Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Not a lot sounds like The Amorphous Androgynous, which is a relief because with a name like that you really do need to back it up with something experiential. A quick search online can tell anyone the duo - better known as Future Sound of London - have a strange relationship with Noel Gallagher, having recorded with him only to then be told by the Manchester man the outcome was shit so he destroyed the masters. Apparently these then turned up in a sock circa 2018 and you could almost be forgiven at least one of the tracks is here.

Actually, The World Is Full of Plankton comprises three tracks from 2005's album Alice in Ultraland, but the wailing, trippy, spaced out vocals that float in and out of dominance on the title number almost sound like the old Oasis lad. It's a deep and very operatic affair, which contrasts the exotic spatiality of 'All Is Harvest' and the prog rock piano stepper, 'The Emptiness of Nothingness'. Amazing stuff.

Review: Acclaimed Japanese artist Cornelius is back with a new three-song EP, Bad Advice/Mind Train, featuring a collaboration with Arto Lindsay. The EP's first single, 'Mind Train,' is an epic nine-minute track inspired by Yoko Ono which blends ethereal space-pop with minimalist structures and bursts of exhilarating chaos. Cornelius describes 'Mind Train' as a symbol of spiritual and inner exploration that is designed to prompt self-reflection. The accompanying video, created by renowned visual stylist Keita Onishi, enhances this journey with stunning retro-futuristic graphics that allow you to explore your own interpretations.

Review: Raw post-punk trio Abdomen trade in the heavier end of the genre unafraid to douse distortion and fuzz onto everything and create music so exciting it would be hard not to want to throw yourself into a circle put for, 'Damage Tool' is a breathtaking way to get things started and 'Numbers' makes Fontaines DC sound like Boyzone. They are capable of slowing down - 'Dazed' has been slowed into a hypnotic Spacemen 3-esque psych/shoegaze jam. The band are relative newcomers and not widely known... yet. But this is going to be one of those albums you'll be kicking yourself for not having a first pressing of. Abdomen is only going to get bigger and it will give the Tapetown studio in Aarhus, Denmark - where they recorded this - more bragging rights for being among the coolest alternative music spaces in Europe.

Review: Relapse Records welcome Absent In Body for a label debut. The metal collective is made up of musicians such as Iggor Cavalera, Scott Kelly and former members of acclaimed metal-ers such as Amenra, Sepultura and Neurosis. Plague God is an adventurous record that is fearless and uncompromising in its approach with a real lucidity of expression and collective coming together that reaches new heights. It might be a terrifying listen filled with hellish left turns and sublime subversions but it is all held together well.

Review: With the latest release of 2024's triumphant Les Chants de l'Aurore, label Nuclear Blast have opted to reissue the 2019 predecessor project from French post-black metal/blackgaze pioneers Alcest. Spiritual Instinct initially marked only the second time the band's live bassist Indria Saray had performed on record following on from his in-studio inclusion on 2016's Kodama, while musically, the material is noted for continuing to restore some of the previously eschewed metallic malevolence absent from their previous efforts. This restoration reembraces cataclysmic blastbeats and despair-laden vocal shrieks yet reliably subdued, compressed and drowned under swathes of shoegaze haze and bombastic yet lilting crescendos. In short, no one makes black metal sound as pretty as the French.

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: Arguably one of the most integral tentpoles of the grunge movement, Alice In Chains' seminal sophomore effort, Dirt, changed the game upon its release in 1992. Featuring some of the band's most classic cuts such as, 'Them Bones', 'Down In A Hole', 'Rooster', and, 'Junkhead', to name but a few; the incomparable dynamic of Wayne Staley's iconic vocals and cryptic, yet brutally honest lyricism combined with guitarist Jerry Cantrell's mammoth riffs and delicate nuance, still resides high in the echelons of alternative rock three decades on. For lifers and newcomers alike, this 30-year anniversary edition serves as an ideal opportunity to revisit a genuine classic, far murkier and riddled with antagonistic depths than any of its would-be peers.

