Back catalogue: All genres

Review: The world was stunned by Sinead O'Connor's untimely death, but in such periods it's only right to cast our minds back over her huge body of work and be reminded of her talent. It's no surprise to see her seminal early albums getting reissued and 1993's Universal Mother is right up there with her most cherished works. In typical O'Connor style the album opens up with a quote from prominent feminist Germaine Greer, but the album was in fact a relatively grounded, direct affair with plenty of accessible grooves from the rolling 'Fire On Babylon' to the spiritually charged 'Thank You For Hearing Me', reportedly written about her relationship with Peter Gabriel.

Review: In the many-sided legacy Sinead O'Connor left in her wake, there were many surprises and anomalies which benefit from a fresh appraisal since her tragic passing. Her 1992 album Am I Not Your Girl? had a mixed reception on its release, as she paused on her contemporary dance-tinged pop production to indulge in big band and torch song covers. Similarly to Bjork tackling 'It's Oh So Quiet', it was a divisive move in a career full of them, but in the fullness of time these sincere pieces are but another vehicle for O'Connor's incredible voice, proving she was as versatile as she was forthright. A one of a kind talent, never to be repeated.

Review: Oasis's Noel Gallagher has said many times before that he considers the title track from the band's The Masterplan album as one of the best he has ever written. Despite that, it isn't one of their most famous, nor is the album one of the band's most widely loved. But listening back to this reissue that is maybe something that needs reconsidering. It does have a few well-loved classics such as 'Half The World Away,' which was made famous by a certain TV show, plus a live cover of The Beatles' 'I Am The Walrus' and the popular 'Acquiesce'. On its 25th anniversary, it has been newly remastered for the occasion.

Review: 'The Masterplan' is an extraordinary collection of B-sides originally featured on singles from Oasis' era-defining first three albums, Definitely Maybe, (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, and Be Here Now. Far from being inferior to the singles they backed, many of the fourteen tracks that feature on The Masterplan have become as cherished as the band's biggest singles from that seminal period. The album includes tracks 'Acquiesce', 'Half The World Away', 'Talk Tonight', an iconic live cover of The Beatles' 'I Am The Walrus', and the epic title track. Noel has often described 'The Masterplan' as one of the best songs he has ever written. Now remastered and reissued via Big Brother.

Review: The name 'Ocean Colour Scene' is an amalgamation of the eponymous band's three favourite words. This direct-democratic approach to band-naming should be an example to us all. But what of their music? 'Yesterday Today 1992-1997' compiles the West Midlands band's most eminent songs, which largely fall in the category of Britpop and indie. While commercial success for the group was limited (indeed bands like Oasis, Blur and The Verve were monopolizing the market), that says absolutely nothing about the quality of the music on this retrospective. Quite the contrary, actually; with selections spanning over ten studio albums, songs like 'Sway', 'Talk On' and 'Blue Deep Ocean' sound equally nostalgic and optimistic for a better musical future than now.

Review: Talk about airing your dirty laundry in public. Real-life couple Anthony and Josephine Vander West advocate inviting others to observe your process of self-redemption on their latest outing as Oh Wonder. Although not necessarily made in the pandemic, 22 Make is the direct product of what happened to this ace, unarguably shiny but always innovative alt-pop tag-team when the music stopped. Or at least when touring halted. Suddenly finding themselves facing a very different world, and a much more closed-off and isolated reality in which new experiences were hard to come by and they really only had themselves for comfort, the make or break situation very nearly resulted in the latter. Hence last year's 22 Break LP. This is the follow up, which explains, through their rousing but often delicate brand of nice melodic stuff, how the relationship was saved and new levels of appreciation for each other were fostered and cemented.

Review: Five albums into Oingo Bingo's original, classic run, we're treated to one of the best from Danny Elfman's shapeshifting new wave oddballs. Dead Man's Party is catchy as hell, not least the title track, coming on like Devo arranged by an orchestral composer, which isn't so far from the truth. Elfman has been cited as having mixed feelings about the band's biggest hit 'Weird Science', which was written in the car straight after a call from John Hughes asking for a theme tune for the classic sci-fi teen comedy of the same name. We don't care, it's an infectious slice of party-starting electro-funk that harks back to simpler, goofier times.

Review: St Louis' indie icon Angel Olsen has always hinted at her country leanings in her music, but on her sixth album she goes more wholeheartedly into the tradition of Americana. At the same time, the album's themes centre around Olsen's journey of discovery as she came out as queer in her mid-thirties, and this gets explored wholeheartedly in the video for the title track with its testing of gender norms. Co-produced with Jonathan Wilson and featuring Drew Erickson and Emily Elhaj on keys and bass respectively, it's a stunning step on for Olsen as she explores the roots of her sound and her world as it stands now.

Review: American singer Omar Apollo dropped his debut album last year with singles such as 'Go Away', 'Bad Life', and 'Tamagotchi' all performing well. The record was the artist's first ever entry into the Billboard Top 200 which no doubt rewards him for deciding to rewrite the whole thing after not being happy with the first version. "I wasn't excited about it. It was good music - it wasn't bad music, but it didn't feel like me" he said at the time. The genre-hopping record mixes up pop-punk, r&B, hip-hop, indie-pop and elements of Latin trap, funk, psychedelic music and traditional Mexican music.

Review: It may only be January, but we already have a firm contender for time warp classic of 2017 here - this self-titled debut from Once & Future Band, somewhat contrary to their very name, is a veritable smorgasbord of sugary '70s prog-pop, indeed the kind of thing that Jeff Lynne continues to have fever dreams about to this very day. The harmonies here may bring to mind The Beach Boys, yet this meticulously constructed yet never precious album triumphs through its ability to conjure up an expansive and wonder-filled era of sonic grandstanding without ever sounding like tired retro pastiche. It's almost enough to have one wondering how that Jimmy Carter presidency will work out.

