Review: With a momentum built initially by word-of-mouth alone and further abetted by a surprise Mercury win, Alt-J have built a formidable reputation for themselves as no less than a Radiohead-in-waiting, with a melodious sleight-of-hand allied to a questing and mischievously experimental side. This Is All Yours, despite seeing the band slimming down from a four-piece to a three-piece after the departure of bassist Gwil Sainsbury, sees their fresh and inventive approach showing no signs of abating, with vocal textures and rhythmic invention locking horns with samples and melancholic charm to create an arresting yet nuanced record with its gaze firmly set forward.
Last Year (feat GoldLink - Terrace Martin version) (4:07)
Pleader (feat PJ Sin Suela - Trooko version) (4:36)
3WW (feat Lomepal - Lomepal version) (3:09)
In Cold Blood (feat Kontra K - Kontra K version) (3:35)
Hit Me Like That Snare (feat Rejjie Snow - Rejjie Snow version) (2:56)
Review: Leeds in the UK has been responsible for quite a few of the worlds most loved bands, and alongside the Kaiser Chiefs, Soft Cell and even The Sisters Of Mercy, there's Alt J. As Mercury prize winners in 2012, their meteoric rise to the top sees them with three albums in their wake, and this Reduxer package is an aptly named alternative of sorts to last year's Relaxer LP. With street rhymes and urban beats nestling up alongside strokes of synth pop and Joe Newman's melancholic crooning, heavy collaborations come in from contemporary hip hop artists like Pusha T and Danny Brown. They don't, however, steal the show from the huge range of other vocal talent to be taken in, like Little Simz' devastating opening gambits to the more lyrically exotic affairs from Lomepal and PJ Sin Suela. Crashing style and genre like no one's business.
Review: Alt-J were one of the noughties most surprising success stories. And we mean no disrespect by that - the smart money is on even the band themselves being taken aback by the ferocity with which their first album blew up. Not least given its relative lack of commitment to specific sounds or styles, a landmark release the biggest criticism of which is really the fact it felt unsteady. Like a newborn lamb.
Skip forward two records, and Relaxer is arguably Alt-J finally growing into their own, and finding the confidence to set out a real stall. The personality here is strong, risk-taking pronounced, and ideas wildly varied but in a much more determined way. Is it indie rock? Is it avant pop? At times, it might even be acoustic melancholia. Whatever the label, LP three answered many questions when it landed in 2017 and few have tried to ask more since.
Review: It's now been eleven years since Bloc Party's debut 'Silent Alarm', yet the band - and particularly vocalist Kele Okereke - seem intent on rejuvenation by any means necessary. With a new rhythm section on board and a new-found focus on 'the spiritual meeting the sensual', their new effort is aeons away from the guitar-driven rage of their last 'Four' - displaying a more mature sound closer to Kele's electronically driven solo work yet also with the vulnerability - as on the tender standout 'Exes' and the stark and keening 'Different Drugs' by which these upstarts originally made their name. A bold step forward.
Review: Garbage's second studio album Version 2.0 came five years after the band had first formed. Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, Butch Vig and Shirley Manson went on to sell more than 17 million records across the length of their careers and this album was a big step up from their debut. It is gloomy and introspective but also lively and seductive in its own bleak fashion. The dense tracks have plenty of gauzy guitars and impassioned lyrics that remain iconic to this day. This newly remastered version is the first one to be made available by BMG.
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: 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: 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: The Strokes guitarist returns with his third solo album, apparently partially inspired by the work of Carl Sagan, yet clocking in at a less-than-cosmically-aligned length of 36 minutes. Yet in paring his songs down to this lean and economical length, it would seem that Hammond has played to his strengths, as 'Momentary Masters' - a vibrant and vivacious blend of afro-pop, classic power-pop and the angular guitar dynamics he helped patent in his dayjob - is as sharp, affecting and singular as anything he's laid his name to. No mere sideman's folly, this is the strongest statement yet for Hammond as both singer and songwriter in his own right.
