz’s debut album (‘Cracker Island’ is their eighth) the entire machinery of music listening has changed from physical to streaming. And this is relevant because to listeners of a certain vintage Gorillaz still feel somehow…new.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 06 March 2023

The Slow Readers Club - Knowledge Freedom Power (Album Review)

For a band recognised as being from the gloomy Joy Division mould, the Slow Readers Club’s new album ‘Knowledge Freedom Power’ is intentionally more optimistic as things shift over from the dark side to one of more noticeable light.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Friday, 03 March 2023

Algiers - Shook (Album Review)

Photo: Ebru Yildiz Algiers were a band on the brink of collapse. The genre-mashing collective, burnt out from relentless touring, were feeling the pressure from all sides in a world rife with turmoil and unrest. For a moment, it looked as if they would be calling it a day. “We all got shook,” says multi-instrumentalist Ryan Mahan. But rather than let it spell the end of a group that had already put out three albums and been friends for years, they retreated to where it all began and produced their new album.

Written by: Jack Terry | Date: Thursday, 02 March 2023