Warpaint: Heads Up review – LA art-rockers take a sideways swerve

Warpaint, Los Angeles-based mistresses of the art-rock slow jam, have made a sideways swerve on their third album. Feeling hemmed in by their heavily overdubbed sound, their intention here was to capture their live show’s propulsiveness, which they have done, … Continue reading →

Merchandise: A Corpse Wired for Sound review – dirgey alt-rock stodge

Alt-rock quiz: is Flower of Sex the title of Merchandise’s latest album opener, or a Puddle of Mudd parody act? It is, in fact, the former, though A Corpse Wired for Sound does hark back to the stodgy early-noughties US … Continue reading →

Beach Slang: A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings review – thoughtful, nostalgic punk anthems

For me, teen-punk went out with bongs and wearing pavement-sweeping skate jeans. But Philadelphia trio Beach Slang are nostalgic for their lost years – the 80s era of collegiate bands like Hüsker Dü and the Replacements – while throwing its … Continue reading →

Keaton Henson: Kindly Now review – more early-hours anguish

(Play It Again Sam)

Against Me!: Shape Shift With Me review – punk’s raging radicals continue to excite

When Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender in 2012, it felt like a radical and important moment for a punk scene that was inching towards staid heritage status. The album that followed her transition, Transgender Dysphoria … Continue reading →

Local Natives: Sunlit Youth review – clever but overpolished indie

(Infectious/Loma Vista)

Teenage Fanclub: Here review – heart-tugging reacquaintance

Related: Teenage Fanclub: ‘We were never famous, so we’re still getting old’ Let’s be honest, there’s precious little left to be said about Teenage Fanclub. Unless they have a surprise reinvention as cutting-edge trap producers – and I can state … Continue reading →

Drugdealer: The End of Comedy review – delicate, post-Beatles comedown music

(Weird World)

Okkervil River: Away review – brimming with chaotic intensity

Okkervil River boast an impressive 14 former members, and a recent exodus of bandmates contributed to the tone of the band’s eighth album, which is dense, dishevelled and darkly comedic. It also, in part, commemorates the death of singer Will … Continue reading →

Tim Burgess and Peter Gordon: Same Language, Different Worlds review – beguiling and beautiful

A baggy and Britpop survivor and a venerable experimental composer don’t make natural bedfellows, which is precisely what makes the union of Charlatans singer Burgess and former Arthur Russell collaborator Gordon so beguiling. A leap out of their respective comfort … Continue reading →

Bastille: Wild World review – edging Coldplay for unfeigned emotionalism

Related: Dan Smith of Bastille: ‘I sound like a nervous wreck who hates doing this’ Being highly successful seems not to have figured in frontman Dan Smith’s aspirations for Bastille, whose 4m album sales have triggered ambivalence and self-doubt. Along … Continue reading →

Jack White: Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016 review – stripped back but still elusive

Stripped of his pearly king artifice, White’s new pose as a normal human being finds him every bit the painstaking craftsman in this classy compilation

Sunflower Bean review – sweet ferocity of celestial indie and 90s grunge

The New York trio’s psychedelic effervescence was delivered in a spectacular show, even if the songwriting could be sharper

Festival No 6 review – storm provokes a splash of blitz spirit

The weather did its best to rain on Wales’s indie parade, but those fleeing the ensuing mudbath found beguiling entertainment on the festival’s fringes – from Hot Chip’s pogo-pop to Blossoms’ breakout moment

Angel Olsen: My Woman review – beautiful songs full of things to pore over

Related: Angel Olsen: indie’s dark star tackles ‘the complicated mess of being a woman’ Angel Olsen’s third album is immediately and enormously enjoyable, but also one that might take a long time to fully absorb. Its 10 songs are by turns … Continue reading →