Search dance music

Review: As Radiohead tour the world and then regroup to record their new album, Thom Yorke releases his own record, 'The Eraser' on XL Recordings. A collection of nine new songs, the record was written and played by Thom and was produced by Nigel Godrich. Variously hailed as "The Best Band In The World" (Q Magazine), "Rock's Best Live Band" (Rolling Stone) and the band were placed at number 1 of Spin Magazine's 40 most influential artists, Radiohead has arguably become the most acclaimed and adventurous force in modern music. Over six studio albums the group have proved that it is possible to make massive creative leaps whilst continuing to grow in worldwide stature. Their records set new benchmarks for others to aim towards, whilst their live shows reach levels of intensity and exploration that few can match.

Review: Wilco's first studio album in three years, "Sky Blue Sky" has been perhaps the most ardently awaited release of 2007. Eager fans had taken to shouting out pleas for information to bandleader Jeff Tweedy during his recent solo acoustic tour, and the web chatter has been virtually deafening. On "Sky Blue Sky" Tweedy's lyrics deal forthrightly with romantic separation and reconciliation, their bittersweet quality giving way, as the album progresses, to a more uplifting, redemptive mood. Tweedy quite literally banishes the darkness on the penultimate track, the inspiring, gospel-tinged "What Light".

Review: Animal Collective return with album number eight, their first for Domino. "Strawberry Jam" was recorded by Scott Colburn in Tucson, Arizona. It's an amazing record, which should finally mark some sort of crossover for them. It bears all of their unique and charming hallmarks but with vocals and melody much more to the foreground.

Review: Leapfrogging conventional rock sounds and hop-scotching conformity, these unassuming young gentlemen yell "Up your pigeon-hole!" to an industry obsessed with format and repeated musical templates. In the humble surroundings of a quaint English seaside village, the members of Odd Shaped Head reside in chaotic harmony: Paul (bass/vocals), Ricky (guitar/vocals), Rob (drums) and Andrew (guitar); from childhood chums to grown up geeky misfits. The quirky quartet release their new single "Egomatic Annie". Their eclectic brand of energetic, rhythmic, funk-punk, jerky bass popping, powerful scatterbrained drumming and stabbing guitars bursting into vibrant melodies draws more fans along to venues already packed with a collage of characters. This is not to be missed.

Review: Band of Horses' debut "Everything All The Time" was one of ten finalists for the Shortlist Music Prize (equivalent to the UK's Mercury prize) and received rave reviews in NME, Uncut, and a slew of other music mags. Their new LP, "Cease To Begin", is a strikingly beautiful record. It has honesty, sincerity and passion and proves to be truly inspiring.

Review: Gothenburg, Sweden, is a hotbed of diverse and escalating musical talent, now boasting the dynamic, organically soulful pop sounds of Little Dragon. Featuring radiant vocalist Yukimi Nagano and her close high school friends Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrick Kallgren (bass) and Hakan Wirenstrand (keyboards), Little Dragon stepped into the spotlight with releases on Peacefrog. "Little Dragon" is their debut album.

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: "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: Social Registry brings you Blood On The Wall's new album 'Liferz'. Having gone from hometown heroes to national fan favourites and critical darlings, the band has earned its reputation as top of the rock heap.
Putting out raucously fun records, this is a portrait of a band at the top of their game - somehow they have managed to get even more awesome.

Review: Vinyl Lovers presents 'A Hard Road' from John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. More than a compilation, this album is a complete document of the Bluesbreakers' recordings with Peter Green, of which 'A Hard Road' was just the most prominent part. Bonus tracks include several non-LP singles, among them the 1967 B-side "Rubber Duck," which has never before appeared on LP.

Review: Vinyl Lovers presents the reissue of 1982’s 'Pornography', still considered by many to be The Cure's best.
This album was the band's darkest album to date, cementing their role as beacons of the emergent gothic
rock genre, with the band sporting their signature red lipstick and big hair look for the first time during this tour.

Review: Carpark gives you 'Devotion' the second album from the dreamy pop duo from Baltimore, Maryland, Beach House. Includes original songs as well as cover songs
like 'Some Things Last a Long Time', by Daniel Johnston.

