Domino Vinilo y CD

Review: Given that Isle of White twosome Wet Leg (AKA late twenty-somethings Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers) broke through with an insanely infectious chunk of monosyllabic rap-sporting post-punk pop, the stupidly catchy 'Chaise Longue', it seems fitting that the song lands early on their self-titled debut album - track two, to be precise. While the set features little else quite as upbeat, energetic and unashamedly joyous, it's still a boisterous and at times brilliant debut full of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, low-slung post-punk intent, raucous references to vintage '80s and '90s indie, weighty guitar riffs and ear-catching melodic motifs. It's the kind of set capable of pushing them towards super-stardom and will undoubtedly be warmly received by critics.

Review: Ten years after she made her debut on Greco-Roman, singer-songwriter Tirzah drops her third studio album, a collection of imaginative and sugar-free love songs crafted with the help of frequent collaborator Mica Levi. Trip9Love, which was recorded over the course of a year at their homes and "various studios around South-East London and Kent", is relatively minimalistic in terms of the musical elements employed - think looped piano motifs, beats that sit somewhere between lo-fi hip-hop and hyper-pop, and Tirzah's now familiar voice - but still sounds surprisingly "big". It's a great example of a simple idea, executed brilliantly, with standout cuts including the infectious 'You All The Time', the ambient pop style 'Their Love', the gritty and crunchy 'Stars', and the flash-fried '2 D I C U V', where Polly Jean Harvey-esque guitars catch the ear.

Review: Julia Holter has subtly shifted focus on new album (her sixth in total) Something In The Room She Moves, moving away from exploring memory and dream-like states to instead focus on (in her words) "the complexity and transformability of our bodies". To create this rather distinctive (and rather good sound world), she added her own ethereal vocals to self-created backing tracks rich in electric fretless bass, warming wind and reed instruments, and distinctive synth sounds plucked from a Yamaha CS060. The results are predictably immersive and soul-enriching, with highlights including stunning opener 'Sun Girl', the percussively inventive 'Spinning', and the pastoral, dreamy 'Evening Mood'.

Review: .If the aim of any commissioned soundtrack score is to provide music that enhances and emphasises the on-screen action, then Anna Calvi's work on BBC smash Peaky Blinders is up there with the best of them. While Calvi only provided soundtracks to two seasons - five and six, both of which are presented on this limited double-disc release - the distinctive sound worlds she created suited series' dark and stylish visual tone. All low-slung basslines, dystopian effects, snarling riffs and squally, stretched-out guitar solos, the collected instrumentals stand on their own two feet while naturally conjuring up mental glimpses of key scenes for those who watched and loved the award-winning series.

Review: Since making a visit to Tayos Caves in Ecuador in 2018, Jon Hopkins has become progressively more interested in the potential of psychedelic therapy, and the ceremonies that accompany psychedelic trips in some cultures. Music For Psychedelic Therapy, his latest album, was partly designed as a soundtrack to such rituals and therapeutic sessions. Musically, it combines elements of ambient, drone and neo-classical, with each of the nine tracks remaining resolutely drum-free. It's an undeniably trippy but meditative affair that strikes a good balance between becalmed bliss and colourful aural intoxication.

Review: My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields has talked a lot about the stress of making Loveless, the band's now iconic 1991 sophomore album. It took over two years (and trips to 20 recording studios) to make, such was Shields sharply focused desire to capture a very specific sound. As this reissue proves, his attention to detail genuinely resulted in what many critics cite as their best album - a wonderfully immersive, wide-eyed and enveloping set that fuses their fuzzy alt-rock guitars with gaseous musical textures, dreamy aural colours and painstakingly layered musical soundscapes that sound as gloriously intense and druggy as they did way back in 1991. It's an album that everyone should own - or at least all those who doubt the sonic potential of primarily guitar-based music.

Review: Portishead's incredibly gifted lead singer Beth Gibbons is back with a solo album which appears like a bolt from the blue on Domino. As it transpires, Lives Outgrown has been ruminating for some time as Gibbons reflects on the passage of time, working closely with James Ford (of Simian Mobile Disco fame) and Talk Talk's Lee Harris to develop a distinct, gently psychedelic art rock-meets indie pop sound. Throughout, the album is guided by Gibbons' distinctive approach to songwriting, sounding like a natural cousin to her work in Portishead or her earlier solo album Out Of Season, while also offering something beguiling fresh and unsurprisingly brilliant. This is the CD edition, which comes in a hardback book case for the collectors out there.

