Back catalogue: All genres

Review: "A document created in the shadow of incredible darkness. One from which the creator hadn't planned on escaping and still doesn't. Hence the title of the album. It is the result of an illness that I've battled my whole life. It isn't something that the world has done to me. It's the world I live in, and it's no one's fault."
So says Brian Christinzio, AKA BC Camplight, of his sixth album. As ever, it's a musical masterpiece packing dense layers of instrumental experimentation and theses-worthy lyrical poignance. An artist who has never played by the musical rules, fans of strong juxtapositions will again be in there element, with a tracklist that spans grunge-y garage rock, twisted barroom journeyman stuff, theatrical guitar pop, and plenty more. But the sounds themselves are only one half the genius. When it comes to arrangements, things are as playful as they are innovative, keeping listeners guessing as to how structures will pan out.

Review: It may be debatable whether B-sides still exist in the here and now, yet beneath the very slightly prosaic title of this compendium lurks the work of an outfit who - despite having essentially surfed along a very definitive wave of sun-dappled languour since their inception - are capable of delivering offcuts that are every bit the equal of most folks' hits. True, the Spinal Tap insult of 'the musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted' could be applied to Beach House, but when their catalogue over the ten years of their existence esentially consists of a variety of themes on opiated bliss, we're only too happy to embark on the ride.

Review: Here comes a special double vinyl box set edition of Beach House's latest album, Once Twice Melody, which was the first one the band themselves have ever produced in its entirety. It was recorded in three different locations - Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, United Studio in Los Angeles, and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. The band used a real and full live string ensemble for the first time, too, and David Campbell took care of arrangements. It is a double album that features 18 songs presented in four chapters that take in many different sound and structures centred around acoustic guitar, some around drums, and some around electronics.

Review: Long-time indie darlings and American dream pop duo Beach House barely ever put a foot wrong, and you won't find a misstep on this, their fifth album, either. Depression Cherry was co-produced by the band with Chris Coady and first came back in 2015. It was written over two years before that and saw the band return to a more simplistic sound with fewer instruments, tunes constructed around a main melody and live drums featuring less than in the past. This was in response to having enlarged their sound as the venues they played grew ever bigger, but dialing it back in was a good move if you ask us.

Review: Beach House return with another inevitably washed out dream pop pipe-fantasy - and perhaps a magnum opus, being 18 tracks long - 'Once Twice Melody'. We can confirm the LP scales a more minimal and wondrous sound than their career-definer, 'Depression Cherry'. As ever, noir slow jams canopy an ever-ghostlier vocal palette on lead singles like 'Over And Over' and 'Superstar'. Even a live string ensemble was used in its recording. Stonkingly, it comes in various limited-edition formats. One, the "gold" edition, includes a gold and clear 2xLP record in a gold-embossed, hinged box. The "silver" edition is housed in a silver embossed black sleeve. Oh, and there's a cassette version too, for all you indie heads out there.

Review: At the time of writing this, The Charlatans are waking up having just sold out a brand new, state-of-the-art, much-anticipated venue in central Manchester - New Century Hall. Random fact? No, more a point about how enduring the outfit Tim Burgess leads still are. And at least part of that ongoing popularity stems from the incredible creativity in their back catalogue, which takes cues from acid house, 1960s psyche, and Barrett-era Pink Floyd.

Suffice to say, then, anytime Burgess does anything it's always worth listening to, and in Typical Music we have probably the best example in some time of how priceless an artist he is. It's pop, it's distorted rock 'n' roll, it's synthdom, epic balladry, experimental, and baggy trousered swagger. Simply put, it's Burgess on an audible high, and few things sound better.