Yo La Tengo: There’s a Riot Going On review – improvised meditations

Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 album of the same name was a full-on record, reacting to extraordinary times. Yo La Tengo’s 15th-odd offering sounds nothing like its namesake. It too is a reaction to tense times, but a much … Continue reading →

Yo La Tengo: There’s a Riot Going On review – blue sky doo-wop with a crunchy rock edge

The chorus that Georgia Hubley sings softly on the second track of Yo La Tengo’s 15th studio album serves almost as a mission statement for the trio: “Whenever I see you, there are shades of blue.” Yo La Tengo are, … Continue reading →

The Magic Gang: the Magic Gang review – amiably harmonic, lovelorn indie

The last time major labels were signing amiable, jangly indie bands came in the aftermath of Creation Records’s dissolution, when Columbia Records attempted to turn Teenage Fanclub’s Britpop-adjacent success into hot cash. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work, and the two … Continue reading →

Mount Eerie: Now Only review – drops of light pierce the fog of grief

Phil Elverum’s last album focused unsparingly on his wife’s death, and a year later, the loss is still paralysing, though leavened with tiny moments of hope

Editors: Violence review – brawny, hooky and tinged with feeling

A man untroubled by Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours theory, 16 years in, Editors’ Tom Smith still writes lyrics like he’s planning the script for a particularly zealous ghost tour. Lovers scream, bones turn to dust, streets are paved with souls … Continue reading →

The Breeders: All Nerve review – reunited rockers get dark and deep

Kim Deal’s cult band – having returned to the lineup of their classic Last Splash – deliver an album that blends ancient monuments and crushed beetles into a spectral brew

Augie March: Bootikins review – an exceptional rumination on time passing

In two decades the band have never made an average record, much less a bad one, and this is up there with their very best

Turnstile: Time & Space review – teeth-rattling hardcore … with a dash of Status Quo

Eight years after singer Brendan Yates and guitarist Brady Ebert started rehearsing in a neighbour’s garage, the Baltimore quintet’s riotous live shows have made them one of the most discussed bands in hardcore. Their second album follows a major label … Continue reading →

Anna von Hausswolff: Dead Magic review – doomy epic from a supernatural talent

(City Slang)

Insecure Men: Insecure Men review – slacker supergroup find redemption in pop

Asked to leave Fat White Family due to addiction issues, Saul Ademczewski cleaned up, convened with Childhood’s Ben Romans-Hopcraft, and made an album of hope and horror

Wild Beasts review – heart-racing, poignant farewell from indie originals

This glorious final gig by the fearless Cumbrians almost makes you wish bands would break up more often

US Girls: In a Poem Unlimited review – joyous pop meets protest music

‘It so happens that, right now, a lot of the things I’ve been talking about for the last 10 years of doing this project are all coming to a head in the mainstream,” Meghan Remy – AKA US Girls – … Continue reading →

The Orielles: Silver Dollar Moment review – a garage rock masterclass

The pathway from sweaty pub to wealth, fame and five nights at Wembley Stadium carved out by generations of rock stars is now overgrown. Creatively, guitar music is a genre wrung dry of major innovation. It isn’t even a form … Continue reading →

Franz Ferdinand: Always Ascending review – geometric diagrams of pop

It is 14 years since Franz Ferdinand helped propel indie into the British mainstream with their single Take Me Out, a lustful song that mixed Roxy Music’s polished theatrics with the spiky, wry post-punk of Josef K. Yet while the … Continue reading →

The Clouds and Falling Joys review – spirit breaks through nostalgia-fest

The Triffid, Brisbane A reunion tour by two 1990s Australian bands engenders lots of affection – but the Clouds especially still sound fresh