Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Newly signed to Ninja Tune, Ebbb debuts with a five-track EP that shows great intent. Emerging from the same London avant-garde live scene that birthed black midi and Black Country New Road, the band has quickly developed a unique sound in just a year. Their music blends pulsing rhythms, immersive electronic production, sparkling melodies, layered vocal harmonies, and beats that range from ambient to industrial. Described by the band themself as "Brian Wilson meets Death Grips," the EP is experimental and unpredictable yet deeply considered and precise with an idiosyncratic hybrid of sounds that showcases Ebbb's innovative and tightly crafted music.

Review: Ed Black, aka "edbl," is an increasingly prominent hip-hop and R&B artist and composer who has emerged from South London's indie music scene alongside luminaries like Jorja Smith and Jamie Isaac. His sound, a blend of lo-fi soul and hip-hop akin to Jordan Rakei and Tom Misch, garnered attention when Spotify UK featured him on their New Music Friday cover. Additionally, Music Business Worldwide Magazine nominated him as one of The Hottest Independent Artists In The World and now he backs up that potential with 'The Way Things Were,' featuring the mellifluous vocals of Isaac Waddington.

Review: This marks a first ever reissue of this cult-status punk-funk, no wave electro post-punk fusion 45 from 1979. It's by post-Wayne County Electric Chairs and has been produced by David Cunningam and now expanded to 12". The first tune 'So Many Ways' has Val Haller on lead vocals and sounded at the time very different from anything else the band had done. A hypnotic, sure charged groove that still sounds years ahead of its time. 'J'attends Les Marines' is a rework of 'Waiting For The Marines' from the Things Your Mother album but with some added dub and experimental flourishes. Two versions of 'So Many Ways' then close out this fine curio.

Review: Eyes of the Amaryllis is a collective that announced its arrival with a debut self-titled album back in 2021 on cassette tape. A year later they landed on Horn of Plenty with a second album which came on vinyl, and now they offer up a first 45rpm in the form of 'Lunchtime On Earth' on Swedish label I Dischi Del Barone. All four tracks are decidedly short and to the point and sit somewhere between post-rock and experimental with elements of lo-fi, folk and world & country. It's the title track that stands out with its doleful guitars, plenty of echo and drifting, wordless vocal sounds making for a beautifully melancholic vibe.

Review: Another BBC Sessions edition compiles nearly two decades of live-in-studio performances from Echo & The Bunnymen, tracing the Liverpool legends' rise from wiry post-punk outsiders to accomplished songwriters. John Peel and Janice Long oversaw the sessions with eagle's eyes, as production polish from classics such as 'The Killing Moon', 'Rescue' and 'Lips Like Sugar' reveal the band's skeletal brilliance and moody immediacy. Something of a guide to the band's career arc as a whole, we hear the way paved for a more expansive, melancholic texture in the later years, despite an ever morphotic, modulable lineup. The Cult Legends reissue set offers longtime fans and newer listeners a chance to hear the Bunnymen with studio intimacy and live spontaneity; less theatrical than their stage shows, but just as haunting.

Review: Echo & The Bunnymen's first ever best-of compilation, first released in 1985, gets a reissue. Accruing all the hits, we begin with the seminal 'Rescue' before careening through 'Never Stop', 'The Killing Moon' and 'Seven Seas', recalling the new wave band's emotive drawl and gushing instrumentals, coinciding with the time in which their contemporaneous album, 'Songs To Learn and Sing', was released.

Review: Rhino have embarked on a grand reissue mission and plan to put out all of the Echo & The Bunnymen's first four albums. Here we have a remastered version of Ocean Rain on 180-gram black vinyl. It was the fourth of the band's albums and was related back in 1984. It reached number four on the UK Albums Chart thanks to singles like 'Silver', 'Seven Seas' and personal favourite 'The Killing Moon.' The album got the band back to the top of their game after the rather less than warm reception to previous album Porcupine the year before thanks to its new found romantic sweetness and the band's bittersweet melodies.

Review: It's now 25 years since Echo and the Bunnymen reformed (the Liverpool-born band initially disbanded in 1993) and recorded 'Evergreen', their seventh studio album. While reviews were mixed at the time, there's no doubt that it's as jangly, timeless-sounding and sonically gorgeous as any of their more acclaimed albums of the '80s and early '90s. Given that it was released at the height of 'Britpop' (Liam Gallagher provided backing vocals on 'Nothing Lasts Forever', a by-product of Oasis recording in the studio next-door), it's sound is far baggier, looser and warmer than much of the music being made by their younger rivals. On this expanded anniversary edition, the original (if remastered) set is joined by a disc of live recordings, both from their own shows and promotional radio sessions, all of which were laid to tape between 1997 and '99.

