One of the many dispiriting things about the nine years that span Trumpino’s 2017 inaugural and today is how very few musicians have had the courage to put their heads over the parapet. Certainly not Bob Dylan, perish the thought. Joan Baez has, of course, though she is neither touring nor recording. Steve Earle too, and Jesse Welles, the thirtysomething troubadour whose dusty work boots are planted firmly on the Woody Guthrie road, and Bruce Springsteen, a consistent champion of blue-collar righteousness. And there’s a good deal of that blue-collar righteousness in the work of Lucinda Read more ...

Last time we heard from Blackburn heavy rockers Sky Valley Mistress, they were a four-piece who'd recorded their 2020 debut album in the Mohave Desert (strong hints at their musical motivation lie in their name, drawn from Welcome to Sky Valley, an album by Kyuss, Josh Homme’s pre-Queens of the Stone Age outfit). They return as a duo, with the album Luna Mausoleum, laid down in Leeds. While it retains the riffological poundage of their origins, it’s an invigorating leap forward in terms of sonic invention and songcraft.Now consisting of singer Kayley “Hell Kitten” Davies and guitarist Max Read more ...

It’s no coincidence that synth heavy 1980s AOR is one of the first genres to generate significant online hits. Not just because its structures are formulaic – every genre is to one degree or another – but because its textures are so slick, even down to the multitracked vocals, that sounding synthetic is a feature not a bug. One has to wonder if this means that it is a threat to some of the biggest stars: after all, in the post-Taylor Swift world, that tidily arranged soft rock vibe is very much the chassis of so much. Indeed, when I first put this album on, flicking through opening tracks “ Read more ...

Juraj Herz’s acclaimed dark comedy The Cremator proved too much for post-1968 censors, the film withdrawn from circulation in 1973 and banned until 1990. While several prominent Czech directors left the country after Soviet tanks had rolled into Prague, Herz stayed put, shrewdly realising that making "genre" films allowed him to tackle challenging subjects without much state interference. Released in 1971 and adapted from a novel by Jaroslav Havlícek, Oil Lamps opens in a cosy theatre on the very cusp of the 20th century, one affluent audience member confidently predicting that the Read more ...

I’ve grown apart from trap as a genre over the years, which is exactly why DON’T BE DUMB caught me off guard in the best way. This album feels like the kind that rewards time and attention, one you keep coming back to and notice something new with each listen.After such a long wait, A$AP Rocky could have easily played it safe, but instead he delivers a project that feels expressive, confident and, most importantly, fun. It sounds like an artist who trusts his instincts completely rather than chasing expectations.What stood out to me immediately was the production. The album pulls from so many Read more ...

I have enjoyed Scenes From Above (Blue Note) more than any other album from Julian Lage since Modern Lore (Mack Avenue, 2018). There are many reasons for that, but the simplest is that it reunites the jazz guitarist with the drummer on the earlier album, the magnificently empathetic Kenny Wolleson.Wolleson has written of the importance of the drummer bringing her/his sense of structure and placement to music, and the way he consistently helps to shape its flow is ever-present, whether he is contributing to an irresistibly strong groove, as on “Talking Drum”, making a pulse-less texture Read more ...

Thrash metal’s “big four”, the ones who originally set the genre rolling, are, famously, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. These are American bands. In Europe, another band has a decent claim. They are Germany’s Kreator, whose early work, particularly 1986’s Pleasure to Kill, boasts venomous attack the equal of any peer. Decades later, their 16th studio album sees them offer similar velocity, if with more melodic finesse.For Kreator, wider appreciation was a long time coming. Their global breakthrough came with 2005’s Enemy of God (their 11th album!), and they’ve since Read more ...

The term “post-punk” is much overused to describe music, not least by we music writers. It usually covers anything with punk’s outsider attitude but boasting an arty, tricky musical ambition beyond 1977’s spit’n’roar. Not all music described thus sounds as if it might have bothered the indie charts between 1978 and 1984, but Dry Cleaning do. Their third album’s bubbling combination of musical scratchiness and impassively delivered spoken word is pure post-punk. It’s also an intriguing and likeable listen.The rhythm throughout is a groovy plod, guitars wilfully relishing atonal skronk, coming Read more ...

There’s a slight “Sympathy For the Devil” tone to the opening seconds of “Pendulum Swing”, the first track on the US country adjacent stylist and former Grammy nominee Courtney Marie Andrews’ ninth studio album – the descending piano figure, the circling percussion. As the song opens out, it develops into a dark-light exercise in contrasts, along the lines of the more muted moments of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Ambiance set, the ensuing nine tracks evince a similar restraint, where a low-key vibe is punctuated by flashes of gospel-esque drama. A lot of Valentine, Andrews' first album on Read more ...

In recent years, Sleaford Mods have moved on somewhat from sounding like an insistent and angry drunk yelling over a cheap Casio keyboard. Fortunately, not too much, though.Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson’s potty-mouthed, minimalist punk-funk is still one of the sharper musical commentaries of the UK’s seeming demise and their style fits the subject matter like a glove. Angry, harsh and taking absolutely no prisoners. Sleaford Mods are the perfect soundtrack to a country that over-estimates its worth, while blithely strutting towards the edge of a steep cliff. As John Peel used to say about Read more ...

One of the founding partners of theartsdesk back in the day, author of the immersive Manu Chao biography, Clandestino, roving world music journalist, composer and "nomad pianist" Peter Culshaw released his previous set, Music from the Temple of Light, in 2023. Surrender to Love is spun from the same threads that were woven through that Temple of Light – mixing an ambient piano as a grounding for the music, with a range of Eastern and Middle Eastern instruments and voices, and a ruling spirit and approach that’s drawn from the Sufi wing of spirituality – a music and practice associated Read more ...

That was clever. The original Wet Leg – singer Rhian Teasdale and guitarist Hester Chambers – instantly snagged global attention with a droll novelty single, launched with a knowing faux-rustic video, about a sexy piece of furniture. After scoring a chart-topping multi-genre debut album, the duo recruited three noisy, hirsute male musician-writers, toughened up, and metamorphosed into one of the hottest indie combos on the planet.  That evolution is crystallised in their second album, another smash and – in its flawlessness –  a 21st-century equivalent of the Human League’s epochal Read more ...