New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Justice - Hyperdrama
Saturday, 27 April 2024
Justice are a couple of super-suave rock star analogues. Leathers and aviators, yes, but with a very Parisian insouciance. Their music is the same. It has a rocker-friendly je-ne-sais-quoi, but air-brushed with the glitzy sci-fi futurism one might expect from a couple of guys whose origins lie in design.
Album: St Vincent - All Born Screaming
Friday, 26 April 2024
The thing with Annie Clark, better known as the triple-Grammy-winning iconoclast St Vincent, is that much like an actual saint the multi-instrumentalist and producer is always being praised for her last great feat.
Album: Pet Shop Boys - Nonetheless
Thursday, 25 April 2024
This album came with an absolutely enormous promo campaign. As well as actual advertising there were “Audience With…” events, and specials on BBC...
Album: Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Despite its title, Mdou Moctar’s new album is no slow-paced mournful dirge. In fact, it is louder, faster and more overtly political than any of his...
DVD/Blu-Ray: Priscilla
Tuesday, 23 April 2024
There’s a scene in Priscilla where Elvis stands above his wife, who is scrambling to put her clothes in a suitcase. Priscilla has just confronted him...
Album: Fred Hersch - Silent, Listening
A 'nocturnal' album - or is it just plain dark? |
Album: Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
Taylor Swift bares her soul with a 31-track double album |
Album: Jonny Drop • Andrew Ashong - The Puzzle Dust
Bottled sunshine from a Brit soul-jazz team-up |
Album: Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
Enduring grunge icons return full of energy, arguably their most empowered yet |
Album: Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Charles Hazlewood - Death Songbook
An uneven voyage into darkness |
Album: EMEL - MRA
Tunisian-American singer's latest is fired with feminism and global electro-pop maximalism |
Album: A Certain Ratio - It All Comes Down to This
Veteran Mancunians undergo a further re-assessment and reinvention |
Album: Maggie Rogers - Don't Forget Me
Rogers continues her knack for capturing natural moments, embracing a more live sound |
Album: Lizz Wright - Shadow
Brilliant album from superlative vocalist |
Album: Shabaka - Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace
A quiet and reflective breakthrough |
Blu-ray: Happy End (Šťastný konec)
Technically brilliant black comedy hasn't aged well |
Album: Nia Archives - Silence is Loud
Sweeping up generations' worth of influences into a giddy pop rush |
Album: Fabiana Palladino - Fabiana Palladino
A remarkably sleek and sophisticated debut |
Album: Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - In Lieu of Flowers
Aaron West’s carefully crafted next chapter is storytelling at its finest |
Album: Khruangbin - A LA SALA
Same old same old, and all the better for it |
Album: The Black Keys - Ohio Players
A safe, contained album from a band that made its mark with searing blues rock |
Album: The Libertines - All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
The riotous spirits of the Noughties mellow into a surprising maturity |
Album: Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
So much more than an Country album |
Album: Anoushka Shankar - Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn
A sonic journey through space and time |
Album: Jane Weaver - Love In Constant Spectacle
The most welcoming album to date from Greater Manchester’s musical individualist |
Album: Ride - Interplay
Oxford indie kings not only on form, but breaking new ground |
Album: Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell
A bittersweet goodbye album from the Pop Punk legends |
DVD/Blu-ray: Padre Pio
Shia LaBeouf stars in Abel Ferrara's latest grungy spiritual quest, earthed by landscape and politics |
Album: Sheryl Crow - Evolution
The song remains pretty much the same for US soft rocker |
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