Album Reviews
Album Review: Barry Hyde – Miners’ Ballads; A deeply personal folk concept album
Barry Hyde, best known as the frontman of The Futureheads, ventures into deeply personal and historical territory with Miners’ Ballads, released on his own Sirenspire Records. The album is a concept piece inspired by the coal mining heritage of Northeast England, particularly Sunderland and Washington. Commissioned by Sunderland City Council and Paul Emerson, the project …
Album Review: Joe Armon-Jones – All The Quiet, Volume 1; A bold fusion of jazz, funk, and dub.
Joe Armon-Jones has long been at the forefront of the UK’s thriving jazz scene, blending deep grooves, exploratory improvisation, and an ever-expanding sonic palette. All The Quiet: Volume 1, the latest offering from his own Aquarii Records, marks his most ambitious project yet—part one of a two-volume release that pushes his sound into new realms. …
EP Review: Ideal Living – This Big House
Released on boutique label Crafting Room Recordings Ideal Living’s Indie Opera EP ‘This Big house’ will be accompanied by the release of a short film, and the publication of frontman Billy Marsh’s debut novel of the same name, from where the EP pools its narrative. The band are all about dramatics and a tactile approach to …
Album Review: Joni Void – Every Life Is A Light : The Montreal sound artist delivers a new experimental-pop touchstone.
Pinning, hash-tagging, mood-boarding, even crisply describing Joni Void’s music gets no easier. Maybe the role Void plays is as a post post-sampling, cut & paste collagist or re-imaginer of the already re-imagined? Perhaps experimental glitch artist, sonic mind-scrambler or underground sound documentarian sums up other dimensions of their singular approach? Probably the best that can …
Album Review: Neal Francis – Return To Zero: a study in groove heavy cool.
Neal Francis’ Return to Zero is a lush, groove-heavy odyssey that seamlessly blends ’70s rock, funk, and disco into a sound that feels both timeless and immediate. His most ambitious work yet, the album was recorded live in the studio with his touring band, staying true to his deep love for analog recording. The result …
Album Review: Various Artists – Krautrock Eruption: An Introduction to German Electronic Music 1970-1980
The very idea of an introductory Krautrock compilation is a tricky one. As the liner notes themselves acknowledge, the genre (if you can even call it that) has been sliced, debated, and redefined in countless ways over the years, with the likes of Julian Cope’s Krautrocksampler and Crack in the Cosmic Egg both mythologizing and …
Album Review: Courting – Lust For Life: Chaotic, bold, and relentlessly catchy
Liverpool’s Courting return with their third album, Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’, out this Friday via Lower Third. Following a whirlwind year that saw them release New Last Name, tour the US for the first time, and take on the main …
album review: benmont tench: the melancholy season.
This is an album of absolute luxury. Each track on ‘The Melancholy Season’ is decadent and opulent, the vocals from Tench are soothing and velvety throughout while the strings that accompany the vocals are mesmerising and tranquil, all which intertwine with the other elements to envelop the listener in swathes of cascading and lapping tides …
Album Review: Constant Follower – The Smile You Send Out Returns To You; a beautiful, spacial, immersive album
Stephen McAll’s journey to The Smile You Send Out Returns To You is as moving as the music itself. A brutal attack in his teens left him with lasting head injuries, altering his memory and setting him on an unexpected path. Yet, through sheer resilience, he has carved out a space in music, using songwriting …
album review: the wildhearts – satanic rites of the wildhearts
The Wildhearts are back with an absolute barnstormer of an album, ‘The Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts’, and it is a belter. The album has it all and progresses through a soundscape of rock and roll which is endearing and mesmeric with overflowing addictive qualities. Gingers voice exhibits numerous qualities which are transferred across the …