ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 2 MAY 2025

Lots to enjoy from this week’s roundup of new releases. Lael Neale      Altogether Stranger Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain – from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. Sally Potter    Anatomy          Filmmaker whose album […]
Stunning finger picking guitar blesses your ears as you are introduced to If You Asked For A Picture by Blondshell. ‘Thumbtack’ explores the theme of letting someone treat you horribly because at least they will treat you at all, to reference Phoebe Bridgers. This song is so easy to listen to as the melodies and […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BLONDSHELL: IF YOU ASKED FOR A PICTURE

ALBUM REVIEW – IRON LUNG: ADAPTING // CRAWLING

Seattle powerviolence band Iron Lung pretty instantly became part of the canon of the hyper-fast, hyper-aggressive genre. Albums like Life. Iron Lung. Death, Cold Storage 1 & 2 and White Glove Test are now listed among genre classics over a decade their senior when recommending starting material to the uninitiated. That’s not even to mention […]
Arthur Russell is a big inspiration for me. His unconventional voice with his cello is a combination that has resonated with me ever since he was first recommended to me by a friend a couple of years ago. When I found out there was new material of his being released, especially live recordings, I was […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ARTHUR RUSSELL: OPEN VOCAL PHRASES, WHERE SONGS COME IN AND OUT

ALBUM REVIEW – MODEL/ACTRIZ: PIROUETTE

I first heard Dogsbody, the debut album by Brooklyn based noise-rockers Model/Actriz, while in Berlin. Though unintentional, the setting proved fitting for an album set at steamy queer clubs on late evenings. Their new album Pirouette sees the emotional intensity being turned up to unstable levels, culminating in a message about reinvention against a backdrop of a world […]
It’s over 20 years since Propagandhi unleashed their angry, immature, skate-punk-rooted debut How To Clean Everything; it’s eight years since their last release, the high-energy, thrash-influenced Victory Lap. On my first listen of At Peace, I hear the age and roughness in Chris Hannah’s vocals, and he reflects that sense himself, singing “Behold the cruel […]

ALBUM REVIEW – PROPAGANDHI: AT PEACE

ALBUM REVIEW – STEREOPHONICS: MAKE ‘EM LAUGH, MAKE ‘EM CRY, MAKE ‘EM WAIT

It is hard to think about British music without thinking of Stereophonics. From their debut album ‘Word Gets Around’ released towards the end of the Britpop era, they jumped in on a huge cultural movement, with their own unique blend of gruff vocals and the traditional British rock that had topped the charts for the […]
An absurdly busy week. Listening to new music could be a full-time job! There is lots to enjoy. Emma-Jean Thackray             Weirdo               The album blends influences as diverse as spiritual jazz, Detroit house, northern bassline, and psychedelic rock. It is a virtuosic work from Thackray who composed, played, recorded, mixed and arranged every note on the record. […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 25 APRIL 2025

ALBUM REVIEW – VARIOUS ARTISTS: ROOTS ROCKING ZIMBABWE – THE MODERN SOUND OF HARARE TOWNSHIPS 1975-1980

Like many other people of my generation, hearing bands from Zimbabwe, especially The Bhundu Boys, on John Peel’s radio shows in the 1980s was a revelation. It served as an introduction to music from around the world distinct from the Anglo-American diet that ruled the airwaves. The joyful guitars and rhythms were a marked contrast […]
I have great respect and enthusiasm for the music of Femi Kuti, and he and his band have definitely earned the name ‘The Positive Force’, for much more than the joyous and uplifting experiences I connect with their records and the live performances I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy. Femi and his family (including his […]

ALBUM REVIEW – FEMI KUTI: JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE