Rival Consoles Persona Erased Tapes Records The true wonder of this album is that you learn everything that you need to know about the following 12 tracks in the first minute of the first song – there will be relentlessly-crafted tension, there [...]
Rebel ACA & The French Monkey Wrench Sunday’s Cool Buttercuts Records Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewitt take note, this is a duo that you need to work with in your search for a return to relevance; so Gorillaz-friendly is this album that [...]
Daniel Avery Song For Alpha Mute Records/Phantasy Sound It is very clear that in the five years that have passed since Daniel Avery’s critically-acclaimed album debut Drone Logic, he has been anything but idle. Not content with simply making his [...]
Wye Oak The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs Merge Records Such is the breadth of the change their sound has undergone, it may not be even possible to compare this Wye Oak album, their fifth, to their previous offerings. While vocally, the band [...]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra Sex & Food Jagjaguwar It would seem that there are two ways to divide music listeners – those that like falsetto, and those that don’t. I am of the latter opinion. Ruban Nielson, lead singer of New Zealand [...]
The Voidz Virtue Cult Records This is an album more than any other that I have experienced recently that forces the listener to consider their filters. The kneejerk, traditional subjective thinking of “I like this” or “I dislike this” is [...]
deadmau5 where’s the drop? mau5trap There is something about both the music that deadmau5, aka Joel Zimmerman, makes and the opinionated, and at times combative, persona that he has created that is hard to nail down; he and his music are equally [...]
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOUND AND FURY AN INTERVIEW AND LIVE REVIEW OF IDLES @ HARD LUCK BAR, TORONTO March 20, 2018 There is a palpable duality to IDLES. In conversation, they are as open and considerate as their music is raw, punishing, and [...]
Young Fathers Cocoa Sugar Ninja Tune Nothing is easy about Edinburgh-based, genre-defying trio Young Fathers, though that ultimately is what is most arresting about them. Winning the Mercury Prize in 2014 and being heavily supported by trip-hop [...]
Editors Violence PIAS There is a relevance to music that comes from a place of clear authenticity; from self-reflection upon and embracing of your strengths; from the balancing of what new sounds and techniques are available with the abilities [...]
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Tearing At The Seams Stax Records Tearing at the Seams is an album with two feet (or perhaps, as there are 7 band members, 14 feet) rooted firmly in the past. It is fitting then that the band’s label is [...]
Oneida Romance Joyful Noise Recordings I am very well aware that the genre of “psych/experimental/kraut/noise rock” was always going to be a tricky one to review, but even with that awareness at the front of my mind, I am still almost totally [...]
Margaret Glaspy Born Yesterday ATO Records Inevitably, one of the most commonly accessible methods for reviewing an artist is by comparing them to another artist to whom they sound similar. This is not a method that works when reviewing [...]
The Breeders All Nerve 4AD The Breeders’ fifth album is also their first in a decade, and most notably, features the complete line-up behind one of the most iconic albums from the grunge-era 1990s, Last Splash. Grunge producer extraordinaire [...]
Lucy Dacus Historian Matador Records Having listened to Lucy Dacus’ 2016 debut album No Burden, you’d not be mistaken to wonder if this is in fact the same artist, with less than two years having passed. Such is the depth of her musical and [...]
FRIGS Basic Behaviour Arts & Crafts FRIGS’s debut album Basic Behaviour has all of the hallmarks of post-punk — straight-ahead and pounding percussion, guitar tones that squeal and roll, and a lead singer that wails as often as sings. These [...]
NINE INCH NAILS ‘BETTER ALONE’ SPOTIFY PLAYLIST TRENT REZNOR CURATES A PLAYLIST OF MUSIC FROM HIS CATALOG INTENDED FOR LISTENING IN SOLITUDE: DARKNESS OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED With very little fanfare, Nine Inch Nails, who are [...]
Car Seat Headrest Twin Fantasy Matador Records There is a debate that could be had, with Twin Fantasy the fulcrum upon which both sides balance, as to whether Will Toledo is more emotionally tortured or musically gifted. Originally recorded in [...]
Ezra Furman Transangelic Exodus Bella Union I can think of no better way to start this review than with a simple statement of fact: This album is exhausting. It may also be absolutely bloody brilliant. I have spent the past two days scouring my [...]
The Wombats Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life Kobalt Music Recordings Liverpool threesome The Wombats have, since their debut album, 2007’s A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, championed both melodic British pop sensibility and [...]
