Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Liam Gallagher is many things to many people, and one thing to everyone - authentic. It seems unthinkable we could question the indie roller's motives, or expect anything other than the "meat and veg rock" he described his own work as during a 2018 interview with The Guardian. "Why Me? Why Not" sees him take that mantra to new heights. As an album it's as accomplished and polished as anything this pied piper of the raw and unpolished has gifted us in the years after *that band*, making for an immediately engaging collection of anthems-in-the-making that will have crowds eating out of the palm of his hand as if they'd never seen his hand before, or tasted any of the food he's been feeding them for years now. And therein lies the reason it remains impossible to criticise this undeniably upfront British songwriter. Enough said.

Review: Ah Liam Gallagher - a man who never seems to grow old or fully out of touch. Well, depending on your opinions on absolutely everything, of course. The Manchester icon and former-Oasis enfant terrible has spoken from his heart on a range of subjects, from "dance music can fuck right off" to "I am not an entertainer", and understandably his off-the-cuff honesty resonates with both the die hard disciples and sceptics alike. Simply put, nobody can accuse him of not wearing heart on sleeve.

In many ways, that approach guides his latest solo offering, C'Mon You Know. Back in February 2022, three months before this record's release, he told NME "I'm quite happy with the formula... I look cool. I sound good. I talk from the heart." If that's not evidence we're not ranting rubbish we don't know what is. As for the record's sound, think timeless British indie that has one foot in a 1990s glory era of British rock 'n' roll, and another in li-fi contemporary noise, all delivered with operatic drama.

Review:  Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, Butch Vig and Shirley Manson formed Garbage in 1993 and went on to sell more than 17 million records around the world. Their second album came in 1998 and was a marked progression from their debut. It sold more than four million copies and was described at the time as "gloomy and sexual yet lively and introspective." It now gets a proper reissue on 2 x 12" double gatefold and is the first time the newly remastered record has been made available via BMG. Fans of the band who are close to 30 years deep in their career will no doubt be happy to hear this one as they also enjoy their new record on Infectious Records.

Review: 90s indie bands don't come much more iconic than Garbage. They formed in 1993 and featured Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, Butch Vig and Shirley Manson. They went on to dominate the charts that decade with albums like their self-titled long player as well as Version 2.0. Now some of their best moments are all collected totters on this bumper anthology which comes as a double CD, or double gatefold yellow vinyl versions. It's got the tunes you love to sing back badly at the top of your voice as well as some other lesser-known ones. A great reminder of a great band.

Review: American rock band Garbage have done well to stand the test of time. Their seventh studio album has been influenced by numerology and things such as the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins. It is a ferocious record that chews up and spits out issues of capitalism, love, loss and grief, and is, says frontwoman Shirley Manson, "our way of trying to make sense of how fucking nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in." Bold, confrontational and powerful, this is one of the band's most socially and politically aware albums.

Review: This hot reissue of Garbage's third album revisits the exact format in which it was released over 20 years ago. Consisting of two heavyweight LPs, this anniversary edition helps us remember the band's innovative mix of electronica, grunge and new wave, as well as lead singer Shirley Manson's routine chronicling of the album's making on an online blog - making her one of the first high-profile musicians to do so. Featuring all the hits, including the trip-hoppy guitar headbanger 'Androgyny' and the Italo-grunge hilarity of 'Cherry Lips', this album isn't one to be forgotten.

Review: Dutch gothic doom metal turned shoegazing prog collective The Gathering are one of those artists of two consequential halves. Superheat; their live album released at the dawn of the new millennium and recorded primarily in the classic Amsterdam Paradiso, sonically deposits the group half a year before the release of their seminal sixth full-length If Then Else, by which time they had made the full transition to alternative auteurs. Here the material is a complimentary myriad of cuts from their acclaimed opus How to Measure A Planet?, interspliced with material from their darker, heftier albums such as Mandylion and Nighttime Birds.

Review: Ghost Power is a project from Jeremy Novak of Dymaxion fame and Timothy Gane, also spotted in McCarthy, Stereolab and Cavern Of Anti-Matter. The sound they're whipping up on this debut LP speaks to Library Music freakery with a distinctly 70s twist. It's plenty funky where it counts, cheeky to a fault, and it's embellished with all kinds of wild synth tweaking. Just take a listen to lead track 'Asteroid Witch' and you'll know everything you need to about this brand new, cosmically-charged project with an old soul.

Review: By now we all know Glass Animals were born in and among Oxford's psychedelic pop scene, rather than the trap spots of Atlanta. Although you could be forgiven for making that mistake, if this is your first encounter. The four piece take plenty of inspiration from sweat-soaked, kick and snare-laden southern US sounds, sexy R&B and pimp hop, but it's not a case of imitation as the highest form of flattery - the beats can seriously hold their own, even if the tones will never actually be theirs. Socio-psychological discourse aside, 'Dreamland' is the sum-total of our overall point. There's a sticky, sleazy and altogether intoxicating vibe running through most of what's here, conjuring images of slick-to-touch flesh in deep midsummer party mode. Just check the fittingly explicit 'Tokyo Drifting', featuring Florida rapper Denzel Curry, and the rest should fall into place.

