Latest Reviews
Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
Secret Love follows 2022’s Stumpwork, an album that pushed Dry Cleaning’s sound towards more expansive routes, a direction of travel that, with the help of Cate Le Bon’s expert production, has led to their best work yet. It is also their most direct. Print edition only
Record Collector
Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
Secret Love, produced by Cate Le Bon, obliterates the thought [they would struggle to surprise a second time] entirely. Print edition only
Uncut
Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
Dry Cleaning have lost none of their distinctive edge, their idiosyncratic set-up proving to be endlessly elastic, as big as they want, as small as they need, ?to capture the chaos of the world. No hidden messages here: Secret Love is a wonderful record. Print edition only
Mojo
Jenny on Holiday
Quicksand Heart
Keeps a glossy electropop trajectory, but there's a precarious tilt to the shoegazing rush of Do You Still Believe In Me? or the startling heartbroken lyrics of Dolphins. Print edition only
Mojo
Jenny on Holiday
Quicksand Heart
Unabashedly emphatic songs that nod to Robyn, Cyndi Lauper and Kate Bush, though the settings are largely those of a US mainstream, '90s grunge-pop band. They flatten the resonance of Hollingworth's lyrics. Print edition only
Uncut
Jenny on Holiday
Quicksand Heart
A revitalising break that underscores the small joys of living and points to blue skies ahead
DIY
Jenny on Holiday
Quicksand Heart
It’s no surprise that Quicksand Heart doesn’t make for a grand departure from Let’s Eat Grandma’s sound, though fans of the band will have no problem hearing about what Hollingworth got up to on her holiday
The Skinny
Sleaford Mods
The Demise of Planet X
There are sweet moments on The Demise Of Planet X and a more delicate musical palette, but the overwhelming mood is one of weariness; with the state of the world and the tedious, endless gotchas. Print edition only
Mojo
Sleaford Mods
The Demise of Planet X
The softer edges and new accessibility only makes the fury and dread eerily heavier. Print edition only
Uncut
Sleaford Mods
The Demise of Planet X
If Williamson is more vulnerable than ever, Fearn is more inventive. The record bristles with details, from No Touch’s vocoder and Megaton’s whomping beat to the Wu-Tang-style wind chimes and tense guitar of Bad Santa
Record Collector
Dry Cleaning
Secret Love
While this myriad of attempts to shapeshift suggests that this record could turn out to represent a transitional period where they attempt to find a new sound to settle into in the grand scheme of things, it’s clear that they’re still pretty good at whatever style they attempt in the interim
Far Out
Snocaps
Snocaps
Tangible contrasts in their approaches to singing emerge, with Katie’s voice often soaring above the backdrop and Allison’s delivery more often immersed in the arrangements. Yet when they harmonise, as on supremely confident album standout Wasteland, they sound innately simpatico
Record Collector
The Cribs
Selling A Vibe
They remain one of the most irrepressibly vital bands in Britain
DIY
The Cribs
Selling A Vibe
Nine studio albums in, and the Jarmans are still adding winning new tricks to their bow
NME
The Cribs
Selling A Vibe
Their most sonically polished record, and somehow their most emotionally direct
Northern Transmissions
More reviews