Review: All Seeing Dolls make the best case for cross-pollination we've had in a while. Their sound is psychedelic tinged, garage-y leaning rock with plenty of breathy bits and opportunities to look at the sky in hope or despair, invoking the shoegaze 'thing'. In other moments, they sound like they've been hiding away in the back room of a 1960s acid party, while there are also times when vocals soar to such harmonious heights you could be forgiven for using made up terms like 'choral indie'. The sum of all those parts is a genuinely powerful and unique record that moves and insists, ebbs and flows throughout a real odyssey of a listen. But the ingredients also warrant a mention. The legendary Dot Allison is here, hence the beauty and subtle power of the vocals. The Brian Jonestown Massacre's Anton Newcombe is also present and correct, as are a piano, ukulele, guitar and auto-harp.

Review: Ones to watch in 2025, according to BBC Introducing, double-MOBO Award nominated sisters Nyrobi and Chaya, AKA ALT BLK ERA claim to be "redefining music" with their fusion of rock, house, drum & bass, rap and pop. They're certainly making enough noise to start a mini revolution, with the months preceding Rave Immortal seeing them blow up at events like Glastonbury, Download, and the Reading-Leeds weekenders. Sonically there's not much more to add - this is a rabid, in-your-face, high tempo amalgamation of sound that calls to mind the likes of NERVO, Pendulum, Enter Shikari, and to a lesser extent Prodigy. All convention-defying names, the fact ALT BLK ERA are also big advocates of disability rights and inclusivity within the music industry also paints them, sadly, as necessary outsiders.

Review: Kentucky born musical absurdist and voice actor Beth Andersen weaved her way in and out of mainstream circles throughout the entirety of her career, with some of her biggest claims to fame being the use of her 'Dance Dance Dance' single on the Scarface soundtrack as well as her voice acting credits which include appearances in The Swan Princess, Babes In Toyland, and Tarzan. Unbeknownst to many, however, was her artistic double life where she was simultaneously known as a creative academic and scholar whilst dabbling in the niche underground art-punk scenes of the 70s, where with the help of (at the time) future Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr producer Wharton Tiers as well as member of the new wave band Theoretical Girls, she was able to carve out one bemusing piece of wax that perplexed familiars on all sides of her spectrums with its self-described fusion of a myriad of unlikely anti-genres such as "yoga punk", "ramble rap", "combustion pop" and "form room funk"... all of which were officially neatly bracketed under the curious Text-Sound movement where Beth garnered utmost respect as a key practitioner. Long out of print, never thought to find its way to wax again, these percussive, rhythmic avant-punk poems and spoken word ditties are even more bizarre in practice than theory.

Review: Originally released in 2003, We've Come For You All would serve as the much-lauded ninth full-length from one of the Big 4 of thrash metal, New York City's Anthrax. The first work from the band to feature Rob Caggiano on lead guitar while being their final effort with vocalist John Bush following his tenure throughout the 90s on Sound Of White Noise (1993), Stomp 442 (1995) and Volume 8: The Threat Is Real (1998), the material came after a brief self-imposed hiatus that saw the band reroute their course with a unique amalgam of groove-oriented, alternative hard rock injected into their frenetic signature thrash formula. Adored by fans as a welcome return to form, the album also boasted some varied pedigree with regards to guest features, including Roger Daltrey of The Who lending his vocals to 'Taking The Music Back', while Anthony Martini of New Jersey hardcore heroes E-Town Concrete would appear on 'Refuse To Be Denied', yet it's the inclusion of the late, great Pantera axeman Dimebag Darrell (only one year before his tragic and untimely passing) on 'Cadillac Rock Box' and 'Strap It On' that have both become metal legacy pieces in their own right.

