• C Duncan – The Midnight Sun

    October 12, 2016 - By 

    It’s easy to forget that C Duncan’s debut album was released only 15 months ago; July 2015 feels like a lifetime away. Architect displayed enough promise to suggest that the Glaswegian wouldn’t take too long to piece together a follow-up however. Perhaps he heard the saying that an artist has their whole life to make their first album and 18 months to write their second, and took that as a challenge. In addition to this, the tour itinerary for his debut album was nothing to be sniffed at, and said debut was nominated for the Mercury Prize. With all that…

  • The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation

    October 11, 2016 - By 

    So here we are, The Dillinger Escape Plan have literally beaten a bloody, broken and sometimes shitty path to an ending of their own choosing. What was once being called a hiatus is now, absolutely, one-hundred percent a break up and so ends nearly twenty years as one of the most frenetically innovative groups in “heavy music”. But as one has come to expect from the band they are not going out with a whimper but rather a guttural hoorah. To finish there will be a globe spanning tour and this, their final album, Dissociation. And while it may be their least directly innovative project to…

  • Arab Strap – 20 Songs for 20 Years

    October 10, 2016 - By 

    Six albums isn’t a lot by some bands’ standards, but for one as consistent as Arab Strap, it’s difficult to narrow that down into a “best of”. Without any drastic stylistic reinventions, the duo gradually evolved over their decade long career from fairly lo-fi beginnings, taking in elements of slowcore, folk, electronic music and more thanks to Malcolm Middleton’s impressive musicianship, all anchored by Aidan Moffat’s sung or spoken tales of misery and debauchery in his unmistakable thick Scottish accent. After their amicable split in 2006 they didn’t bother attempting that best of, instead releasing the aptly titled Ten Years of Tears compilation, a ragtag collection of…

  • Pixies – Head Carrier

    October 7, 2016 - By 

    Let’s get this out of the way right away – Pixies are obviously one of the greatest bands of all time. During their original run from 1986 to 1993, they amassed one of the most perfect discographies any band has ever managed. That includes the sometimes wrongly overlooked Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, which easily match up to their predecessors, and even the B-sides collection is pretty solid. So in a way it’s understandable that for years after their 2004 reunion, fans were apprehensive about the idea of any new material, particularly in the wake of that year’s now rightly forgotten one-off single ‘Bam Thwok’. Kim…

  • Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition

    October 5, 2016 - By 

    Danny Brown’s flair for off kilter delivery and taste for unusual production has garnered a cult following since the Detroit rapper’s earliest mixtapes. Subsequently, studio albums like XX and Old found a much wider audience for his tales of drink and drug fuelled escapades, placing Brown as the oddball at the very edge of the rap mainstream. Brown’s brutally honest confessions made him a fascinating figure: avoiding the hip-hop clichés of purely revelling in debauchery, Brown seemed genuinely compelled towards such levels of self-abuse. A series of concerning tweets from 2014, in which the rapper took aim at a lack of support in the rap industry…

  • Conor Oberst – Ruminations

    October 4, 2016 - By 

    The album as a concept can fall into one of two categories. The first, a heavily sculpted creation that presents the artist in their best possible light. An artistic declaration in which every sonic device is controlled and used to build a cohesive voice. The alternative, a candid snapshot where feeling and honesty of content and performance are prioritised over perfection and sheen. Though both are valid and worthy, Ruminations by Conor Oberst sits achingly in the latter camp. While an album will ultimately stand on the merit of its songwriting and music, this is an album that grows and unfolds with the benefit…

  • Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam – I Had a Dream That You Were Mine

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    The Walkmen formed in 2000 following the disintegration of two Washington bands, The Recoys and Jonathan Fire*Eater. They relocated to New York City and actively moved away from the indie garage of their contemporaries led by The Strokes. The Walkmen’s music was, instead, guided by a collective love for lo-fi production and the sound of vintage instruments which made some of the most interesting modern music to behold throughout the six studio albums they recorded over their fifteen year tenure. When the band dispersed, frontman Hamilton Leithauser released a debut album entitled Black Hours, in 2014. It was a mixture of sombre reflection and jovial melodies…

  • Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch

    October 3, 2016 - By 

    Concept albums are tricky. Honing in on a singular narrative or theme throughout a 40 minute collection of music requires precision and tact from an artist, an ability to carry an idea throughout without allowing it to devour every other facet of the record. Norwegian experimental-artist Jenny Hval has, over the course of about a decade, built a collection of albums under varying monickers with roots stretching into concepts of sexuality, the human body, sociology, gender and mortality all the while allowing her music to be captivatingly nuanced and enticing; she knows how to make a concept album. Her last…

  • windings – Be Honest and Fear Not

    September 30, 2016 - By 

    There could be no more apt a title for the fourth full length LP from one of Ireland’s oft unsung but widely respected acts, Windings. Be Honest and Fear Not arrives after a four year spell of silence from the Limerick outfit and shows us a band, fronted by former Giveamanakick vocalist and guitarist Steve Ryan, who have absolutely nothing to camouflage and no affectation to assume. While this record might not match its 2012 predecessor I Am Not the Crow in terms of ambition or cohesion, it makes up for that in unabashed heart and candid songwriting. Lyrically, Ryan has discussed how the album plays…

  • Warpaint – Heads Up

    September 26, 2016 - By 

    Warpaint are a band that divide opinion. In 2010, they became an almost instant underground success with ‘Undertow’, the lead single from their abstractly alternative album, The Fool. The album stood out in the year when Beach House released Teen Dream, Vampire Weekend’s Contra and Broken Social Scene’s Forgiveness Rock Record dominated radio airtime. Warpaint sought to be different with a sombre and grittier edge in the midst of bands shedding lightness and exuberance lyrically and musically. Unfortunately, they lost momentum with their subsequent self-titled album from 2013, which was met with mixed reviews, upon which the Californian quartet went on a…