Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Let's face facts, the trilogy of releases that ACR:EPR completes have helped win over a new generation of fans for the band while reassuring established followers that A Certain Ratio can still do the business. They've been heartfelt and honest, truly innovative and - when all is said and done, at some point in the near future - destined to be considered collector's items.

The final chapter is certainly winding things up triumphantly. '$ouls In The City' seems to go straight for the mind's eye, an enrapturing track that chugs its way through layers of funk groove, with acid details just about audible on top. 'Night People' is a far more sticky, treacly affair, while 'Big Boy Pants' ushers in a kind of nocturnal seduction, brass and rolling breakbeats setting the scene perfectly for the ska-infused melodies of 'Downtime Vibes' that follow.

Review: The album 1982 stands out as one of the finest moments in A Certain Ratio's story. When you're talking about a band that started half a decade before the year 1982, that's saying something. Following on from the landmark ACR Loco, the outfit's 2023 record is packed with multidimensionality - dipping toes into everything from gritty post punk (a sound from whence they first came) to Afrobeat, all realised with exceptional attention to detail and the highest possible standards. 2023 EP, as the title suggests, builds on the impact of that latest long-from release. Opening on the jazzy late night club workout 'Day By Day', a brand new number, the package then jumps into work from the aforementioned LP, redone by contemporary dons. So that's Werkha on a stepping, garage-hued version of 'SAMO', Emperor Machine emphasising the exotic disco grooves of 'Constant Curve', and Jade Parker offering a highly percussive cosmic take on 'Waiting On A Train'.

Review: The story of this one revolves around San Diego native Anthony "Antone" Williams. He was one day alone in a studio, messing about with the gear and before he knew he it lay down the haunting rhythm that underpins the tune now presented here by the good folks at Athens of the North. It's a sinister, restless one that got released as a hugely limited 7" on Unity Records with otherworldly soul production and a pained vocal up top. Post punk soul, some call it, and that's a fitting descriptor. A remix appears on the flip but the allure of the original is hard to beat.

Review: For people of a certain age, their teenage years were defined by the edgy grunge, alt and punk rock sounds of bands like Alice in Chains. Three decades later their seminal sophomore effort, Dirt sounds as good as it ever did and gets an anniversary reissue to mark the occasion. It comes with plenty of powerful drums and big-ass basslines as well as yelping vocals and fuzzy textures that take in a range of emotions and even bigger riffs. This issue features a special insert and comes across four sides of vinyl so it's nice and loud, just as intended.

Review: Canadian singer, songwriter and visual artists Allie X - real name Alexandra Ashley Hughes - is a great representative for the resurgent live electro-synth scene. Emerging from the Toronto indie circuit in the mid-2000s, it was a relocation to Los Angeles, a heartland for neon sounds, and early work with producers Circuit and Billboard that first saw an identity begin to form, which is as retro as it is futuristic, picking up scores of fans along the way, including Katie Perry no less. Girl With No Face is her latest long form, and sees the artist again stick her flag confidently in the ground. Tunes bounce, track, soar, step, pump and - at times - fall apart, emotionally speaking, with clear references to the likes of Ladyhawke, Madonna, Kraftwerk, Cocteau Twins and a-Ha, among others. Definitely one to watch, if you're not already.

Review: The Afghan Wings serve up their ninth album here and it is one that finds them in top form throughout. The sounds here are brilliantly thrilling and high octane across a first record in five years. 26 years after this group formed they still find new heights and fresh sounds as they reference greats like Warren Zevon, Prince, and Zeppelin while also adding their own love of soul and R&B. Frontman Greg Dulli is in typical swaggering and dynamic form on the mic as he leads this one from the front.

Review: Appearing as both a standard edition and purple-coloured 'Nightmare Edition' - going for a trademark 'corona effect' with variant artwork - Alt-J here present their most emotionally harrowing and difficult album yet, dealing directly with a series of traumatic experiences experienced by the band's members both in childhood and over the course of the recent pandemic. Hooting, flatuing and honking comes the lead single 'U&ME', in which Joe Newman sings of personal oppression and stress - "pressing down on my face" - to the tune of woodblocks, metal pangs and strong bass licks. Watch out for this Blood Records exclusive edition.