Review: Echo & The Bunnymen came back with renewed vigour when they reformed in 1997 and recorded Evergreen. The album was headed up by 'Nothing Lasts Forever', which lodged in the UK's musical psyche as the Britpop wave receded and everyone was craving a little more maturity in their indie bands. 25 years on, the album ranks as of the band's finest, as vital to their story as the classic 80s records, and it's a welcome treat to see it pressed up once again, on fetching white vinyl with a yolky centre, no less.

Review: Liverpool's legendary Echo & The Bunnymen add to their 30-plus years of service to music with a new album, of sorts, that in fact delivers two new compositions and 13 other songs plucked from their vast and expansive catalog. Long-time fans will no doubt be pleased to hear the new beatless tinges given to their 1984 classic "Seven Seas", while of course the album is a perfect diving point for new audience to come to grips with the band too. Take, for example, the gnarlyish drawl of "Nothing Lasts Forever" that helps offset the Bowie-like tendencies heard in numbers like "Lips like Sugar" and "The Somnambulist". Sounds like a cliche, but seriously, still as good as it ever was.

Review: There's a juxtaposition of gravel and soaring, almost-gliding quality to the epic guitar work that welcomes you into Eden Gardens. It's as though the refrains and chords are so expansive they envelop everything from ground level to stratosphere. The work of Papir and Cause Sui members Martin Rude and Jakob Skott, the result is both technically impressive and spiritually beneficial. Post-rock that makes you feel genuinely freer than before pressing play.

As grand as it sounds, there's also something very real happening here. For some, this kind of stuff may come across overblown and inflated, but then there's no pomp and pageantry present. And by that we mean the parts that exist are well balanced and you can understand why they are there without necessarily knowing. Everything feels right, and in the correct place, which is probably the best recommendation we can give.

Review: Much loved UK outfit Editors have that tag because they always manage to confound expectation and stay one step ahead. They first emerged more than 20 years ago now as a group of friends who formed a band at university. Their debut album was Mercury Prize-shortlisted and since then thy have always been bold and brave in their approach. EBM is their first album since Blanck Mass became a full time member and, as the title suggests, is heavily influenced by EBM with physical and angular grooves, soot black moods and real urgency.

Review: Talk about taking your sweet time. Anyone want to hazard a guess at how long Blinking Lights & Other Revelations took to finish? Thought not. In truth, Eels started work on it in 1998, but it wouldn't see the light of day until 2005. Marking the start of a new era for the band, contractually at least - their deal with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Records having dissolved the previous year - the album was high concept, too.
As per frontman E, writing on the band's official website at the time of Blinking Lights' release, the record is about "God and all the questions relating to the subject of God." Suddenly the extended production period makes sense. Then you see it has 33 tracks listed on the sleeve and it all becomes clear. A classic piece of alternative rock with big, bold ideas, it should always be remembered as one of the first landmarks to come from America this millennium.

Review: If you read any interviews around Elbow's ninth studio album, Guy Garvey's open admissions that this is the Bury, Greater Manchester band's most patient and hushed work to date are unlikely to pass you by. The frontman is clearly pleased with what the outfit managed to pull together, offering a great example of why remote working during lockdown actually led to some pretty inspired projects if you look in the right places.

Whether Flying Dream 1 would have sounded like this had it been made through a standard studio process is a big question mark we're not in a position to answer. The group themselves are probably still pondering that one. What is clear is that it feels like a coherent, complete work, which is somewhat at odds with the reality of members contributing individual elements from different locations. Technicalities aside, this is a step away from the grandeur Elbow are often associated with, and distinctly void of gnarl, and it sounds

Review: British singer-songwriter Elderbrook is best known for the vocals on 2017's 'Cola', a Grammy-nominated single with CamelPhat, but now he shows a much broader range of sounds with his new album Another Touch which he bills as "a journey of personal discovery." It builds around themes of life's love, loss, ups and downs but essential is a collection of very accessible and feel-good dance-pop hits for large-scale clubs. The production takes the form of lots of catchy and melodic house and tech grooves while his vocals are a mix of falsetto and more moody sung-spoken deliveries. It's an album that very much chimes with the crossover dance sound of now.

