New album: The former Black Midi frontman’s debut LP is a brilliant swirl of guitar rock, jazz, prog, funk, pop and a big dash of Latin, channelling Frank Zappa, a dramatic Scott Walker delivery, Broadway musicals, cello, a punchy horn section, his distinctive voice, clever, humorous, soliloquy-style lyrics
Read moreJockstrap to Steve Lacy, Björk to Weyes Blood: Favourite albums of 2022 - Part 2
Further favourite albums of 2022: Welcome to the second part of a selection for this year, many of which continue to come to terms with pandemic, climate change and other current issues but also show how music can continue to innovate, surprise and entertain
Read moreblack midi: Hellfire
New album: With heatwaves and wildfires ablaze globally, there could hardly be a more prescient title or dystopian theme by the London prog-rock-jazz experimentalist, whose third LP is strangely among their most accessible among its lightning riffs and stop-start energy of King Crimson or even Buckethead proportions
Read moreFavourite albums of 2021 - Part 2
Favourite albums of 2021 – Part 2: Welcome the second instalment, following Part 1, which can be found here. A huge number of excellent releases, of which again this is just a selection many of which were written during, and about lockdown, but also saw many outstanding voices emerge as well as innovative sounds developed
Read moreGeese: Projector
New album: Dynamic and brilliantly experimental debut LP by the very promising young post-punk Brooklyn band brimming with intricate guitars, changes of pace, vaulting from the abstract to the intimate
Read moreblack midi: Cavalcade
Album review: The British quartet’s second album after 2019’s Schlagenheim continues their boundary-pushing direction of frenetic, eclectic mix of the avant garde – jazz, funk, prog in a skilled delirium of wonderful compositions
Read moreLice – Wasteland: What Ails Our People Is Clear – album review
Album review: Experimental, clattering, clanging, sawing, banging, challenging but very rewarding, this is a very alternative, ambitious but brilliant full debut album from the Bristol postpunk band
Read moreBillie Eilish to FKA twigs to Weyes Blood: favourite albums of 2019 – part 2
The second part of this year’s LP favourites again includes several superb female artists. Also check out the first part published yesterday
Read moreNew albums: black midi, Hot Chip, Mark Ronson, Prince, The Raconteurs, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Black Pumas, Luedji Luna, Merz, Bedouine, Hatchie, Titus Andronicus, Divino Niño, Bad Breeding
This week’s huge selection includes the buzzy experimentalists black midi, rave pop from Hot Chip, funk from Georgia Anne Mulgrow, beautiful folk by Bedouine, soul from Black Pumas, and original versions from the Prince vault
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