Music Reviews
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Washed Out Within and Without
Washed Out, one of chillwave's flag bearers, has finally released a full length album. It fails to live up to the promise of his EPs.
Andrew Baer gets bored... -
Atlas Sound Parallax
How does Bradford Cox find time for it all? Parallax, his excellent third solo album, comes after six months of touring and only a year after his four volume Bedroom Databanks collection and an excellent Deerhunter album. The man never tires, and never disappoints.
Andrew Baer is putting this on his best of the year list... -
U2 Achtung Baby: Deluxe Edition
Undoubtedly U2's magnus opus, but is the Deluxe Edition of Achtung Baby up to par for a 20th-anniversary reissue?
David Hogg wonders, "Is this even better than the real thing?" -
The Weeknd Thursday
The Weeknd continues his House of Balloons Trilogy with its second part, Thursday. It's an excellent album that, like House of Balloons, is more than just a free mixtape.
Andrew Baer still thinks this guy is the best thing about 2011... -
Darius Jones Big Gurl (Smell My Dream)
The trio is tight. They kill on this record.
Michael Iovino reviews... -
Cass McCombs Humor Risk
Releasing his second LP in a period of six months, the taciturn singer/songwriter posits the inherent humor in his downcast body of work by molding a more biting, instinctive sound than its predecessor.
Juan Edgardo Rodríguez is oh, so delirious... -
Lou Reed & Metallica Lulu
The Exploding Disaster Inevitable: Lou Reed and Metallica confuse the shit out of everybody.
Sean Caldwell thinks Lulu and Napster are soulmates... -
Polinski Labyrinths
Labyrinths, the solo debut of 65daysofstatic's Paul Wolinski, comes fairly stuffed with references to old sci-fi and computer games, marking it out as possibly the most nerdy album of the year. Which is, of course, a very good thing.
Mark Davison tries not to get lost... -
Florence and the Machine Ceremonials
Florence Welch's debut earned her a Brit Award and the title of the UK's favourite ever-so-slightly posh diva/human foghorn, so her decision to stick with the slightly heavy-handed anthemic schtick for the follow-up comes as no great surprise. Do we need more of it though?
Mark Davison gets emotionally bludgeoned... -
DJ Shadow The Less You Know, The Better
DJ Shadow's first album in five years is an absurdly varied record - although for all the styles Shadow touches upon, disappointingly little of it really satisfies.
Stephen Wragg reviews...
