Higher Than Heaven (Polydor) I was lucky enough to review Ellie Goulding’s Newcastle date of her Brightest Blue tour for The Crack some time ago, and have been looking forward to this album ever since. It’s definitely a move away from her previous releas…
This Manchester four-piece are creating waves on the noise scene, and their superb debut album sees them betwixt the dancefloor and somewhere just south of oblivion. Recorded in caves, crypts, and, ahem, shopping centres, it features much in the way of pu…
Gorillaz never fail to have an impressive range of collaborations and this new album is no exception, featuring Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala and Bad Bunny to name just a few. If this didn’t already show off the band’s kaleidoscope of influences and genres, t…
This fifth album from New York’s Frankie Rose is her first in six years, and it’s clear to see that she has used that time to really develop her sound and influences. Exploring the genre of electronic pop, ‘Love as Projection’ is all harmonic vocals and d…
Inhaler have been making waves in the indie scene as of late - quite in keeping with the current Nepo baby discourse, as frontman Elijah Hewson happens to be Bono’s son - so I felt compelled to give this latest album of theirs a listen. In a very crowded …
Songwriting brothers Andy & Dave Macleod had a brief brush with fame with indie outfit The Pointy Birds in the 1990s. The band didn’t get anywhere, but their book detailing their exploits, ‘Anoint My Head’, become a word-of-mouth success. Big Slice is the…
Well. This is special. Murray A. Lightburn is the frontman with The Dears, but he likes to dabble in the solo side of things too. This – his third release – is full of gentle arrangements that draw deep from a late 1960s/early 1970s well (think: Al Green,…
BIAB are Portland’s Christine and Chad McAllister, and they won’t be winning any awards any time soon for ‘Exciting New Directions In Music’, but what they do, they do very well. And what they do is make indie-rock that is thrumming with heart, passion an…
Vancouver producer/songwriter Louise Burns won much praise last year for her superb take on Depeche Mode’s ‘See You’, and she continues that rich vein of form on her new release. It’s a pop album, but it’s the kind of pop that shimmers with a chic sophist…
This is the fifth full-length album from this LA-based singer/songwriter and it’s packing a myriad of delights. The tracks are dressed in a wonderfully twinkling array of coffee-table trip-hop and chilled electro-pop motifs, and, what’s more, Broderick gi…
Blondshell is Sabrina Teitelbaum, a 25-year-old from New York, and her debut album is a real statement of intent. She’s obviously steeped herself in the quiet/loud 90s grunge aesthetic, but she’s not tied to the form, with tracks such as ‘Olympus’ having …
Hailing from Gateshead this “recording project” is continuing to explore the outer reaches of a post-rock landscape by virtue of a whole bunch of songs that pull off that rare trick of sounding both huge and intimate. There’s a skip-in-the-step to the odd…
This album has been very much hyped up thanks to the huge success of lead single ‘Flowers’, with all the tabloids preparing for Cyrus to drop some bombs about her marriage to Liam Hemsworth through a host of revenge tracks - but thankfully ‘Endless Summer…
This is a really beautiful album. With a sound reminiscent of Mumford & Sons, Land of Trees combine a fresh indie sound with the traditions of folk. The poetic storytelling of his lyrics is complimented wonderfully by his earthy vocals that brim with the …
“A little context, if you care to listen” - see what I did there? - RAYE’s song ‘Escapism’ has been taking the world by storm as of late, establishing itself as a coveted TikTok song. However, this debut album from the artist has proved she is far from a …
Scottish trio Young Fathers list their influences as ranging from Enya to Suicide, which explains how they have came up with this all-you-can-eat buffet of sound. Heavy Heavy refuses to be boxed, whether by genre, emotion or instrumentation. What it does …
After an almost six year hiatus that felt like it was never going to end, Paramore are BACK! While their previous release, After Laughter, marked a musical shift into sunny, old-school pop, This Is Why is a return to darker, rockier territories, but with …
PAWS is the fourth release by Boston’s Beat Awfuls, and it is a synthy, distorted, dissonant dream. Packaging up a ‘punk rock ethos’ in a sound that is jangle pop, shoegaze and garage rock melted into one, the album is as fun and colourful as its quirky c…
