Review: Welsh noise-rock royalty Mclusky make their decrepit return on their majorly anticipated fourth album The World Is Still Here & So Are We, marking their first full-length in over two decades, following on from 2004's The Difference Between Me & You Is That I'm Not On Fire. While the Cardiff legends have reformed for brief reunion runs in the past, this time they seriously mean it, revealing their first taste of new material in 19 years through their 2023 EP Unpopular Parts Of A Pig, with the title-track and 'The Digger You Deep' both announced to be featured on their (at the time) as-of-yet unannounced comeback record. Arriving courtesy of Ipecac Recordings, the outsider-rock label ran by vocal absurdist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle) and working in the past with the late, great Steve Albini, with the band even supporting for Shellac one fateful night in London's Scala, the chaotic noise-merchants haven't lost one tooth of their bite or snarky cynicism during their long respite, made abundantly clear on blistering lead single 'Way Of The Exploding Dickhead'.
Review: Cardiff noise-rock legends Mclusky make their long-awaited return with the highly anticipated The World Is Still Here & So Are We. Serving as their fourth full-length and first since 2004's The Difference Between Me & You Is That I'm Not On Fire, the album comes following numerous sparse reunion shows and tours since their initial disbandment two decades prior. First revealed through the release of the Unpopular Parts Of A Pig EP during the latter half of 2023, which would mark their first newly recorded output in 19 years, both the title-track as well as 'The Digger You Deep' were said to be the first tastes of their fourth LP, now making good on that promise with a release set for distribution via Ipecac Recordings, the label of musical absurdist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle). Having worked in the past with the late, great Steve Albini, even opening for Shellac one fateful evening in London's Scala, the iconic noise-merchants seemingly haven't lost an iota of their bite or shitheaded cynicism during their time away, evidenced as such as in the blistering lead single 'Way Of The Exploding Dickhead'.
Review: Quade's second album is steeped in the isolation and raw beauty of its birthplace: a crumbling Welsh barn surrounded by moors. The Bristol four-piece i Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly i channel this wild setting into a sound that's both fragile and immense, blurring ambient-dub textures with ghostly folk melodies and the drifting crescendos of post-rock. The Foel Tower feels like it was pulled from misty hillsides and long, firelit nights, an album of quiet intensity: tender one moment, potent the next, yet always emotionally direct. Tracks unfold patiently, as if shaped by the slow grind of weather over stone. There's a strong undercurrent of personal grief and resilience here too. The band's longtime friendship and collective hardships add a tangible intimacy, turning these atmospheric compositions into acts of quiet survival. The Foel Tower transcends as it is stark, gorgeous and deeply human. This is music for the in-between moments: dusk turning to night, silence folding into sound.
Review: Superior Viaduct and W.25TH present Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee, now available in a deluxe 3xLP format with a collectible poster. Lauded across the board and shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, Diamond Jubilee showcases Patrick Flegel's unique blend of haunting melodies and raw emotion. Crafted over years in studios from Toronto to Montreal, this album delivers timeless reflections on love and longing, backed by sticky hooks and immersive soundscapes that cement Cindy Lee's reputation as a standout in experimental pop.
Tower Of Meaning/Rabbit's Ear/Home Away From Home (11:53)
Happy Ending (4:12)
All-Boy All-Girl/Tiger Stripes/You Can't Hold Me Down (8:58)
Introductions (3:44)
Hiding Your Present From You/School Bell (8:13)
Too Early To Tell (7:36)
Changing Forest (13:20)
Sunlit Water (9:49)
Review: A posthumous release that furthers Arthur Russell's now legendary status. Recorded in Downtown New York City on December 20, 1985, it's an intimate, unedited solo live performance recorded at Phill Niblock's loft space known as Experimental Intermedia Foundation. The takes are very raw and unpolished that it makes you feel like one of the very few in attendance. 'That's the Very Reason' is a beautiful, tender experimental folk piece showing he needed very few materials in order to send listeners on a journey of transcendence. 'Too Early To Tell' is highly idiosyncratic and produces a sound not normally associated with cello. And 'Sunlit Water' has an oriental feel and provides beautiful resolve to a resplendent set.