Review: This Oxford-hailing troupe made considerable global headway with 'Zaba', their debut album of two years ago, yet that record's sumptuous tropicalia now appears little more than a precursor to this still more ambitious and far-reaching record, which rather than venturing into unchartered territory twists the everyday to its own designs. Amidst this heat-haze of colourful musical invention and elasticated groove, singer David Bayley excels in essaying vivid lyrical insights and warped character studies, resulting in slick yet eccentric soundscapes as likely to appeal to fans of the no-limits showmanship of Kanye West as the genteel indie of Wild Beasts.

Review: Russia's Gnoomes (aka Sasha Painkov and his wife Masha Piankova) have really overcome some hefty odds to get out their new album Ax Ox - the pandemic, illness, depression and of course turmoil back home. But it was worth the graft as they offer up a potent and moving mix of melancholia and strident optimism. The mix up the hope of dream pop with the drive of Krautrock, the vidid melodies of transcendent music with plenty of great narratives about the troubled relationship the band has with their home country. This is an eye-opening and thought-provoking record that is very much reflective of the troubled global times in which we love.

Review: Much loved indie pop pair Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory served up their iconic debut album on Mute in 2000. It has sold over a quarter of a million records since and was nominated in the Mercury Awards that year. It comes alongside the rescheduled Felt Mountain Live Tour and is often said to be the band's most crucial and influential record. As such it comes on a fitting gold vinyl with a gatefold sleeve included new and insightful sleeve notes from Lior Phillips in an 8pp 12" x 12" Booklet.

Review: Jose Gonzalez is one of the most acclaimed global musicians of the last few years, despite having such a quiet and intimate sound. Now comes his much anticipated fourth album which is another testament to his ability to draw you in and hypnotise you with his unique rhythmic style. Hugely pastoral and organic throughout, this record packs in plenty of mesmeric guitar paying and on some songs drum machine grooves. As always there is the odd reinterpretation of other artists' work and plenty of vital originals that come infused with elements of music from all over the world.

Review: Everyone's favourite cartoon band marked Record Store Day 2020 by serving up a UK release of a collection of tunes the was previously only available in Japan, and later in the US of A. It pulls together a wealth of b-sides from the studio sessions around their first album Gorillaz, and the Tomorrow Comes Today EP. It is limited to just 2000 copies and harks back to a time when the band - lead by Daman Albarn - was at the peak of its powers. The self titled debut album was such a hit it earned the band an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Virtual Band."

Review: Who would have thought that'll these years later the cartoon band that is Gorillaz would still be going, still be popular, and still turning out great music? Well, they are. They have kept details of this new album under tight guard for a while but what we do know about Cracker Island is that it features a truly all-star lineup of heavyweight guests such as Thundercat, Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala, Bootie Brown, Adeleye Omotayo, Bad Bunny, and Beck. As always the sound is alternative indie and electronic with a playful sense of character.

Review: Much more than just a solo indie project by an alt-music darling (though it does fall under that bracket), Priests' former punk frontgirl Katie Alice Greer presents her first full-length solo LP, 'Barbarism', following a slew of EPs detailing her crazed new electronic sound. An interesting sonic take on the absence of culture or civilization, the LP is a rapturous, entirely unique bridge between indie, art and noise rock, and is packed with rippling nuances and details that make Greer's voice sound quite literally drowned. A strange, dreamy and breathtaking take on a sound that Greer's built up over years.

Review: Liz Harris' image as a gothic, studio-dwelling, ambient mastermind is cemented by her 12th album, 'Shade'. Compiling a loose and formerly unrelated collection of songs made over the last 12 years - from the short, ruined polaroid-style opener 'Followed The Ocean', to the naked strum-singing of 'Unclean Mind' and the droning submergence of 'Basement Mix', this one is arguably one of her most lo-fi projects. It easily captures Grouper's emergence on the international folk-ambient scene through the analog fog of rare CD-Rs and handmade cassettes, making her career trajectory a ghost story if we've ever heard one. Gear up for a print edition, with original sky photographs by Harris' friend David Horvitz, as well as a signed archival letter-press print of Moon Study, her exclusive new book.

Review: Sandbox is the 1987 sophomore opus by Ohio rock n' rollers Guided By Voices, noted for its contrasting style and appearance to ther debut Devil In My Toes. This new version is a legit repress from the band's original label Scat Records, driving home the band's characteristically rollicking hard rock sound yet also throwing many a curveball, such as quoting the Beatles and some proud, accented singing.