Review: Originally released in 2012, Daybreaker would serve as the fifth full-length from Brighton progressive metalcore heavyweights Architects, following an identity crisis after 2011's more streamlined post-hardcore effort The Here & Now. While in the decade since, the band have gone on to become one of Britain's most successful heavy music exports, finally managing to balance their heftier proclivities with mainstream appeal, the material here strikes a curious retrospective balance between their mathcore origins, the increasingly vast melodious experimentations, as well as their first forays into embracing elements of nuanced electronica. Conceptually marking their arrival to politically driven messaging, with the now even more timely and oppressively hefty 'These Colours Don't Run' tackling US political division while 'Devil's Island' lambasts the London riots of 2011, the album is also noted for its guest features including Drew York of Stray From The Path on 'Outsider Heart', and Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon on the standout 'Even If You Win, You're Still A Rat'.

Review: Ash Ra Tempel's fifth and - in most ways of judging it - final album was really also a swan song for the late, great Manuel Gottsching. Recoded at Studio Dierks, in the small, picturesque and windmill-happy German village of Stommeln by none other than Scorpions studio chief Dieter Dierks, there's a lot happening on Starring Rosi. And all of it really pretty damn good. It's funk, it's epic. It's moody, it's upbeat. It's steeped in an air of Krautrock and space rock, yet also wouldn't sound out of place providing the slap bass and guitar licks for a 1970s movie trailer. Simply put, it's Ash Ra Tempel, from the cosmic warmup and gradual build go 'Laughter Loving', through the folk-ish serenity of 'The Fairy Dance' and warbling, warped cacophonies on 'Schizo'.

Review: Japanese psychedelic pop singer-songwriter Ai Aso hails from Tokyo and has an almost impossibly wispy thin folky style to her singing that makes her utterly unique. She has been active since 2000 and has worked both solo as well as with the likes of White Heaven members You Ishihara and Michio Kurihara. Her solo album arrived back in 2014 and now a decade on gets a vinyl press via Ideologic Organ. It is beautifully delicate and whimsical, with lullaby-like guitar melodies and her own vaporous vocals drifting gently with a real sense of innocence in the sparse tracks. Lo-fi and intimate, this is a quiet gem.

Review: Following on from 2002's debut full-length Suicide Notes & Butterfly Kisses, California metalcore heavyweights Atreyu would capitalise on all of their ensuing momentum with 2004's career-high sophomore effort The Curse, which celebrates its 20th anniversary with this long overdue reissue. Boasting two of their biggest singes to date, 'Right Side of the Bed', and 'The Crimson'; both would go on to receive heavy rotation on MTV2 and Fuse, garnering the band a vast new legion of devout followers, most of whom have remained Atreyu faithful to this day. Praised for both their venomous delivery and evident ability to craft arena-sized hooks, the band and specifically this record were instrumental in the mainstream crossover popularity of more melodic, emo-tinged metalcore and post-hardcore throughout the early noughties, while as of 2020 The Curse has been certified Gold in the US with 500,000 copies sold.

Review: Loren Connors and Alan Licht's collaborative journey spanning 30 years culminates in their eighth album, At The Top Of The Stairs, is a great example to their enduring partnership and musical evolution. Recorded live in 2018, the album features two side-long pieces that showcase the duo's ability to create ethereal, abstract soundscapes with intricate arrangements. Throughout their collaboration, Connors' ghostly blue tones and Licht's meticulously crafted feedback and harmonic patterns have formed the core of their unique sound. At The Top Of The Stairs captures the duo's ascent through layers of atmospheric tension, punctuated by Connors' thunderous waves of effects. Connors and Licht have left an indelible mark on the experimental music landscape.

Review: 37 haiku poems are given an avant-garde, 64-minute musical backing, with translations from poet Harry Gilonis, on this unique project by composer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow) and vocalist Atsuko Kamura. We hear a vignetting lingual interplay, with lines in English by Hodgkinson sung in Japanese by Kamura, as a wide instrumental span covers percussions, violin, viola, harp, clarinets, guitars, and electronics result. Recorded between Tokyo and London, the album offers a startlingly satisfying sonic renga (a Japanese poetic form encompassing a succession of haikus), lending the brevity of classic haiku an expansive, stretched-out prosthesis. From the 17th through to the 20th-century, this is a subduing but still irregular experience, as it formally demonstrates the laconic and aphoristic essence of the haiku.