Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Whilst Mogwai's scores for Zidane and Les Revenants were diverting enough pieces of work, it's some testimony to the frontier-striding attitude and emotional heft of 'Atomic' - which marks a soundtrack to the movie made by Mark Cousins and shown on BBC4 last year, dealing with the atomic age - that is stands amongst their very best work, Expanding the band's palette to include Kraftwerk-esque electronica and emotive orchestration alongside their trademark six-string melancholy. these powerful and resonant pieces pack a mighty punch, summoning awe and fear in equal, elegiac and singularly appropriate measure.

Review: Ask yourselves not whether Mogwai are just the tonic we all need in the middle of a particularly psychologically damaging pandemic. Instead, ask yourselves if there are any situations in which we don't need a new record from the Scottish space rock, post-rock, math-prog masters. Needless to say, then, As The Love Continues couldn't have arrived soon enough.

Marking the triumphant tenth LP, in many ways it's typical stuff from the band - commanding, epic, crashing, wooshing, flying, falling, loving, losing, dreamy guitar music that seems to open as many eyes as it does render listeners blind through sheer hypnosis. Packing some delightfully droll track titles to boot - for example 'F**k Off Money' - given most of us spent a good deal of time after the announcement last year wishing this would get here sooner it's our pleasure to confirm it's every bit worth the wait.

Review: You Never End, the third album from Moin (Valentina Magaletti, Tom Halstead, and Joe Andrews), released via AD 93, marks a new chapter for the band. The album features vocal contributions from Olan Monk, james K, Coby Sey, and Sophia Al-Maria, each bringing their distinct, enigmatic voices into Moin's evolving sound. The collaborators add layers of allure and depth: james K's ethereal, reverb-heavy vocals, Coby Sey's rhythmic reflections of London's urban landscape, and Olan Monk's emotionally charged songwriting. Sophia Al-Maria's contributions reflect her multidisciplinary artistry, seamlessly blending into Moin's sonic universe while expanding its possibilities. Moin continues to challenge the conventional band structure, using a mix of traditional and innovative production techniques. You Never End subtly redefines the boundaries of grunge, shoegaze, and indie rock, imbuing them with a melancholic yet comforting tone. The vocal collaborations bring clarity and emotion, maintaining Moin's signature sound while enhancing it with electronic elements. The result is an album that feels both familiar and refreshingly new, resonating with textural richness and emotional depth.

Review: Deerhunter co-founder and drummer Moses Archuleta works solo under the Moon Diagrams alias and here he impresses once more with a second album, Cemetery Classics. This 12-track release is a collaboration between Sonic Cathedral and Angus Andrew's new label No Gold adn it has been mixed by Simian Mobile Disco man James Ford. Guests like Anastasia Coope, Patrick Flegel and Josh Diamond from Gang Gang Dance all feature on what is Archuleta's first new music since 2019's Trappy Bats mini-album. The album spans several genres, as you would expect, from Basinski-esque degradation on 'Neptune' to industrial noise on 'Listen To Me,' with postmodern pop, trip-hop, shoegaze, and more. The man himself calls it a "graveyard disc" of songs for the afterlife.

Review: Thurston Moore's ninth solo album, Flow Critical Lucidity, showcases his eclectic artistry with a blend of European and UK influences. Released under Daydream Library Series, the album draws lyrical inspiration from nature, lucid dreaming, and modern dance, evoking a vibrant, introspective journey. Recorded at Total Refreshment Studios in London and mixed at Hermitage Studios, the album features the single 'Sans Limites,' whose title phrase lends itself to the album's thematic depth. The cover art, 'Samurai Walkman' by Jamie Nares, complements Moore's avant-garde style, reflecting a longstanding artistic partnership rooted in New York's No Wave movement.

Review: Daffodils & Dirt, the debut album by Samantha Morton and Richard Russell, is a brooding and poetic exploration of Morton's troubled past and raw emotional experiences. With Russell's production prowess, the duo creates an unsettling yet captivating musical landscape that delves into themes of resilience and vulnerability. Morton's haunting vocals, coupled with Russell's sparse yet evocative soundscapes, transport listeners into the depths of her teenage years, where she grappled with homelessness and instability. The album's collaborations with artists like Jack Penate, Laura Groves, and Ali Campbell add unexpected layers of depth and beauty to the already compelling narrative. The album is a mesmerising blend of haunting melodies and raw emotion, inviting listeners to journey alongside Morton as she navigates the complexities of her past.

Review: Mount Kimbie's The Sunset Violent offers a deeply evocative, unsettling exploration of emotional dissonance. Opening with the single 'Dumb Guitar', the album vividly portrays a couple grappling with their fractured relationship amidst the beauty of a fictional Chinese beach resort. Andrea Balency-Bearn's serene vocals juxtapose against lyrics of personal turmoil, while buzzy synths, discordant pianos and overdriven guitars evoke an atmosphere of tension and heartbreak. Mount Kimbie, led by Dom Maker and Kai Campos, have expanded their lineup, adding Balency-Bearn and Marc Pell, crafting a post-punk sound with corroded guitars and skeletal drums. Their sonic evolution from their earlier work culminates here, drawing from influences like Sonic Youth and The Fall, while frequent collaborator King Krule contributes to the melancholic undercurrent. Recorded in California's surreal Yucca Valley and pressed on translucent petrol blue vinyl, this album mirrors the desolation and hope of the landscape. Tracks like 'Yukka Tree' and 'Fishbrain' dive into themes of isolation and disconnection, balancing dark tones with flashes of light. With The Sunset Violent, Mount Kimbie stretch their horizons, blending post-punk, dub, and indie influences into a compelling emotional journey.

Review: Movietone are a Bristolian band from the late 1990s to early 2000s whose music aimed to bridge the conceptual gap between film and sound, mainly through the sonic medium of shoegaze and the visual medium, of, well, not-so-visual lyrical references to film. That being said, this new reissue from ultimate curators World Of Echo hears their debut album receive a full restoration, bolstering memories of their rise in the late 90s as a secondary school shed band and on into a full-blown powerhouse. With nods to every influence from beat poets to Galaxie 500, Movietone is and are an intellectual's darling of post-rock and indie.

Review: A new bedroom pop outfit, Mystery Time (Ayman Rostom aka. The Maghreban) paints a neatly outlaid sound-picture of quotidian lifestyles and humdrum joys, perhaps specifically those which are used to tape over the harder but more pronely repressible realities of grief and mourning. From the off of 'Thank You Deeply', we're told of "salad days in Archway" and being "on the phone in doorways", suggesting an attitude of listlessness and naivete as key to surviving the otherwise often excruciating experience of living in London. Its self-description as "maudlin" serves it just as well; the record wafts off a kind of haunted contradiction, describable only as the impossible mixture of post-punk and floral chintz, of wallpapering over the ability to feel fully and holistically with yet another lifestyle, pattern, habit, prescription. In Rostom's own words, "The title speaks for itself. Maudlin means emotionally sentimental. Tales, these songs are stories to me, about different times. Grief - there is much sadness and darkness in it, and Love - there is some light there too, a bit of joy, to frame the shadow." Rostom's vocals are just as listless and blinkered, tunnel-sung so as to express emotions through a drab medium.