Album Reviews

The lead single from Lakuta’s much awaited Brothers & Sisters, ‘Bata Boy’, has already garnered some considerable success. Formerly the Kalakuta Millionaires, and well known on Brighton’s live scene, Lakuta’s uncompromising afro-latin backdrop doesn’t lend itself to radio-friendly, easily marketable releases: live, some songs can be ten minutes long,…

In an age when the future of British stadium-rock quivers on the pedestal set by Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys, few look to break through and challenge the status quo. Catfish and the Bottlemen released their sophomore effort earlier this year and began to prove their worth on a…

Produced by Araon Dressner (The National’s guitarist and established producer), this is Hannigan's third album following 2011’s ‘Passenger’ and the Mercury-nominated Sea Sew in 2008. It’s been five years in the making, and there seems to have been a period when she struggled to write, instead devoting her…

“Do I dare to disturb the Universe?” ponders Hayden Thorpe in the chorus of Wild Beasts’ ‘He the Colossus’, borrowing a line from T. S. Eliot’s modernist poem ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’. In his poem, Eliot gave us a portrait of the character Prufrock, meant to…

The East London-based singer, NAO, sprung upon an R&B music scene that needed a female voice to take the reins. Working with a range of flamboyant producers gave her music detailed textures, adding to her palette of soul, jazz and R&B. 2014’s EP, So Good, was the first flavour…

Southend is never really renowned for much. It is a seaside resort in Essex known particularly for having the longest leisure pier in the world but any recognition of the place sort of ends there. It is interesting to work out why or how it is home to one…

Not many acts can release an album, only one album, 16 years ago and still create a major buzz when they decide to release their follow up over a decade later. With little to no movement from the electronic duo in that time, from an outsider’s point of view,…

The Lamb singer has carved out an impressive, if intermittent, solo career since she initially left the much-loved electronic jazzy drum’n'bass trip hoppers Lamb, beginning with the Mercury nominated ‘Beloved One’ in 2006. This, her fourth solo album, is her first since 2010, the intervening years being filled with…

Although they have been defined as an alt-folk band, this could hardly be further from the truth. Maybe it's those hipster beards that Andrew Davie and Kevin Jones, the two remaining protagonists, wear, or the fact they continue to reside on the Communion label, a label that was founded…

There is nothing better than finding some music or a band that make you go, “WOW, I didn’t expect anything like that!” Something that creates an eye-opening moment, a realisation that music can still surprise you. BadBadNotGood (BBNG) are said band that make you wonder, “how have I missed…