Review: It's hard to untangle this hopelessly sad anthem from the equally tragic death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, but if we had to put a bet on it we'd say it would still be hailed as the masterpiece it is now without those unfortunate events. Coming, as it did, after the two albums from the band, it's the perfect half way house between their powerful, guitar-powered sound and the futuristic synthesiser waves that informed New Order not long after. Plus, it's a heartbreakingly brilliant song with lyrics that have spoken to subsequent generations without fail.

Review: 
LINKIN PARK A THOUSAND SUNS WARNERS BROS /CINRAM
2LP 9362496318 0093 6249 6318 9 £18.00
DEAL 15 RELEASED: 15.11.10
TRACKLISTING: 1. The Requiem 2. The Radiance 3. Burning In The Skies 4. Empty Spaces 5. When They Come For Me 6. Robot Boy 7. Jornada Del Muerto 8. Waiting For The End 9. Blackout 10. Wretches And Kings 11. Wisdom, Justice, And Love 12. Iridescent 13. Fallout 14. The Catalyst 15. The Messenger

Review: "NINE INCH NAILS' GROUNDBREAKING DEBUT ALBUM
REMASTERED AND RE-RELEASED

Fans can now revisit the conception of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor's Null Corporation has teamed with UMe/The Bicycle Music Company to release Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster on November 22, 2010. After completing the score for David Fincher's The Social Network, Reznor oversaw the digital remastering of Pretty Hate Machine from the newly unearthed original tapes with engineer Tom Baker (whose NIN credits include The Downward Spiral, Broken, The Fragile, With Teeth and Ghosts). This remastered version includes an eleventh track, a cover of Queen's ''Get Down Make Love,'' originally the B-side to the ''Sin'' single and produced by Al Jourgensen. Rob Sheridan, NIN's longtime art director, has also re-imagined the packaging of Pretty Hate Machine under Reznor's supervision.

As a young musician in Cleveland, Ohio, Reznor took a job at a local recording studio and employed unused studio time to develop his own material. The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tackhead). The result was the first Nine Inch Nails album, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. All songs were written, arranged, programmed and performed by Reznor. The album featured the breakthrough singles ''Sin,'' ''Down In It'' and ''Head Like A Hole,'' and ultimately sold over 3 million copies, reaching Triple Platinum sales status. In the wake of the album's initial underground success, NIN soon developed a reputation as one of the best live acts in rock and joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991. NIN have since sold more than 18 million albums, collected Grammy® Awards and headlined arenas, amphitheaters and festivals worldwide.

The Bicycle Music Company acquired the rights to Pretty Hate Machine from a division of Prudential Securities in the spring of 2010. It was Bicycle's intention from the onset to enable Reznor to regain some control of this lost piece of NIN's legacy, resulting in this artist approved 2010 reissue of one of music's most groundbreaking and influential albums.

Reznor is currently working on new music as a member of the group How To Destroy Angels, continuing his Nine Inch Nails efforts and composing for future film score projects.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Head Like A Hole
2. Terrible Lie
3. Down In It
4. Sanctified
5. Something I Can Never Have
6. Kinda I Want To
7. Sin
8. That's What I Get
9. The Only Time
10. Ringfinger
11. Get Down Make Love"

Review: Anyone lucky enough to have caught James Murphy and his entourage of highly talented musical friends live will attest that it's here LCD Soundsystem truly excel. And whilst this London Sessions album recorded in the aftermath of such a performance at last year's Glastonbury Festival does not replicate such an elation filled experience, the chance to hear some of the band's best tracks recorded live makes this worth investigating. It's basically a showcase for how tight a group of musicians Gavin Russom, Pat Mahoney and Nancy Whang are, most notably on "Get Innocuous" where Russom really goes to town on the synths and "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" which gets embellished with a liberal dose of tightness, tautness and spikiness. The band has such an all encompassing back catalogue that you could spend all day dissecting which tracks they should have included here, and it's a mark of the aforementioned tightness that even the somewhat risible "Drunk Girls" sounds markedly improved here.

