"A brilliant thematic record with exhilarating compositions" - Consequence of Sound writes in a review of the new album 'Death Atlas' by Cattle Decapitation (gave it a straight "A"). "The level of technicality displayed throughout 'Death Atlas' is incredible; with plenty of balance between annihilating beat downs and atmospheric sequences, the record is an excellent representation of […]
"Cohen is communicating with ghosts, aware he might soon become one himself, but he sounds strangely excited rather than scared" - NME says in a review of Cohen's posthumous album 'Happens to the Heart', helmed by Cohen’s son Adam and comprised of unfinished songs from the ‘You Want It Darker’ sessions. The album is coloured […]
American poet, musician, and activist Moor Mother last week released her fourth solo record 'Analog Fluids Of Sonic Black Holes', where she "returns to the lie of a post-racial America", as Guardian hears it. "Some of her poetry, sometimes verging into rap, could be chanted through a bullhorn at a protest", with the beats "stunningly realised: […]
Justin Broadrick from Godflesh and Kevin Martin aka The Bug put their project Techno Animal to sleep and started a new one, Zonal with help vocalist Moor Mother, polymath artist and activist. The Quietus likes what they did on 'Wrecked' a lot - it's "grinding negativity and tidal heaviness provides a necessary form of catharsis, […]
"A beautiful mix between folk, pagan, progressive, death, black, and even melodic, gothic and most of all symphonic metal" - the Prog Space says about third album by the American prog-metal band Wilderun. Angry Metal Guy thinks the album is even better than that: "They have raised the bar for what progressive and melodic death […]
"'Spiritual Instinct' cracks Alcest’s form wide open and successfully goes in all kinds of new directions without being a drastic departure like 'Shelter' was. And that’s even better" - Brooklyn Vegan writes about the French blackgazers' new album. Other critics like it too: "A personal experience to rebuild, restructure and better" - Sonic Perspectives; "To return and release […]
This week the English singer-songwriter is releasing his third album, and critics really like it so far: "Gorgeous third album" - Telegraph (five of five stars); "Kiwanuka has uncovered as much of himself as he ever has, and he’s fully engaged and in tune with his own identity" - The Line of Best Fit; "Effortlessly […]
The Los Angeles-bases violinist/vocalist Sudan Archives releases her debut album 'Athena' this week, inspired by Sudanese fiddlers, R&B, West African rhythms, experimental electronic music, but, sonically, it leans mostly towards r'n'b. Her first strength, the Quietus writes, is her violin - "it’s apparent that she has absorbed the potential of the violin and fits it […]
Dublin four-piece Lankum remade traditional songs for their newest album, giving them progressive and ambient touch. The result? - "nothing less than a thorough exploration and devastation of folk’s most conventional tropes is Lankum’s impressive game" - Guardian says in a review.
Consequence of Sound gave a clean A to Swedish hard-core punks' Refused new album 'War Music', because - "No-holds-barred sociopolitical punch to the face... Masterful balance of melody and aggression... Dynamic vocals with monstrous riffs and rhythm". What CoS appreciates the most, it seems, is the context - "the lack of protest music coming from […]
"The experimental rap trio have been exploring stark sounds and extreme circumstances since they emerged on their 2013 album 'midcity'... 'There Existed An Addiction To Blood', Clipping’s new album, is a meditation on the idea of horror — horror movies, horror stories, ’90s horrorcore rap" - Stereogum is impressed with new album by Clipping. It's no […]
'No Home Record' is a first solo album by Kim Gordon, former voice of Sonic Youth, and here, she sounds as fresh as ever. Lyrically, she is dealing with "these calamitous times with as much wit and menace", as Guardian says in their review (five of five stars). Sonically, it's like anything we've heard from […]
Big Thief this week release new album 'Two Hands', five months after their latest, 'U.F.O.F.', the latest being an "earth twin" to the older one's "celestial" spirit. 'U.F.O.F' was recorded in Washington State's dewy forests, as multi-layered, highly constructed studio work, and 'Two Hands' was recorded almost entirely live in the harsh, decaying desert of El […]
It's Detroit rapper's fifth album, with appearances from Blood Orange, JPEGMAFIA, Obongjayar, and Run The Jewels. Kind words from critics: "Masterfully produced and exquisitely executed" - Clash Music; "As a presentation of Brown as an exceptional rapper, it ticks all the right boxes" - The Line of Best Fit; "It's Brown's pen game and ear […]
Guardian's music critic totally likes the new Cave&Seeds album: "The most straightforwardly beautiful set of songs that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have ever recorded". In comparison, "Ghosteen occasionally feels like an infinitely warmer, sweeter sibling of 2016’s 'Skeleton Tree'", and Cave, getting older, of course, but his voice "sounds rich". The album is composed of […]
