Sorry – Cosplay (Domino) (13th Floor Album Review)
Sorry’s third album Cosplay feels like the moment they stop trying to explain themselves.
Theia — Girl, In A Savage World (13th Floor Album Review)
Theia doesn’t ease you in. Girl, In A Savage World opens with drone, breath, water and chant, and you feel as if you are entering a ceremony.
Mavis Staples – Sad And Beautiful World (Nonesuch) (13th Floor Album Review)
Rhythm-and-blues-meets-gospel-royalty Mavis Staples puts out her latest (and 14th) studio album Sad And Beautiful World this Friday. It’s a beautiful expression of the grim times we are living in and how love can bring us out of the fold.
Blair Morgan – Sunday River (Blair Morgan Music) (13th Floor Album Review)
Sunday River is Blair Morgan’s first studio album released under his own name and, you might ask, what took him so long?
The Charlatans – We Are Love (BMG) (13th Floor Album Review)
The Charlatans have returned with their 14th album, We Are Love, after an eight-year hiatus. The core question: Was it worth the wait?
Helium Project – Rino Tangi (Steel that Sings) (13th Floor EP Review)
On Rino Tangi (Steel that Sings), Tāmaki Makaurau’s Helium Project transform Gary Hunt’s hand-forged percussion sculptures, created by the former punk drummer, into instruments that gleam, sigh and resonate with a musicality that is central to the project’s warmth.
The Belair Lip Bombs — Again (Third Man Records) (13th Floor Album Review)
Melbourne’s The Belair Lip Bombs don’t waste time. Their second album, Again, packs a restless half-hour of wiry guitars, melodic punch, and emotional intelligence into ten tracks that move like a live set: fast, tight, and slightly unpredictable.
Georgia Knight – Beanpole (13th Floor Album Review)
From the opening chords, Beanpole, the debut album from Georgia Knight, is something special. For starters, how many writers play autoharp as their central instrument?
Micah P. Hinson – The Tomorrow Man (Ponderosa) (13th Floor Album Review)
Micah P. Hinson returns with strings, horns and hope, to deliver The Tomorrow Man, his most cohesive and inspired album in many years.
Harper Finn – Silo Park (Warner NZ) (13th Floor Album Review)
Indie-pop singer Harper Finn gives us a dreamy journey of self-discovery in his debut album Silo Park. Expect catchy hooks, a wide range of instrumentation, and some tidy production.
Florence + The Machine – Everybody Scream (Universal) (13th Floor Album Review)
With Everybody Scream, Florence Welch doesn’t simply release a new album; she casts a spell.
Hail, Meteor! — Nearer (13th Floor Album Review)
Hail, Meteor!’s Nearer begins with a low vibration that feels like the unsettled atmosphere before a storm. The sound grows slowly until it becomes a living landscape of rhythm and resonance.
Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE (Partisan/Mushroom) (13th Floor Album Review)
Irish experimental rock band Just Mustard have just released their third album WE WERE JUST HERE. The LP dances (with high energy) using a variety of different tones and overwhelming noises created by the band, creating an engaging listen.
Cabinet – Debut (13th Floor EP Review)
Cabinet are one of the three post covid metal bands that piqued my interest, as the live music scene revitalised.
Bilders – Neverlasting (Carbon/Grapefruit) (13th Floor Album Review)
As Bilders, Builders, and many other constructs, Bill Direen started (and continues) his journey aiming for the stars, a genesis of releases on Flying Nun, was followed by some self-released (South Indies), many on others local (onset-offset) and much on overseas labels (Grapefruit and Siltbreeze).
Great Barrier – Repetition (Zelle) (13th Floor Album Review)
On Great Barrier’s new album Repetition, the sea is restless, the heart is beating, and something elemental stirs beneath.
The Blasters – American Music/Non-Fiction (Liberation Hall) (13th Floor Reissue Review)
The Blasters pour the heart of Saturday night into every song on American Music, their vivacious 1980 debut, pressing against the corners of rockabilly, a genre that can easily be mistaken for a time capsule.
Of Monsters and Men – All Is Love And Pain In The Mouse Parade (Skarkali / Virgin)
Of Monsters and Men’s fourth studio album is ripe with poetic imagery, vulnerable confessions and the complexities of intimacy.
Jim White – Inner Day (Drag City) (13th Floor Album Review)
Jim White, a (drumming) force within the experimental music community, has, though his expansive musical endeavors have reached wide and afar, touching such groups as Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Ed Kuepper.
The Southern River Band – Easier Said Than Done (Civilians) (13th Floor Album Review)
Easier Said Than Done is the fourth album by Aussie rockers The Southern River Band. Recorded by Grammy-winning producer Nick Didia (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen) in Byron earlier this year, the album slaps out a series of songs inspired by 70s Australian pub-rock.