Balthazar - Rats
3-5 Stars
‘Rats’ pays no heed to current musical trends or approaches. It revels in luxurious, sweeping melodies and gentle grandeur.
27th February 2013
3-5 Stars rated Albums & EPs
Shout Out Louds - Optica
3-5 Stars
A celebration of indie pop at its absolute finest.
25th February 2013
Popstrangers - Antipodes
3-5 Stars
Abrupt blasts of feedback, spasmodic riffs and sudden shifts in song pattern abound.
24th February 2013
Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
3-5 Stars
Ashin has one of the most soul-crushing, unique falsettos, soaring clear above everything else in the mix.
23rd February 2013
Duologue - Song & Dance
3-5 Stars
This is no fresh-faced, bouncy, youthful album; the band’s experience and hard graft is evident from the first track.
22nd February 2013
Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In
3-5 Stars
Taking in touches of alt-country, Motown soul and ragtime along the way, Rose never strays too far from home.
22nd February 2013
Doldrums - Lesser Evil
3-5 Stars
‘Lesser Evil’ sees Airick Woodhead flexing his pop muscles. And my, how his biceps are bulging.
21st February 2013
Grave Babies - Crusher
3-5 Stars
It has a way of alternating organically between pop songs and darker stuff without sounding inconsistent.
21st February 2013
Mazes - Ores & Minerals
3-5 Stars
Ambitious, brave, and worthy of respect in itself — the risk pays off for the band musically.
20th February 2013
Atoms For Peace - Amok
3-5 Stars
What might be dismissed as a re-hashed version of Yorke’s ‘The Eraser’ album soon develops into its own being.
19th February 2013
Matmos - The Marriage Of True Minds
3-5 Stars
A stellar, often lush, even catchy or mantra-like collection of adult electronica.
18th February 2013
Gramme - Fascination
3-5 Stars
Despite a few tracks lacking strong melodic hooks, the sheer danceable quality of the rhythms and beats leaves you hooked.
18th February 2013
Team Ghost - Rituals
3-5 Stars
Team Ghost have really changed beyond their core obsessions.
17th February 2013
inc. - No World
3-5 Stars
The brothers’ debut collection is in parts comforting, enveloping and intriguing.
17th February 2013
Beach Fossils - Clash The Truth
3-5 Stars
It’s a tightly-wound, precise sonic attack on the now full band’s second album.
13th February 2013
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
3-5 Stars
It’s a dark and contemplative morning after the night before for the band’s fifteenth.
13th February 2013
Night Beds - Country Sleep
3-5 Stars
A treasure in its own right, ‘Country Sleep’ captures Night Beds’ ability to turn the most heartbreaking song in to a dreamy lullaby.
9th February 2013
Harry George Johns - Post-Breakdown Blues
3-5 Stars
The solo effort is a uniquely evocative set of musical documents.
8th February 2013
Ólöf Arnalds - Sudden Elevation
3-5 Stars
It’s apt that this was written and recorded in an isolated wood cabin, as themes of loneliness feature throughout.
7th February 2013
Darwin Deez - Songs For Imaginative People
3-5 Stars
A lucid collection of stories and themes with layers and perceptible depth.
5th February 2013
Galoshins - EP1 & EP2
3-5 Stars
It’s barmy but brilliant.
4th February 2013
Amateur Best - No Thrills
3-5 Stars
It’s like James Blake’s debut, only you can dance to it.
4th February 2013
Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
3-5 Stars
It leaves their back catalogue looking like a long prologue.
4th February 2013
Coheed And Cambria - The Afterman: Descension
3-5 Stars
A thoroughly thrilling entry in to Coheed and Cambria’s rich canon.
2nd February 2013
Featuring Yard Act, Death Cab For Cutie, Graham Coxon, Maisie Peters and more.