new music reviews, news & interviews
Kieron Tyler |
The opening track – “Ālibek’agnimi” (“አልበቃኝም” in its original title) – is a cool, close-to six-minute soul instrumental on which the organ suggests an at-least passing familiarity with Booker T. Jones. The tempo is slow, the moodiness enhanced by a smoky, wandering saxophone.
Sebastian Scotney |
I have enjoyed Scenes From Above (Blue Note) more than any other album from Julian Lage since Modern Lore (Mack Avenue, 2018).
Thomas H. Green
Thrash metal’s “big four”, the ones who originally set the genre rolling, are, famously, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. These are American…
Thomas H. Green
The term “post-punk” is much overused to describe music, not least by we music writers. It usually covers anything with punk’s outsider attitude but…
Kieron Tyler
There’s a slight “Sympathy For the Devil” tone to the opening seconds of “Pendulum Swing”, the first track on the US country adjacent stylist and…
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Guy Oddy
East Midlands’ punk-funkers have plenty to say as the house burns down
Kieron Tyler
The 1982 debut album from South London musical free spirits Clive and Mark Ives
Tim Cumming
Ambient Sufi songs for inner space
Graham Fuller
The Isle of Wight's finest flex their musical muscles
Ellie Roberts
All-consuming pop perfection
Kieron Tyler
Unaffected Doors homage from the most unlikely band
Ibi Keita
Never enough hype, never enough volume, never enough Turnstile
Kieron Tyler
Unadorned chronicle of the Brian Jones years
Tom Carr
Second album from Canadian metallers edged ahead with its graceful yet heavy tones
Sebastian Scotney
Natural harmonics ring out subtly, gloriously, magically
peter.quinn
From haiku to heartstrings: the year's essential vocal jazz recordings
Kathryn Reilly
Imbued with duende, this stellar masterpiece sets the bar sky-high
Kieron Tyler
Fresh slants on the known, in a year when Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy!! was the most startling archive release
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
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