Review: Two years after her debut album Heaven & Hell, Albanian-American pop star Ava Max returns with her sophomore effort, Diamonds & Dancefloors. The clue's in the name as to the vibe Max is aiming for with this release, and lead single 'Maybe You're The Problem' sets the tone for a bright and bouncy strain of dance pop which will dig its claws in and have you humming along for the rest of the week. This is infectious, feel-good music of the highest order, and confirms what we already knew about Ava Max being an unstoppable force in the world of major label pop.
Love, Damini (feat Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (2:39)
Review: Afrobeats king Burna Boy has done a fine job of taking his native sound to the masses without compromising on its quality. He did that again back in 2022 on his sixth studio album, Love, Damini, which now comes as a special edition double album with a booklet that adds extra backstory. Two singles from the album performed well while the rest of it has some top features from names such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, J Hus, Vict0ny, Popcaan, Blxst, Kehlani, Ed Sheeran, J Balvin, and Khalid. A fine follow-up to his last outing, Twice As Tall, it has plenty of new ideas as well as signature grooves and smart bars.
Review: The fourth album from the English pop experimentalist was made over just six week in a "do-it-yourself" collaborative process with her fans. It is inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and was executively produced by A. G. Cook and BJ Burton. Fans and critics alike fell immediately in love with the record which was also shortlisted for the 2020 Mercury Prize. Edgy experimental production and hooky pop songwriting have rarely collided as successfully as they do here, with plenty of hyper-energetic sounds and shimmering synths, bubblegum bass and mechanical motifs all making this as much an impromptu mixtape as a studio album. Truly, this is a work of its time.
Review: Charli XCX's Brat And It's The Same But There's Three More Songs So It's Not is the deluxe edition of her groundbreaking album Brat, now pressed on white vinyl. This edition highlights Charli's unique ability to merge avant-pop artistry with mainstream sensibilities and since its release on June 7, 2024, Brat has garnered widespread acclaim, earning a spot on the Mercury Prize 2024 shortlist and achieving Gold status in the UK with over 100,000 copies sold. The deluxe version coincides with Charli's first UK #1 single, 'Guess,' which is featured in this expanded release. Known for her relentless innovation in pop music. Her influence on modern pop - not to mention wider culture, as the massive viral Kamala Is Brat meme proved - and this release simply further cements her position as a trailblazer.
I Might Say Something Stupid (feat The 1975 & Jon Hopkins)
Talk Talk (feat Troye Sivan)
Von Dutch (feat Addison Rae - AG Cook remix)
Everything Is Romantic (feat Caroline Polachek)
Rewind (feat Bladee)
So I (feat AG Cook)
Girl, So Confusing (feat Lorde)
Apple (feat The Japanese House)
B2b (feat Tinashe)
Mean Girls (feat Julian Casablancas)
I Think About It All The Time (feat Bon Iver)
365 (feat Shygirl)
Guess (feat Billie Eilish)
Spring Breakers (feat Kesha)
Review: A compelling epilogue to the already legendary Brat, an exploration of sub-mainstream pop stardom, delving into anxieties around commercial success via tracks like 'Rewind' and 'Sympathy Is a Knife'. Musically, it's a diverse and experimental space, as Bon Iver, Jon Hopkins, The Japanese House and more take on remix duties, and although the songs are pushed into unexpected sonic territories the influence of a key producer remains clear. Glitchy electronica, pure pop moments and surprising combinations create a dynamic listening experience - the collaborations on tracks like '360' and 'Girl, So Confusing' are particularly effective.
Review: 'Brat' is Charlotte Emma Aitchison's sixth studio album as Charli XCX, the follow-up from her "sell-out era", 2022's 'Crash' which topped multiple charts and gave the British pop singer a newfound notoriety that she had long been deserving. A longtime collaborator with PC Music founder and Beyonce-credited producer A.G. Cook, whose production can be found in the album's latest double single 'Club Classics/B2b', Charli is returning to her roots of dance music and electronic pop - a far cry from the hazy alt-pop she launched her career with. Following the launch of 'Von dutch', the lead single produced by PC Music producer EASYFUN (aka Finn Keanne), Charli has gone on record saying that this is her best body of work - a title that once belonged to the cult classic mixtape 'Pop 2' - and it's easy to see why, the blaring synths and honed in club music focus is unlike anything anybody in the mainstream pop sphere is doing right now. Pressed on a translucent black vinyl, and coupled with one of the best album covers maybe of all time, it's never been a better time to be one of Charli's angels.
