Adult Mom returns with third album, ‘Driver’, and it’s a record that finds Stevie Knipe examing that awkward phase where you’ve hit 20-something, the bills are starting to pile up and you’re not entirely sure of your place in a ‘grown-up world’. The album finds Stevie trying to answer a question that has confounded generations:…
Maxïmo Park’s seventh album ‘Nature Always Wins’ finds Paul Smith, Duncan Lloyd and Tom English asking ‘who we are, who do we want to be, and do we have any control over it?’ From issues of neglect, corruption and tragedy to major life changes, it’s all examined against a backdrop of art rock recorded and…
Nightshift follow up last year’s self-released full-lenth cassette with new album ‘Zöe’. Now signed to Trouble in Mind, the now five-piece have a sound that dips into the musical history of their base in Glasgow and offers something fresh and contemporary. The album begins with ‘Piece Together’, a slow-burner with elongated Warpaint-style vocals about ‘learning…
The Hold Steady return with ‘Open Door Policy’, the follow-up to 2019’s critically revered ‘Thrashing Thru the Passion’. The now six-piece again worked with producer Josh Kaufman to deliver 10 richly developed pieces of storytelling that examine issues including wealth, power, capitalism, ambition, opportunism and survival… Gentle stabs at the piano signal the start of…
Texas-based singer-songwriter Katy Kirby was born, raised and homeschooled by two ex-cheerleaders in small-town Texas and started singing in an evangelical church. Her new album, ‘Cool Dry Place’ (released via Keeled Scales), finds her dismantling her past: ‘I can hear myself fighting that deeply internalized impulse to make things that are super pleasant or approachable’.…
Released via Run for Cover and Keeled Scales, Sun June’s second album finds the Austin, Texa-based five-piece expanding on the ‘regret pop’ (their term) that served them so well on the ‘Years’ LP. Focusing on how love evolves and shapes our lives, the band describe the new record as ‘prom’ music: ‘Prom isn’t all rosy…
Berlin-based artist Albertine Sarges explores the concepts of growth, self-fulfilment, sexuality, gender and the importance of mental health on ‘The Sticky Fingers’. The record, named after her pet name for her closest friends and band mates, also celebrates the importance of companionship: ‘So much of this album is about the experience of togetherness vs. fighting…
Released via Get Better Records, Lande Hekt’s (Muncie Girls) debut solo album is a personal piece that not only chronicles her experiences coming out but also at the wider world, the climate crisis and the actions of both society and politicians. Acoustic strums signal the start of album opener – and recent single – ‘Whiskey’,…
Cheekface kick off 2021 with the release of their second album, ‘Emphatically No’. The Los Angeles trio – made up of Greg Katz, Amanda Tannen and Mark ‘Echo’ Edwards – are renowned for their wry, witty and observational lyrics and throughout this album, they offer up opinions on mental health, fascist governments and political hypocrisy.…
Hamilton punks The Dirty Nil will dust the cobwebs off your New Year’s Day hangover with the release of ferocious new record, ‘Fuck Art’. The record kicks off with the crunching riffs of ‘Doom Bay’ before moving into something more alternative rock anthem sounding on ‘Blunt Force Confusion’ – a track that features impassioned vocals…
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