our reviews.

2020-2023. Explore archived albums or albums of the new and now.

May 2023

____________________________

metal/black-metal/progressive rock/alternative rock/electronic: Sleep Token: Take Me Back To Eden. The UK’s anonymous worship collective are back and brazen in the face of Sleep. Not confining to the remit of metal, they are in every other genre going. Get this in your weeks’ playlist.

folk/post-alternative: BC Camplight: The Last Rotation Of Earth. An artist who is very much is in his own lane, comes to his final masterstroke. A harrowing epilogue of garish after-thoughts and heavy moments. This is Mr Camplight at his ultimate best.

alternative rock: HIMALAYAS: From Hell To Here. A dark haunting of hard rock has reached its pique. This is new everything. New band, new album, new sounds. Let’s get it.

neo-soul/funk: Q: Soul, PRESENT. A cracking piece of neo-soul and funky fragments encompassing everything we love about it. Sheer ’80s nostalgia shivers.

electronic-indie: Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Cool It Down. A blaring album of sparking return sees a thunderous showering of glitzy violin triumphants, archaic synth swells and mesmerising melodies.

spunky-punk: Comfort: What’s Bad Enough?: The world of punk has some newcomers. They’re to kick up a fuss for the best room and stay the night.

electronic / dream-pop: Avalon Emerson: & Charm: Emerson drops the DJ booth altogether for a shot at cornerstone dream-pop – and it’s a transition she’s seemingly taken like water off a duck’s back.

APRIL 2023

_____________________________

alt-indie: The National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein. A concise ninth studio album from a band seemingly on the ropes – with beautiful melodies and A-list guests to boot.

electronic: Mac DeMarco: One Wayne G. A 199-collection of forgettable demo tracks purely to aid (and abet) time. Snoozefest.

alternative jungle: Nia Archives: Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall. Jungle is massive – and so is Nia Archives. Blistering fresh jungle interspersed with legendary hip-hop engravings and RnB grooves.

hard rock/post-hardcore + trance: Enter Shikari: A Kiss for the Whole World. This is more than an album full of simmering hope and high-octane energy. It’s an album that well and truly saved the band too…

conccious rap / drum ‘n’ bass: Songer: SKALA. A rap trailblazing his own path for UK artistry, SKALA is socially-aware and unassuming.

rock: Foo Fighters: The Return with Rescued. The band embark on a sombre chapter with But Here We Are album June release and new single, Rescued since the passing of beloved friend and drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

Prog-jazz: GoGo Penguin: Everything Is Going to Be Okay: the prog-jazz giants return with a extremely spirited album of getting through it.

electronic-pop: The Cope: Oiche / Back to My Bullshit (video premiere): A step-away from the usual, this audio-visual short is nothing short of intelligent and enlightening.

post-alternative: Romi O: M2M (single): A forray of new and bold, a decisive style brought on by alternative sounds posed with an influx of punky spit.

alternative hip-hop: House of EL: Pull Up (single): Fighting talk from Brit’s answer to a Steve Lacy. A mighty compendium of alternative hip-hop for the ages.

rock-indie: Chappaqua Wrestling: Plus Ultra. An adventurous debut from a group navigating the whims of societal lows and normalities. A highly addictive listen.

post-modern punk: Wednesday: Rat Saw God: An unfurling of murky shoegaze, swept up with keen post-punk spirit. Wash it down with some D-grade merlot.

sad-indie: Daughter: Stereo Mind Game: A slaughter of ethereal sad indie – perfect for those indie cinema screenings. Coming to a soundtrack near you.

synth-indie: M83: Fantasy. A tasteful return for a man shunning commercialism and simply making what he wants.

heavy metal/emo rock: nothing, nowhere: VOID ETERNAL. A colostomy bag of powerful emo-rock interspersed with stalwart guests from the scene of heavy rock.

MARCH 2023

______________________________

’80s synth-pop: EMAROSA: Sting. A psychedelia of nostalgia – 80’s synth style.

French indie/synth-pop: Christine and the Queens: LIVE. An ethereal powerhouse of epic proportion.

ethereal indie-pop: Caroline Rose: The Art of Forgetting. It was known that she recorded the majority of this album in the nude. Fitting that it’s an album at her own most honest as she bares it all in a shallow-dark pop album.

hyper-pop: 100 gecs: 10,000 gecs. Glitchy hyper-pop persists in an overload of senses.

indie-rock: Black Honey: A Fistful of Peaches. Gritty, gleaming indie-rock shows the Brighton quartet at their best so far.

alternative synth-wave: Fever Ray: Radical Romantics. A plunge into the rabbit hole of zesty alternative off the beaten track.

indie/lo-fi pop: The Angles: The Angles. If you’re looking for a more relaxed listen, you needn’t go further than this glowing power-pop alternative.

alternative grime hip-hop/rap: slowthai: UGLY. A frenetically broiled album from a traditionally vexed Briton. With power to boot.

psychdelic rock / alternative hip-hop: Lil Yachty: Let’s Start Here. An album rich in Tame Impala-enthused sounds and off-kilter vibratos; we’re in the skies.

