Reviewed by Daniel Serotsky
No one will be listening to The Desired Effect in a few years but that’s not to be taken as a diss, the truth is reverse. This album is like Black Lace after a slow dance, a welcome novelty indeed but to use an olde fashioned aphorism: not a disc that would pull its weight long-term in the car CD changer.
Reviewed by James Lavender
You can never criticise Hot Chip for not being experimental, and again with their newest album Why Make Sense?, they have been pushing the boundaries of indie, RnB, hip-hop and dance music. The band caught the pop world’s imagination with their quirky mixture of indie pop and dance from albums such as 2006’s The Warning and 2008’s Made In The Dark, which featured the hit single ‘Ready for the Floor’. Back on those albums, the band had a sort of chop-and-change feel to the records which made them stand out, by which I mean two distinct genres of music would be vying for prominence and the chaotic results defined Hot Chip’s sound.
Reviewed by Andrew Scott
The Modfather returns with his 12th solo album Saturns Pattern. Weller can be considered amongst rock’s great re-inventors, dabbling in genres such as Punk rock, Soul, Folk and even a little bit of Acid Jazz. Befitting someone who isn’t afraid to try new things, Saturns Pattern finds Weller experimenting with different songwriting styles and new sounds.
Reviewed by Daniel Serotsky
So now Snoop Lion has shed the mane, metamorphosed back to a canid again; we have a new record with which to get busy, ten new tracks from the D.O. double Gizzy. The first the two lines of this review, whilst informative indeed, also exemplify my skills as a rap lyricist. Now, if there was one snag to my chances of making it on the rap scene, it’s that I can’t ‘spit’. Snoop Dogg’s flow prowess is well documented and he’s welcome to those two lines, gratis, on the strict proviso that he raps them.
Reviewed by James Lavender
When Palma Violet burst on the scene in 2013 with their debut album 180, they were proclaimed the “saviours of indie music”. Their mixture of garage rock, punk and psychedelic gave British indie music a much needed shot of creativity. So now they come with their second album Danger in the Club.
Reviewed by Andrew Scott
As I write this review I’m sat on Malibu Beach, enjoying a nice cold beer after a long day surfing in the California sunshine. At least that’s what it feels like after listening to the new album, California Nights, by Surf Rock duo Best Coast.
Reviewed by Andrew Scott
By the time Mumford & Sons had finished touring their last album, 2013’s Babel, they had become the band most people loved to hate. It also appeared that the band themselves weren’t that happy with what they had become. The band announced in September 2013 that they were going on hiatus and guitarist Winston Marshall was quoted as saying “Fuck the banjo. I fucking hate the banjo.”
Reviewed by James Lavender
After their reunion gigs in 2009 and 2012, the hype around a new Blur album grew like an exaggerated opinion poll in an election. Like the most recent election, Blur’s production and release of The Magic Whip, their first album in twelve years, is a surprising result to fans and critics alike.
Nothing Off Note 