This week we kick off with the unique Intra-I, an uplifting celebration of black music that, thanks to Theon Cross’s pioneering approach, helps to redefine the sonic possibilities of the tuba. Reflecting his own heritage, the young virtuoso melds jazz with dub, hip-hop, soca, grime and other sounds connected to the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. This is…
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as…
The cream of this week’s crop of new releases starts with Metta, Benevolence. In late October 2019, following a successful UK tour ending in a sold-out concert at the mythical Roundhouse in London, SUNN O))) entered studio 4 at BBC Maida Vale on invitation to record a live session for Mary Anne Hobbs to be…
Fear Of The Dawn is the fourth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White’s Third Man Studio during the course of 2021. Note: The LP is available on astro blue vinyl, exclusive to independent…
This week’s key releases open with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, who have reunited some fourteen years after the historic success of their first collaboration, Raising Sand (2007), which reached #2 on the UK album chart, generated multi-platinum sales and earned six Grammy awards including Album of the Year. Like its predecessor, Raise The Roof…
During lockdown last year, J Spaceman would walk through an empty ‘Roman London’ where the world was ‘full of birdsong and strangeness’, trying to make sense of all the music playing in his head at the time. The mixers and mixes of his new record weren’t working out yet. Spaceman plays 16 different instruments on…
We light the touchpaper on this week’s firecrackers with Crawler, the new album from IDLES. It’s an album of reflection and healing amid a worldwide pandemic that stretched the planet’s collective mental and physical health to the breaking point. Frontman Joe Talbot says: “We want people who’ve gone through trauma, heartbreak, and loss to feel…
Life On Earth is a departure for Hurray For The Riff Raff. Its eleven new ‘nature-punk’ tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux – songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening. For her eighth full-length album, the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra drew inspiration from…
Our six spooky sparklers start with Kid A Mnesia, which collects Radiohead’s fourth and fifth albums alongside the debut of a newly compiled third disc titled Kid Amnesiae. Exclusive to this release, Kid Amnesiae comprises material unearthed from the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions. Along with alternate versions and elements of Kid A and Amnesiac…
Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since Antiphon in 2013. Produced to layered, loving perfection by John Congleton, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods is an album of immersive warmth and mystery from a band…