They’ve turned everything up beyond 11 this time, opting to throw more skull crushing riffs into the mix. The songs might be shorter, but they lack none of the innate need to pummel that infuses most of their work. 


At times this recording is compelling, entrancing even with its sheer beauty; occasionally though it drags.

MassEducation is that rare record that works both as a standalone album and a companion to the original.

When it works, it really works. .... The main issue is summed up neatly on one of the album’s weaker tracks, Copy Of A, and its line “everything I say has come before”: this collaboration might add a bit of spit and shine to songs that in their original forms have been deliberately coated in filth, but there’s nothing new here.

Legacy+ shows two sides of the Kuti coin that, while inevitably reflecting and respecting the history of Fela, also show his restless quest for the future and what that holds carries on with subsequent generations.

By and large though, this challenging, multi-layered record requires complete and sustained immersion to properly appreciate its full range of ideas and textures.

This is a highly accomplished and deeply felt third album to add to an already auspicious Gaz Coombes canon. He is on fine form at the moment, undoubtedly one of Britpop’s Strongest Men.

There’s a majestic soulfulness here too that makes The Invisible Way one of their strongest, most coherent works.

Peyroux is a wonderful singer and this collection of songs is her best yet.

An album which could well be one of the best released this year – and, in its pleas for solidarity and acceptance, one of the most important and vital records as well.

The album is not necessarily vintage Garbage, but it confirms the band still have their best qualities intact – no-nonsense music and a vocalist on great form.

This is just simple, honest-to-goodness, feel-good rock ‘n’ roll, and the world is better for it being out there. More like this, please.

Slow Focus is unmistakably Fuck Buttons, the logical continuation of the music produced by a duo who never strive to do something expected.

Somehow, there’s an odd clarity to be found amongst all the noise, distortion and decay. The Body might have looked to their past in finding the sound for this album, but in creating this slab of grief and anger, they’ve managed to be uncannily prescient. This is probably one of the most relevant and affecting albums of 2021.

There’s a lot to take in on Tableau – maybe, at times, almost too much – but it’s another solid record from West Yorkshire’s very own experimental art-poppers.

It’s not as front-to-back enjoyable as Rated R or Lullabies To Paralyze, and it’s not as thematically consistent as the Mark Ronson produced Villains. So it is their worst album. But it’s still the worst album by the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world. Take it for what it is.

Whilst there are still examples of the kind of dexterous acoustic guitar playing now closely associated with Walker’s music, there is also a greater sense of space and time here, enabling Walker to place greater emphasis on his lyrics.

This is a debut that is, at times, rewarding and marks out Huerco S as a producer to watch.

Fever Dream won’t change the world, but it may seem like a slightly more comforting place as you listen.

Future Heart is the album's standout moment because it represents a rare moment of cathartic release, the band finally letting their brooding rhythm swell into something nearly anthemic. Young Widows do it well, but a little less restraint would do them one better.

Vulnicura Strings probably isn’t an album you’d want to listen to much on a regular basis, despite its undeniable excellence. It does, however, make for a beautiful and fascinating companion album to one of the year’s very best records.

This record feels produced, whereas her first release had the feeling of a bedroom recording. She may have lost the kooky melodrama and charm that she enveloped earlier on, but I’m Not Your Man feels strangely right, if quite startling in its shift in direction.

Artists risk an absolute mauling when they wear their favourite era as a Halloween costume for a whole record, but here, at least, the joy of an unknown nostalgia far outweighs the realities of the grim present.

A record of many highs.

Me And Ennui… is pure articulation. Just when you think that Sarah Mary Chadwick has shone a light on every one of her warts, here comes the ‘and all’.

They inch ever closer to the boundaries of the mainstream with this simmering assortment.

Quiet The Room is the perfect introduction to Helen Ballentine’s hazy, dreamy world – a world you’ll want to spend an awful lot of time in once you experience it.

Ultimately, First Demo is far more than a historical curio, it’s the sound of the band in a period of furious creativity and evolution.