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 [...]
Kutch Notionside Independent Kutch is made up of Colin Kutchyera and La+Ch (Coleman Hell’s Collective) and Notionside is their debut album under the name Kutch. Both artists are no strangers to the music world but this collaboration was meant [...]
Tech N9ne Planet Strange Music Tech N9ne has almost become a household name despite being an independent rapper. His hard work has paid off because he is the most decorated independent rapper of all time. He is most known for his heavy beats and [...]
Suuns Felt Secret City Records When any artist moves on to their fourth studio album, their direction and stature is often already somewhat set in stone. That’s not the feeling you get when listening to Montreal natives Suuns’ newest release, [...]
Xentrifuge Desensitized Parallels Cleopatra Records Hailing from the New York underground music scene are Xentrifuge – a duo comprised of Chris X and Lisa Hellen delivering raw industrial/aggrotech sounds to assault the senses with their latest [...]
Tracey Thorn Record Merge Tracey Thorn’s exceptional talents have spanned over three decades now, and whilst she has always enjoyed the fame of Everything But The Girl, her fifth studio album sees her trying to drag disco back to the forefront [...]
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 [...]
Laurie Anderson And Kronos Quartet Landfall Nonesuch Records This is a pairing that is long overdue, as is the album. The origins of Landfall are as interesting as the album itself. For many years Kronos Quartet were looking to work with [...]
Randy Bachman By George By Bachman Universal Music This is an odd one, or maybe just unexpected. Bachman has been issuing solo albums for many years, and By George By Bachman is Randy Bachman’s first studio release since 2015’s Heavy Blues. By [...]
Various Artists A Map Of The Kingdom Of Ireland Heresy Records In 2013, Heresy Records released its compilation On the Nature of Electricity & Acoustics to wide acclaim, bringing to light some of the most innovative and dynamic sound work [...]
Myles Goodwyn Myles Goodwyn And Friends Of The Blues Universal Music You have to give Myles Goodwyn a great deal of credit. He is known for his work with April Wine, and April Wine have never been known as a blues band. A talented band, led by [...]
Black Moth Super Rainbow Panic Blooms Rad Cult It has to be said, before anything else, that this is a fantastic record all the way through. From the moment the album kicked off with the titular song, I was already soaring away on melting synths [...]
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 [...]
UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro & Mickey A Real Labour Of Love Universal Music UB40 formed in 1978, with their name coming from the British Unemployment benefit form, number 40. Unemployment Benefit gave them the UB and the 40 was the form number, [...]
Ajay Mathur Little Boat Yakketeeyak Music Every musician has their strengths and weaknesses; this typically dictates what type of music they make. It’s simply human nature; people are unique. Tom Waits will never make a squeaky clean pop song [...]
Moby Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt Arts & Crafts American electronic DJ/producer/singer-songwriter Moby’s latest album Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt isn’t anything like his fifth and breakthrough album [...]
Cheap Tissue Cheap Tissue Lolipop Records Cheap Tissue’s self-titled first album has all the grit, passion, and messy sonic energy of a classic punk band’s debut LP — think Bad Religion’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse but with more a more refined [...]
Various Artists Our Voltage Girlsville Records Chicago-based Girlsville Records have put together a compilation record consisting of work from multiple artists. Our Voltage was released to benefit legal aid for anti-racist activists and for the [...]
The Low Anthem The Salt Doll Went To Measure The Depth Of The Sea Joyful Noise Recordings Both haunting and full of raw beauty, The Salt Doll Went to Measure the Depth of the Sea, The Low Anthem’s fifth full length LP with Joyful Noise [...]
Dana Buoy Ice Glitter Gold Everloving Akron/Family are (were?) one of those bands from whose inception you were never on a sure ground. On record or live (even better), you were never sure what to expect. From acapella gospel, through to folk [...]
The Scaners The Scaners Dirty Water Records From Frank Sinatra crooning about being flown to the moon to David Bowie, the man who fell to Earth, popular music has had an on-and-off fascination with space and life beyond our planet. For The [...]
Freddie McGregor Bobby Bobylon: Deluxe Edition Studio One This is one of those classic sets that should be on everyone’s playlist; it is almost inevitably included when talk moves to the subject of classic reggae albums. Initially released in [...]
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 [...]
