Category: Reviews

If Parks had a tagline it’d be: “making rainbows out of something painful”. On the breakthrough artist’s debut effort less is often more, but her statement is always profound.

‘Second album syndrome’ always seems to be the making or breaking of a band, and as with any genre that involves a resurgence, post-punk is at times beginning to sound a little tired. Shame, however, seem to have avoided that entirely with an engaging and ambitious follow-up to their 2018 debut.

Their latest single sees Amsterdam’s Anatolian retro rockers edge further toward a flirtatious, dancefloor-ready hedonism.

Hekt’s full-length solo debut packs together grungy riffs with hard-hitting questions about her own sexuality and identity which enabled her to be relentlessly authentic and, essentially, find happiness.

Music is salvation for many, and Frazer’s elegant album offers just that: expression, reflection, and quick steppin’ that’d incite the vibe at any Northern Soul night.

Sleaford Mods’ new album doesn’t want to reassure you. It’s a snarling wake-up call: you’re disposable now. You’d better stand up, lest you become a spare rib yourself.

Embracing mental crises in his latest single, the controversy-seeking rapper is on the warpath.

Very few remixes ever surpass the originals, and Claire Bouchers’ attempt at shifting that opinion is unfortunately best left to the Grimes completists rather than casual fans.

On album number two the sneering Stockholm post-punks pull back the booze-fuelled caricatures, revealing a more three-dimensional depiction of life as an edgelord with a conscience, with a hefty helping of, er, jazz.

12-minutes of typically transportive delirium, ‘Chemz’ has a distinct reflective depth to it, but also effects the listener on a somatic level, as dance music is supposed to.