Review: When the end days come and it's finally time to write the complete story of American rock 'n' roll, surely Pixies will get their own chapter. Legends of the grunge world, often known for a stylistic simplicity (quiet-LOUD anyone?) but unafraid to go out on a psychedelic limb when the moment suits, they've towered above the majority of acts for 28 years and, as "Beneath The Eyrie" proves, still have plenty to say. "In The Arms of Mrs Mark Of Cain" starts proceedings on a gothic-Western hybrid tip, setting things up perfectly for any song named "Graveyard Hill". Realistically when that track does arrive it switches the mood with a nod to the band's archetypal punk-infused sound, and that's precisely the point. Apparently betting the farm on this one, it's got everything from psych-folk to Tim Burton-ish ghoulish wit, making for the band's finest hour since their 2004 reformation.
Review: When the end days come and it's finally time to write the complete story of American rock 'n' roll, surely Pixies will get their own chapter. Legends of the grunge world, often known for a stylistic simplicity (quiet-LOUD anyone?) but unafraid to go out on a psychedelic limb when the moment suits, they've towered above the majority of acts for 28 years and, as "Beneath The Eyrie" proves, still have plenty to say. "In The Arms of Mrs Mark Of Cain" starts proceedings on a gothic-Western hybrid tip, setting things up perfectly for any song named "Graveyard Hill". Realistically when that track does arrive it switches the mood with a nod to the band's archetypal punk-infused sound, and that's precisely the point. Apparently betting the farm on this one, it's got everything from psych-folk to Tim Burton-ish ghoulish wit, making for the band's finest hour since their 2004 reformation.
Review: With unabashed portraits adorning the major releases of Ry Cuming's music, the coastal crooner that is RY X on stage is certainly not shy of revealing his rugged sensitivity of swoon, inside and out. A production feat of the highest order, Unfurl, presents an album diving deep in a procession of chords and reverb-drenched vocal work. With flashes of post-dubstep beats in tracks like "Untold" - possibly hinting at his James Blake inspirations - to the profound and effectively melancholic chords in "Body Sun", RY X has delivered an unrivalled album of coastal blues and roots meets contemporary pop and electronica by the way of easy listening and piano. Five Stars.
Review: It's been some sixteen years since Brit-Pop underdogs Shed Seven's previous album. Since its official demise, the genre has endured mixed attempts at revivalism, but few have captured its sound with the purity to be found on this considered and honed comeback album. Having kept quiet since reforming in 2007, Shed Seven have re-surfaced all guns blazing, with this album coinciding with their largest UK tour to date and, strangely, the launch of their own beer. 'Instant Pleasures' is an impressive return to form, packed with the uplifting anthemic moments you'd expect to hear from any one of their hit singles from the '90s.
Review: It's been some sixteen years since Brit-Pop underdogs Shed Seven's previous album. Since its official demise, the genre has endured mixed attempts at revivalism, but few have captured its sound with the purity to be found on this considered and honed comeback album. Having kept quiet since reforming in 2007, Shed Seven have re-surfaced all guns blazing, with this album coinciding with their largest UK tour to date and, strangely, the launch of their own beer. 'Instant Pleasures' is an impressive return to form, packed with the uplifting anthemic moments you'd expect to hear from any one of their hit singles from the '90s.
Review: It's the album that shot them to glory in one fell swoop, hitting stores at a time when the BBC had just listed Australia's great indie hope in the taste-making Sound of 2009 list. And, as this 10th anniversary special edition proves, the record has lost none of its emotional power or infectious musicality in that time. Opening with the pared back-yet-desperate "Love Lost", the tone is set for a record that packs as much punch as it does reel from the punishments life so readily hands out. Veering between bruised and ballsy, quiet and confident, tracks like "Rest" and lead single "Sweet Disposition" position them among the most vital and arresting guitar outfits on the scene. Soaring vocals, arpeggiated chords and frantic crescendos abound. On the stylistic flip, "Fools" and "Soldier On" showcase a far more delicate musicality, revealing a band as heartbroken as they are heartfelt.
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