• Biffy Clyro – Ellipsis

    There is that Morrissey line that seems rather pertinent when discussing the latter part of Biffy Clyro’s career: we hate it when our friends become successful. Witnessing one of the UK’s most beloved cult acts completely dominate the charts was always going to be true sight to behold. On their journey to the top however, the group lost what made them so fascinating in the first place; their ridiculous tonal shifts sidelined in favour of more straightforward pop-oriented direction. Their previous album – the bloated, underwhelming double album Opposites – was a testament to this fact as none of its twenty…

  • Johnny Foreigner – Mono No Aware

    After just shy of ten years performing together Johnny Foreigner have just released their fifth album. The indie four-piece, hailing from Birmingham, show both promise and consistency with their latest release, Mono No Aware. Consistency is blatantly obvious, with the album comprising of eleven solid, terrifically upbeat indie rock tracks with elements of pop punk regularly bursting through in the form of catchy riffs and tight, snappy drum pieces. Promise is a term that is perhaps to be used with more caution. For those familiar with JoFo, from the opening quarter they will immediately melt into the quirky and comfortable musical space that the band provides for its’ adoring…

  • The Julie Ruin – Hit Reset

    Julie Ruin isn’t a new concept for Kathleen Hanna. The moniker has been around since the mid- nineties as the title of her post-Bikini Kill solo album, one that bridged the gap and foreshadowed what was to come with Le Tigre. That trio’s explorations with sampled music and drum machines expanded on Julie Ruin’s bedroom-recorded experiments, and the pseudonym was put to bed for over a decade, during which time Hanna’s productivity was curtailed by a long-term debilitating illness. Her struggle with Lyme disease, undiagnosed for years, is documented with stark candour in the 2013 film The Punk Singer, and it’s a topic that crops up…

  • Beyond the Wizards Sleeve – The Soft Bounce

    Erol Alkan’s hugely influential club nights at London’s Trash seamlessly blended dance beats and guitar rock, bearing witness to “I was there” type early live performances from LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Bloc Party before it’s closure in 2007. Over the past decade Alkan has collaborated with acid-house pioneer Richard Norris (also half of 90s techno duo The Grid) as Beyond The Wizards Sleeve, combining their shared love of psychedelic pop to deliver critically acclaimed ‘re-animated’ edits of tracks by the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and The Chemical Brothers. Debut album The Soft Bounce sees the duo exploring their 1966-meets- 2016 sound over a…

  • Blood Orange – Freetown Sound

    There are few contemporary artists who have gone through such pronounced changes as Mr. Devonte Hynes. From his musical start in the synth-disco- punk outfit Test Icicles through his part in the indie-folk revival with Light Speed Champion and now, probably his most celebrated incarnation, as the eighties revivalist Blood Orange. As if that CV isn’t impressive enough he’s also amassed a veritable pile of song writing credits with artists as diverse as Sky Ferreira, Carly Rae Jepsen (one of the many ladies making an impactful appearance here), Solange and Heems. His chameleon nature and expansive ability obviously calls to mind luminaries like Bowie and…

  • The Avalanches – Wildflower

    Like Guns N’ Roses, Dr. Dre and My Bloody Valentine, The Avalanches have been a cautionary punchline for much of the last decade. Having fired out the gate with an album as alarmingly magnificent as Since I Left You, the band had the world waiting with bated breath for the long gestated follow up. But the months turned into years and the years to a decade and anticipation faded into abandon. The group’s style, plunderphonics, is a found art approach to music wherein everything from lost classics to tv jingles and soundbites are stripped apart and reassembled into something new…

  • Variant Sea – Fable

    Having formed less than a year ago, Dublin based neo-classical project Variant Sea have been quick to lure listeners into the realm of their delicate, cinematic compositions. Their debut EP Seasons of the Mist was an impressive introduction with plenty of Ludovico Einaudi inspired piano motifs and guitar backdrops a lá This Will Destroy You‘s Tunnel Blanket. Now, only nine months after their debut, the duo comprised of pianist Luke Duffy and guitarist Shell Dooley have returned with Fable, an EP that shows us musicians engaging in gradual growth. While the format of the music has remained the same, the impact of influences and the individual confidence presented…

  • Deerhoof – The Magic

    Spots of the Deerhoof discography can be as mad as a box of psychoactive toads, there’s no doubt about it – though it’s hard to imagine anyone experiencing anything but a journey of enlightenment through the San Francisco quartet’s two decades of aural experimentation. Recorded over seven days (their previous outing, La Isla Bonita, was recorded in ten – swift action clearly suits them) The Magic is in many ways one of their more accessible records, a bounty of joyous freakbeat and wrecking ball riffs; discordant delights and mellifluous genre-hopping that seems even more spiritually aligned with The Ramones than La Isla Bonita was. Three…

  • King Kong Company – King Kong Company

    There’s no denying that sometimes all you need in the day is an unapologetically block rocking beat. Simply put there are points where you have to leave the introspection and self-loathing of LCD Soundsystem at the door and let your body and soul go nuts to the sounds of Soulwax, The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. Music for those times where you need to dance yourself clean of every ounce of restraint and self-consciousness. If such a hankering should ever strike, then Waterford’s The King Kong Company have got the perfect remedy: their eponymous LP. What’s instantly apparent  is that…

  • Minor Victories – Minor Victories

    Just because some things seem like they could go together, doesn’t mean they should. Everyone can agree that roller coasters are fun, as is coitus, however, if you were to meld them though you’d probably end up as the subject of one of those Snopes verified urban legends. An album such as Minor Victories, the eponymous debut from a new supergroup featuring the Editors’ Justin Lockey, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, and Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, is the aural equivalent of the aforementioned Alton Towers copulation. Take every individual component on offer and you’ve got a recipe special; A record which might potentially…