New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Peter Perrett - The Cleansing
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
That Peter Perrett is still alive after the decades of bad habits that he inflicted on himself must be something of a surprise to those who’ve followed his career since the mid-70s. First there was England’s Glory, then the truly exquisite Only Ones and more recently an intermittent solo career – all of which have produced searing anthems from society’s seedy underbelly.
Blu-ray: The Outcasts
Tuesday, 29 October 2024
This other major work by the writer of the English folk horror landmark The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), Robert Wynne-Simmons, is more restrained than that unsettlingly erotic, dreadful conjuring of rustic demons and collective evil. He argues on his sole directorial feature’s Blu-ray debut that it isn’t folk horror at all, simply an Irish folk tale in pre-Famine days “when magic had a value”.
Album: Pixies - The Night The Zombies Came
Monday, 28 October 2024
The ongoing trickle of quirky rock by Pixies reassuringly continues with 2024’s offering, The Night The Zombies Came. The album is the first with...
Album: Halsey - The Great Impersonator
Saturday, 26 October 2024
For many performers, flirting with death is a pose or a distant metaphor, or simply don’t-give-a-damn insouciance. This is not the case with Halsey...
Album: Underworld - Strawberry Hotel
Friday, 25 October 2024
Purveyors of extraordinary energy and euphoria, Underworld never miss a beat. The new album – 30 years on from their debut, and their exposure...
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Album: Bastille - &
Dan Smith attempts to pare back to less bombast but doesn't always succeed |
Album: Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness
Australian pub rockers are a riot |
Blu-ray: Michael Powell - Early Works
British film magician's apprenticeship revealed |
Album: Tess Parks - Pomegranate
With the Brian Jonestown Massacre association concluded, psychedelic auteur reintegrates with the wider world |
Album: Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat
An intimate ode to the miracle of life |
Album: Kylie Minogue - Tension II
Kylie's relentless energy never fails to impress but are we hearing the law of diminishing returns in action? |
Album: Elephant9 with Terje Rypdal - Catching Fire
Thrilling union of prodigious Norwegians |
Album: Mystery Tiime - Maudlin Tales of Grief and Love
Cold, crisp, bleak reality in a sad set of post-punk sketches |
Blu-ray: The Valley of the Bees
František Vláčil’s taut, intense medieval thriller is a classic of Czech cinema |
Album: MC5 - Heavy Lifting
Partial final reformation by proto-punk greats is a mixed bag |
Album: Justin Adams & Mauro Durante - Sweet Release
The duo’s second set cooks on a recipe of Italian Pizzica, rock, blues and Fairuz |
Album: Immanuel Wilkins - Blues Blood
When adventurous programming goes wrong |
Album: The Offspring - Supercharged
Another successful Pop Punk celebration |
Album: Ded Hyatt - Glossy
A genuinely boggling record mangles a world's worth of pop and avant-garde influences into... something |
Album: Permafrost - The Light Coming Through
A chill wind blows in from Norway |
Album: Goat - Goat
Mysterious Scandinavians put on their dancing shoes |
Album: Coldplay - Moon Music
Pop-rock mainstays 10th album is nauseatingly upbeat |
Album: Caribou - Honey
Almost a quarter century in, the psychedelic indie-dance individualist still setting off fireworks |
Album: The Smile - Cutouts
The trio's third album lacks the verve and intensity of 'Wall of Eyes' |
Album: Lady Gaga - Harlequin
Surprise companion album to her new film is lively, enjoyable and in great voice |
Album: Ezra Collective - Dance, No One’s Watching
A joyous celebration of dance |
Album: Jaz Karis - Safe Flight
UK soul debut whose smooth surface conceals depth and complexity |
Album: Van Morrison - New Arrangements and Duets
Van the Man starts to open up the vaults |
Blu-ray: Ikiru
Kurosawa's profound, touching meditation on mortality and memory |
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