Review: Brooklyn-based Model/Actriz, a four-piece rock band formed in 2016, return with an electrifying new chapter in their career. Frontman Cole Haden, guitarist Jack Wetmore, bassist Aaron Shapiro, and drummer Ruben Radlauer have forged a sound that merges post-punk aggression with noise rock's raw energy. Their latest release is a visceral, direct exploration of both the visceral chaos of their live shows and the darker, more introspective side of their sound. After their debut album Dogsbody earned critical acclaim in 2023, they've recalibrated their approach, opting for a more stripped-down and immediate experience. Tracks like 'Cinderella' and 'Acid Rain' charge forward with the kind of club-ready energy that makes their performances unforgettable, while 'Doves' and 'Audience' offer hauntingly introspective moments. Model/Actriz's commitment to blending queer themes with explosive music continues, pushing boundaries in both their lyrics and sound.
Review: BC, NR are now onto their third album. The Ninja Tune-signees gained attention for not posing as if they're in a band, but looking like an ordinary group of students, or twentysomethings house-sharing. Their bold look, where they're smiling in the press pics, as opposed to donning a moody pout, has thankfully been backed up with some terrific music. Their debut, For The First Time, earned them favourable comparisons to post-rock trailblazers Slint and their second album Ants From Up There is the Gen-z equivalent of Arcade Fire's Funeral, thanks to its grandiose anthemics. Famously, singer and lyricist Isaac Wood left the band on the even of the release of their second album, which sparked outcry and paranoia from their ever-growing army of fans about what that might mean for their future. But the band have kept at it and the remaining six members have chosen to share frontperson duties, thus relieving the added pressure that comes with being a designated frontperson. This third album - and first post Isaac Wood - is proving to be a striking new chapter, with the lead single, 'Besties', an immediately likeable way of introducing it to the world. Georgia Ellery, also of Jockstrap, takes lead vocals here and offers an unforgettable off-kilter indie pop cut reminiscent of Aldous Harding. Zutons-y sax stabs scattered in make for a beautiful touch and leave us feeling that this is the album that's going to send BC, NR onto a stratospheric level, where they're spoken about in the same breath as Radiohead as one of Britain's finest bands.
Review: The Sensual World is the sixth studio album from British pop sensation Kate Bush, released in October 1989 to the ever-expected throng of acclaim. Condensing her literary inspirations into what is arguably her most romantic album, The Sensual World is notorious for its singles ‘This Woman’s Work’ and ‘Love And Anger’, which fuse James Joyce and William Blake intertexts with aspects of her own Irish heritage. But despite the Anglo-Irish pedigree, the album was also noted for its pentatonic melodies and “Oriental reverie”, amounting to a mid-career breakaway into a whole new world.
Review: It's hard not to feel moved by Swans. To quote Wayne's World, it's not just a clever name, but rather a band every bit as graceful yet ferocious, beautiful but strong as the bird borrowed from. Take "Annaline", for example. As the first track-proper of this spellbinding collection it's a stop-you-in-your-tracks masterpiece that could force silence on a stadium despite being softly spoken, subtle and serene. It's a motif the outfit seem focused on for this, their 15th studio album. Even at its loudest, title track "Leaving Meaning" mostly plays out like a deranged sermon in some temple of experimental rock. "Sunfucker", for example, has enough reversed-out refrains to make anyone feel they might be in over their head with forces they can't see, let alone comprehend. "It's Coming It's Real" is a display of dark hypnosis. "The Hanging Garden" paints nervous abstract pictures with psychedelic-leaning guitar hooks and manic vocal cries. Put simply, it's perhaps their tensest, most introverted and spellbinding work to date.
Review: "In Rainbows", Radiohead's seventh album, finally gets a physical release! It's one thing downloading this landmark album, but to actually hold this is something special. Not only do you get increased sound quality, but you also get the amazing artwork from Stanley Donwood. This album includes "Nude", a live favourite for many years that was originally written during the "OK Computer" sessions. More minimal that their "Kid A" period, "In Rainbows" does something that very few albums have done - its sound is distinct from previous Radiohead albums, but is still clearly Radiohead. Hail to the kings, they are back on top form.
Review: Icelandic experiment Low Roar heard Ryan Karazija, Leifur Bjornsson and Logi Gudmundsson indulge a transoceanic collaboration, extending many a riotous yet sensual sludgeoff between indie pop and post-rock until Karazija's death in 2022. Since this sad event, subsequent records have heard the band reuse loose elements recorded by Karazija in a posthumous fashion, and House In The Woods is a brilliant new example. Pressed to vinyl quickly after an initial digital release, the album blends typical Icelandic ambient-string work with sensuous background vocals and harmonium layers, and deals in a range of subjects from decrepitude to endless love, marked by a sense of sublimity throughout.
