New releases on CD & DVD
Midlake's 'A Bridge to Far' is a tour-de-force folk-leaning psychedelic album
Wednesday, 05 November 2025
“Climb upon a bridge to far, go anywhere your heart desires.” The key phrase from the title track of Midlake’s sixth studio album conveys the perception that anything is within reach should an appropriate mind-set be attained. However, later on the album there are references to a “lion’s den” and “war within the valley of roselesss thorns,” a setting where “power and glory were in store.”
'Vicious Delicious' is a tasty, burlesque-rockin' debut from pop hellion Luvcat
Monday, 03 November 2025
Three of last year’s finest singles were by Luvcat, a classy-but-naughty Eartha Kitt-style bad girl steeped in burlesque-rock’n’roll spirit. In fact, she’s the wanton basque’n’fishnets persona that, during a decadent sojourn in Paris, possessed the soul of Liverpudlian singer Sophie Morgan.
'Everybody Scream': Florence + The...
Saturday, 01 November 2025
If you were looking for the most perfectly brooding autumnal album this year, Florence Welch and her Machine may have been one of the least likely...
Cat Burns finds 'How to Be Human' but...
Friday, 31 October 2025
Twenty-five-year-old South Londoner and current Celebrity Traitors contestant Cat Burns is a charming performer. Her songs have a rare...
It’s back to the beginning for the latest Dylan...
Thursday, 30 October 2025
The youthful subject of A Complete Unknown, which closes with him "going electric" at Newport as the culmination of a rainbow arc that began in...
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Ireland's Hilary Woods casts a hypnotic spell with 'Night CRIÚ'
The former bassist of the grunge-leaning trio JJ72 embraces the spectral |
Lily Allen's 'West End Girl' offers a bloody, broken view into the wreckage of her marriage
Singer's return after seven years away from music is autofiction in the brutally raw |
Blu-ray: Wendy and Lucy
Down-and-out in rural Oregon: Kelly Reichardt's third feature packs a huge punch |
'Fevereaten' sees gothic punk-metallers Witch Fever revel in atmospheric paganist raging
Second album from heavy-riffing quartet expands sonically on their debut |
Demi Lovato's ninth album, 'It's Not That Deep', goes for a frolic on the dancefloor
US pop icon's latest is full of unpretentious pop-club bangers |
Yazmin Lacey confirms her place in a vital soul movement with 'Teal Dreams'
Intimacy and rich poetry on UK soul star's second LP |
Blu-ray: Le Quai des Brumes
Love twinkles in the gloom of Marcel Carné’s fogbound French poetic realist classic |
The Lemonheads' 'Love Chant' is a fine return to form
Evan Dando finally gets back in the saddle with an album of new tunes |
'Deadbeat': Tame Impala's downbeat rave-inspired latest
Fifth album from Australian project grooves but falls flat |
Heartbreak and soaring beauty on Chrissie Hynde & Pals' Duets Special
The great Pretender at her most romantic and on the form of her life |
The Last Dinner Party's 'From the Pyre' is as enjoyable as it is over-the-top
Musically sophisticated five-piece ramp up the excesses but remain contagiously pop |
Moroccan Gnawa comes to Manhattan with 'Saha Gnawa'
Trance and tradition meet Afrofuturism in Manhattan |
Blu-ray: The Man in the White Suit
Ealing Studios' prescient black comedy, as sharp as ever |
Soulwax’s 'All Systems Are Lying' lays down some tasty yet gritty electro-pop
Belgian dancefloor veterans return to the fray with a dark, pop-orientated sound |
Album: Mobb Deep - Infinite
A solid tribute to a legendary history |
Album: Boz Scaggs - Detour
Smooth and soulful standards from an old pro |
Emily A. Sprague realises a Japanese dream on 'Cloud Time'
A set of live improvisations that drift in and out of real beauty |
Hollie Cook's 'Shy Girl' isn't heavyweight but has a summery reggae lilt
Tropical-tinted downtempo pop that's likeable if uneventful |
Pop Will Eat Itself's 'Delete Everything' is noisy but patchy
Despite unlovely production, the Eighties/Nineties unit retain rowdy ebullience |
Odd times and clunking lines in 'The Life of a Showgirl' for Taylor Swift
A record this weird should be more interesting, surely |
Waylon Jennings' 'Songbird' raises this country great from the grave
The first of a trove of posthumous recordings from the 1970s and early 1980s |
Slovenian avant-folk outfit Širom’s 'In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper' opens the door to inner space
Unconventional folk-based music which sounds like nothing else |
'The Art of Loving': Olivia Dean's vulnerable and intimate second album
Neo soul Londoner's new release outgrows her debut |
Doja Cat's 'Vie' starts well but soon tails off
While it contains a few goodies, much of the US star's latest album lacks oomph |
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