(Alexandra Pollard)Tales of witchy curses (“On Graveyard Hill”) and spirit reincarnation (“Daniel Boone”) feel like they’ve been dug up from ancient folklore, and capture classic-Pixies menace and ghoulish spirit. “Disconnect me from my bones, so I can float, so I can roam,” sings Brownstein – her singular voice all yelps and creaks – on “Hurry On Home”.
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The tempo-shifting country-folk song “Get Set Go Kid” layers guitar, keys and subtle, harmonising backing vocals, unexpectedly building towards a cacophony of syncopated piano and saxophone. She switches her vocal style song to song, moving from a lilting croon on “The Barrel” to the quirky elocution of the title track. You’re inclined to agree with him. By the end of the album, he sounds like a figurehead for the hopeful future.At her best, Sigrid throws out precision-tooled high notes like icicle javelins into vast, blue Scandi-produced skies. “It takes strength to do that.”As the clock ticks on towards stage time, I ask about the future. But whether she’s pining for the return of a former love in the funky disco banger “Julien”, or singing about masturbating post-break-up in lead single “Party For One” (“I’ll be the one/ If you don’t care about me/ Making love to myself/ Back on my beat”), the vibe remains positively jubilant.
Are they branching out and getting more dance-orientated?
Amo is a way of exploring that, even down to the title itself. Ronson’s production is so sharp that you all but see the steel strings rise like a hi-definition hologram from your speakers. The album’s lead single, “Me!”, is peppy and poppy in all the wrong ways, a rictus grin of a song that rings hollow.
The band have spoken about how O’Riordan was singing about leaving many of the negative things in her life behind. Yet few are likely to have as much inspiration to draw on as India-born, Zimbabwe-raised and now Peckham-based artist Rina Mushonga. III is Banks’s most cohesive album to date because she’s no longer restricting herself to exploring one feeling at a time. (Roisin O'Connor)On Deerhunter’s eighth album, frontman Bradford Cox takes on the role of war poet, documenting the things he observes with a cool matter-of-factness, and heart-wrenching detail. (Roisin O'Connor)There are plenty of surprises, like Swizz Beats singing on “Who Are You” against elegant violins that recall a Kamasi Washington composition. ALL THAT GLUE 2LP (BLACK VINYL) Sold Out. The Man’s mega-hit “Feel it Still”, the Kentucky-formed, Nashville-based Cage the Elephant remain faithful to their neo-soul influenced brand of garage rock but move to something darker and far more visceral. It’s a masterclass in narrative songwriting.
Where a full album produced by Kanye West (2018’s Nasir) didn’t pan out – perhaps because West’s perfectionism was a bad fit for Nas’s penchant for procrastination – “You Mean the World to Me” sounds like it would have been a standout on that record had it not been abandoned on the cutting-room floor. Critics may question how relevant Slipknot are in 2019. And they create the full club experience with “Got to Keep On”, on which the four-to-the-floor beat, funky rhythm guitar, sweet backing vocals and chiming bells make way for the simple sounds of happy party-goers; just as the anticipation builds, so does the instrumentation into a hypnotic crescendo. Please
This time around the mantra is healthy eating, exercise and mindfulness. Ahead of their London shows, the socially conscious post-punks address their running feud, and discuss personal tragedy with Their line of thinking is that, because Talbot grew up the son of middle-class parents in an affluent Exeter suburb – dad an artist; mum an inland revenue worker – his support of left-wing causes is an affectation. When Lizzo played Coachella earlier this week, her set was plagued by technical problems. (RO)It’s been a long wait for Flying Lotus’s new album. If someone wanted to use their music in an ad would they let them, and is there anything they wouldn’t say yes to?Ask me in 20 years when I need to pay hospital bills, cos no other cunt will.Celebrating musicians and the kit they use to get their sound. It sounds like The Cranberries found some kind of closure in this last record. real-world solutions, and more. Produced by Rapsody’s long-time collaborator and mentor 9th Wonder, the record samples cuts from Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” (“Whoopi”) and Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight” (“Cleo”), offers a smooth R&B joint with “Aaliyah” featuring the late singer’s ghostly backing vocals, and includes an interlude that is “an ode to the black woman’s body”. (Alexandra Pollard)The overarching sound, production and instrumentation on Eve are outstanding. “I don’t want to flip the page/ Of my negative script,” he intones on the final track, but there’s just a hint that he does. Khan once again demonstrates a knack for uncanny storytelling.