This debut from Irish artist Jessica Smyth, alias Biig Piig, is an eclectic mix of seven tracks that all offer something different. There’s a little bit of low-fi here, some R&B there, and Smyth’s unique, breezy vocals tie it all together to create a seam…
Oh my! The new album from this psych-pop quartet is absolutely jam-packed with treats. They say they’ve been influenced by ABBA for their latest album, which should let you know that they’re paddling in some very melodic waters here, but you also get flav…
A very welcome reissue for Marianne Faithful’s very excellent 2002 album on which she collaborated with a whole bunch of artists such as Beck, Blur, Jarvis Cocker, Dave Stewart, Billy Corgan and more. It could have been a sprawling mess, given the amount …
This two-time Grammy Awards nominee has a clutch of feted albums behind him, but, if anything, he seems to be getting better with age. This – the follow-up to his highly acclaimed ‘Dear America’ album in 2021 – is a bluesy, folky delight. It’s packed with…
This is a gorgeous curio. Cosmic Crooner is an Amsterdam lounge lizard who sings like he’s from the US. And his debut album draws on gently fried psychedelia that sits somewhere between Scott Walker, Lee Hazlewood, Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed and Richard Hawl…
There’s a deep sense of the ancient and the mythical running through Snow Ghosts’ fourth album. They’re an outfit that marry acoustic and electronic instruments perfectly, which is a skill they’ve honed to perfection here, with Hannah Cartwright’s crystal…
When three of UK’s most distinctive folk practitioners get together – Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann – you’d expect fireworks, and this album doesn’t disappoint. The twelve tracks here – a mix of original compositions and interpretations of…
If you’re in the market for a new accordion and percussion duo from Newcastle – and I can sense that you are – then you’re going to go a bundle for this. Thatcher (accordion) has shared stages with the likes of Kathryn Tickell, while Knowles (drums, percu…
Liverpool based artist Tonia is not afraid to let her emotions bleed into her music, and her debut EP ‘Afloat’ is a testament to that. With soulful mellow vocals and raw honesty, Tonia provides a map for those navigating the unpredictability and messiness…
This is RuPaul’s fifteenth album, with the self-proclaimed “queen of drag” blessing us with the ultimate hype songs since 1993. Yet, what’s so great about RuPaul - and the reason she has remained iconic for so many years - is that she is constantly evolvi…
This debut from Alabama newcomer, Jessie Murph, manages to insert itself perfectly into the pop music of the moment, while still maintaining its own flair. Murph has been a rising star on TikTok since she was 16 and, now still just 18, she has proven that…
There’s few feelings like when you come across a new artist that really stops you in your tracks, and that’s exactly what I experienced when I discovered Nicole Dollanganger’s music. Though ‘Married in Mount Airy’ is her 7th album, it was the first time I…
JW Francis is a New Yorker who makes gloriously lo-fi, slacker dream-pop and his latest album is chockfull of love songs that he’s written on behalf of fans who have sent him specific requests. It’s infused with a jangly goodness – balm for your soul – an…
Can pioneering electronic duo Orbital get away with a collaboration with The Mediaeval Baebes? Nearly! “Ringa ringa rosies, a pocketful of posies” croon the Baebes, while Orbital pull some razor sharp beats out of their locker. It’s daft, but fun. Elsewhe…
If garage rock thrills you – and it should! – then you need to have The False Poets in your life. A local outfit, their stuff is scuzzy in all the right places and packing real heat. Even their slower tunes (‘Moonstruck’) are dripping with atmosphere. The…
This is quite glorious, the aural equivalent of a fresh breeze cooling you on the balmiest of summer days, and the perfect antidote to the winter blues. Núria Graham is an Irish/Catalan artist who takes classic folk-pop tropes and leads them into pastures…
The debut album from Mary Elizabeth Remington was recorded using full live takes, on a four-track in a small house edged up along the Rio Grande in Embudo, New Mexico. As you might expect, such a conceit lends these songs a rare intimacy, which is perfect…
Iggy Pop has been releasing albums fairly routinely since the late seventies and has already reached legend status, so he would be forgiven for losing it a little in this new release. However, ‘EVERY LOSER’ is yet another spot-on album. Refusing to stick …