Review: Kelly Clarkson's latest and eighth studio album Meaning Of Life is a powerful statement for the longtime Nietzschean pop singer, being one of her first to be explicitly influenced by American soul and r&b. Aiming to bring back the vivacity of certain vocal greats like Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin - memories of whom are now crystallized into the American subconscious as intractable parts of the nation's history - Clarkson aims to summon a rejuvenated spirit for an otherwise divided, turbulent, bitter country.
Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today (3:21)
Dead On Arrival (3:16)
Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy (3:00)
Saturday (3:33)
Homesick At Space Camp (3:02)
Sending Postcards From A Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here) (2:56)
Chicago Is So Two Years Ago (3:21)
The Pros & Cons Of Breathing (3:25)
Grenade Jumper (2:56)
Calm Before The Storm (4:16)
Reinventing The Wheel To Run Myself Over (2:19)
The Patron Saint Of Liars & Fakes (3:10)
Track 13 (Colorado Song) (Unfinished demo) (3:24)
Track 14 (Jakus Song) (Unfinished demo) (3:14)
Review: Long before they were literally one of the biggest pop-rock acts on the planet, little known Chicago pop-punk upstarts Fall Out Boy would pool all collective resources, energy and funds into their 2003 debut full-length Take This To Your Grave; utterly reforming modern emo and pop-punk in the process. While it was 2005's sophomore follow up From Under The Cork Tree that would catapult the band to mega stardom, there's no ignoring the bevvy of legwork that their debut provided, especially lead singles 'Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy' and 'Saturday', which clarified that this was far from another relatively catchy, acne-faced group of adolescents who'd dissipate with the next shower. These songs and the young men behind them were here to stay, which makes the heavier hardcore-leaning moments and breakdowns all the more bemusing to experience when assessing the career the band would embark upon following the record's breakout success.
Review: Foster The People return with their highly anticipated new album, Paradise State of Mind, marking their first release in three years. Produced by frontman Mark Foster alongside bandmate Isom Innis, with additional contributions from Paul Epworth, Jack PeNate, Chrome Sparks, and Asa Taccone, the album was crafted in studios across London and Los Angeles, including the iconic Studio Three at East West Studios, where The Beach Boys recorded Pet Sounds. Paradise State of Mind features standout tracks like 'Chasing Low Vibrations,' 'Take Me Back,' and the infectious lead single 'Lost In Space,' blending elements of psychedelia, space-age sounds, 80s anthems and dramatic disco strings. The track's official music video, directed by award-winning filmmaker Rupert Holler, has already made waves online.
Review: If there is a more hyped artist in the world right now than Fred... again we aren't sure who it might be. The lad who grew up close to Brian Eno and has since worked with him in the studio is a global star who has also collaborated with Four Tet and Skrillex, played all over the world, won various awards and dropped several albums now presses up his acclaimed USB to gatefold double vinyl. It is a collection of his early singles that captures his lo-fi, lived-in, diaristic sounds across a range of experimental electronic styles.
Review: Fred Again seems to be one of the most talked about artists of the year. Part of that centers around the astonishing Boiler Room set he served up, but also plenty of credit is due for the music he makes. A lot of that is summed up here on Actual Life 3, the third installment of his series after the previous two back in 2021 and recent collabs with the likes of Swedish House Mafia and Future. It shows off his mastery of a range of different sounds and scenes across 13 fun and fresh tunes that are backed with emotive beats and catchy hooks as well as some standout vocals.
Review: Fred Again's new LP Ten Days is decidedly minimal in both visual and sonic feel, making for a well-put-together exercise in chic dance summeriness, one that manages to feel, paradoxically, nostalgic for the present moment. If the crux of Fred Again's appeal rests our vicarious enjoyment of his evidently voracious enjoyment of life, then this is equally as reflective in the music here, with 'Adore U' skimming through pitch-warped vocals sampled from Obongjayar's live performance dedicated to his sister and mum, as if to immortalise them in a rush of frenetics and lightness of being, and 'Ten' equally playing up the bare skeletals of snap-rims, warbly samples and ever more pitch-effecting, this time on Jozzy's vocals. Less earnest than his outing with Brian Eno, and more dedicable purely to the young adult gaieties of summer, Ten Days marks a little over a weeks' worth of fun, tinged with a tiny hint of melancholy.
Late March, Death March (alternate version) (3:54)
Review: Pedestrian Verse is a critically acclaimed album by Frightened Rabbit, whose rapidly blooming career was cut short by the death of singer Scott Hutchison in May 2018. It has now been a full decade since the band dropped the mini-masterpiece and so it gets remastered at half speed and reissued by Atlantic with the full and original 12-track album on LP next to a bonus 12" with 11 extra tracks. This was the band's fourth studio album and the only one to feature guitarist and keyboardist Gordon Skene. The record is inspired in part by a break up and finds each of the members of the band stepping up their contribution to the songwriting. It's a great piece of modern indie history.
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