"The album is named after Howard’s sister, who died at 13 after being diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer. It was Jaime who first taught Brittany to write a song, and now she’s writing her most unyielding and vulnerable ones, songs about coming to terms with personal identity, guarded secrets, spiritual and social […]
"It’s a bold, confident new introduction to an already-established band, and it’s not everyday that you see a band drastically reshape their sound and get heavier in the process" - Brooklyn Vegan says in review of Microwave's new album. They went from indie-rock from their first two albums to alt-rock at their newest, and - "the depth […]
Critics don't use the word "exciting" describing Tool's new album, for a reason, and, in general, it comes down to 'Fear Inoculum' being just really good music. So: "This is the most intricate and densely-layered album Tool have yet made" - Kerrang; "a languid and blissful work – one that will richly reward future listens" […]
Invisible Oranges made a selection of metal releases for this week, and what really stands out is new album 'No Rising Sun' by Californian atmospheric tech-metal band WRVTH. "With cleaner breakdowns and grander interstellar harmonic odysseys, 'No Rising Sun' represents a stunning maturation of WRVTH’s sound" - IO says, with Sputnik Music saying - "It is an […]
American rapper Rapsody just released her third album 'Eve', with each song dedicated to one of her heroes -Michelle Obama, Oprah, Egyptian queen Hatshepsut etc. (there's no 'Eve' on the album). Guardian really likes her lyricism and skill - "With a delivery cut from the same cloth as Jay-Z or Lauryn Hill, she’s a storyteller, and counterbalances […]
"The band’s most substantial and multidimensional offering to date... More of a career-encompassing opus than just the next album in their discography" - Metal Injection said, after hearing the album once. "A winding path through sounds mysterious and confrontational, uplifting and filled with darkness. Its 85 minutes unfurl like a brutal symphony in 7/4 time, […]
You could say Moken plays afro-pop indie-folk, but what distinguishes him from the rest are his "richly bizarre imagination", as PopMatters puts it, and his voice and style of singing. So, yes, he's special - "it's certainly the musical road less traveled. But to hear Moken singing his truths is undeniably delightful". Part Time Audiophile […]
"Bold, fearless and exhilarating" - Kerrang! says about masked metallers' sixth album, but it's not only metal scene that likes it. NME calls it "an astonishing record", Exclaim says it's a "rebirth of the maniacal and constantly changing sound that earned them their fame, and opens a new chapter for the band", even the sophisticated […]
"'More Arriving', the latest from UK-based drummer/tablaist and composer Sarathy Korwar, is a confrontational, musically far-reaching addition to the revolution music toolkit... A remarkable meeting of jazz, hip-hop, Indian classical music, and radical politics" - the Quietus reviews new album by the London musician. "Bursts of reggae wooziness, gnarled free-jazz atonality, and electronic noise afford […]
"'Safe And Also No Fear' is like a good short story collection, where you can glean enough personal details about the writer to get an idea of their point-of-view, but the focus is on other people and how they can be reflective of the world as a whole. Ewald has become a master of character sketches, […]
LA musician Erin Birgy published her fifth album 'Dolphine' as Mega Bog - "a 36 minutes and 36 seconds of shimmering dirges which could just as easily soundtrack ancient woodland or the night sky as the deepest imaginable depths of the sea". The Quietus compares her album to Julia Holter, Cate Le Bon and Aldous […]
"'Les étoiles vagabondes' is a masterclass in poetic devices and through exceptionally crafted efforts... Nekfeu makes a compelling case for his pen being the finest in la Métropole... Multifaceted, exhilarating and ultimately inspired body of hip-hop" - PopMatters totally likes new album by Parisian rapper Nekfeu.
"'Purple Mountains' is both a breakup album in the traditional sense and also a breakup album if all of life was one big, long breakup" - Consequence of Sound reviews the debut album by Purple Mountains, new band by David Berman, Silver Jews' frontman. "How can music be so sad and so catchy at the same […]
"Dreams, nightmares, and sleepwalking haunt the songs of 'ANIMA', Yorke’s most ambitious and assured solo album yet. It is the darkest and tenderest music he has released outside of Radiohead, floating uneasily through the space between societal turmoil and internal monologue.... Meaty, full-blooded, often a little menacing" - Pitchfork is really into Radiohead frontman's third solo […]
"This is two guys who know each other well, pushing each other and pushing themselves. It works the same as a great jazz session — these two vastly different artists figuring out how to get into each other’s groove" - Stereogum writes about 'Bandana', new album by avant-garde hip-hop producer Madlib and a big-mouthy rapper […]
