Thrice are back. And it’s difficult not to get overexcited about their return. The Californian quartet boast a back catalogue overflowing with original quality and only seemed to go from strength to strength before they called it a day five years ago, leaving a unique, almost genreless hole that no band got close to filling. They’re different from other groups […]
Read moreThere’s always been a pop group inside Boyfrndz, battling to get free. On the Texas quartet’s third album, it’s closer to the surface than ever. ‘Ghosted’ turns up making a ton of noise but settles into a grungy, melodic groove that will tap on the back of your brain for days, ‘High and Tight’ is The Mars Volta covering The […]
Read moreA stirring, expressive and lush example of modern classical music, the first standalone album from film composer Richard J Birkin is outstanding. The glassy class of the opening movement, the brief but beautiful ‘The Human Voice’, and the hypnotic repeated vocals (the only ones here) of ‘Moonbathing’ are just some of the reasons why this is so immersive from the […]
Read moreThere’s a ghost in the room. It’s the spirit of Yndi Halda’s first album, ‘Enjoy Eternal Bliss’. That record, released almost a decade ago now, arrived to little fanfare but eventually you couldn’t have a conversation about the British post-rock scene without someone mentioning it. It wasn’t perfect but there was something special there, a handmade, experimental, exceptional quality. So […]
Read moreAnd now, the end is near, and so we face the final curtain. It’s been coming for a while of course, Maybeshewill announced their split in September last year and the farewell tour has been halfway around the world since then, but that doesn’t make this any easier. They’ve always been such a reliable, consistent outfit, the kind of band […]
Read moreHevy Fest is no more. In a statement released yesterday the organisers cancelled this year’s festival and cast doubt on any future events under the same name. There’s plenty of time for a more detailed postmortem but the combination of a crowded festival market and a lack of true identity had set Hevy on rocky ground for a few years […]
Read moreIt all makes sense now. One listen to ‘Audio Noir’ and it becomes clear why Bossk have taken so long to release their debut album. The Kent unit’s first new music for three years, and their first substantial release since their last EP almost a decade ago, is monolithic. It doesn’t feel like it was recorded by regular microphones in […]
Read moreDrama, drama, drama. If you caught any interview with Deftones in the lead up to the release of ‘Gore’ you could be forgiven for thinking this was a record born of conflict, full of songs of frustration and jealousy, played by a band on the edge. It was the light of frontman Chino Moreno versus the dark of guitarist Stephen […]
Read moreAt first the rumble was low- a hopeful rumour here, a one-off benefit show there. Then the noise built- there was a summer of sneaking onto festival bills and a photo of what looked decidedly like a recording studio. Now it’s confirmed– the hiatus is over, an album is due this year, Thrice are back. But before new Thrice finally […]
Read moreMogwai and the apocalypse make perfect sense. Since 1995 the Scottish instrumental outfit have traded in both compression-wave power and post-destruction almost-silence with consistently praiseworthy results. Only now can we be sure that the end of world is really the mood they were going for though. ‘Atomic’, you see, started life as the soundtrack to Mark Cousins’ BBC documentary Atomic: […]
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