Review: · Hot on the heels of acclaim from Pitchfork,
Stereogum and various other dot-com entities,
Toronto two-piece Memoryhouse make their Sub
Pop debut with ‘The Years’, a mini album
containing their 2010 digital-only, self-released EP
fully re-recorded, remixed and remastered, plus
the new tracks ‘Modern, Normal’ and ‘Quiet
America’. The five tracks form a cohesive set of
gorgeous, ethereal synth-pop songs, all of which
are seeing their first release on CD or LP.
· ‘The Years’ was re-recorded and mixed by Evan
Abeele with the help of Daniel Gray in Toronto.
· Memoryhouse will also be releasing a new fulllength
in 2012.
Tracklisting
Sleep Patterns
Lately
Modern, Normal
To The Lighthouse
Quiet America

Review: 32 years on from the release of their debut album Speak and Spell, Basildon's finest drop their 14th full length. While there are echoes of their eyeliner-wearing, synth-bothering futurist past (see the glitchy "My Little Universe" and early New Order-ish "Broken", where Dave Gahan sings about 'dreaming of the future'), for the most part Delta Machine finds them in grinchy synth-rock mode, presumably shaking their fists at passing youngsters like a gang of grumpy old men. Thankfully, they're still capable of great things - "Soothe My Soul" has echoes of "Personal Jesus" - and there's enough to suggest there's some life in the old dogs yet.

Review: A year shy of its 40th anniversary, Inspiration Information enjoys a reissue and it's still as sparkly and soul-laden as it was in 1974. Ranging from the guitar-twanging smoky blues funk of "Rainy Day" to the sultry, strutting title track, it's largely regarded as Otis's most comprehensive work of that time. According to legend it took him three years to create... 39 years later and it still sounds as good as this? We'd say that's time well spent!

Review: Music On Vinyl are our new best friends. With a wide range of music being reissued as of late, Yello's 1987 One Second is just spoiling us. Never being fully acclaimed when it was originally released, this is one album which really spans the full circle in terms of artistic ideas sonic experimentations. While being tagged primarily as a pop work, it's really more of a lesson in synth manipulations and nutty beat-making. "The Rhythm Divine" has to be out top track but do check the whole thing, it's magnificent...

Review: A true Dead Moon classic and one of their most beloved LPs. Features the mega hit "It's Okay" along with other classics like "Day After Day", "Cast Will Change", "Unknown Passage" and the best version of "Times They Are Changin'" ever recorded! All hits, no misses on this timeless LP. Lovingly remastered by Timothy Stollenwerk.

Review: Five years after the second life of Death was started with the release of their revelatory 1976 album, "For The Whole World To See", "III" slams the door on the vault with a powerful set of songs that bring equal amounts of rock and ethereal soul-searching, in high-fidelity, rich bottomed, studio-grade sound. Alongside songs from 1975, 1976 and 1980, "III" contains two songs from 1992, as the Hackney brothers reconvened nearly a decade after they'd stopped playing together. The album serves as a companion piece of sorts to the "A Band Called Death" documentary, tracking the band's movement from spiritual young rockers to older and wiser, bruised-but-undefeated brothers, in pure musical terms. David Hackney's visual representation of Death was a triangle, where "spiritual", "mental" and "physical" formed the three angles. With this in mind, "For The Whole World To See" is clearly the physical corner, with its undeniable proto-punk power; "Spiritual-Mental-Physical" explores the mental axis, with Death working through some of their influences including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Who and even ELO in their practice space. "III" is the spiritual end of the portrait, bookended by the dreamlike rock visions of David Hackney that created and propelled the band called Death.

Review: "Anthology" serves as a celebration of The Clean, a band whose influence extends so far beyond their New Zealand home that even if you have never heard of The Clean before, you have surely heard of some of the bands (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Superchunk, to name a few) who have been influenced by their unique blend of homemade garage rock, hook-filled melodies and psychedelic experimentalism.

The album is a compilation from across The Clean's legendary career, which began in 1981 and continues today. Merge originally released the two CD "Anthology" in 2003, but now this collection is available on quadruple LP. "Anthology" kicks off with The Clean's call-to-arms debut "Tally Ho!"; the story of the infectious track's $60 recording bill is now legendary. It continues with the early EPs "Boodle Boodle Boodle" and "Great Sounds Great" in their entirety. The hits "Billy Two", "Anything Could Happen", "Beatnik" and "Getting Older", live favorites like "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" and instrumentals "Fish" and "At the Bottom" all serve up memories of the joyous noise that characterized The Clean of that time. These recordings, mostly made by the band with Chris Knox and Doug Hood at the helm of the 4-track, capture the bright, raw sound of a classic garage band.

