CDs/DVDs
Album: James Bay - LeapFriday, 08 July 2022
James Bay couldn’t be more unhip if he had pelvic removal surgery. He is so middle of the road that he could be a cat’s eye. Everything about him is old before his time – he was inspired to pick up a guitar by hearing “Layla”, he sings in a husky... Read more... |
Album: Neil Young and Crazy Horse - ToastThursday, 07 July 2022
Neil Young put Toast to one side in 2001, dismayed at its blue emotional terrain. Depicting his marriage to Pegi Young hanging by a thread, it was recorded with Crazy Horse in San Francisco’s Toast studio, where Coltrane once worked, but rats now... Read more... |
Album: Vyvyan - YWednesday, 06 July 2022
After four years, three releases and a slew of remixes, the identity of spotlight-shunning producer Vyvyan ended up the subject of intense speculation.There were no obvious clues from the records themselves. Channelling open-armed enthusiasm and... Read more... |
Album: Viagra Boys - Cave WorldTuesday, 05 July 2022
The third album from Stockholm rowdies Viagra Boys doesn’t muck about with what they do, but it’s more persistently punkin’ than their last. There’s more than a snifter of Iggy and the Stooges in both the vocal style and the raucous over-amped... Read more... |
Album: Laura Veirs - Found LightMonday, 04 July 2022
The last minute of Found Light’s third track “Seaside Haiku” is defined by the repetition of a single phrase: “give but don’t give too much of yourself away.” Before this is the line “I’ve learned a lot from pain.”Working out whether an album’s... Read more... |
Album: Imagine Dragons - Mercury - Act 2Friday, 01 July 2022
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” That’s the rule, right? Unless, of course, what happens is that you form a pop-rock act with a remarkable ear for a route-one hook and a direct line to the emotional core of teenagers everywhere. In that case... Read more... |
Album: Gwenno - TresorThursday, 30 June 2022
“The historic, the prehistoric, the natural, architectural, geological, ornithological, or on the side of its folklore, Christian or heathen – the place teems with subject matter that is as curious as it is interesting.” So the Gothic Revival... Read more... |
Album: Paolo Nutini - Last Night in the BittersweetTuesday, 28 June 2022
The last time that Paolo Nutini was on the public stage, he was knocking out fine blue-eyed soul and having substantial hits like “Scream (Funk my Life Up)”. That was eight years ago though.His new disc, Last Night in the Bittersweet sees Nutini... Read more... |
Album: Damien Jurado - Reggae Film StarMonday, 27 June 2022
American singer-songwriter Damien Jurado is both prolific and enigmatic. His latest album follows too many to count (OK, not really, I think this is his 20th). On his own label, it's as opaque as anything he’s done, and that’s saying something.There... Read more... |
Album: James Vincent McMorrow - The Less I KnewSaturday, 25 June 2022
An artist with a myriad of strings to his bow – gifted wordsmith, multi-instrumentalist, captivating storyteller – what enables James Vincent McMorrow’s singularly personal songs to take flight is the fact that he’s also a supreme melodist.The Less... Read more... |
Album: Regina Spektor - Home, before and afterFriday, 24 June 2022
When did life become so theoretical? In the penultimate track of her new album, Home, before and after, Regina Spektor plays the role of classroom teacher to list all of the -ologies, from porcupineology through pleaseology to sorryology and... Read more... |
Album: Hollie Cook - Happy HourThursday, 23 June 2022
In a world seemingly devoid of joy, Hollie Cook's fourth album is a very welcome salve indeed. It’s not just the deliciously mellow groove of the genre and her mellifluous tones, but the feeling of stepping away from the everyday – a holiday from... Read more... |
