Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Guerssen Records specialise in reissuing obscure psychedelic music from the past, and here they home in on two early British psychedelic bands, Hopscotch and Andwella. 'Look At The Lights Go Up' is Hopscotch's contribution, with the band made up of former members of the Eyes and Tomorrow, and the track comes as a rare and unreleased demo of melodic trip-sat illumination and lyrical nonsensicality ("This lady from the forest of Manhattan...". Andwella's 'Felix' comes to the B-side, and is a formerly unreleased outtake from their second album World's End.

Review: Habitat Ensemble is a new musical collective that is led by musician Marius Houschyar and this is their self titled debut album on the delightful Music From Memory. The group has roots in the south of the Czech Republic where, we're told, outsiders and creatives have been meeting at a summer school since the 1990s. It was in the summer of 2022 that this group came together, inspired by the idea of exchanging the down cultural and musical ideas through music. They first started out with a series of multidisciplinary workshops which then blossomed into this full length - a fusion of jazz, ambient, world music and experimentation that is organic and enriching.

Review: I Inside the Old Year Dying is PJ Harvey's tenth studio long player but a first in some seven years. The last, The Hope Six Demolition Project, was a UK number one on the album charts and this one was again recorded with long-time creative collaborators John Parish and Flood. It is a vast sonic universe that is located "in a space between life's opposites, and between recent history and the ancient past." There is plenty of biblical imagery, Shakespearean references and lots of profound songwriting, as you would expect.

Review: Proud Sheffieldian Richard Hawley - so proud he has taken a popular local greeting as the title for his best of album - could well be the artist that Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys is morphing himself into. Either way, he has done it all from Mercury Music Prize and BRIT award nomination to four UK Top ten Albums and collabs with the likes of Pulp, Paul Weller and Elbow. He has curated this collection himself with long-term collaborator Colin Elliot and it takes in hits from across his 20+ year career - some are well-known, some are tender gems, some are hidden delights from his early years you may have missed. A much-needed album, frankly.

Review: Mayer Hawthorne came up at the height of Detroit's hip-hop movement, playing DJ sets and making beats from his hometown of nearby Ann Arbor. He dropped his debut release via Stones Throw in 2008 and since then has put out four more albums and picked up plenty of critical support as well as radio plays across the world. For All Time is his fifth album and one that crosses even more musical boundaries than before with lyrics that explore "the complexities of love and the raw emotions that accompany it." It is dark, brooding, erotic and stylish with hints of 1920's jazz club to it. A great return. .

Review: The latest addition to the catalogue of Swiss label, Second Thoughts, John Haycock's Dorian Portrait is a striking fusion of jazz and ambient. Showcasing Haycock's Kora specialism - the 21 stringed instrument that has its roots in West Africa - this is an impressive debut studio album from the Manchester-based artist. The opening track, 'Mykes', fans out onto a rippling melody where the plucked strings of the Kora melt into the twin tones of Haycock's electronic components, striking an intriguing balance between a sound that feels age old yet resolutely new. Another standout track, 'Dissolution', grows out from a more prominent bassline, like a plant pushing through soil - leaves unfurling, stretching out towards the sun. This is a beautifully reflective album for quiet introspection and shared listening alike.

Review: LA based industrial trio HEALTH have had quite the curious trajectory from their confrontational noise-rock beginnings, to providing the acclaimed score to Max Payne 3, all the way to redefining themselves as a gritty, synth-metal behemoth on 2019's Vol 4: Slaves Of Fear. Following on from their lockdown-inspired two-part Disco 4 collaborative project which boasted cuts written in tandem with artists ranging from a multitude of differing sonic spheres, such as alternative hip-hop (JPEGMAFIA, Ghostemane) to hyperpop (100 Gecs) and even grindcore (Full Of Hell), their latest endeavour appears to be taking cues from both their more vicious experiments as well as their newfound collaborative ethos. With features from the likes of Godflesh and Willie Adler of Lamb Of God, whilst embracing both their metallic and techno-leaning indulgences simultaneously, Rat Wars promises to distil the myriad of components essential to the sonic makeup of HEALTH into one oppressive, melancholic, hellish, absorbing and vital collection.

Review: Le Jardin De Heavenly is one of the four Heavenly albums scheduled for reissue this year by Skep Wax Records. The band have marked that news by reuniting for two special sold-out dates at Bush Hall in London as appetite for their music feels as strong as it did first time round back in the 1990s as the new generation pick up on it via mediums like Tiktok and streaming platforms. This record is packed with melody-laden pop tunes, complex harmonies and plenty of intense drums, guitar flourishes and sharp and loud riffs. Elements of early shoegazae can also be heard next to some dreamier pieces. A real classic.

Review: Roberto Lange is back with a new album for 4AD which feels in stark contrast to his previous outing, 2021's Far In. That album was a definite lockdown record, and now Lange is in the mood to reach out and celebrate the sunshine, funnelling his dense and dusky production and playing into some wonderfully varied songs. There's a unique sentimentality to the Helado Negro sound captured in the huge reverb tails which spiral out of songs like 'LFO (Lupe Finds Oliveros)', but there's no immediate fix for the curious charm of his dusty indie rock sound.

Review: Paint My Bedroom Black is Holly Humberstone's hotly anticipated debut album; a coming-of-age story reflecting the singer-songwriter's experiences of touring, loneliness, friendship and love. From the dark and haunting ballad 'Antichrist' to the upbeat homesickness-inducer 'Room Service', hers is a contemporary opus flaunting collaborations with modern pop icons like Finneas, Matty Healy, and Phoebe Bridgers. Humberstone channels an array of influences and images, from teen dejection to lo-fi bedroom balladry, sure to soon hook the collective attention of a diverse pool of listeners.