New releases on CD & DVD
Album: The Young Gods - Appear Disappear
Saturday, 14 June 2025
Swiss electro-rockers, Young Gods have been around for 40 years, but this in no way should suggest that they’ve gone soft in their old age. These days, vocalist Franz Treichler looks like the psychopathic Bob from David Lynch’s original Twin Peaks TV series and still exudes a certain malevolence – which is more than reflected in their new album Appear Disappear.
Album: Sam Binga - Sam Binga Presents Club Orthodontics
Friday, 13 June 2025
When I was writing the introduction to my book, Bass, Mids, Tops: An Oral History of Soundsystem Culture, I came up with a phrase, which I ended up putting on promotional badges: “BASS CULTURE IS FOLK CULTURE”. It referred to the way riffs, refrains, ways of acting were passed down the generations, from reggae to rave to grime and on. But it also quickly took on more meaning, about where soundsystem and club music exist in society.
Album: Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts -...
Thursday, 12 June 2025
When Neil Young releases a new album, you can be reasonably sure that you’ll get either a disc of melancholy singer-songwriter fare or a set of...
Album: Mary Halvorson - About Ghosts
Wednesday, 11 June 2025
Although Mary Halvorson leads the sextet Amaryllis on About Ghosts, instrumentally, she does not place her guitar to the fore. The first time her...
Album: Marina - Princess of Power
Tuesday, 10 June 2025
Marina Diamandis is a proper pop star, brilliantly full-on, off on her own thing. The Welsh singer is primarily known for success 10-15 years ago as...
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Album: Mary Chapin Carpenter - Personal History
Distinctive, intimate, perfectly pitched |
Album: Van Morrison - Remembering Now
As he approaches 80, a lush new set has an invigorated Van showing his mystical side |
Album: Pulp - More
The very opposite of past it, this immersive offering is perfectly timed |
Album: Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH
Hardcore, ambient and everything in between |
Album: Little Simz - Lotus
A major hurdle in the UK star's career path proves to be no barrier |
Album: Death In Vegas - Death Mask
Electronic music perennial returns with an hour of deep techno illbience |
Blu-ray: Eclipse
The BFI has unearthed an unsettling 1977 thriller starring Tom Conti and Gay Hamilton |
Album: Nick Mulvey - Dark Harvest Pt.1
Fourth album from unique singer-songwriter is patchy but contains gold |
Album: Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful
Psychedelic soft rock of staggering ambition that so, so nearly hits the brief |
Album: Sally Shapiro - Ready to Live a Lie
Dance music-inspired Swedish pop which lacks the necessary vital spark |
Blu-ray: Strange New Worlds - Science Fiction at DEFA
Eye-popping Cold War sci-fi epics from East Germany, superbly remastered and annotated |
Album: Anna Lapwood - Firedove
Broad repertoire and a strong concept |
Album: Morcheeba - Escape the Chaos
More of the same from the trip hop perennials but delivered with tunes and ease |
Album: Ammar 808 - Club Tounsi
Tunisian country roots meet urban tech |
Album: Sports Team - Boys These Days
Genial guitar pop that leans into poshness, boasts smart lyrics, but lacks musical bite |
Album: Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Picking up their never-ending, archly peculiar groove, after 15 years |
Album: Robert Forster - Strawberries
The former Go-Betweens linchpin celebrates life’s quirks and temptations |
Album: Rico Nasty - LETHAL
From chaos to control, Rico Nasty trades bite for balance |
Album: Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
East Midlands post-punker tries on some yacht rock |
Album: MØ - Plæygirl
Scandinavian singer injects a dash of outsider melancholy into her fizzing electro-pop |
DVD/Blu-ray: Slade in Flame
One of the great rock movies gets a 50th anniversary revival |
Album: Peter Doherty - Felt Better Alive
Doherty returns with his first solo album in almost a decade |
Album: Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia
The anonymous UK metallers' fourth album is breathlessly inventive and emotive |
Album: Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
A toning-down leads to an opening up of new possibilities in a fertile collaboration |
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