After a brief breakup, the band recorded "Vehicle" in 1989, made in three days and engineered by Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine). The sounds of "Vehicle" and the two albums that followed it, "Modern Rock" (1994) and "Unknown Country" (1996), make up the bulk of discs 3 and 4 of the vinyl "Anthology". In addition to selections from these full-length recordings, "Anthology" includes two songs released only on a US 7 inch and two that appeared on a bonus flexidisc with the "Modern Rock" LP.

Review: Whilst The Raveonettes' ten-year career to date has largely consisted of variations on a theme (namely a glamorously simplistic boy/girl take on Phil Spector through a wall of fuzz, with nods naturally to the Jesus & Mary Chain) 'Pe'ahi' shows them stretching themselves out beyond both the pop song format and their usual garagey instrumentation, and it's a departure that suits them. The duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, with the help of producer Justin Meldal-Johnson (Nine Inch Nails, M83) delve into hip-hop beats, walls of sampled noise, harps and choirs, yet their ear for a hook and their pop sensibility never ceases to shine through the chaos. Not only their most adventurous, but also their most personal record to date, this is the sound of a band expanding their comfort zone with style.

Review: In The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls and Crime And The City Solution, Rowland S. Howard set out his stall as not only a rock 'n' roll renaissance man but one of the most startlingly inventive and fiery guitarists of a generation, developing the innovation of players like Ron Asheton and Tom Verlaine in his own jagged and idiosyncratic manner. "Pop Crimes", sadly, marks something of an epitaph for Howard, yet it also stands alone as a dusky, laconic and affecting collection of Lynchian serenades and torch songs. A fine testimony to a unique talent.

Review: Food Stamps is a great example of a record that fell between the cracks on its original release back in 1982. The one and only release from Baltimore-based funk-rock explorer Billie Senger, it has achieved cult status amongst record collectors due to its obscurity (finding original copies is notoriously tough). This reissue - pressed on green vinyl with new cover artwork - should, then, prove popular. "Food Stamps" - a riotously loose and floor-friendly chunk of funk from the Rare Earth school of white funk-rock - is the real killer, though the MC5-influenced flipside "How Do I Know" impresses with its fuzzy, recorded-in-a-shed feel and extra-cosmic production.

Review: Marking the start of an exciting new collaborative project, Wolf + Lamb proudly share the debut release of The Waves & Us. Formed out of
a creative meeting of minds between Maayan Nidam, Markus Nikolaus and Louis McGuire, theirs is a sound that strengthens the storied
approach of a live band with the experimental thrust of analogue electronics. Pop and rock fundamentals lend an earthly hook to the
tracks, but these are anything but straight-forward songs.
Maayan has already forged a formidable career in electronic music, both under her own name and as part of Mara Trax, scoring releases
on such celebrated labels as Perlon. Markus performs his own solo project Cunt Cunt Chanel, while Louis is part of Ballet School, a band
releasing on noted indie label Bella Union. The whirlwind of creativity that has whipped up around the trio has yielded an album which will
follow this single, made up of one-take recordings that capture the energy and adventure that powers The Waves & Us.
Maayan's electronics provide the atmospheric backdrop to the songs, running modular synthesisers and drum machines through detailed
chains of processing and effects with an emphasis on a warm, charmingly rough finish. Markus' guitar undergoes a similar fuzzy treatment
while his voice calls out introspective, abstract lyrics to set the mind racing. Louis' bass underpins the music with a dubby sensibility,
bringing a necessary balance to the frequency range.
Making the most of their in-the-room recording approach, the singles will feature alternative takes of the songs that will appear on the
album, providing a little insight into the flutters and fluctuations that shape the development of this project. With their eyes fixed on live
performances and an arresting sound already formed, this is a vital time for all three artists and the people that listen to them.