Review: James Ford is one of the most important unsung heroes of contemporary pop and rock. As a studio producer, he's helped craft and hone incredible work from Fontaines DC, Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur and more. As an artist in his own right, he's perhaps more incredible. So, his impact on the latest and long-awaited new addition to Black Country New Road's catalogue should not be underestimated. Nor should the result of splitting the songwriting and vocal duties between members Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw. "It's definitely very different" said one of the trio about how this compares to preceding long form outings. We'd say it's definitely very different to most music you'll hear this week. It's folk, soft rock, experimental garage something, and none of the above, with tracks that almost seem at odds with themselves, chopping and changing, evolving and progressing, until you hear them as a whole.
Review: Exit North is a four-piece made up of Ulf Jansson, Charles Storm, Steve Jansen and Thomas Feiner, exploring classically-charged post-rock and taut songwriting wrapped around brooding soundscapes. After their debut back in 2018 the band are finally back for a follow-up. Recorded in Gothenburg and featuring an expansive cast of contributors, Anyway Still is a rich, engrossing listening experience full of poise and patience to match the grandiose musicality. In their considered approach, the pauses and rests are as vital as the notes played, all led by Feiner's cracked, compelling singing.
Review: Based in New York City, YHWH Nailgun (pronounced "Yahweh") are a newfound experimental noise-rock four-piece who have varied acceptance on what can be deemed "noise". Built around the ludicrous percussive ability of drummer Sam Pickard whose use of rototoms conjures an organic yet mechanistic pulse, warped and compressed guitars collide with an array of synths and electronic elements all infused with the suffocated, ranting, rambling, unhinged shrieking of vocalist Zack Borzone. Their debut full-length 45 Pounds bubbles with a similar art-noise sass-punk quality to very early HEALTH (before they rebooted as the industrial-metal trio they're known as today) yet attempting to still fit in with the likes of The Jesus Lizard or Chat Pile. They don't whatsoever, and they're all the better for it, as these unhinged 21 minutes condense saccharine, bubblegum machinery into some of the most frenetic compositions recorded all year. Just because it can only be described as "noise-rock" doesn't mean it necessarily sounds like noise-rock.
Review: With 2021's Infinite Granite taking a sharp left turn into the realms of hazy, luscious dream-pop, eyes have been pointedly fixed on San Francisco blackgaze heroes Deafheaven ever since, with many of their fanbase pondering where to next? The answer is their highly anticipated sixth full-length, Lonely People With Power, which finally showcases the band freed from all creative restraint and audience expectation, marrying their equal and effortless understanding of black metal malevolence and shoegaze ethereality, even allowing frontman George Clarke to make full use of his recently discovered vocal range. Howling shrieks and delicate crooning weave around one another on the euphoric heft of 'Heathen', whereas 'Magnolia' offers up one of their most succinctly black metal cuts to date, radiating with the caustic aura of Emperor's more proggy latter-day output. Forgoing their usual post-rock penchant for a small number of tracks all clocking in at approximately ten minutes, the numerous cuts (12 in all, marking the most of any Deafheaven album to date) prioritise instantaneous delivery on their most sprawling and musically diverse collection yet, fusing their harshest and most accessible sonics into one monumental victory lap touching upon everything from black metal to shoegaze, dream-pop, thrash, post-rock, emo, screamo and post-punk.
Review: The film score to Kelly Reichardt's understated modern buddy movie classic, Old Joy, was composed by Yo La Tengo; one of the band's many soundtrack works, in addition to Shortbus, Junebug and Game 6, the Old Joy soundtrack was born of a years-long friendship held between the director and members of the band. Apt, since the film itself concerns the innate strength of amicable male bonds, maintained for years, even decades. This is also the most pensive and ruminative of all of Yo La Tengo's soundtracks, coming marked by montaging, repetitious guitar licks and pedal tones; excursive feels all round, matching the film's sombre and contrite climax. Now reissued for the first time on vinyl.
Review: Xiu Xiu's latest release, 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips, is a striking exploration of sonic chaos and emotional depth, reflecting the band's continual evolution and fearless creativity. The album, which marks a departure from previous aesthetic boundaries, showcases the unique talents of Angela Seo and Jamie Stewart. Recorded with the renowned John Congleton, known for his work with Chelsea Wolfe and Swans, this LP delivers a raw, visceral experience that challenges. The record's nine tracks feature their commitment to pushing musical limits. The name itself evokes a sense of edgy rebellion, mirroring the album's content which embraces randomness and disruption. From the unsettling ambiance of 'Veneficium' to the potent intensity of 'Common Loon,' each song confronts the listener with its own distinctive narrative and sound. This album is an audacious mix of industrial churn and psychedelic textures, wrapped in a framework of democratic, experimental ethos. Xiu Xiu's recent relocation to Berlin has infused the music with an urgency and defiant spirit, underscoring their desire to stay ahead of disaster. In 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips, Xiu Xiu offers a profound and unsettling journey, a vivid reminder of their enduring relevance and creative audacity.
