Review: Over three LPs, this impressive compilation covers album tracks, singles and B-sides across 30 years of Nick Cave's nigh-on flawless work with The Bad Seeds. Following the progression of the band through these 45 lushly remastered tracks, we hear Cave mature as writer, composer and singer, from the early post-Birthday Party morbid obsessions, through tender ballads, the grand theatrical 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig' era work, to the intense and widescreen masterpiece of 2014's 'Push The Sky Away'. In its assembly, 'Lovely Creatures' is far more than a mere compilation, it's a broad and exhaustive journey through Cave's mythological folklore universe of murder, sex, drugs, love, light and dark.
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.
Just (feat Pharrell Williams & Zack De La Rocha) (3:26)
Never Look Back (2:57)
The Ground Below (2:32)
Pulling The Pin (feat Mavis Staples & Josh Homme) (3:37)
A Few Words For The Firing Squad (Radiation) (6:46)
Review: Hip-hop supergroup Run The Jewels aka Brooklyn-based rapper-producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike return with their fourth in their self titled album series. Once again the American heavyweights call on a big roster of collaborators with DJ Premier, 2-Chainz, Pharrell Williams and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme all appearing. The tracks remain hard-edged and direct, with cacophonous synths and oversized hits making each track an attention grab. The rhymes are of course on point throughout, with standouts including the machine gun bars of 'Walking The Shadow.'
Review: The Crown Prince of Essex is here in all his sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll glory, and while most of the tracks on this career-spanning collection will be familiar, diving back into the back catalogue is a welcome reminder of the power of modern poetry. Ever the astute lyricist, deftly combining slang with more sophisticated forms of English wordplay, it's enough to make you fall head over heels for the eccentric lad-cum-laird all over again.
With early anthems such as 'Kilburn & The High Roads' sitting next to outtakes from his final, posthumous 2002 album and classics like 'Reasons To Be Cheerful Pt.3', and 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick', Hit Me! is as comprehensive an introduction or as deep an exploration of a musical master's work as you are likely to find on two discs. Let's leave it at that.
Review: Former Moloko singer Roisin Murphy proves with this new album she is still a force to be reckoned with. It bristles with dance floor kinetics and fizzing electronic synths that come laden with her outsider pop vocals. Roisin Machine is a collaboration with Sheffield producer Richard Barratt and the results include tracks that touch on feelings of frustration and romance, modern Britain and plenty more besides, all with plenty of his rugged production, bit also plenty of super sweet rolling grooves and funky bass riffs. The hip-swinging 'Murphy's Law' is a particular highlight from, this perennially underrated artist.
Review: Fans have been waiting a long time for a vinyl reissue of Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree album. Loved for its neo-psychedlic sense of English whimsy, the band's fourth full length has long been out of print and was named after the lead singer had a dream about a very large tree. It was praised for its bravery and for abandoning the dance vibes of previous records for a more subtle and affecting sound. The record spawned four singles with one, 'A&E' hitting the Top 10 of the UK charts.
Review: Having previously decided to ditch the Chet Faker moniker for a couple of subsequently low-key albums, including last year's digital-only ambient excursion, Musical Silence, Nick Murphy has finally decided to resurrect it. In the process, the Australian artist has gone back to basics, with Hotel Surrender sounding far more like his much-loved 2014 debut, Built on Glass - a massive hit in his home country - then anything else he's recorded since. It was a smart move, because Murphy does synth-heavy, electronica-tinged pop far better than most. As a result, the album is full of confirmed earworms, from the blue-eyed soul of 'Oh Me, Oh My' and the string-drenched swell of 'Whatever Tomorrow', to the flash-friend funk-pop of 'Feel Good' and the Rhodes-clad R&B-soul of 'In Too Deep'.
Review: Flared, blazered indie rockers Dope Lemon don leopard-print scarves and pink supercars as they glide, sunshades on, down the street to the tune of their new album 'Rose Pink Cadillac'. After the release of their recent single of the same name, the album is decidedly electro-funky and sultry in feel, with the band reconcile every mood between the styles of Tame Impala and Anderson Paak, and teasing a stinking funk to the smooth production that belies each vocal performance by Angus Stone. Coming to CD and LP, one lucky fan who preorders the album will receive - yes - a real 1960s rose pink cadillac with their preorder.
Review: Lady Blackbird is the first singer to grace Foundation Music, and you'd best be paying attention to this vital new voice in the realm of soul jazz. Hailing from LA and blessed with a smoky voice to rival some of the greats, one listen to 'Blackbird' is all you need to be utterly captivated. The sultry playing from Deron Johnson, Jonathan Flaugher, Jimmy Paxson and Troy Andrews perfectly matches Blackbird's arresting voice, gliding between stormy explosions and the softest of touches to match the mood. Black Acid Soul is perhaps the perfect description for the music, shot through with a streak of 60s psych but taking it to some dark corners - a true expression rendered in sumptuous, noirish hues.
Review: Nina Simone has never enjoyed the credit she deserves because of quite how confrontational and anti-establishment she often was. Never was that more true than with her performances at Montreux Jazz Festival over the years. Many of them are collected here on this new new double album and many of them are rare and never-before-released recordings. She first played the historic event in 1968 and turned out an emotional show while her famous 1976 showing was much more fiery and unpredictable. Tracks like her fearless 'Four Women' and hauntingly beautiful performance of 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' are all included.
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