Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Wrong Creatures (Vagrant Records)
After a 5 year hiatus, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are back with, well, another BRMC record.
Scorn of Creation – Self Titled (Deadboy Records)
What a bunch of show-offs. Wellington death metal band Scorn of Creation come at their self-titled debut like they’ve got something to prove. The long run of promotion leading up to the release certainly promised a lot, as does the pedigree of the band members: Bulletbelt, Backyard Burial, Horrendous Disfigurement- a long list of NZ […]
Ohio Players – The Definitive Collection Plus… (Cherry Red)
Let us pause to consider, or reconsider, the Ohio Players. The 1970s funk band is the subject of a career-spanning 3-CD anthology titled The Definitive Collection Plus.
Steep Canyon Rangers – Out In The Open (Ramseur)
After a stint with comedian Steve Martin, American bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers are back to what they do best – beautiful harmonies over heartbreakingly good music.
Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin (Universal)
A decade into Ty Segall’s tireless, prolific recording career, we are met with his 10th album, Freedom’s Goblin.
Salad Boys – This Is Glue (Trouble In Mind)
Cantabrian outfit Salad Boys’ second album, This Is Glue, opens with a propulsive beat, chugging guitar, and lyrics about driving. It has, from the first few seconds, the feeling of going somewhere.
The Remains Live 1969 (Sundazed)
Almost 50 years after the fact, legendary garage band The Remains finally release a live album, documenting their wild, unleashed stage show, that until recently has only been privy to those who were there at the time.
Wilco – A.M. & Being There(Deluxe Edition) (Sire/Reprise)
Wilco celebrate their formative years with Deluxe Edition reissues of their first two albums, documenting the gestation and growth of one of America’s most important bands of the last quarter century.
The East Pointers – What We Leave Behind (Proper)
Hailing from the Canadian east coast, this trio of two brothers, fiddler/singer Tim Chaisson and banjoist Koady Chaisson, with guitarist Jake Charron, give us their sophomore effort, What We Leave Behind, a strong attempt to inject some fresh vibrancy and enthusiasm into traditional banjo and guitar music.
Typhoon – Offerings (Roll Call)
With songs that are dreamy, anxious, bombastic but yet fragile Portland’s beloved 11-piece collective, Typhoon, are everything I love about America’s art rock scene right now. They are Polyphonic Spree, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear and Portugal The Man all at once. I just wish they’d choose something a bit more up-beat to write about.
Anderson East – Encore (Elektra/Low Country Sound)
If you need any evidence of the influence of the recently-departed Rick Hall, look no further than this brand new release from Anderson East.
Galaxy Bear – Gala Xyb Ear EP
Claiming to be “your favourite band with a bear drummer”, this Auckland-based 6-piece starts the year out rocking with their debut 7-track EP.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gumboot Soup (Flightless)
With four full-length albums under their collective belt already in 2017, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard close out the year with album number five…released on the last day of December.
The Rolling Stones – On Air (Polydor)
“Like somebody reaching into my brain and turning a switch that suddenly changed my fundamental vision of life from grainy black and white into glorious Technicolor”. That’s how Nick Kent describes the first time he saw The Rolling Stones perform on February 28th, 1964 in Cardiff. That sound, that feeling, can now be revisited […]
Charlotte Gainsbourg – Rest (Because)
Sung mostly in French, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new album, Rest, is no simple melancholic melodrama. There’s no bitchin’, cussin’ or swooning; no mumbling oaths or references to languid loss or betrayed consciousness. Instead we find her caught up in a tangle of grief, history and family legacies. It is both personal and intimate, yet cinematic and […]
Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series: Trouble No More 1979-1981 (Columbia)
This was always going to be a hard sell…hours of previously unreleased live recordings from Dylan’s “Christian Period” when the former Mr Zimmerman preached fire and brimstone from three studio albums between 1987 and 1981.
The Cactus Channel – Stay A While (Hope Street Recordings)
The new incarnation of this ever-evolving Melbourne based seven-piece collective sees The Cactus Channel flexes their soul/lounge influences whilst searching for, and sometimes successfully landing on, their own planet in this vast musical universe.
Taylor Swift – Reputation (Big Machine)
My household was counting down the days to the new Tay Tay album following Instagram feeds, fan pages and the like. Lead single Look What You Made Me Do had us worried as it was clearly not her best work and there were some sharp intakes of breath when she appeared to transform into a […]
Bootsy Collins – World Wide Funk (Mascot)
“‘C’mon Baby,” sings Big Daddy Kane on Bootsy’s Hot Saucer “You really touch my soul/You got that jelly and you’re making it roll!” This track is one of a full funk set, with deep groovy bass, Parliamentary guitar licks and full-on pre-disco. Bootsy’s back after a 6-year hiatus and he’s gonna party like it’s 1972! […]
Sam Outlaw – Tenderheart (Six Shooter)
After serving up a critically-acclaimed debut album produced by Ry Cooder, Southern California cowboy Sam Outlaw takes a surprise musical turn on his follow-up.