New releases on CD & DVD
The Last Dinner Party's 'From the Pyre' is as enjoyable as it is over-the-top
Thursday, 16 October 2025
Before we get into it, reader, can you accept that The Last Dinner Party are a band born of privilege and high academic study? Of poshness, classical composition, private education, master’s degrees in music? No? Might as well stop reading then. That’s where they’re from. Let's have a valid debate somewhere else about the arts shutting out those with less money.
Moroccan Gnawa comes to Manhattan with 'Saha Gnawa'
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
A mix of tradition and Afrofuturism, acoustic and electronic, east and west fumigating in a cauldron of rhythms, chants, solo explorations and full ensemble blow-outs, Saha Gnawa (on New York's Pique-Nique label) draws on the example of Essaouira’s annual Festival Gnaoua, which brings together jazz masters and Gnawa maalems on stage.
Blu-ray: The Man in the White Suit
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
The best Ealing comedies are surely the three darkest: specifically Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ladykillers and The Man in the White Suit. The...
Soulwax’s 'All Systems Are Lying' lays...
Monday, 13 October 2025
It’s seven years since the Belgian brothers Dewaele unleashed their fine, largely instrumental and foot-stomping Essential album on the world, but...
Album: Mobb Deep - Infinite
Saturday, 11 October 2025
Eight years after Prodigy’s untimely passing, Mobb Deep are gracing our sound systems once again with unreleased vocals and brand new music. With...
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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 |
Mariah Carey is still 'Here for It All' after an eight-year break
Schmaltz aplenty but also stunning musicianship from the enduring diva |
Album: Solar Eyes - Live Freaky! Die Freaky!
Psychedelic indie dance music with a twinkle in its eye |
Album: Night Tapes - portals//polarities
Estonian-voiced, London-based electro-popsters' debut album marks them as one to watch for |
Album: Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Plays Mulatu
An album full of life, coinciding with a 'farewell tour' |
Album: Robert Plant - Saving Grace
Mellow delight from former Zep lead |
Album: Biffy Clyro - Futique
Scottish alternative rock trio return with elegant, balanced 10th album |
Album: NewDad - Altar
The hard-gigging trio yearns for old Ireland – and blasts music biz exploitation |
Album: The Divine Comedy - Rainy Sunday Afternoon
Neil Hannon takes stock, and the result will certainly keep his existing crowd happy |
Blu-ray: The Sons of Great Bear
DEFA's first 'Red Western': a revisionist take on colonial expansion |
Album: Twenty One Pilots - Breach
Ohio mainstream superstar duo wrap up their 10 year narrative |
Album: Ed Sheeran - Play
A mound of ear displeasure to add to the global superstar's already gigantic stockpile |
Album: Motion City Soundtrack - The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World
A solid return for the emo veterans |
Album: Baxter Dury - Allbarone
The don diversifies into disco |
Album: Yasmine Hamdan - I Remember I Forget بنسى وبتذكر
Paris-based Lebanese electronica stylist reacts to current-day world affairs |
Blu-ray: The Sweeney - Series One
Influential and entertaining 1970s police drama, handsomely restored |
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