Review: Japanese post-hardcore auteurs Envy return with their highly anticipated follow up to 2020's The Fallen Crimson. Marking their eighth full-length LP, Eunoia proves testament to the sextet's enduring legacy with its dexterous marrying of cathartic screamo and post-rock serenity. Throat-shredding howls are subdued under mercurial waves of ethereal crescendos, pulling from cavernous quiet to utter bombast, whilst melodious intricacies weave a hypnotic tapestry of aquatic, abyssal despair. Boasting a tenure spanning multiple decades, the collective's latest endeavour serves as yet another accomplishment that consistently places them in their own lane, admired from afar by the countless acts they continue to influence yet simultaneously eclipse.

Review: Lora Logic, co-founder of UK punk legends X-Ray Spex, was famously ousted before recording their 1977 debut, Germ Free Adolescents. Undeterred, she formed Essential Logic, a post-punk outfit celebrated for angular sax lines and distinctive vocals. Their 1979 debut, Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?), reached number 11 on the UK Indie chart and now arrives on CD to mark its anniversary. Logic reunited with X-Ray Spex for Conscious Consumer in 1995 and revived Essential Logic with 2022's Logically Yours boxset and 2024's Rekalibrated, featuring a diverse array of remixers. This Deluxe Edition includes the original album, a compilation of 1978-1983 recordings and new sleeve notes penned by Lora herself.

Review: Lora Logic, co-founder of UK punk band X-Ray Spex, was unexpectedly ousted before the recording of their 1977 debut Germ Free Adolescents. Undeterred, she formed the post-punk band Essential Logic which became known for its angular sax lines and distinctive vocals. Their 1979 debut album Beat Rhythm News (Waddle Ya Play?) reached number 11 on the UK Indie chart. In 1995, she rejoined X-Ray Spex for Conscious Consumer and in 2022, Essential Logic returned with the boxset Logically Yours, followed by 2024's Rekalibrated, featuring diverse remixers. This 45th Anniversary Deluxe edition includes the original album, a bonus album of Essential Logic's 1978-1983 recordings and new sleeve notes by Lora.

Review: A third album of wonderfully intimate, idiosyncratic songwriting from multi-instrumentalist Stephen Gilchrist - formerly the Stuffy in the much loved Stuffy & The Fuses - in his Stephen EvEns guise. The name may be singular, but from the choir of voices singing the opening tune 'A Song For Europe' to the child's voice at the end of seafaring epic 'Hello Salty Salty', this is very much a community effort and feels like it, with Stephen's core collaborators Jimi Scandal (guitar) and Crompton Whesp (drums) joined by guests like former Curve/Echobelly bassist Debbie Smith, longtime Cardiacs keyboard player William D Drake and Hurtling/My Bloody Valentine guitarist and keyboard player Jen Macro. The mood palate is on just as grand a scale as the personnel list, from the Nick Drake-style acoustic guitar/strings interplay of 'Firefly' to the beefy hip-hop backbeat of 'BBQ Head & 7 Bells', a two part track, the first half dedicated to the joys of cooking in the garden, the second about paranoia and the threat of violence. Elements of psychedelia, some gorgeous analogue synth tones, a penchant for a quirky time signature and/or arrangement all add to what's already a very tasty concoction that anyone with an ear for a tenacious earworm or two will love.

Review: Back in 1984 music bible NME ranked Eden 20th best album of that year. Skip forward nearly 40 more and it has lost none of its unique charm and intoxicating sense of personality, bringing in an array of elements that weren't par for the course in those days and largely still aren't.

Everything But the Girl's first album, it arrived four years before 1988's groundbreaking Idlewild - by which time their acoustic instrumentation fully shared the space with dance synthesisation - and was considered part of a long-since almost-forgotten sub-canon, sophisti-pop. Bringing elements of jazz, bossa nova, and jangly indie together, it also aimed a sucker punch at the eyes of critics with lead single 'Each & Every One', in which Tracey Thorn focuses anger from being frequently ignored and patronised for being female into a volley of poetic, deceptively laidback lyrical fury.

Review: Since turning his hand to music production midway through the last decade, XL Recordings owner Richard Russell has delivered a couple of predictably hard to pigeonhole, guest-packed albums as Everything is Recorded. Russell, of course, has an admirably bulging contacts book and as deep a knowledge of British music - be it hip-hop, grime, rave, jazz, experimental electronica or otherwise - as anyone. The depth of both is naturally evident on third album Temporary, with Russell and a dizzying list of guests delivering atmospheric, sample-rich fusions of head-nodding, hip-hop leaning grooves, field recordings-heavy sample collages, woozy dream pop, sub-heavy nods to UK bass, slow-motion neo-folk, blunted trip-hop, contemporary UK jazz, hazy Americana and much more besides. That it works as a coherent and sonically adventurous album is testament to Russell's increasing skill as a producer and standalone musical artist.