Review: Beth Gibbons has never saturated the market with her distinctive approach to singing and songwriting, choosing to leave the power of her contributions to Portishead and solo hanging in the air. That makes Lives Outgrown a truly exciting proposition, some 20 years after her last solo outing and simultaneously unique but naturally leading on from the magical Out of Season. The sonic content is layered differently, less folky and more like art rock embellished with electronics, but the melancholic, wistful melodic makeup feels absolutely rooted in Gibbon's approach throughout the years. This is the CD edition of a very welcome return from a truly unique treasure in British alternative music.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve, product unopened & in excellent condition***


Some 33 years after it first hit record stores, My Bloody Valentine's debut album still sounds undeniably fresh. Isn't Anything, which appeared on the back of two similarly ground-breaking EPs, genuinely moved guitar-based music forwards, in part by combining Kevin Shields and company's more traditional alternative rock inspirations - think Dinosaur Junior, Sonic Youth and the jangling sixties psychedelia of the Byrds - with then cutting-edge production techniques, subtle nods towards hip-hop and an impressive dedication to achieving layered, immersive sound. Sometimes loud, gnarled and intense and at other times becalmed, dreamy and otherworldly, the album remains breathlessly inspiring all these years on.

Review: Some 33 years after it first hit record stores, My Bloody Valentine's debut album still sounds undeniably fresh. Isn't Anything, which appeared on the back of two similarly ground-breaking EPs, genuinely moved guitar-based music forwards, in part by combining Kevin Shields and company's more traditional alternative rock inspirations - think Dinosaur Junior, Sonic Youth and the jangling sixties psychedelia of the Byrds - with then cutting-edge production techniques, subtle nods towards hip-hop and an impressive dedication to achieving layered, immersive sound. Sometimes loud, gnarled and intense and at other times becalmed, dreamy and otherworldly, the album remains breathlessly inspiring all these years on.

Review: A warm welcome back to perennial genre-benders Hot Chip, who return to stores after three long years with their eighth album, some 21 years after making their debut. Freakout/Release is no dramatic change in direction, but instead a further distillation of what has always made the band so appealing - a trademark fusion of synth-pop, loved-up house sounds, lilting and sometimes melancholic lead vocals, loose-limbed organic drums, nods to Prince and an ability to craft killer hooks. There are highlights aplenty, from the gravelly live hip-hop funk of 'The Evil That Men Do' (where rapper Cadence Weapon delivers a star turn) and the subtly post-punk influenced, saucer-eyed brilliance of 'Hard To Be Funky' (featuring Lou Hayter), to the classic Hot Chip sing-along flex of 'Time' and the krautrock-tinged 'Out of My Depth'.

Review: While it would be fair to say that My Bloody Valentine's most celebrated works are by and large albums, their EPs - and particularly the four released between 1988 and '91 - are every bit as alluring and ground-breaking. For proof, check this fine collection, which not only gathers them together but also adds rare tracks and deep cuts that have long been fan favourites (see the full, 10-minute version of 'Glider', a cacophonous but strangely addictive psychedelic soundscape, and the baggy-but-ghostly 'Instrumental No. 2'). Over the course of the two discs, it's possible to chart the pioneering band's sonic development over a three-year period in which they went from visionary alt-rockers to a band that not only defied categorization, but also played by different rules to their contemporaries.

Review: Julia Holter herself describes this new album as "the cacophony of the mind in a melting world," and it provides the American singer, songwriter with her first studio album since 2015's Have You In My Wilderness. Aviary is an intrigue to say the least and it's hard not to feel as if a horror-thematic runs throughout its 11 tracks, with moments of temporary insanity and distress intertwining with hair-raising spots a ghostly allure, and it's as if any lightness in the album has had to pass its way through a thicket of darkness first. There's much dissonance to be heard here too but in a pleasantly unsettling way akin to listening to an orchestra tune itself, and with all the deep and meaningful aspects behind Holter's inspirations, it's a hell of a ride.