Review: A Certain Ratio's core trio of drummer Donald Johnson, bassist/vocalist Jez Kerr, and multi-instrumentalist Martin Moscrop make ACR Loco a perfectly fluid and funk album. In fact, on this, their first album in more than ten years, the Manchester post-punk outfit are as funky as they have ever been. Their tried and tested sound gets nicely updated with modern beat driven sounds and plenty of redefines to today's political strife in the lyrics. There are plenty of smooth and cool synth led grooves like 'Get A Grip' and messages of unity on 'Family' that we can all relate to.

Review: Icelandic classical, experimental and soundtrack composer Olafur Arnalds steps away from the loops and Broadchurch OSTs to conjure yet another sublime LNT saga. Carefully balancing between contemporary odysseys ("Jomsvikingarimur"), dense futuristic electronic weaves ("Last Remnants"), fuzzy 22nd century pop ("A Noise") sludgy cosmic funk ("Jasmine") and introspective soul ("Our Love Comes Back"), Olafur blows wave after woozy wave of soft sonic conjurations in a way that's broad, detailed and cleverly considered. Good night.

Review: Is there a more hard-working pair of party-starters than the Allergies' Rackabeat and DJ Moneyshot? The Bristol-based duo have been prolific over the last few years, yet the quality of their work seemingly hasn't suffered. Promised Land, their fifth album, is another invigorating, thrill-a-minute ride through hip-hop/funk/soul/rock/breakbeat fusion, where almost every cut is ripe for dancefloor plays. Highlights include the bluesy breakbeat bustle of 'Working On Me', the scratch-happy, Fatboy Slim-esque fun of 'Jumping Off', growling Dynamite MC hook-up 'Lean On You' (which reminded us a little of Plantlife), soul stomper 'Love Somebody' and 'Are You Ready', where Ugly Duckling's Andy Cooper and singer Marietta Smith both make their mark.

Review: It's been three whole years since we last encountered a new album from the man like Richard Ashcroft. The guy who once told us how the drugs no longer worked, only to then explain how lucky he was. In many ways, Acoustic Hymns Vol.1 is an extension of all that, a record that has come along at a time when he's clearly ready to reflect on the heady days of the Britpop and UK indie explosion detonated in the 1990s.

Whether you'd call this album a covers collection or original, new work is definitely down to opinion. Ashcroft has opted to turn his hand back to tracks released with his seminal band The Verve, and a few of his own solo bits, only reimagined and reappropriated. The latter word is the most accurate, though. Here genuinely new life is breathed back into the likes of 'Bittersweet Symphony', which, considering the scale of that particular hit, is no mean feat.

Review: You can't help wondering what Atlantic Records were thinking when they rejected Little Earthquakes. Tori Amos' debut album, which finally saw the light of day in 1992, reaching 14 in the UK long form charts at a time when competition in the Top anything was ridiculously fierce, the record stands up very well on its own, trapped in your own listening capsule. More so, it marked the arrival of a truly unique voice who would go on to inspire a bunch of alt-pop sirens.
Of course, the finished article garnered praise from across the critical board, proving that what label executives don't know is often what the rest of us do - originality has far more longevity than a guaranteed number one. Producing timeless singles like 'Silent All These Years', 'China', 'Winter', and, of course, 'Crucify', it's a joy to hear again.

Review: A lot can change in two years or so. Not least if 2021 saw you release one of the most celebrated records of the current decade, tackling the mental health crisis head on in the midst of a global pandemic. An album that despaired and threw its hands up, declaring that we, collectively, are not alright and something needs to change, all via staggeringly poetic prose, at times bordering on spoken word. Returning from that triumphant episode, Arlo Parks follows up with The Soft Machine, an LP that lands after most of the dust from that global emergency has settled, and she's relocated to sunny Los Angeles to live with partner and alternative rapper, Ashnikko. To say the result is something that sounds warmer, more appreciative of what you've got rather than focussed on what isn't would be an understatement, but the exquisite songwriting and willingness to speak honestly about major issues remains.

Review: This sixth studio album by Arcade Fire is as anticipated as any in the seminal indie band's long career. It was produced by esteemed Radiohead associate Nigel Godrich in many different locations around the world from El Paso to New Orleans. The band say it was the longest they have ever spent writing together and is focused on the forces that threaten to pull the world apart and how we must resist. WE has a big narrative arc that makes for a real rollercoaster of seven tunes that go from light to dark and back and with plenty of joy expressed amongst the tensions.