Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Julia Holter has subtly shifted focus on new album (her sixth in total) Something In The Room She Moves, moving away from exploring memory and dream-like states to instead focus on (in her words) "the complexity and transformability of our bodies". To create this rather distinctive (and rather good sound world), she added her own ethereal vocals to self-created backing tracks rich in electric fretless bass, warming wind and reed instruments, and distinctive synth sounds plucked from a Yamaha CS060. The results are predictably immersive and soul-enriching, with highlights including stunning opener 'Sun Girl', the percussively inventive 'Spinning', and the pastoral, dreamy 'Evening Mood'.

Review: Julia Holter herself describes this new album as "the cacophony of the mind in a melting world," and it provides the American singer, songwriter with her first studio album since 2015's Have You In My Wilderness. Aviary is an intrigue to say the least and it's hard not to feel as if a horror-thematic runs throughout its 11 tracks, with moments of temporary insanity and distress intertwining with hair-raising spots a ghostly allure, and it's as if any lightness in the album has had to pass its way through a thicket of darkness first. There's much dissonance to be heard here too but in a pleasantly unsettling way akin to listening to an orchestra tune itself, and with all the deep and meaningful aspects behind Holter's inspirations, it's a hell of a ride.

Review: Julia Holter's sixth album Something in the Room She Moves might just be the Los Angeles songwriter's best work. In the past she has often explored memory and dreamlike futures but on this new outing she is very much more in the moment throughout. She explains herself hat "There's a corporeal focus, inspired by the complexity and transformability of our bodies." Musically the album mixes fretless electric bass pitches with her unique vocal melodies. The recognisable sounds of the Yamaha CS-60 interweave with more organic wind instruments and add up to a fluid, watery sound that flows smooth and carries you along with it amongst the gorgeous harmonies.

Review: Julia Holter herself describes this new album as "the cacophony of the mind in a melting world," and it provides the American singer, songwriter with her first studio album since 2015's Have You In My Wilderness. Aviary is an intrigue to say the least and it's hard not to feel as if a horror-thematic runs throughout its 11 tracks, with moments of temporary insanity and distress intertwining with hair-raising spots a ghostly allure, and it's as if any lightness in the album has had to pass its way through a thicket of darkness first. There's much dissonance to be heard here too but in a pleasantly unsettling way akin to listening to an orchestra tune itself, and with all the deep and meaningful aspects behind Holter's inspirations, it's a hell of a ride.

Review: Julia Holter's sixth album, Something In The Room She Moves, is a dreamlike exploration of complexity and transformability, featuring flowing harmonic universes and fluid, water-like melodies. Her vocal register, reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux, Nico, or Kate Bush, possesses a matchstick intensity, rekindling its own flame through the conversation in her voice. Holter's diaphragm shifts between instruments, creating a continuum of fretless electric bass pitches counterpointing with gliding vocal melodies. Glissing Yamaha CS-60 adds a touch of experimentalism, while her production choices and arrangements maintain a sense of simplicity and refinement. Holter's singing resonates in somatic frequencies, evoking a deep connection between mind and body. With its liquid, ever-changing nature, 'Something In The Room She Moves' invites listeners to immerse themselves in a world of sound that is both ethereal and profoundly human.

Review: A warm welcome back to perennial genre-benders Hot Chip, who return to stores after three long years with their eighth album, some 21 years after making their debut. Freakout/Release is no dramatic change in direction, but instead a further distillation of what has always made the band so appealing - a trademark fusion of synth-pop, loved-up house sounds, lilting and sometimes melancholic lead vocals, loose-limbed organic drums, nods to Prince and an ability to craft killer hooks. There are highlights aplenty, from the gravelly live hip-hop funk of 'The Evil That Men Do' (where rapper Cadence Weapon delivers a star turn) and the subtly post-punk influenced, saucer-eyed brilliance of 'Hard To Be Funky' (featuring Lou Hayter), to the classic Hot Chip sing-along flex of 'Time' and the krautrock-tinged 'Out of My Depth'.