It’s a shame the decent tracks on “Awaken My Love” cannot live up to the pure magic of songs such as “Me and Your Mama” or “Redbone” because the high points on this record take you all the way to space.

Such a fun and pretty album. The vibe across this thing is just so wonderfully upbeat but handled with a sense of sincerity as well. Songs such as “Diane Young” and “Finger Back” are pure doses of serotonin and excitement, but tracks such as “Step” and the gorgeous highlight of the album, “Hannah Hunt” provide transcendent highs which ground the exciting cuts with a sense of humanity and honesty. The lyricism is beautiful across the entire record, ... read more

A sonic universe I’ve heard nothing like and never will hear anything else resembling it, a gorgeous reconstruction of fragments smashed apart by the immense loss Injury Reserve experience with the death of a key member. The final result is stunning, a record that may seem obtuse and inaccessible upon a first listen but pulls you back in to explore the richly layered universe it offers.

With “Happier Than Ever”, Billie strips back and offers an extremely personal set of songs. Maybe the more minimalistic production and bloated tracklist make for a project that feels less focussed and concise than her other albums, but a combination of may gorgeously atmospheric songs and surprising musical switch ups like on the title track and the autotune switch up in “NDA” still give it some good flavour.

I can see this becoming a classic of the decade. Model/Actriz have a sound that’s so distinct in a music landscape where finding a distinct sound is seemingly getting harder and harder. There’s obvious similarities and inspirations to their music (NIN) but M/A offer so much that feels fresh and new. So many songs here are so exciting and go so hard. An incredible album.

The band aren’t mixing things up too much from last time here, but the ingredients have been tweaked enough to make this feel distinct from Dogsbody. Pirouette is a creepier, quieter and more disconcerting record most of the time. Full of industrial rock dance bangers as you would expect, as well as some surprises you wouldn’t. From the ominous soundscape of the spoken work “Headlights” to the completely overblown and abrasive production of “Ring Road”, ... read more

There are great ideas with some incredible executions sprinkled across this entire record, but it can often feel like it’s wobbling on a tightrope of ideas without finding the right balance yet. Ultimately, moments from the instrumentals to the vocal performances end up being somewhat inconsistent in quality and uniqueness. I’m glad to see Jeans later work would become more focussed and singular across his albums. Thankfully the colour and theatricality Jean brings to this (and most ... read more

There’s lots of fun to be had with Jean’s exploration into elements of pop-rock, but CHAOS NOW* can sometimes feel like it holds itself back from going in some truly incredible directions, and vocally Jean isn’t doing too much to blow your mind.

Whilst it would be nice to see The Dare branch out into some more varied and original sounds and fully develop his own distinct personality, WWWNY offers enough fun across a short runtime to make for an inoffensive seed I hope to see grow into something much more exciting. Songs such as “Girls” and “Perfume” steal the show with their hilarious lyrics and general catchiness.

EDIT: I saw The Dare live recently and needed to come back here. I appreciate this is a review ... read more

Quite a bit better than WWAFAWDWG in my opinion despite being the less concise of the two projects in many ways. There’s such an amazing sense of colour and vibrancy layered across this record though. Moments such as the euphoric guitar strum at 18 seconds into LUNCH, or the synth heavy madness in outros to songs such as CHIHIRO or L’AMOUR DE MA VIE give a greater sense of life and unpredictably to the album making for a constantly engaging and exciting listen.

Super moody, super atmospheric and full of extremely compelling tracks. The quiet yet bold personality Billie is able to show in this record is striking. The fact an album that gets as weird and wild as this does at times got so popular is so great to see. It’s not perfect, tracks like “my strange addiction” mabye breach the sonic universe of the album in ways I don’t think fully work, but songs such as the catchy and iconic “bad guy”, or the soothingly ... read more

In all its massiveness and grandeur, “The Scholars” is never able to fully live up to its extremely colourful and exciting pair of initial singles. “Gethsemane”, “CCF” and “Reality” are clear highlights where the bands focus on atmosphere makes for songs that feel sweet and full. However, amongst these you have tracks such as “The Catastrophe” where the production on and general vocal work from Toledo means any interesting ideas ... read more

With viagr aboys, the Swedish dance-punk band deliver their most accessible and immediate set of songs yet without compromising on the dirtiness, depravity and witty social critiques they have been beloved for, and perfected on their previous record. This demonstrates some of their catchiest material, such as the explosive and theatrical opening pair of tracks. The ominous atmosphere crafted on “Uno II” and “Pyramid Of Health” is a very welcome change of pace, but you ... read more

This is what summer sounds like and you can't convince me any other way. I think some moments on here definitely excel further than others ("Hard Times", "Rose Coloured Boy" and "Fake Happy" are perfect songs) but it's such a fun and bright set of tracks you'll never not enjoy listening to.

I think this will always be what I consider the definitive Paramore album (not because of the title) simple for how well it's pop punk bangers act as massive, stadium filling anthems you are just compelled to sing along to. This is the most immediate and powerful energy I've seen on a Paramore record.

On HIFN, Charli throws away the glossy pop finishes we all love for a sound that's more raw and authentic without abandoning the beating heart of her pop music. The opening 3 track run and closing 3 track run are absolutely insane and the rest is really good as well.

Incredible pop album. I'll just put my hands up and say that people (specifically diehard Charli fans) hate on "Blame It On Your Love" wayyyyy too much. Yes, Track 10 is better but that still slaps. This record is really good though and offers so much variety. The fact you can go from such an anthem pop anthem like "Gone" or "1999" to the sheer insanity of "Click" and "Shake It" on the same album brings me so much joy.

I'm not massive on the first 3 songs (Which may be controversial as 'Backseat' is one of them) but I can't deny the run of tracks 4-10 is an insanely good set of songs. "Femmebot", "Unlock It" and "Track 10" are all masterpieces.

What am I meant to say. I love it to bits but there's nothing controversial about saying how much I love this thing - we all do. Generational album. Maybe the best one ever.

Not a perfect record by any means, I've never been huge on the run of songs in the middle of the album from "Purple Hearts" to "Silent Hill", but some days this is my favourite from Kendrick for it's softness and extremely reflective, personal nature. It's an extremely vulnerable, open and honest record that features super catchy tracks, incredible rapping and the usual quality of lyricism you would expect. The first disc especially here is one song off being ... read more