New releases on CD & DVD
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 production from both Havoc, Mobb Deep’s second half, and world-renowned hip-hop powerhouse The Alchemist, Infinite brings back a strong boom-bap essence that fans have been missing, with zero missteps.
Album: Boz Scaggs - Detour
Friday, 10 October 2025
Boz Scaggs rarely does a less than wonderful album. His latest is an exemplary collection of smooth and soulful standard and a few other choice items including a song he wrote for his first album Boz Scaggs (1969) “I’ll Be Long Gone” and an Allen Toussaint song that was a hit for Southern Soul diva Irma Thomas, “It’s Still Raining”.
Emily A. Sprague realises a Japanese dream on...
Thursday, 09 October 2025
The history of experimental musicians from Europe and North America adopting Japanese aesthetics is … patchy. It got especially dodgy in the 1990s...
Hollie Cook's 'Shy Girl' isn'...
Wednesday, 08 October 2025
Hollie Cook was in the final line-up of post-punk groundbreakers The Slits. When singer Ari Up died in 2010 and the group ended, there was a flurry...
Pop Will Eat Itself's 'Delete...
Monday, 06 October 2025
Pop Will Eat Itself deserve to be more celebrated. The Stourbridge outfit were one of the first 1980s bands to realise the potential of smashing...
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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 |
Album: Josh Ritter - I Believe in You, My Honeydew
The alt-country singer's latest isn't consistent but does hit highs |
Album: David Byrne - Who is the Sky?
Born to be weird |
Album: Faithless - Champion Sound
Three decades into their career the perennial dance duo nail a lengthy but likeable set |
Album: Saint Etienne - International
British pop institution’s final communiqué is an unalloyed winner |
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