New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Death In Vegas - Death Mask
Tuesday, 03 June 2025
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away called the late 1990s, there was a scene known as “big beat”. It consisted of club culture sorts making music closer in flavour to rock, and easier to drink beer to than house and techno.
Blu-ray: Eclipse
Monday, 02 June 2025
What constitutes a “lost classic”? I guess we can’t say it’s an oxymoron, since we readily accept the concept of “instant classic”? Either way, the “classic” aspect may be in the eye of the beholder, but “lost" is more easily quantified. Simon Perry’s slippery 1977 psychological thriller Eclipse certainly fits the bill, having languished unseen in the BFI vaults for nigh on half a century.
Album: Nick Mulvey - Dark Harvest Pt.1
Saturday, 31 May 2025
Nick Mulvey’s first two albums, First Mind in 2014 and Wake Up Now in 2017, are among the loveliest singer-songwriter fare released this century....
Album: Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful
Friday, 30 May 2025
A couple of months ago, I wrote here that Lady Gaga was the godmother of the new generation of ostentatiously “theatre kid” pop stars – but actually...
Album: Sally Shapiro - Ready to Live a Lie
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Ready to Live a Lie is so sonically vaporous it almost isn’t there. While the album’s 11 tracks draw from continental European musical archetypes –...
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Blu-ray: Strange New Worlds - Science Fiction at DEFA
Eye-popping Cold War sci-fi epics from East Germany, superbly remastered and annotated |
Album: Anna Lapwood - Firedove
Broad repertoire and a strong concept |
Album: Morcheeba - Escape the Chaos
More of the same from the trip hop perennials but delivered with tunes and ease |
Album: Ammar 808 - Club Tounsi
Tunisian country roots meet urban tech |
Album: Sports Team - Boys These Days
Genial guitar pop that leans into poshness, boasts smart lyrics, but lacks musical bite |
Album: Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Picking up their never-ending, archly peculiar groove, after 15 years |
Album: Robert Forster - Strawberries
The former Go-Betweens linchpin celebrates life’s quirks and temptations |
Album: Rico Nasty - LETHAL
From chaos to control, Rico Nasty trades bite for balance |
Album: Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
East Midlands post-punker tries on some yacht rock |
Album: MØ - Plæygirl
Scandinavian singer injects a dash of outsider melancholy into her fizzing electro-pop |
DVD/Blu-ray: Slade in Flame
One of the great rock movies gets a 50th anniversary revival |
Album: Peter Doherty - Felt Better Alive
Doherty returns with his first solo album in almost a decade |
Album: Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia
The anonymous UK metallers' fourth album is breathlessly inventive and emotive |
Album: Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
A toning-down leads to an opening up of new possibilities in a fertile collaboration |
Album: PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Hot rising pop star's new mixtape lacks tunes and dynamism |
Blu-ray: Laurel & Hardy - The Silent Years (1928)
Ten more early shorts, handsomely restored and annotated |
Album: Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant
Seventh from Canadian stadium-slayers contains enough juice to convince |
Album: PUP - Who Will Look After The Dogs?
A compelling balance between absurdity and sincerity |
Album: Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
A diverse album that's still uniquely Vega |
Album: Lael Neale - Altogether Stranger
Arresting art pop with a touch of creepiness |
Album: Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars
A rock opera too scholarly? |
Album: Dr Robert & Matt Deighton - The Instant Garden
A couple of old mods waft into delightfully Seventies hippy territory |
Album: Self Esteem - A Complicated Woman
Dissecting the utter tripe 21st-century western women navigate every day. In song! |
Album: Billy Idol - Dream Into It
Immense charm and uniqueness shine through, but too much leaning into the generic |
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Blu-ray: Eclipse
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