The Beaches - No Hard Feelings (Album Review)

The Beaches are an impressive, underrated band. Their third album ‘No Hard Feelings’ is an assured follow up to ‘Blame My Ex’, which catapulted them up festival bills and set up a long period of touring. It packs plenty of pop punch and should secure them some of the credit they deserve.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Friday, 05 September 2025

The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie (Album Review)

Photo: Frances Carter The Beths have emerged from their longest creative gap with an album that transforms personal struggle into artistic breakthrough. Following Elizabeth Stokes’ battles with Graves’ disease and SSRI-induced writer’s block, ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ is at once a document of recovery and self-discovery, and a collection of indie-rock bangers. Ultimately, it’s proof that overcoming creative obstacles can yield unexpected rewards.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 05 September 2025

Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman (Album Review)

Photo: Yana Yatsuk Nearly a decade after ‘Midwest Farmer’s Daughter’ established her as one of country’s most compelling outsiders, Margo Price delivers her most frustrating album yet. ‘Hard Headed Woman’ finds the Nashville firebrand retreating into something resembling tradition, trading the raw authenticity that made her essential for formulaic compositions that feel oddly hollow.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Thursday, 04 September 2025

Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend (Album Review)

Sabrina Carpenter has been a supreme performer since her days as a Disney star, but over the past couple of years her profile has shifted in explosive, unexpected ways. ‘Short n’ Sweet’ was a huge hit, catapulting her name onto the lips of pop fans the world over, and she has struck while the iron is hot, releasing ‘Man’s Best Friend’ only 12 months later.

Written by: Laura Mills | Date: Thursday, 04 September 2025

Jehnny Beth - You Heartbreaker, You (Album Review)

It’s often fun to interpret music as having a colour palette. It’ll be different for everyone, but we’ll all have our ideas of how music ‘looks’ — some sounds are warm hues, others cold, some are vivid, others stark.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 03 September 2025

Laufey - A Matter of Time (Album Review)

Photo: Emma Summerton It is no surprise that Laufey’s rise has occurred during a time of such uncertainty. Her knack for crafting entrancing jazz and classical music seems to refer back to simpler times, while her lyrics offer contrast by lending themselves to modern woes.

Written by: Sarah Taylor | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2025

The Hives - The Hives Forever Forever The Hives (Album Review)

It doesn’t break the mould, but ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’ captures the celebratory air of the Swedish garage-punk legends’ sound wonderfully — almost 30 years since the release of their debut they remain playful, energetic and propulsive.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2025

Black Honey - Soak (Album Review)

Photo: Frank Fieber Across the course of a decade, it is easy for a band to settle into a groove, especially once they taste success with a certain formula. Fortunately, Black Honey just don’t get that way of thinking. Led by Izzy B. Phillips, the Brighton quartet have spent the past 11 years making dents in the charts and playing big shows while still steadfastly doing things on their own terms. 

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Monday, 01 September 2025

Wolf Alice - The Clearing (Album Review)

Photo: Rachel Fleminger Hudson When ‘My Love Is Cool’ arrived a decade ago, Wolf Alice became a shining light in an otherwise floundering British guitar scene. Each of their three albums to date have been nominated for the Mercury Price, with 2017’s ‘Visions of a Life’ winning the award, while adding fresh colours to their palette with each release. ‘The Clearing’ continues that wonderful trend.

Written by: Matthew McLister | Date: Monday, 01 September 2025

Superchunk - Songs In The Key Of Yikes (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Cox Fridays can be cruel. Superchunk can attest to that, with their latest record emerging alongside Deftones’ stunning return, fascinating, critically-acclaimed oddities by Water From Your Eyes and Nourished By Time, and a surprise drop courtesy of one of the great modern rappers, Earl Sweatshirt. ‘Songs In The Key Of Yikes’ could easily feel like the runt of such a litter, but it’s to the amiable US indie rockers’ credit that it stands its ground.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Friday, 29 August 2025

Mac DeMarco - Guitar (Album Review)

Die-hard Mac DeMarco heads might still be working their way through 2023’s 199 song compilation ‘One Wayne G’, but the Canadian singer-songwriter is back with more. On ‘Guitar’, though, he opts for quality over quantity with a handful of short, rich, and poignant tracks.

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Thursday, 28 August 2025

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Dreams Of Being Dust (Album Review)

Photo: Lisa Johnson After 16 years of gradual evolution, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die appear to have reached their final form. ‘Dreams of Being Dust’ doesn't just mark a stylistic shift, it represents the band’s full artistic actualisation and reveals the beast that was lurking beneath their post-rock exterior.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Rise Against - Ricochet (Album Review)

Photo: Mynxii White The world’s on fire, so Rise Against must have something to say, surely? As artists line up to rally against the myriad injustices that face us day-to-day, the Chicago punks have the wisdom that comes with being on the front line for longer than most. 

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Deftones - Private Music (Album Review)

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine Ten studio albums is a special milestone for any band and Deftones mark it in style with ‘Private Music’, with some of their best work emerging almost 30 years on from the arrival of their debut ‘Adrenaline’.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 26 August 2025

Conan Gray - Wishbone (Album Review)

Photo: Dillon Matthew Barely a year ago it felt like Conan Gray had misplaced his artistic identity. But where the Max Martin-produced synth-pop of ‘Found Heaven’ felt calculating, its rapid follow up ‘Wishbone’ strips away the glossy veneer to reveal something altogether more authentic.

Written by: Jack Press | Date: Friday, 22 August 2025

Orianthi - Some Kind of Feeling (Album Review)

Photo: Alex Brown Orianthi’s fifth album is a rip-roaring blues-rock affair that taps into her formative ‘60s and ‘70s influences with glee, showcasing a fully-rounded artist whose authentic, passionate music now holds equal footing with her status as a supreme guitarist.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2025

The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers (Album Review)

Photo: Larry Niehues The Black Keys have been in a prolific mood of late, releasing four albums between 2019 and 2024 and now returning once again with ‘No Rain, No Flowers’, a project born from frustrations with their cancelled US tour. It’s a sprightly mix of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s trademark blues-rock sound and something a little breezier, belying the turmoil behind its creation.

Written by: Chris Connor | Date: Tuesday, 19 August 2025

Alison Goldfrapp - Flux (Album Review)

Photo: Mat Maitland In following up her solo debut ‘The Love Invention’, Alison Goldfrapp’s ‘Flux’ still faces the dancefloor, but its gaze is turned inward. Known for her work in the electronic duo that bears her surname, this is a project built on themes of impermanence, home to songs that dissolve and swell, mapping the uncertain space between stability and change. But, despite the auteurism inherent in the project, it lacks form and personality.

Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 18 August 2025

Good Charlotte - Motel Du Cap (Album Review)

Photo: Jen Rosenstein Still known by many as the sneering, spiky-haired poster boys of 2000s pop-punk, over the past 25 years Good Charlotte have expanded their sound far beyond the bratty outcast anthems, suburban angst, and soaring choruses that defined their early days. 

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Friday, 15 August 2025

JID - God Does Like Ugly (Album Review)

Photo: Neri With a title that cheekily cribs from Atmosphere’s ‘God Loves Ugly’, one of the greatest underground rap albums of all time, JID is seemingly not short of confidence on his fourth studio record.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Thursday, 14 August 2025