• Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World

    September 18, 2014 - By 

    Death from Above 1979 swagger back into your life like that former lover you swore you’d gotten over years previously. You thought ‘yeah, that’s cool, good for them’ when they announced they were playing music again, but you genuinely weren’t convinced. You went back to listening to The Black Keys and secretly viewing live performances from way back when on Youtube in the dark when you thought no-one was looking. Then, boom – in they stride, and you’re the same weak-kneed simpleton you were in 2004. Ten years is a long time. The bare-cheeked audacity. They still have the nerve…

  • U2 – Songs of Innocence

    September 10, 2014 - By 

    So, straight off the bat – let’s forget about Apple, iTunes, hypocrisy, commerce, and even U2 themselves. Daunting though that may be, it doesn’t really help us when it comes to looking at Songs of Innocence, the thirteenth studio album by U2, arguably the biggest band in the world. Like looking at someone like Roman Polanski, or Woody Allen, or whomever, there comes a time when you have to separate the art from the artist, and attempt to consider that in isolation. And this time round, that’s never been more pertinent for U2.Songs of Innocence is eleven tracks of new material from…

  • Marcel Dettmann – Fabric 77

    August 27, 2014 - By 

    It’s been a busy year for Marcel Dettmann, a few months on from his inaugural Essential Mix and roughly 12 months after his most recent LP Dettmann II comes his effort in the renowned Fabric mix series. If the mix is anything to go by, the year will only get busier for Dettmann with a lot of the material on the mix forthcoming on his own MDR label. Dettmann is now one of the most recognisable names in techno and with that, there’s little pressure to prove himself. The last couple of years may have seen a resurgence in the…

  • Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old

    August 21, 2014 - By 

    Time Is Over One Day Old is the fourth studio album by Bear in Heaven. It is also their finest album to date, more relaxed than Beast Rest Forth Mouth or I Love You, It’s Cool, though certainly not a million miles away from these earlier outings. There are more of the rippling synths, the running basslines and coy vocal progressions which mark out Bear in Heaven’s sound. The formula has always worked and they have recognised this – it now works even better. There are many comparisons to be made with this album, yet it manages to be unique…

  • Boxcutter – Shea EP

    August 14, 2014 - By 

    London-based, Northern Irish producer Barry Lynn AKA Boxcutter, is back with a small helping of delightful, electronic treats with his latest release, the Shea EP. The self-titled opening track lures the listener right in with a catchy, looping female vocal sample and its incredible array of dynamics. With earphones in and volume up, you feel the full force of Lynn’s creation, and the specific points of detail within these tracks are nothing short of impressive. ‘Holoscene’ allows Shea to stand on its own merits. With an ambience of what seem to be the sound of crickets, it’s easy to find oneself getting lost…

  • Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal

    August 12, 2014 - By 

    There must be a sense of relative trepidation whenever an underground band are thrown into the media spotlight from the depths of relative obscurity, and viewed by many a rock critic as the latest bearers of the indie rock torch. That sort of instant exposure was something that befell Brooklyn via Texas natives Parquet Courts, in the early part of last year, following the release of their second record Light Up Gold, especially after the success of the utterly infectious ‘Stoned and Starving’. Light Up Gold was considered a little rough around the edges, which resulted in the group being…

  • Jungle – Jungle

    August 11, 2014 - By 

    If the early years of the second decade of the 21st Century are looked back on by culture historians and future mars-dwelling anthropologists, then the most striking thing that hopefully hits them isn’t just our society’s over-reliance on dance bangers and international rappers but also the grey period that alternative music went through. Alt-J, Metronomy and to a lesser extent Future Islands are helping build up a series of strong copyright cases by releasing each other’s songs; weak bladdered knock-offs of LCD Soundsystem which although not terrible, aren’t anything special. Into the fray step Jungle. Jungle starts off promisingly enough.…

  • King Creosote – From Scotland With Love

    August 7, 2014 - By 

    From Scotland With Love is the first long player of previously unreleased material from King Creosote since the stunning 2011 Jon Hopkins collaboration Diamond Mine and picks up the baton after two decades and over forty records of almost ceaseless prolific productivity. As the Commonwealth Games come to Glasgow, is Kenny ‘King Creosote’ Anderson a contender or has his race been run? This is more than just a record. Specifically written to accompany a silent movie production of the same name, the film is a gritty black and white look through archive footage from Scotland’s past showing the love, the…

  • Adebisi Shank – The Third Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank

    August 6, 2014 - By 

    Let’s cut to a very important chase, straight away. This Is The Third Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank Is Not This Is The Second Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank. The Second Album... was an event in Irish music. Not just a major release, or critically acclaimed, but a happening, a seismic shift in expectations for others to follow, and a step up for Irish independent music, so much so it attracted the attention of Sargent House and the world. It was important, a concentrated blast of everything that was right with the world. Opinion on teaser…

  • Judas Priest – Redeemer of Souls

    July 24, 2014 - By 

    Judas Priest have always had a ‘balls to the wall’ sound, largely courtesy of guitarists KK Downing and Glenn Tipton. So when Downing decided to abandon ship in 2011, it was the musical equivalent of Priest losing a bollock. Kicking off their seventh album, ‘Dragonaut’ positively tears out of the speakers, leaving you in no doubt that if this is Priest on one bollock, it’s still better than most other things. Redeemer of Souls is very much Judas Priest being ‘Judas Priest’, delivering molten slabs of classic heavy metal, stories of warriors, machines, and beasts. And by adhering to the…