Latest Reviews

When it comes to soul, the genre has been shaped into its modern form by artists such as Sam Smith and Daniel Caesar. However, it’s grown incredibly distant from its roots to an almost indistinguishable degree, but that doesn’t mean that old soul like our grandparents used to enjoy is dead and gone. In fact, Leon Bridges might be the largest force in keeping that energy alive to this day, and he does a better job than ever in his newest single with Keite Young, Like a Ship.

The Melvins played a big part in the development of grunge and sludge metal in the 1980s and early 1990s, and now in their fifth decade together, the veteran rockers are still going strong. Working With God is their 24th album (not including split records) and, though they’ve been through all sorts of personnel changes over the years, this new release finds them back in their original 1983 lineup of Buzz Osborne (vocals / guitars), Dale Crover (bass), and Mike Dillard (drums).

Zara Larsson is emphatically fierce in her latest single, ‘Look What You’ve Done.’ The infectious melody will immediately grasp you and immerse you within its celebratory but slightly wistful atmosphere. Zara has had a lot of success in embedding eighties-themed disco-pop sounds into her tracks, where she usually pairs a modern verve with an intoxicating, devil-may-care attitude.

Geordie rockers Maximo Park threw caution to the wind with their last album Risk To Exist, an angry, acerbic record that took aim at Brexit and Trumpism and marked a significant lyrical shift from frontman Paul Smith. The album was accompanied by a zine that included a contribution from political commentator Owen Jones, and essays from Smith. For fans and critics alike, it was a dramatic transformation from the band that burst onto the scene in the mid-2000s with the swaggering, indie dance pomp of Graffiti and their debut album A Certain Trigger.

American singer and songwriter Madison Beer got her break aged just thirteen when Justin Bieber tweeted a link to Beer’s YouTube cover of Etta James’s At Last, then signed her to Island Records. Her first single Melodies was then released in 2013 (the video featured a cameo from Bieber himself), and Beer began work on her debut album, reported at the time to have pop and R&B influences.

Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III – known by his stage name Aloe Blacc – is a man of many talents. As a musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, he’s worked on a wide variety of projects. He topped the UK charts with his singles I Need A Dollar and The Man, and wrote and performed vocals on Avicii’s Wake Me Up, which topped the charts in 22 countries, and has amassed almost 1,250,000,000 streams on Spotify. Alongside fellow US record producer Exile, Blacc also forms the hip hop duo Emanon.

Fans of NOFX might be a little bit confused by the opening notes of their fourteenth studio record Single Album. Not only did the edgy, palm muted guitar that opens the album take five years to arrive (for such a prolific band, the long wait since their last album First Ditch Effort dropped in 2016 seems cavernous) but yes, no matter how many times you listen to it, there’s no escaping the fact that that’s the riff from Bryan Adams’ Summer Of 69…

Davy has always found ways to push the envelope when it comes to musical innovations. He has always refused to stick to one genre, or rather to let himself be boxed in to labels. With each new track, it seems to get harder and harder to describe his music other than to simply say “It’s Davy”. It’ll be Okay, his newest single, is by far the most ambitious of his recent releases.

The Hold Steady are one of those bands that seem to have been around forever, a bonafide part of the fabric of American music. But despite their reliable, dependable name, and penchant for telling Springsteen-esque tales of life in the USA, they’re also not afraid of mixing things up. From the concept album debut of Almost Killed Me right up to their latest and eighth studio album Open Door Policy, which they’re sprinkled with a healthy dose of brass.

When you think of charity, you think positive, right? The feeling of hope and grace are undoubtedly positive, and the group Midlife did a wonderful job capturing pure joy in its most wholesome form with their newest charity-single Rude Girl #doingitforlaura.