Back catalogue: Indie/Alternative

Review: When Marie Davidson announced last year that she would be, "retiring from club music", many wondered what she'd do next. Renegade Breakdown, her first album recorded with a full band (L'Oeuil Nu), answers that question. It sees the Canadian artist and her new collaborators deliver suitably arresting, personal and ear-catching songs built on mixing and matching a surprisingly wide variety of musical inspirations, from Blondie, classic disco and mutilated heavy metal guitars, to Kraftwerk, Billie Holliday, Fleetwood Mac and Daft Punk. It's a big shift for the previously highly experimental artist, but thanks to her skill as both a a producer and performer, one that works magnificently well.

Review: With the tragic, untimely passing of lead vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017, it naturally appeared to be the end for nu-metal/alt rock juggernauts Linkin Park, until recently shocking their fans with the confirmed news that Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong would be taking Bennington's place, while new drummer Colin Brittain would step in to replace Rob Bourdain who decided not to join the reformation. Serving as the follow up to 2017's pop focused One More Light, the band's upcoming eight full-length LP From Zero takes its title from their original early day name Xero whilst highlighting this newly defined creative origin the members have found themselves cornered into, bearing clear signs of a desire to celebrate their nu-metal beginnings without undoing the decades worth of progression they have accomplished since. With 11 tracks and just over a half-hour runtime, it's evident the project appears to be prioritising brevity and a succinct introduction to this new era without losing site of what sonically drew their legions of fans to them in the first place. It's a brave, delicate time for Linkin Park with From Zero championed as the heralding of this new chapter, aiming to hopefully bridge and appease listeners from all spectrums of their back catalogue.