Review: Unusually, Optimo's JD Twitch and Jonny Wilkes have taken the unusual step of not announcing the tracklist for their two-part 25th anniversary compilation ahead of release. Ordering, then, requires a leap of faith, but given the sheer breadth, diversity and quality of the music they've been playing over the last quarter of a decade, there's no doubt we're in safe hands. It's not a 'best of Optimo anthems' collection, or merely a bunch of peak-time favourites; instead, we're promised a mixture of unusual warm-up favourites and confirmed dancefloor workouts in a wide range of style that have long been favourites of the two Glasgow-based DJs - many of which will, inevitably, be slept-on, forgotten or under-appreciated gems.

Review: Optimo's JD Twitch and Jonny Wilkes, undoubtedly the UK's most fearless and on-point 'anything goes' DJs, have spent a quarter of a decade building trust with their audience. You can never tell what they might play when you turn up at one of their events, but you know it will be inspired, high-quality, and most likely make you want to dance. With their two-part 25th anniversary compilation (this is part two), they've taken a similar approach, keeping the track-list under wraps until release day while promising a mix of oddball warm-up favourites and floor-focused tracks they love and have played at various points since the start of the century. Given their track record, we can expect forgotten gems, left-of-centre anti-anthems, and unusual party-starting delights.

Review: Following on from last year's immense EP Til The Stream Runs Dry, Brighton based jazz/post-punk bastardisers Opus Kink make good on all of their absurd promise with the much anticipated debut full-length My Eyes, Brother! Sporting a dizzying concoction of caustic riffage, sardonic spoken word and flurries of jazz fusion bedlam whilst retaining an effortless display of controlled cohesion, the absurdist narratives are elevated by unhinged forays into funk-punk no wave noise-rock, and serves as yet another notch on the belt of Nice Swan's expansive and incomparable roster of cutting edge artists. For fans of Black Midi, Black Country, New Road and mercurial nonsense of the highest standard.

Review: If you love The Orielles - and, let's face it, who hasn't fallen deeply for the West Yorkshire youths-done-very-good? - you'll be over the moon to learn Tableau makes a strong case for itself as their finest hour (or thereabouts) to date, while also adding more fuel to the argument that the band are up there with the best in their generation, and probably the preceding one. Having already proven themselves capable of creating these highly immersive, sweet but never twee psychedelic stunners, here they opt for something entirely different, and yet at some points similar. This record veers wildly, sometimes unpredictably but always beautifully from track to track. Indie dance, string orchestral, epic building rock, shoegaze, spoken word warm up, and blissed out lo fi. Album of the month? At the very least.

Review: Folktronic singer-songwriter Beth Orton turns her focus inwards on her new album 'Weather Alive', manifesting a pathetically fallacious sound drawing on the natural environment and the use of a secondhand piano bought thriftily in Camden Market. Spring-boarding from the ambient, spoken word acoustic textures of her earlier projects, which used guitar and extensive production, this album is pure upright piano and voice. Just like Orton's righteous flight from London, this is cloud-floating music for nomads.

Review: Bronco was the critically acclaimed album by Orville Peck and for this year's Record Store Day celebrations it is getting a limited edition reissue. This one comes on double metallic gold vinyl and finds the country musician known for his baritone voice and flashy wardrobe in fine form. It arrived only in 2022, three years after his debut Pony. Peck is a real trailblazer as he openly identifies as queer in the famously conservative world of country music and though attempts have been made to unmask him, no one has yet succeeded. Like on his debut, this album investigates themes of love, loss and loneliness with bold story arcs.

Review: We're always hyped to see another transmission blast out from the furnace of John Dwyer's Osees. You never quite know what it might be forged into the grooves, but on this occasion Dwyer's here to outline the ingredients of Intercepted Message as 'a pop record for tired times'. Given the band's embrace of wildly meandering, psychedelic rock abandon, this is a strikingly focused record steeped in verse-chorus structure and laden with bright daubs of synths. The title track is also the lead single - a buoyant synth-pop dance monster with the attack you'd expect from Dwyer's project, and it tells you this is the Osees at their most direct.

Review: Doing shoegaze right is Connecticut's Ovlov, who return to spotlight with a reissue on Exploding In Sound of their incredible album, Am. Active since 2009, this intermittently releasing band are nonetheless local legends, owing to the persistent quality they uphold. A hoovering, surroundy and middy sound permeates this gem first released in 2013; opener 'Grapes' plunges us in infinity pools of unnaturally-dyed, ricocheting waters, setting the tone for a sound that holds no bars when it comes to sublime buildups and maximized shredding. Slower-core moments abound on the likes of 'Where's My Dini?', evincing an approach to the sound that cares less about lyrics and more about the general evocation of an East-Coast nostalgia.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Three acclaimed musicians, one incredible way to start your 2022 music collection. With members boasting heritage including the mighty FM Belfast and mum, we shouldn't need to explain there's real pedigree here, and in generous, beautifully sung, emotionally captivating spades. From the tender quiet of 'Afterparty', to the more rousing, chart-worthy 'Where The Maps Run Out', one thing is clear from the off - song craft is rarely so well accomplished.

For the most part, concerned with hushed atmospheres and subtle but effective technique, highlights for us include the gentile vocal harmonies of 'Shame', the swooning neo-journeyman sound of 'Tell Your New Lovers', and the unassuming but unarguably infectious 'Today I Wrote Nothing', but ultimately this one is about diving in and fully immersing yourself in the complete package.