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Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage (Album review)

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  All hail the king. Nick Cave has returned with a new album, this time minus the Bad Seeds, instead opting for an album with his long-time collaborator and friend, Warren Ellis. Seemingly moving away from his previous trilogy of albums, (Push the Sky Away, Skelton Tree and Ghosteen) all very low-key, thoughtful and minimal in nature, Carnage whilst still sounding very raw and for the most part has a real swagger and moodiness to it that we haven’t seen from Nick in a long time. We’ve reached a stage where Nick has built up such a reputation for releasing great music that every time he releases a new project you already know it’s going to be well received by fans and critics alike, a remarkable feat given Nick’s age the length of his career. It’s truly difficult to think of another artist that has had such a long and consistent career as Nick Cave, he’s an artist truly befitting of his already achieved legend status. It’s then unsurprising that Carnage can sit comfortably up there wi
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JPEGMAFIA - EP2! (Quick review)

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  Experimental rapper JPEGMAFIA is back with a new EP, aptly titled EP2! The release is the second part of his EP drops following on from EP! last year. Peggy first raised eyebrows back when he dropped his debut album Black Ben Carson, which was a decent release but not anything too amazing. It was when he dropped his second album Veteran and third album All My Heroes Are Cornballs that he really came into his own artistically, finding his stride in the more experimental and glitch sides of hip hop. This new EP sees JPEGMAFIA continue pushing boundaries but with a lot more focus on singing like we saw him experiment with on his last album. The EP clocks in at just over 15 minutes and only has 7 tracks, but there are some huge bangers in the track list. In true Peggy fashion the song called INTRO! Isn’t actually the intro to the EP and instead is the second track. The song FIX URSELF! has a really great flow and a great instrumental, LAST DANCE! Is the EP’s opener and features this mo
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Animal Collective - Crestone Soundtrack (Quick review)

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  It’s hard to ever truly come to the conclusion of what your favourite artist of all time is, for me however, Animal Collective are definitely are a top contender. When I think about my favourite albums of all time, I think about Animal Collective. When I think about some of my favourite songs of all time, I think about Animal Collective. They’re a band that has always pushed the boundaries of pop, experimental and psychedelic music, with their signature style of floaty and spacey intense sounds. It’s been a while now since we got a full length Animal Collective album, but for now we have to settle for this new release, a score for the documentary Crestone. Made by Deakin and Geologist, the two probably least well known members of the band, the Crestone soundtrack takes the bands usual maximal sound and tears it apart. The album has a very airy and spacey atmosphere, which isn’t uncommon for the band but in this case however the focus is on sitting comfortably in the background rath
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Slowthai - TYRON (Album review)

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When Slowthai dropped his debut album Nothing Great About Britain a couple of years ago he managed to breathe new life into the UK rap / grime scene. His music was a refreshing change up, adding new things such as a punk and electronic influence into the mix, thus cementing him as one of the most exciting new artists to pop up in the last few years. Back when it dropped, Nothing Great About Britain was probably my most played album of that year. I literally hammered it so much I needed a big break from Slowthai’s music. Following on from this Slowthai was then involved in a sort of semi cancelling following a now infamous incident at the NME awards and it looked for a little while that his career could be in danger. This all being said, Slowthai has made his long awaited return with his sophomore album TYRON. This new record is an interesting progression for Slowthai, as well as being quite ambitious in some respects. Split into two sections and discs, the first side is a hyper aggre
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TV Priest - Uppers (Album review)

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Uppers is the debut album from London based punk / post punk band TV Priest. I imagine in the modern day it’s really hard to find a punk sound that manages to distinguish you from your peers and TV Priest has kind of done it, I guess. At times they definitely fall victim to sounding too much like bands such as Shame and IDLES but they do also seem to be at least attempting to carve out their own sound at times, often opting for less hyper aggressive driven songs and instead creating a menacing clunky soundscape. The music is very raw and the vocals are delivered with a trademark snarl that has become increasingly common in modern punk music. The album is a little lacklustre for me, whilst there are the odd songs that break up the track list with something a little out of the box, the band seem too comfortable falling back on their default formula. Take the albums opening track The Big Curve, it kicks the album off sounding fresh and agitated but the verses on this track feel hollow.
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Black Country, New Road - For the First Time (Album review)

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It’s finally here; I honestly think I have been anticipating this album for more than two years at this point. After hearing Athens, France and Sunglasses what seems like a lifetime ago now I have been desperately waiting to hear more from Black Country, New Road. The band finally announced the album at the back end of last year and released the songs Science Fair and Track X as singles leading up to the album. Both of these tracks I did enjoy a lot but probably not quite as much as the first two songs the band released. I also have to admit I was a little nervous going into the album after seeing it was only six tracks long, meaning that before the album has even dropped I had already heard two thirds of the tracks. Upon the album’s release however, for the most part my worries didn’t matter. The album is a perfect length, has some amazing song writing and a really unique and distinct sound. It’s really hard to slap a genre label on Black Country, New Road, it’s like the band have c
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Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams (Album review)

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  It was only very recently that I discovered Arlo Parks and I have to say I am quite taken by her music. Arlo is a London based singer, poet and spoken word artist. She seems to have an awful lot of hype surrounding her, often hotly tipped to become a new major player in the industry and I can see why. Collapsed in Sunbeams is an enchanting combination of bedroom pop, RnB, Soul, spoken word and elements of jazz, her music already sounds fairly mature despite this being her debut album and Arlo herself being only 20 years old. She has a very distinct style of chilled out and breathy but yet very emotional vocals and overall the album is a solid effort. Arlo has a real knack for observation and telling stories that curate these brilliant atmospheres and vibes. It’s a very honest and personal album that is a great length and doesn’t over extend itself, with the only real major problem being that it lacks a little variety. The opening track is a quaint and delicate spoken word piece t
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