Review: Johnny Marr's solo debut of 2013, The Messenger showed him channelling his love for classic guitar rock through post-punk dynamics and a sense of urgency apparently abetted by his time spent in Modest Mouse and The Cribs. Keen to establish himself as an artist in his own right rather than a sideman, Payland builds on that album's impact, delivering an impressive salvo of sparky intensity; 'Easy Money' may well be the catchiest and most immediate thing he's committed to wax for decades, whilst elsewhere he brings a chilly frissante to proceedings, seemingly inherited from the like of Wire and Gary Numan. After thirty years of wrenching new inspiration from six strings, it can be a powerful tonic to know that this curiously youthful figurehead is still as restless and driven as ever.

Review: Inspired initially by the likes of Screaming Jay Hawkins, Tom Waits and Nina Simone, the Wicklow-born Andrew Hozier-Byrne nurtured his own unique voice, taking soulful gravitas and bluesy grit and using them to sculpt songs with both a soul-searching approach and an unusual earthiness. His first single Take Me To Church was a surprise hit, its existential crises and potent melancholy striking a chord via their intensity of delivery, and this debut shows that it was no flash-in-the-pan. In a world of young artists overly obsessed with overstating their own authenticity, it doesn't take long to work out you're in the presence of one with raw talent to render such concerns redundant.

Review: This September 21st, Leonard Cohen hit 80 years of age, and what better way to enter his ninth decade on earth than with another reliably dark and insightful series of grave reflections on the human condition. And indeed, with his stark ruminations backed with skill and taste by arrangements from erstwhile Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard, he arguably hasn't sounded better in around half that time. Popular Problems is as witty, as wry, and as eternally affecting as we've come to expect from this troubadour. Indeed, while Cohen continues to make records as fine as this one, balancing out taste and refinement with gravitas and humour, we'll be forced to agree with his assertion herein: 'The party's over, but I've landed on my feet'.

Review: Emotional Rescue label boss Stuart Leath is particularly excited about this release, and it's not hard to see why. While Spanish singer/songwriter Javier Bergia is not widely known in the UK, his releases - either solo, or as part of the Finas Africae and Arium Musicae groups - are held in high regard by those of a Balearic persuasion. Eclipse is something of a treat, gathering together the best of Bergia's solo work from 1985 to the present day. Featuring Bergia's spoken and sung vocals atop a mix of gentle acoustics, atmospheric strings, delay-laden percussion and subtle global rhythms, Eclipse impresses from start to finish. It should be essential listening for anyone with even the tiniest interest in Balearica.

Review: This collection focuses in an era of Japanese music in which fashion, glamour and kitsch collided to create an addictive sound that morphed Westernized shapes into something kaleidoscopic and unique; the GS (or Group Sounds) phenomenon had seen Japanese artists attempting their own take on the high-energy onslaught of the Beatles and the British invasion, but elsewhere the female artists of the era were crafting a sound that tipped its hat to bossa nova, psych-pop and French ye-ye whilst maintaining a distinctly Japanese approach. Vibrant, eclectic and shot through with an insouciance and style rich even for this era, this is a compilation that sounds as exotic today as it did in the '60s.

Review: Ruins is the 10th LP from Portland artist Grouper, an incredible set that's found it's home on the inimitable and always on- point Kranky label...and yes, it's another fine outing from the voco-noise head. Tracks like "Clearing", however, show another side to Grouper's usual rough edge. There's an element of smoothness to those sombre keys and far-out vocals. It's basically an ambient album with an extra layer of soul in its core - check "Made Of Air" for a seriously trippy set of soundscapes.

Review: Arriving some twenty years after the last Pink Floyd album proper, 1994's The Division Bell, this new offering - which stands to be their last ever - apparently functions as both a swansong for their enormously influential outfit and a tribute to late keyboard player Rick Wright. Constructed partly from demos for the aforementioned album, as well as recordings from as far back as 1968, it somehow manages to showcase the closest the band has come to the classic Floydian sound in decades. Indeed, replete with Gilmour's soaring leads and ambient dreamscapes, it frequently recalls the heralded days of 'Wish You Were Here' amidst an atmosphere of beatific melancholy. If this is the moment that the rock giants choose to bow out, their legions of fans can rest assured they're doing so with both grace and style.