FEBRUARY 2023

_____________________________

world-folk: KAYAM: Omens. A unique delicacy for the ages, sibling-duo KAYAM are back with a mesmerising journey into the wonders of exploration and wanderlust.

funk-pop: Gorillaz: Cracker Island. Your favourite virtual inhabitants from a digital world are back and with it, comes the bolstered eerie cultist ethos of Cracker Island.

fierce post-punk: shame: Food For Worms. Highly experimental, inclusively bold and universally shame, this is post-punk at its best.

ethereal synth-pop: Caroline Polachek: Desire, I Want To Turn Into You. Work of such feat, this ethereal tapestry delves into the inner workings of dark love, lust and that insatiable feeling of being wanted – irrespective of the cost.

experimental hip-hop: Jean Dawson: CHAOS NOW.* Levitating anti-pop shows his intentions with experimental magic for the dart arts of seminal hip-hop, gloomy trap rap and fixated indie-rock fit for a teenage king.

lo-fi/soul-pop: Joesef: Permanent Damage. A self-aware debut from a self-made artist, the poetic soul-pop workings out is every bit personal as it is beautiful.

indie-rock: The Academic: Sitting Pretty. Enthused storytelling with depth to their work.

alternative rock: Paramore: This Is Why. After a six-year hiatus, everyone’s favourite pop-punk band are back. Not quite where we left them, but albeit older and wiser with songwriting dexterity to boot.

JANUARY 2023

_______________________________

punk: Holy Popes: Holy Popes: gritty post-garage punk debut hits the mark… with ferocious power.

lo-fi alternative: JW Francis: Dream House. A lo-fi pop of colour!

post-punk: The Murder Capital: Gigi’s Recovery. Poetically dark and twisted in refinements, Capitals’ follow-up is a euphoric roar.

hard rock/post-punk: Billy Nomates: CACTI. A caustic visionary, Tori brings it all to the table in a personal cavity embraced with dark synths and languid lyrics.

DECEMBER 2022

_________________________________

world jazz/jazz afrobeat: Kokoroko: Could We Be More. A fusion of London’s best sounds bring it together in a a compilation of desire and passion. Celebrating an enthused moment of creativity, history and compositional brilliance.

soft indie: Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee. Nothing is more sweet than citrus. Maybe this album? A compelling story of melancholic indie-sweeteners to tide you through those evenings.

NOVEMBER 2022

_______________________________

post-pop/indie rock: The 1975: Funny in a Foreign Language. One of the biggest bands on the planet return…at their most earnest.

hard rock: Crawlers: Loud Without Noise. Simply put, it’s fast hard rock for misfits.

world jazz / experimental funk: Ezra Collective: Where I’m Meant To Be. A thumping celebration of life with funk-adelics to shoot you through the roof.

OCTOBER 2022

____________________________________

alternative hip-hop / jazz rap: Loyle Carner: hugo. Abrasive lyricism at his most brutally honest, a capture of Carner’s most retrospective.

alternative jazz-rock / lounge rock: Arctic Monkeys: The Car. A timeless collective of debonair lounge-rock worthy for any French black noir film.

alternative hip-hop / jazz rap: Little Simz: The Mercury Magic of Sometimes I Might Be An Introvert. powerful and emotive. A masterpiece of an album worthing of winning this years’ Mercury Prize.

grunge / post-punk: October Drift: I Don’t Belong Anywhere. Visceral post-grunge brood with a worthy sophomore album.

grunge / post-punk: Gilla Band: Most Normal. Experimental workings out at their best, Gilla Band return in sparkling form with true gritty, Irish noise.

lo-fi / indie pop: Easy Life: MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE… pockets of lo-fi “pop-bop” delight in an album littered with no compromise.

alternative rock: Pizza Crunch: That Serene Age. One of the most exciting prospects to leave Scotland in the alternative rock sphere. Get involved on a need-to-know basis.

hip-hop / rap: Kid Cudi: Entergalactic. A wonderous soundtrack met with a dazzling animation to match.

nu-metal / hardcore: Slipknot: The End, So Far. The end of an era for some, the start of something great for many. It’s safe to say Slipknot are eroding the doubters.

indie-pop / dance: Superorganism: World Wide Pop. High energy fun rinsed with plenty of feel-good moments. Blast it to space.

SEPTEMBER 2022

_____________________________________

alternative / rock: Pulled Apart By Houses: Reality Cheques. A fresh start with a fresh album.

alternative / post-punk: Sports Team: Gulp! A drizzle of light entertainment, the likes of Sports Team cannot be categorised per genre.

post-punk: Kid Kapichi: Here’s What You Could Have Won. True national spirit uniting one voice for change with straight-edged punk rock.

alternative / rock: Dead Pony: War Boys. A collective of battle-ready chorus to recharge the batteries.

indie-pop: Sunflower Bean: Handful of Sugar. A perfect backdrop for a coastal drive or a hippie commercial, it’s a worthy listen either way.

rock/hardcore: The Devil Wears Prada: Colour Decay. A deserving victory parade of post-hardcore rock laced with an experimental lick.

alternative post-punk: Porridge Radio: Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky. A fresh and poignant perspective to a world as confusing as ever.

indie rock: The Amazons: How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? The third studio album sees the band hit their first NO.5 album in the charts, as we see the same winning formula.

electronic dance: Two Door Cinema Club: Keep On Smiling

punk rock: WACO: Rock Spirit Absolute Joy