Kula Shaker – K (Sony)
The London dreamers have borrowed their favourite parts from music’s past to create a headrush of love and mysticism
Six alternative reviews of the new Primal Scream album More Light
Edgy, like pulling the wings off butterflies.
The Flaming Lips – The Terror (Bella Union)
It seems this experience has totally renewed my enjoyment of all that other Flaming Lips stuff that I play in the daytime
A review of ‘Arc’ by Everything Everything that absolutely takes issue with everything the NME and the Tories stand for
The words come tumbling out of Jonathan Higgs’ mouth like so many bright bees, clouds and clouds of them buzzing about, so numerous and sharp such that their ingenuity, volume and ambition remind me of Joanna Newsom’s meticulous verses. He conjures up drone strikes, billionaires, footballers’ wives, broken war-heroes, landmines, volcanoes, rioters, pterodactyls, post-apocalyptic landscapes, revelatory visions. Not a waistcoat in sight.
A review of ‘Mosquito’, the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, based only on the press release
Nice to know there’s a deluxe album but it might as well be a complete fucking Smithsonian Library of Recorded Yeah Yeah Yeahs Burps for all it matters to us, as we sure as shit ain’t going to be hearing it any time soon.
Dick Diver – Calendar Days (Chapter Music)
They don’t describe forests, or even trees, but the feel of bark and the sound of leaves and then leave the rest for you.
A review of ‘Wolf’ by Tyler, The Creator based only on the front cover
Ultimately, this cover is showing that Tyler knows. And he’s grown. Oh, how he’s grown. From chirpy chirpy creep creep to troubled young resentful mogul.
Ensemble Pearl – Ensemble Pearl (Drag City)
Imagine a German Dirty Three. Of if you’re feeling cynical, imagine a 10-year-old boy pretending to be a monster, stomping all over Tokyo in a nuclear-induced haze.
A review of ‘Comedown Machine’ by The Strokes based only on the front cover
Their music is supermarket fodder, created with precisely the same love and attention to detail as a pack of frozen peas
Primitive Motion – Home Of The Future (Kindling)
It reminds me of someone in a book I once read, describing a heroin high as like floating on a sea of jewels, which scares the hell out of me because it sounds incredible.