Review: Frank Zappa's Apostrophe (') stands as one of his most acclaimed works, achieving both commercial success and critical acclaim. It was Zappa's first Gold Record and top ten hit in America while 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow' reached the popular charts as well. This 50th Anniversary edition, released on a striking metallic gold vinyl, features a new remaster by Bernie Grundman, celebrating an album that has been a cornerstone for discovering Zappa's unique musical style. The album blends Zappa's trademark humor with intricate musicianship, featuring a mix of incomplete narratives and clever satire. 'Don't Eat the Yellow Snow' introduces listeners to Zappa's peculiar sense of humor with its distinctive guitar fills and drumming. 'Nanook Rubs It' continues the story with fast-paced guitar work and playful horn arrangements. 'St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast' showcases excellent horn and xylophone work in a brisk, energetic track. 'Father O'Blivion' is an eccentric blend of spacey effects and zany lyrics, while 'Cosmik Debris' stands out with its compelling guitar riff and biting social commentary. Tracks like 'Apostrophe' feature a powerful collaboration with Jack Bruce of Cream, marked by exceptional bass and guitar performances. 'Uncle Remus' impresses with its uplifting piano and engaging solos, and 'Stink-Foot' rounds out the album with bluesy riffs and humorous lyrics. Apostrophe (') remains a seminal album that captures Zappa's eclectic genius and continues to impress new listeners with its inventive spirit.
Review: The God Machine were one of the hottest bands of the 90s. They were signed to Fiction records (home to The Cure) and released two astounding albums of dark and industrial-sounding alternative rock. This is the second and final album from the San Diego/London band, whose history has been blighted by grief. Shortly after completing this album, their bassist Jimmy Fernandez suddenly died from a brain hemorrhage, brining an abrupt, unexpected and tragic end to the band. However, their legacy lives on thanks to the power of the music they've left behind. Highlights from this staggering album include 'Tremolo Song', which has a punishing, dark, swaggering, Stone Temple Pilots-esque feel. And the pulsating, tense cut, 'The Love Song' and the stirring 'The Devil Song', with its post-rock finale, are gripping reminders of the band's superior quality.
Review: Public Service Broadcasting's The Last Flight continues their signature blend of historical storytelling with electronic and post-rock soundscapes. The album explores the final chapter of humanity's quest for aviation and space exploration, layering archival audio with atmospheric instrumentals while leaning on the real-life events of the last ever flight by Amelia Earhart in 1937. She had already navigated over 20,000 miles and 5 continents on her round-the-world trip but then vanished without a trace and her whereabouts remain a mystery. Tracks are emotionally charged and cinematic in a record that feels both nostalgic and forward-looking. The band's use of vintage recordings and synth-driven melodies beautifully captures the spirit of human achievement.
Review: Apta dives deep, crafting a sonic odyssey that mirrors the ebb and flow of a psychedelic experience. Gone are the predictable structures of verse-chorus, replaced by a free-flowing exploration of texture and timbre. Modular synthesis intertwines with analogue warmth, guitars shimmer and distort and even vocals make a surprising appearance, adding an ethereal layer to the immersive soundscape. 'Shiver' and 'Awash' stand out with their post-rock leanings, showcasing Apta's ability to blend ambient textures with twirly melodies. But, the journey takes unexpected detours with moments of gritty percussion and analogue distortion mirroring the emotional turbulence of a psychedelic plunge. This is a sonic tapestry woven from diverse influences, touching on post-rock, pop ambient and kosmische, yet ultimately forging its own unique path. It's an album that demands your attention, revealing new details and hidden depths with each listen. Prepare to be surprised, intrigued and ultimately swept away by Apta's most ambitious and rewarding work to date.
Review: Yo La Tengo release their understated, lonesome score to Kelly Reichardt's modern film classic 'Old Joy' (2006), a film dealing in lifestyle differences, drifting and reconciled friendship and the passage of time among other themes, Yo La Tengo's reflective soundtrack spans just six tracks and echoes Van Morrison in its full and embellished use of repetition, pockmarked by a slid-guitar, major-third-happy melancholia. Recorded in a single afternoon at Yo La Tengo's studio in Hoboken, this is a drifting, improvisatory journey, born out of years-long friendship between the band and the film's director.
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