New music
Guy Oddy
When he was asked about the first Orbital album since 2012’s Wonky, Paul Hartnoll said that he was torn between writing a really aggressive, Crass-type album and going back to the rave sensibilities of the early 1990s. Monsters Exist may well have some of the former, especially in the atmospheric “The Raid”, but it’s still largely a disc of hands in the air, trancey techno. However, at times like this, a bit of coming together with big smiles is as good a way as any to stand up to those who would divide and impose their obnoxious ideas on us all.Recent single “PHUK” is bouncy rave tune that Read more ...
Tim Cumming
Ambient sounds from an imaginary rail concourse fade to a full choir in the 42 seconds of “Opening Station”, the sonic scene-setting for Macca’s new hour-long set, his first album of new songs since 2013’s New. From here, Egypt Station properly leads off down the tracks with attractive piano ballad “I Don’t Know”, a sort of a slowed-up, cut-in-half adaptation of the “Lady Madonna” riff, McCartney’s voice unadorned, naked, and somewhat troubled, asking “where am I going wrong?”, his angst leavened by an assertion of love. The excellent single, “Come on to Me”, is crunchier, with solid drums Read more ...
Matthew Wright
Back in 2014, Kandace Springs was the upcoming star of modern soul, mentored by Prince: she closed his 30th anniversary Purple Rain concert. Then, with her first album Soul Eyes, she was heralded as an important jazz vocalist. The release talks of Indigo as “marrying all the different things”. It’s what the rest of us call a mishmash.These songs are an eclectic assortment of covers, alongside a handful of originals composed with her long-standing production team Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken. There’s no doubting the potential of her vocal talent. Her timbre is warm, her phrasing and Read more ...
Jo Southerd
Hot on the heels of her celebrated 2017 album Out in the Storm, Katie Crutchfield shares an EP of a very different nature. The Waxahatchee sound is stripped down to its most bare and essential; much of Great Thunder is simply Crutchfield sat at a piano. It’s a clear departure from the noisy thrill of her last record, yet equally radiant and emotive.The six songs on Great Thunder were written with the now-dormant experimental recording group of the same name, between 2012 and 2014, while Crutchfield was also writing the Waxahatchee albums Cerulean Salt and Ivy Tripp. Though the original Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
In 1969, a stream of creative new albums pointed to how what had grown from pop music could be reframed. Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline embraced country music. The Band’s eponymous second album drew on and was integral to defining Americana. The first album by Crosby, Stills & Nash shied away from the increasingly harsh template embraced by rock.In contrast, and bridging the Atlantic, little was more harsh than the debut albums by The Stooges and Led Zeppelin. The year's boundary pushers were seemingly endless: Tim Buckley’s Happy Sad, Can’s Monster Movie, Deep Purple’s Concerto for Group Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Finland’s Teksti-TV 666 set their musical stall with 2016’s 1,2,3 album, which collected the tracks from their three EPs to date. Now, with their first album proper Aidattu Tulevaisuus, the nature of what they are comes into even sharper focus. In essence, they merge the attack of My Bloody Valentine and “Death Valley 69” Sonic Youth with a punk rock urgency and Krautrock motorik drive. However, any bald description of the raw ingredients sells Teksti-TV 666 short.Aidattu Tulevaisuus (roughly translating to “Trust in the Future”) is 31 minutes long and includes five tracks. A six-piece (“ Read more ...
Guy Oddy
And Nothing Hurt is Spiritualized’s first album since 2012’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light and it’s fair to say that it’s been well worth the wait from a man who has had even more precarious health issues than Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan over the years. Often sounding like Lou Reed backed by Dusty Springfield’s 60s band with a heavy leaning towards songs of heartbreak and redemption, it is certainly a fine addition to the band’s catalogue.That said, while previous Spiritualized discs have at least given the impression of ensemble pieces, And Nothing Hurt feels more like a Jason Pierce solo album, and Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
The long career of New York electronic duo Suicide finally came to an end upon the death of their vocalist Alan Vega in 2016. They had not, however - and to say the least – been very prolific in decades. Their reputation rests almost entirely on their first two albums, most especially their debut. But what albums those are. Their primitive synthesizer drone-rock’n’roll still casts a giant shadow 40 years on. It is, then, surely a fool’s errand to release a set entirely consisting of Suicide cover versions. Yet that’s what Many Angled Ones have done – and with partial success.Many Angled Ones Read more ...
Javi Fedrick
IDLES' debut album, Brutalism, exploded onto the UK post-punk scene last year, lauded by the music press (myself included) for its lyrical blend of charm, fury, and politics, and musically, for just being a refreshingly original and catchy punk album. While IDLES haven’t moved away from these things on Joy as an Act of Resistance, they've branched out in some different, exciting directions.Taking their cues from the album title, singles “Danny Nedelko” and “Great” are possibly the poppiest songs IDLES have ever written, approaching racism, immigration and Brexit from an utterly danceable, Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Paul Simon is currently traversing the globe on his Farewell Tour. His new album clearly accompanies that. It’s a thoughtful look backwards wherein Simon has plucked numbers from his catalogue he feels deserve another go-round, recording them with guest artists, often from the world of jazz (notably Wynton Marsalis). It is, by its nature, somewhat self-indulgent, for there are none of his most famous songs here. These are numbers he wants to bring out of the shadows; that he reckons are worth further attention. On occasion, he’s absolutely right.The album opens with "One Man’s Ceiling is Read more ...
mark.kidel
Peyroux made her name by channelling the sultry sensuality and soul of Billie Holiday and breathing new life into well-known songs written by others - notably Elliott Smith and Leonard Cohen.She still brings enchantment to covers, but has increasingly found her own distinctive voice, without losing that element of sensual magic - those long drawn-out notes - inherited from the great Lady Day.Her new album is drawn strongly together by impeccable arrangements and production, studio expertise and inspiration that provides the album with welcome variety, as well as a touch of melancholy Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
In May 1981, Japan played two nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. For NME’s Paul Morley, the high-profile shows at the prestige venue were notable as “Japan can fill two nights at the Odeon and they're not yet a hit group.” Reviewing them, he said their frontman David Sylvian “advances, dances and freezes in motion so like Ferry it's debasing, it's like he is a surgically exalted version of the original Bryan. After ten minutes of Japan’s teenybop Simple Minds material – sumptuous in parts, dank most of the time – it was time to go. Not even a piece the liquid Sylvian wrote with the Great [ Read more ...