In a number of ways The Densest Fog is Concrete Castles' simplest album. Putting aside the concepts that made their way on to many of their previous projects, this record is simply a collection of 8 piano-led tracks. Each piece was performed in a single take, with the only additions to the piano being the use of effects. Some effects bounce the notes around your head, or spread them into mist and cloud, others take what you've just heard and throw them back at you arranged completely in ... read more

A day with more Elbow is a good day

It would be no small claim for me to describe myself as an Elbow fan. Their wonderful mix of subtly progressive rock with strong pop sensibilities that could hook someone in immediately, yet still have plenty of hidden joys worth many repeated listens. At the centre of the group is Guy Garvey, whose vocals are invitingly warm and have a surprisingly large range. His lovely (and occasionally cheeky) lyrics are wonderfully poetic, but direct and down-to-earth ... read more

13347 74P3 (V01 1) or BEAT TAPE (VOL 1) is a quick 3 song/7 minute off shoot for Alkaline Pink allowing them to play about with the idea of beats to be sung/rapped over or sampled/remixed into others' music. As such this isn't really designed to be a coherent collection of tracks, but rather a sampling of what AP can do for any future collaborators.

First beat is 4MN3S14TRVPRMX or Amnesia Trap Remix, based off the song Amnesia from AP's album Chained to the Waste. Not even 2 minutes long, the ... read more

shiny key/s is a relatively simple piece. It's built around 2 main components: a piano and a small range of effects that are placed upon said piano. Usually this wouldn't amount to much more than a quick bit of improvisation that is then refined into something proper, especially not for 8 minutes. However Concrete Castles has decided to explore this idea at its core.

The handful of effects I can definitely hear are delay (a bouncy echo), reverb (a longer, more drawn out echo) and a reverse ... read more

IDLES have made a name for themselves as one of the most exciting Punk groups in Britain right now. They've done so by regularly releasing blistering records that are front-to-back heavy and focused on saying what they believe needs to be said. The lyrics are "sung" by Joe Talbot whose vocals will not allow you to ignore the message of each individual track and especially not an entire album. This is doubled by the simplicity of the lyrics, which have eschewed the idea of subtlety in ... read more

Well this is disappointing...

I've been a Coldplay fan for years now, it's practically mandatory for anyone who grew up in 00's UK. They've had some impressive highs that helped shape the landscape of British music as well as a few middling projects that at least saw the group trying new things.

After some weaker records we got Everyday Life, which I personally hailed as something of a return to form, with a good handful of tracks that were pushing the boundaries of what Coldplay and Pop ... read more

On the surface a sweet and simple Indie Pop track with some great effects added in to switch things up from time to time. But just like the most prominent effect, there's a glitch here that sees a little darkness under the surface.

The melodies, both vocal and instrumental, are pretty immediate in their ear-worminess. The progression is simple, but that allows the focus to shift towards the vocals and the lyrics. Initially the track seems to be a simple love song about a time the narrator was ... read more

I’ve been a fan of Sufjan Stevens for some time now. Growing up in a Christian family and wanting more (and better) music, inevitably led me to him. His particular style of addressing both religious and secular topics, as well as his beautifully diverse musical palette, lined up perfectly with the needs of my younger self. Even years on, no longer a Christian, his discography is still an absolute favourite of mine to binge through.

With The Ascension dropped on 25th September 2020, the ... read more

Gel. returns with an EP that shows some signs of refinement and growth, without losing what made them interesting

The Art of Anonymity still fits within the sound palette that was formed on their debut, a minimalistic take on Industrial Synth. But, they have refined much of the chaos that pervaded that record, instead streamlining things so each song here can more directly explore an individual idea.

Paranoia starts us off with weird bouncy, percussive synths a heavily distorted guitar and ... read more

MALNEEZY returns to form with a new sound

Taking a 6 month gap after My Dirty Fantasy Dreams and Only Fragments were released in the first few months of the year, MALNEEZY has clearly thought long and hard about what direction they want their music to go into and I would personally say it was worth it.

