thu 13/02/2025

New releases on CD & DVD

Album: Fantastic Twins - Suite of Rooms

Joe Muggs

This album is SHORT. At 27 minutes and just five tracks, one might wonder why Julienne Dessagne (this is a solo act) didn’t call it an EP. But maybe this is a good way to go in the trenches of the modern attention wars.

Album: Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking

Thomas H Green

Manic Street Preachers’ earnest and literate pretentiousness is both their Achilles Heel and their superpower. Their greatest songs are amped by full investment in whatever awkward path they’ve cussedly marched down. At these times, their ever-vaunted love of fist-pumping classic rock lives up to itself.

Blu-ray: High and Low

Graham Rickson

Akira Kurosawa’s mastery of different genres is a given and one of High and Low’s strengths is a seamless blending of various styles within a single...

Album: Squid - Cowards

Thomas H Green

Brighton band Squid are not in the business of straightforward. Combining jazz chops with a sensibility that’s at once post-punk, prog and avant-...

Album: Rats on Rafts - Deep Below

Kieron Tyler

Deep Below’s first track is titled “Hibernation.” “A winter breeze blows through my mind,” intones a colourless, dispirited male voice. The ensuing...

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Album: Hifi Sean & David McAlmont - Twilight

Guy Oddy

Indie veterans burrow deeper into their new electronica-flavoured guise

Album: Biig Piig - 11:11

Joe Muggs

Pop so slick it slides right by you... until you start paying attention

Blu-ray: Stray Dog

Nick Hasted

Kurosawa's post-war Tokyo noir gleans societal guilt as a cop hunts his purloined pistol

Album: Inhaler - Open Wide

Tom Carr

Dublin indie rock quartet expand and adapt their sound

Album: Guided By Voices - Universe Room

Ellie Roberts

Unique soundscapes and a dynamic approach with clear standout tracks

Album: The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow

Thomas H Green

The Canadian superstar's latest is mopey and overlong but has its moments

Album: Cymande - Renascence

Joe Muggs

A brave and mostly brilliant attempt to revive half-century-old magic

Album: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird

Guy Oddy

Will Oldham exudes suitably laidback vibes from deep in the heart of Nashville

Album: Gary Kemp - This Destination

Kathryn Reilly

The master songwriter can't help but write a catchy tune

Album: Ludovico Einaudi - The Summer Portraits

Sebastian Scotney

Long summer holidays remembered

Album: FKA Twigs - Eusexua

Katie Colombus

A transformative electronic journey across diverse sonic and emotional landscapes

Album: Tunng - Love You All Over Again

Joe Muggs

Tunng go full circle after 20 years of dreams and conjuration

Blu-ray: Mikey and Nicky

John Carvill

Elaine May's edgy 1976 crime drama deglamorises the gangster archetype

Album: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart - Looking For the Thread 

Liz Thomson

It's only January but this is an album of the year

Album: Larkin Poe - Bloom

Tim Cumming

Heavy blues-rock riffery guides the Lovell sisters’ introspective new songs

Album: Kele - The Singing Winds Pt. 3

Joe Muggs

The road less travelled has led to a fantastically focused creative identity

Album: The Weather Station - Humanhood

Kieron Tyler

Canadian singer-songwriter makes sense of a period of crisis

Album: Ethel Cain - Perverts

Ibi Keita

Cain’s new album is a far cry from her debut - and much more painful

Album: Moonchild Sanelly - Full Moon

Thomas H Green

The rising South African sex'n'beats whirlwind is on ripe dancefloor-friendly form

Album: Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out

Guy Oddy

Politically-savvy hardcore punk rock with a Riot Grrrl flavour

Album: Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear

Tom Carr

Indie rockers' sixth album may not live up to their iconic debut but is no less striking

Album: Bridget Hayden and The Apparitions - Cold Blows The Rain

Kieron Tyler

Classic folk songs are given a desolate new setting

Album: Snoop Dogg - Missionary

Kathryn Reilly

A 30-year reunion which fails to pleasure

Blu-ray: The Hop-Pickers

Graham Rickson

Ground-breaking and colourful Czech musical

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