Review: A musical polymath like no other, the late Arthur Russell turned his hand to a bewildering variety of different musical styles, from avant-garde torch songs to pounding disco, yet all imbued with his otherworldly songwriting skill and richly emotional voice. This posthumous compilation, however, collects together the more oddly accessible material that he created, in largely acoustic and country styles. The cowboy hat on the sleeve may be strangely appropriate here, but more than this, the blend of plaintive melancholy and freewheeling charm can only leave the listener wondering how Arthur Russell managed to avoid mainstream success in his all-too-brief career. A strange and beguiling transmission from a unique talent.

Review: Long-term Pumpkins fans might have been forgiven for thinking that Billy Corgan had taken leave of his senses of late, given his ventures into wrestling management and the eight-hour freeform modular synth take on Herman Hesse's Siddhartha that he baffled an audience with in his coffee shop recently. Yet fear not: on the evidence of Monuments To An Elegy, the combination of riff attack, fragile melody and plaintive melancholy that was at the heart of the Pumpkins' classic work is very much present and correct, not to mention Corgan's charismatic songwriting suss. Monuments To An Elegy is a fitting title, for both the rock solid and emotionally engaging elements of classic Pumpkins are here explored anew.

Review: Josh Tillman, the ex-Fleet Foxes member, has confused plenty with his alter ego Father John Misty, and occasionally it can be hard to tell whether the recently-married troubadour is inhabiting a distinct role or dealing out confessional ditties straight from the heart. Yet what is beyond question is how fascinating and addictive I Love You, Honeybear manages to be. By turns lushly arranged and stark, Tillman sets his reflective songwriting to a sonic backdrop infused with Laurel Canyon flavour, arriving at a reinvention of the singer-songwriter stylings of the mid-'70s for a newer, still more complicated era-think Elton John by way of John Grant. The result is a modern-day triumph that's as acerbic as it is emotionally involving.

Review: Tropics - AKA singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chris Ward - deals in a smooth and spare electronic sound, in which the love of '80s Peter Gabriel and Arthur Russell that he grew up is parlayed into yearning songs that are both stylishly understated and emotionally engaging. Never less than inventive and melancholically melodious, 'Rapture', his second album, makes for an exquisite litany of heartache and regret, as Ward delivers the kind of late night tales that will be manna to anyone whose tastes veer in the direction of Sade, James Blake and The XX alike.

Review: No-one could accuse the London-based duo Public Service Broadcasting of lacking ambition-after the runaway success of their debut 'Inform - Educate - Entertain', this second album, whilst still utilising their trademark mixture of archive audio recordings, krautrock and post-rock. focuses conceptually on the '60s space race, and summons up a suitably widescreen and emotionally resonant backdrop for these stirring tales of voyages into the unknown. Both playful and respectful, it's a heartfelt record whose experimental elan matches the ground-breaking nature and sense of wonder of the subject matter, with these soundscapes and grooves sounding forceful and engaging even whilst they're figuratively staring at the stars.

Review: The New Zealand-born, Portland-based Ruban Nielson initially made a name for himself by marrying psych rock and lo-fi styles in a messy, Beefheartian manner, with jam-band wig-outs vying for attention with expressive songcraft. On 'Multi Love', however, he's both reined in the excesses of yore and sharpened up his songwriting, and the result is a veritable tour de force. Pop-tinged melody and emotional candour make for impressive bedfellows on these nine expansive and inventive ditties, which take as much inspiration from Prince or Janelle Monae as they do The Grateful Dead or Zappa. 'Multi Love' marks the place where Nielson genuinely makes his presence felt as a modern-day psychedelic visionary.

Review: Somehow summoning the chutzpah and spirit to go bigger-better-faster-more on each one of their albums thus far, Muse here dish out another feverish, histrionic and mightily compelling collection of widescreen art-rock stompers. With the help of none other than 'Mutt' Lange in the producer's chair, the Teignmouth three-piece make a record with an epic scope and grandstanding aplomb that could put it in the ring with any of the stadium acts he's worked with in times of yore. With an anti-war theme surrounding ditties that loom large in the imagination, 'Drones' is another bold step for this unlikely trio.

