• ANOHNI – Hopelessness

    May 12, 2016 - By 

    For her first release since disbanding Antony and the Johnsons, Anohni has changed not just her name, but her sound as well. Gone are the doleful torch ballads of Antony and the Johnsons (1998) and I am a Bird Now (2005), and the intricate chamber arrangements of The Crying Light (2009) and Swanlights (2010). In their place are electronic soundscapes rooted in the sensibilities of the record’s two producers – the harder edges of Hudson Mohawke marrying surprisingly easily with the more amorphous textures of Oneohtrix Point Never. The change of sound is drastic, but arguably necessary, Antony and the Johnsons having proceeded to a logical…

  • Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

    May 11, 2016 - By 

    There is a certain degree of futility in reviewing a new Radiohead album. Although the term is thrown around quite loosely, it could be convincingly argued that Radiohead are legitimately a ‘critic-proof’ band and nothing that a bespectacled, pseudo-musical aficionado can say will affect anyone’s views. There is a good possibility that everyone reading this has already secured, listened to and devised their own opinion of the disc and its relative merits and is simply reading this as a form of validation. So since the majority of you have already digested it, let’s get the obvious question out of the…

  • Frankenstein Bolts – Cinematic Views

    May 10, 2016 - By 

    In the most sincere kind way, Cinematic Views by Wexford’s Frankenstein Bolts is just a nice record. It’s not a spectacular exploration of the human condition or a technical behemoth that levels the playing field with its symphonic intricacies. No, Cinematic Views is simply a delightful serving of dreamy folk with electronic overtones, almost like a stripped back Oppenheimer or if Belle and Sebastian covered Zero 7. This, the duo’s debut EP, is comprised of four neatly formed pieces of gentle, soothing musical warmth. The opener, “Station Street” is mellowed slice of sweet, carefree pop; the kind of music that’s…

  • James Blake – The Colour in Anything

    May 9, 2016 - By 

    There has always been something special about James Blake. Ever since his career began in a clutch of dubstep influenced EPs he’s been making music that means an awful lot to an awful lot of people. As he’s progressed, channelling our collective existential scream into a mournful but beautiful whisper, his resonance seems only to have deepened. His sound, one could even say his formula, of spacious, emotive music paired with his own haunting vocals are affecting in a way that is almost primal. Yet that description does a disservice to the intellectual construction of his music. True, there are no massive changes here; it is…

  • Julianna Barwick – Will

    May 9, 2016 - By 

    In a recent interview with Clash, ambient musician and vocalist Julianna Barwick appeard preoccupied with the difficulty of feeling a sense of “home” anywhere, the challenge in finding a place where one can feel empowered and at ease. Travelling to upstate New York, away from her residence in Brooklyn, to work on her fifth album Will just left her craving civilisation. But Brooklyn’s relentless buzz wasn’t right either, and so the album ended up being finished in North Carolina. What we get in Will then is an album awash with luxurious keys and dizzying vocal loops that attempts to sonically provide…

  • Susanna – Triangle

    May 5, 2016 - By 

    How does a collection of songs become more than the sum of its parts and coalesce into a greater whole? Surely, sharing a musical or lyrical theme should suffice, but countless records have succumbed to the trappings of the generic in following that format. Given the risk, what’s the real benefit of opting for such rigidity in self-expression? Susanna’s Triangle is a great example of why the album as an idea works and how magical it can be. Over its ambitious runtime, the release primarily focuses on a fluid, transient interpretation of what constitutes a song. The emphasis here is…

  • We Are Scientists – Helter Seltzer

    April 28, 2016 - By 

    Helter Seltzer, the fifth and by far the flashiest studio album from alt-pop duo We Are Scientists proves that Chris Cain and Keith Murray are back with a punch. Despite being prone to slip under the radar from time to time, the NYC-based duo manage to return with something bigger and better each time they resurface, staying true to their original and unique style, yet managing to reinvent certain aspects of their recognisable sound. The now veteran pair have been making music for over 14 years and despite sporting a little more grey hair and a lot more moustache action, they’ve aged…

  • Wire – Nocturnal Koreans

    April 24, 2016 - By 

    The term seminal might get thrown around too much these days, but when used to describe post-punk legends Wire, it almost seems too humble. In many ways, the group are an anomaly amongst their peers. For starters, over their majority of their thirty-year career they’ve managed to retain the same line-up, avoiding the unfortunate stigma of being a glorified vanity project for singer Colin Newman with a revolving door of musicians, desperately vying for some kind of relevance. In fact, the group has gone the exact opposite route, shrugging off any requests to do retrospective tours of their first three,…

  • PJ Harvey – The Hope Six Demolition Project

    April 22, 2016 - By 

    PJ Harvey’s back catalogue is a sight to behold. Over eight solo records, the woman hasn’t even skimmed the surface of a bad record. She’s toyed with a multitude of genres from Albini noise to electronica to English folk and fit into each with alarming ease. Yet in spite of her mercurial ability, she still finds a way to challenge her listeners, even this late in the game. Her previous album, Let England Shake, was a concept album the first world war as viewed through English folk music. Her latest LP, The Hope Six Demolition Project, is a vicious polemic…

  • John Carpenter – Lost Themes II

    April 20, 2016 - By 

    Lost Themes 2 is legendary filmmaker and composer John Carpenter’s follow-up to his 2015 effort, Lost Themes. The central concept behind the record is simple: themes for films that Carpenter never made. To anyone who has seen the likes of Assault on Precinct 13, Escape From New York or Halloween, this is a salivating promise as it distills one of the man’s greatest strengths into a single cohesive package. Lost Themes 2 is an expansion on that same idea, and not unlike a sequel, it builds upon the groundwork laid in the first outing in bigger, more polished way. The…