Like any good Self-Titled release, MALNEEZY makes a statement about who is behind the name. The record takes on a darker Ambient tone, leaning into softer passages and a greater focus on ... read more

With Grey Area, Simz made some strong cases for her being the best rapper from the UK and maybe even the best female rapper world-wide. With Sometimes I Might Be Introvert she fully claims these crowns

Little Simz has always been attached to conscious Hip-Hop, specifically an introspective style that has garnered praise from day 1. However, Grey Area sky-rocketed that praise, throwing spotlight after spotlight onto her, with its particular brand of nocturnal melancholy and barely restrained ... read more

Even when Kanye tells you he's gonna drop an album, it's still a surprise

Kanye West has an intriguing creative process, that has led to a unique trend in the quality of his releases. For both the 2000's and 2010's what is considered his best album is released earliest in the decade, with each subsequent album being a little weaker than the previous. I'm specifically looking at his solo projects here, as Watch the Throne and Kids See Ghosts would definitely buck this trend.

While individual ... read more

A wonderfully significant return

I've been a fan of CHVRCHES for a number of years now, introduced to them through their debut The Bones of What You Believe in 2013 and the fantastic single The Mother We Share. The group's sound was obviously influenced by 80's Synth-Pop, but wasn't derivative in any way, instead looking to the past to try and build something for the future.

Their sophomore record Every Open Eye added a lot more energy and even greater focus on Pop melodies. The group trimmed ... read more

fallen petals is the 19 minute follow up to their debut LP ジェロナグラセッション. Both are intriguing pieces of Plunderphonics, borrowing from a radical range of sources, this time including: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kanye West, Terry Callier, Enya, Imogen Heap, Tenniscoats, Floating Points, Bon Iver and Hans Zimmer. Most aren't particularly obvious though, so don't worry if you can't catch them. Another key aspect to these releases is how quickly they are though up and put together, in ... read more

"Now if you're looking for a saviour, well that's not me"

Lorde has, over the 8 years since her 2013 debut onto the world stage at just 16 years old, become one of Pop's biggest icons and heralded as the next big star by critics. Even Bowie called her the "future of music", leading to her performing as part of a Bowie tribute at the Brit awards.

However, she has pretty calmly rejected such notions of leadership and notoriety, as far back as her first big single singing ... read more

Kristin Hayter, aka Lingua Ignota (unknown language) gained a great deal of attention in 2017 with her album All Bitches Die and even more so in 2019 with Caligula. Hauntingly dark and alluring records that integrated the oppressive walls of noise and screaming of Death Industrial with the ageless beauty of Classical music, especially in her vocals, as Neoclassical Darkwave.

A particular combination that allows Hayter to perfectly evoke the horrors of domestic abuse that she has suffered, ... read more

From the opening moments Yola throws us back several decades, to a time when warmth dripped from wax in every home

Stand for Myself embraces the sound of the late 60's and early 70's with a focus on RnB, Soul and Country. This combination may initially seem a little at odds with itself, but Yola proves any doubts redundant by bringing out more of the latent soul in Country music as well as the raw story-telling in Soul.

Built around band staples of bass, drums, guitar and piano/keys. Yola ... read more

This is my introduction to Amazing Blizzard's music, and WHAT an introduction!

Transmissions from Nowhere is a splendid collection of 13 Electronic pieces. A fantastic mixture blended heavily with Ambient and House, with some Industrial touches, just for the hell of it. Each song floats through itself, pulsing and warping, discarding any outside interruptions through the breadth of its runtime, until its listener is left completely enrapt.

Intro sets the scene: Opening with some field ... read more

The first project under the Implicit Doom moniker, now that it is considered a side project to Gel., is pleasant but a little unsatisfying

ID, under either name, has been incredibly prolific this past year or so, making a variety of Electronic projects with pretty decent success, although it wasn't until the self-titled Gel. album that I heard some thing that really pushed what they were doing. Unlike the chaos of that record though, where are you, what's the story? is mostly a return to ... read more

LUCY pushes for something much darker without compromising on beautiful atmospheres

Film is an incredibly melancholic piece of music, though its gentle and spacey intro might deceive some. With nearly a minute of build-up via lush layers of synths and some light bass, vocals very suddenly join in. The vocal melody barely moves up and down, but offers just intonation to keep the listener's attention, drawing it towards the tone of voice, the tiredness and pain that are being kept at bay just ... read more