Review: Supergroups that look perfect on paper can often misfire in practice, which makes it both a relief and a revelation that this meeting of minds between the Glaswegian dance-pop freaks and the legendary glam progenitors hits the spot so spectacularly. With both acts playing to their strengths, and sharing ideas in effusive fashion, FFS is a collection of indelible songs that never let their artful campery and arch histrionics triumph over melody and fresh invention. As over the top in its flamboyance as one would expect this collaboration to be, this inspired collision of circumstances has more than enough substance to match its style.

Review: The name Wolf Alice is derived from a story by Angela Carter, and appropriately enough this savage and infectious debut does have more than a little of the fairytale gone macabre about it. The band's indie-rock sound veers in a myraid other stylistic diversions, taking in delicate folk-pop, kraut-tinged groove and My Bloody Valentine guitar scree whilst Ellie Roswell's charismatic whisper-to-scream presence remains fervent and compelling at the mic. Moreover, these songs not only have claws but know how to use 'em, rendering 'My Love Is Cool' more than a mere zesty reinvention of grunge yore, but somewhat akin to the sound of a major new talent taking their first blood.

Review: The name Wolf Alice is derived from a story by Angela Carter, and appropriately enough this savage and infectious debut does have more than a little of the fairytale gone macabre about it. The band's indie-rock sound veers in a myraid other stylistic diversions, taking in delicate folk-pop, kraut-tinged groove and My Bloody Valentine guitar scree whilst Ellie Roswell's charismatic whisper-to-scream presence remains fervent and compelling at the mic. Moreover, these songs not only have claws but know how to use 'em, rendering 'My Love Is Cool' more than a mere zesty reinvention of grunge yore, but somewhat akin to the sound of a major new talent taking their first blood.

Review: What is left to be written about the debut Joy Division album that hasn't been written already? Well, not much except to say if you've never heard it, you must. This is the more raw of the two studio albums, powered mainly by the foundations laid down by bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. But although the rudimentary electronic experimentalism of its successor Closer are missing - with the possible exception of 'She's Lost Control' - Martin Hannett's production job creates an uneasy world of magical reverbs and echoes that lure in the listener. From its iconic, Peter Saville sleeve to classic songs like 'Shadowplay' and 'Interzone' - which started life as a cover of Nolan Porter's Northern Soul cult hit 'Keep On Keeping On' - this is the template that effectively launched a thousand bands, from indie and post punk to goth and beyond.

Review: Australian combo Tama Impala has always been hard to pin down, with their two studio albums to date displaying a keen desire to capture a trippy, psychedelic vibe, whilst refusing to settle on one easy-to-categorize sound. Currents, their fourth album, continues this trend, toning down some of the psychedelic rock elements in favour of nods to blue-eyed soul, woozy dream-pop, cheery summery pop (see the radio hit in waiting "The Less I Know The Better"), and even the head-nodding rhythms of hip hop (which, incidentally, prove the perfect backing for the morphine pop wooziness of "Past Life"). It's a blend that re-casts the band as baked, inter-dimensional travellers with a neat line in enveloping, sun-kissed downtempo pop.

Review: It's been a turbulent four-year period leading up to the release of 'No No No' for Zach Condon, including a divorce, a breakdown and a period in hospital in Australia for exhaustion. Yet surprisingly, he appears to have arrived at the other side with what may be his most uplifting and direct record to date. Far from the orchestrated, nostalgic laments of his earlier work, 'No No No' evolved from songs written as a piano-led trio, and is a short and sweet work dominated by understated '70s pop style arrangements, representing a reinvention that strips back to the radiant melody that was always at the heart of his music.

Review: Summer is drawing to a close, so what better time to avail ourselves of the eleventh record by these masters of melancholia. Low's back catalogue has proven them to be a band possessed of a consistency to match their emotional heft, and Ones & Sixes is no exception quality-wise - the band dispenses indelible and satisfyingly chilly ditties which balance out exquisite harmonies, fetching songcraft and understated charm, whilst also offering curveballs redolent of a band whose less-is-more aesthetic doesn't preclude an experimental slant - the electronic textures around the album's edge and the surprisingly poppy 'What Part Of Me' being cases in point.