Following Mark Pritchard’s remixes for Radiohead, the pair struck upon an otherworldly synergy with the track ‘Beautiful People’, a centrepiece of Mark’s 2016 solo album Under the Sun. Now Tall Tales showcases Pritchard’s mastery of archaic machines that he had previously unearthed in synthesiser archives, guiding the music down unexpected and experimental paths. Thom…
The first of this week’s smashers takes us back to March 2011, when Catherine Anne Davies aka The Anchoress recorded her debut, Communion, at London’s legendary Church Studios with an all-female string section. Recorded live in a single afternoon, Communion is a collection of songs stripped of drums and modern technology. The mini-album was named…
Skeletà is the sixth album from Grammy-winning Swedish theatrical rock icons Ghost, a band on an inevitable path to world domination. This is the band’s most unflinchingly introspective work to date. Where previous albums dealt largely with chronicling and/or observing outward-facing subject matter – such as Impera’s meditations on the rise and fall of…
The first of this week’s hottest albums is Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, the tenth solo album from Edwyn Collins. The 11-track album was recorded at his Clashnarrow Studio in Helmsdale, north-east Scotland, and was co-produced by Edwyn with Sean Read and Jake Hutton, who all play on the album. The album also features James…
Let All that We Imagine Be the Light is unmistakably Garbage. All the hallmarks and signatures for which they are known are present here: big angular guitars, precise, propulsive beats and cinematic soundscapes all lurk beneath Shirley Manson’s expressive voice, her lyrics bristling with attitude. It is the sound of a group at the…
The first of this week’s top picks is Satanic Rites of The Wildhearts, an album is conceived as a belated follow-up to the band’s classic debut, Earth vs The Wildhearts. These are songs of defiance and hope, of ragged glory, of true heart-on-sleeve emotion; songs that sound like no-one else on this planet (or the…
Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII, the groundbreaking 1972 film directed by Adrian Maben, has been digitally remastered from the original 35mm footage, with enhanced audio newly mixed by Steven Wilson. Set in the hauntingly beautiful ruins of the ancient Roman Amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy, this unique film captures Pink Floyd performing an intimate concert…
The first of this week’s blockbuster releases comes from Bdrmm, whose trademark sound hasn’t disappeared by any means, the band’s more guitar-heavy beginnings being a blueprint and influence for many of the groups breaking through in the here and now. This is a time when shoegaze is enjoying its strongest revival since its inception in…
Kelly Jones continues to cement his place amongst the great British songwriters as Stereophonics celebrate over 25 years as one of the UK’s most -loved bands with their new album, Make ’Em Laugh, Make ’Em Cry , Make ’Em Wait. The album’s 8 tracks include the brand-new single ‘There’s Always Gonna Be Something’. Stereophonics…
The first of this week’s bangers is Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams, the first solo record in over a decade from Patterson Hood. The album was born out of a friendship with producer Chris Funk (The Decemberists). The pair would often perform together for fun and, during Hood’s solo tours, made tentative plans to one…