I was delighted when I heard Gabrielle Aplin had a new album on the way, having been a fan since her debut ‘English Rain’ in 2013. Aplin’s sound has really blossomed over the years, and this fourth release is the perfect blend of the gentle, stripped-back…
Tyneside’s Rachael Talbot Dunn and Richard Dunn (who make up Isolated Community) are your go-to duo if you’re looking for electronic soundscapes that have the power to transport you to places that feel half-remembered. The seven tracks on their latest rel…
Aaron Duff (the local singer/songwriter working as Hector Gannet) has been lauded by the likes of Sam Fender, but it’s another Tyneside legend he shares more in common with and that’s Lindisfarne’s Alan Hull. Like Hull, Duff has the ability to furnish his…
The Wombats have experimented with genre a fair bit over the years, but this EP feels very much like a return to their indie rock roots, with just the right amount of the electronic sound they’ve developed over the years, along with catchy guitar riffs, r…
As its name suggests, this new EP from up and coming rap sensation Saweetie was inspired by a break up, and it has exactly the kind of empowering energy that is needed in such a situation. Opening with the bouncy, percussive rhythms of ‘DON’T SAY NOTHIN’,…
ATUM - Act 1 is the first part of The Smashing Pumpkins’ 33-song rock opera, which serves as a sequel to Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995) and Machina/The Machines Of God (2000) – i.e. exactly the kind of pretension you’d expect from Billy Cor…
Northampton born but now living in London, Fe Salomon is set to win herself a whole bunch of BBC Radio 6 Music listeners, particularly if those listeners like their artists to pull plenty of sonic rabbits out of off-beat hats. These tracks are art-pop of …
Melbourne-based Gena Rose Bruce made something of a splash in 2019 with her debut album ‘Can’t Make You Love Me’, an alt/rock/pop hybrid that brought comparisons with everyone from The Cramps to Mazzy Star. This releases sees her continuing to plough a fu…
Acrobotik is a slightly shadowy figure, who works in the realms of electronica and techno, and all we know about this release is that the title is so called because “me fatha looked a bit like Ken Dodd.” No matter – it’s a truly fantastic listen, particul…
This feisty Ashington bunch knock out pell-mell punky rock that is entirely bereft of fat but thrumming with melodic know-how. Their new album grabs you by the lapels from the get-go, and nary lets up. But what really sets them apart are their fizzy riffs…
This Teesside outfit have built up something of a following – particularly after they won the NE Volume’s Battle of the Bands competition – and those fans are not going to be disappointed with the band’s debut album. The four-piece warp psych-rock tropes …
Early Maze was a band – with some band members – but now they number just one among their ranks. Thankfully, that remaining member is Jamie Harwood. Harwood (who lives in Hexham) has a fine ear for a rollicking melody and there are bags of them on this al…
Sam Ryder stole our hearts after bagging second place in Eurovision with ‘SPACE MAN’. While the number 1 hit features on his debut, its title being a line from the song, Sam Ryder deserves to be so much more than a one hit wonder. From uplifting anthem ‘S…
SZA has been in everyone’s headphones lately, starring in a string of successful collabs, and her single ‘I Hate U’ achieved the royal status of a TikTok song. The drop of this album, then, was eagerly awaited, and fans will be delighted that SZA has spoi…
Billy Nomates is the project of Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, and this, her second album, is an absolute gem. Her self-titled debut album from 2020 was replete with Patti Smith-like punk rock, grungy guitars and …
I don’t make enough time for instrumental music, but ‘In Our Softening’ demands to be heard. Created on an abandoned 1903 upright, the album is a collection of 9 beautifully soft piano pieces. Subbayya notes “Through our collective softening, we can open …
This third album from New Orleans’ Dawn Riding - the musical alias of Sarah Rose Janko - is a beautiful, emotive take on country music. “I love music that talks to you and keeps you company”, she shared, and this is definitely something that ‘You’re Still…
We’re suckers for an up and coming north-east artists, and this slice of psychedelia from Nancy hits the spot. I was already sold when he described it as “inspired by midnight shadows behind closed curtains in crummy B&Bs, cigarette smoke after hours in s…
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