Declan McKenna: What Do You Think About The Car? review – full of indie promise

The debut album from 18-year-old Hertfordshire singer-songwriter Declan McKenna suggests that the “voice of a generation” hyperbole he’s already attracted might be a little premature, yet there is much here that impresses. He certainly stands out from his peers, his … Continue reading →

Childhood: Universal High review – coming of age with old-school pop

Childhood’s 2014 debut album Lacuna bore the psych-indie-pop, Stone Roses-lite hallmarks of that moment, as shared by artists such as Peace, Swim Deep and Gengahr to name but a few. Fast forward three years and – similarly to Birmingham’s Superfood … Continue reading →

Waxahatchee: Out in the Storm review – thrillingly alive

A messy postmortem of a bad relationship, Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album as Waxahatchee is thrillingly alive with recrimination, regret and release. Opening with a storm of bright, serrated guitars, it’s also her best, most arresting collection yet. Recorded with Dinosaur … Continue reading →

Lucy Rose: Something’s Changing review – well-travelled mellow indie

It’s a music industry story as old as time: DIY folkie signs to major, becomes tired of compromise, leaves label and sets off on tour across South America, sustained exclusively by the food and makeshift beds provided by fans and … Continue reading →

Offa Rex: Queen of Hearts review – folk-rock that’s full of heart, soul and sunlight

As band-building chat-up lines go, “We’ll be your Albion Dance Band” is certainly niche. Still, it worked when US indie-rockers the Decemberists approached Olivia Chaney to form Offa Rex. They were long-term lovers of folk-rock; Chaney was a well-known collaborator … Continue reading →

Waxahatchee: Out in the Storm review – a captivating breakup album

Katie Crutchfield, the Alabama-born singer-songwriter behind Waxahatchee, has always tended towards introspection. Over the course of three well received albums, she has traded in the sort of laceratingly honest indie that to the listener feels horribly, yet compellingly intimate. So, … Continue reading →

Japanese Breakfast: Soft Sounds from Another Planet review – dreamlike and existential

Psychopomp, Korean American Michelle Zauner’s 2016 debut as Japanese Breakfast, was an emotional response to her mother’s death from cancer. The follow-up finds the singer beginning the process of healing. The vast sonic palette perhaps mirrors the way that a … Continue reading →

Sheer Mag: Need to Feel Your Love review – strutting garage rock classics

After an equally five-star compilation of their first three EPs earlier in the year, Philadelphia quintet Sheer Mag continue their run of soulful, strutting garage rock classics. Whether they are indulging in Ramonesian street fighting, Thin Lizzy peacocking or jangling … Continue reading →

The Horrors review – eldritch rockers signal move into the big leagues

Previewing their new album V, the gothic hipsters hint at a life beyond the record-nerd crowd, mixing in throbbing electronics to lighter-waving effect

Public Service Broadcasting: Every Valley review – poignant elegy to coalmining

By their own admission, as “middle-class Londoners”, Public Service Broadcasting aren’t obvious candidates to musically chronicle the rise and destruction of the Welsh coalmining industry. However, they have put a shift in: relocating to Ebbw Vale, conducting painstaking research and … Continue reading →

Melvins: A Walk With Love and Death review – still testing the boundaries of extreme music

Most bands grow more sedate with age; Melvins just seem to get sludgier. Twenty-five albums in, the band have long since perfected a sound that’s as dense as a neutron star. Death, the first disc of new double-album A Walk … Continue reading →

This Is the Kit: Moonshine Freeze review – sweet, playful indie-folk

Rough Trade’s indie-folk moment continues to eddy languorously in 2017. After signing Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker, they’ve also snapped up This Is the Kit, AKA Bristol-bred, Paris-based singer-songwriter Kate Stables, whose thoughtful, guitar-seasoned songs have gathered fans including long-time … Continue reading →

New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes review – a suitably theatrical Manchester return

There are intensely emotional scenes as New Order revisit their back catalogue on a grand scale with synth orchestra, airing songs not heard for 30 years plus rapturously received tributes to the band’s fated predecessor, Joy Division

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