wed 28/05/2025

New releases on CD & DVD

Blu-ray: Strange New Worlds - Science Fiction at DEFA

Graham Rickson

DEFA was East Germany’s state film studio, operating between 1946 and 1992. Among its vast output were four lavish science fiction adventures, released between 1960 and 1976 and shown here in gleaming new transfers. Each one, to varying degrees, depicts the future through a rose-coloured lens, the world evolving into a utopian socialist paradise where disputes are settled peacefully.

Album: Anna Lapwood - Firedove

Sebastian Scotney

This album Firedove (Sony Classical), surely, has to be seen as part of a bigger story: that of organist, choir director and broadcaster Anna Lapwood, who, still in her twenties – just – has become an essential part of the (often cautious and conservative) classical music fabric of this country at a pace which defies belief. She works punishingly hard and has thoroughly earned her pivotal position both as performer and as advocate.

Album: Morcheeba - Escape the Chaos

Thomas H Green

Morcheeba reach their 30th anniversary this year. The 1990s band, a unit once synonymous with phrases such as “trip hop” and “chill-out”, are up to...

Album: Ammar 808 - Club Tounsi

Mark Kidel

Ammar 808 is the high octane vehicle for the Tunisian-born producer Sofyann Ben Youssef, now based in Denmark. His first album Maghreb United (2018)...

Album: Sports Team - Boys These Days

Thomas H Green

How do you solve a problem like Sports Team? Taking them at face value, they’re a living metaphor for the slow music biz relegation of the working...

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Album: Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film

Joe Muggs

Picking up their never-ending, archly peculiar groove, after 15 years

Album: Robert Forster - Strawberries

Kieron Tyler

The former Go-Betweens linchpin celebrates life’s quirks and temptations

Album: Rico Nasty - LETHAL

Ibi Keita

From chaos to control, Rico Nasty trades bite for balance

Album: Billy Nomates - Metalhorse

Guy Oddy

East Midlands post-punker tries on some yacht rock

Album: MØ - Plæygirl

Thomas H Green

Scandinavian singer injects a dash of outsider melancholy into her fizzing electro-pop

DVD/Blu-ray: Slade in Flame

Tim Cumming

One of the great rock movies gets a 50th anniversary revival

Album: Peter Doherty - Felt Better Alive

Tim Cumming

Doherty returns with his first solo album in almost a decade

Album: Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia

Tom Carr

The anonymous UK metallers' fourth album is breathlessly inventive and emotive

Album: Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales

Joe Muggs

A toning-down leads to an opening up of new possibilities in a fertile collaboration

Album: PinkPantheress - Fancy That

Thomas H Green

Hot rising pop star's new mixtape lacks tunes and dynamism

Blu-ray: Laurel & Hardy - The Silent Years (1928)

Graham Rickson

Ten more early shorts, handsomely restored and annotated

Album: Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant

Thomas H Green

Seventh from Canadian stadium-slayers contains enough juice to convince

Album: PUP - Who Will Look After The Dogs?

Ellie Roberts

A compelling balance between absurdity and sincerity

Album: Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels

Liz Thomson

A diverse album that's still uniquely Vega

Album: Lael Neale - Altogether Stranger

Kieron Tyler

Arresting art pop with a touch of creepiness

Album: Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars

Mark Kidel

A rock opera too scholarly?

Album: Dr Robert & Matt Deighton - The Instant Garden

Thomas H Green

A couple of old mods waft into delightfully Seventies hippy territory

Album: Self Esteem - A Complicated Woman

Kathryn Reilly

Dissecting the utter tripe 21st-century western women navigate every day. In song!

Album: Billy Idol - Dream Into It

Joe Muggs

Immense charm and uniqueness shine through, but too much leaning into the generic

Album: Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys

Ibi Keita

Louder, weirder and all the way in

Album: Maria Somerville - Luster

Kieron Tyler

Irish musical impressionist embraces shoegazing

Album: Ronny Graupe's Szelest - Newfoundland Tristesse

Sebastian Scotney

A deep, subtle and constantly engaging album

Album: Gigspanner Big Band - Turnstone

Tim Cumming

Third album from British folk’s biggest big band

Album: Mark Morton - Without the Pain

Thomas H Green

Second solo album from Lamb of God guitarist lays down hefty southern boogie

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