new music reviews, news & interviews
Tom Carr |
There are some years where choosing a personal album of the year is rather straightforward, something either stands above the rest, or never left the rotation throughout the year. But 2025 was a bountiful year, with regular new favourites popping up as the months rolled by.
Sebastian Scotney |
John Patitucci, one of the world’s great bassists, was an irreplaceable pillar of the unsurpassable Wayne Shorter Quartet for two decades.
peter.quinn
For a beautiful treatment of Matsuo Bashō's celebrated haiku “A frog jumps in”, the dreamlike stream-of-consciousness of “I am a volcano”, the…
Kathryn Reilly
A foreign-language release steeped in Catholicism isn’t exactly what you’d expect to top virtually every end-of-year album list. But Rosalía is famed…
Kieron Tyler
The stylish gentlemen pictured above are Crimson Earth, a band active from 1970 to 1976. Regardless of their longevity, the Dorset-based outfit…
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howard.male
Documentary adds little to what we know about British rock's greatest solo star
Nick Hasted
Saxophonist's beautiful, bittersweet melodies confront a time of war
Liz Thomson
Authentically Mary
Katie Colombus
Finding strength not in reinvention but in turning inward to listen
Kieron Tyler
Home-counties prog rockers are collected in a box
Kieron Tyler
Intensity, jazz-oriented psychedelia and the joys of recontextualisation
Tim Cumming
One among a new wave of folk artists exploring their music's outer limits
Thomas H. Green
A seasonal slant on the most wide-ranging record reviews in the universe
Thomas H. Green
Alongside a whole heap of other excellent music from the last 12 months
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, O2 Academy, Glasgow review - revisiting the past produces mixed results
Jonathan Geddes
The American trio's 20th anniversary celebration of 'Howl' did not always convince
joe.muggs
Softness, resilience and rewriting history in the most glorious possible way
Kieron Tyler
How the Edgar Froese-led trio were integral to inventing the future of music.
Guy Oddy
A dubby trip hop and woozy neo-soul treat
Jonathan Geddes
The Sunderland band played a variety of Christmas classics, with varying success
Guy Oddy
The former child actor's past meets her present
Thomas H. Green
Hokey but entertaining seasonal barndance
Sebastian Scotney
Tasty harmonies from The Sunhouse Singers
joe.muggs
Strange for something so individual to sound so familiar - but they've done it
Kieron Tyler
Album of previously unissued BBC recordings is a valuable addition to the British jazz maverick’s catalogue
Tim Cumming
Seasonal classics and a handful of self-penned songs light up this quietly sophisticated set
Ibi Keita
A perfect selection for sound system veterans, and newcomers too
Guy Oddy
Gallic psychedelic pop that struggles to change gears
Liz Thomson
A reminder of when hope and music rhymed
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