Ok, we have our own preferences but what have the UK music journalists, bloggers and other made their albums of the year in 2019? Here’s a summary of the the top 20 in various publications. The Guardian – top 20 albums 2019 2 Dave – Psychodrama Until this year, rapper Dave was a singles artist […]
Hannah Diamond: Reflections review – trance-pop rescued from good taste by Ben Beaumont-Thomas on 22nd November 2019 at 10:30 am (PC Music)On these melancholy bangers, the PC Music singer uses nursery rhyme-like melodies and a girlish sing-song delivery to essay the pain of being lovelorn and vulnerableHere’s an affecting companion piece to Caroline Polachek’s recently […]
On Saturday 12th October 2019 the entire British music community is coming together to celebrate the second National Album Day. The day celebrates the format of the album as an art form. In the days of streaming and people buying single tracks, National Album Day reminds us that albums can still have an impact on […]
The music industry’s most random and unpredictable awards – Hyundai Mercury Album of the Year Prize – culminates with a live show and announcement on Thursday 19 September at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith. While we’re not convinced by the merits of pitting one work of music against another in a competition it’s a great way […]
Miles Davis: Rubberband review – slim pickings by Dave Gelly on 8th September 2019 at 7:00 am (Rhino/Warner)Newly signed to the Warner Bros label in 1985, Miles Davis set about recording an album intended to capture a new, young audience. He was given a more or less free hand and there were rumours of […]
Bon Iver: i,i review – complex and majestic by Damien Morris on 11th August 2019 at 7:00 am (Jagjaguwar)Apparently, i,i completes a seasonal quartet of Bon Iver albums, starting with the wintry confessions of 2008’s For Emma, Forever Ago and ending now, in autumn. Yet i,i has a brighter, more optimistic and open feel than […]
Spell Songs: The Lost Words review – a literary landscape brought to life by Neil Spencer on 21st July 2019 at 8:00 am (Quercus)The vivid, poetic nature writing of Robert Macfarlane has touched a sweet spot in the national psyche, making him a bestseller and provoking a groundswell of concern for language, landscape and […]
Dausgaard/Appl/BBCSSO: Kullervo review – thrilling and intense account of Sibelius’ epic by Erica Jeal on 27th June 2019 at 2:30 pm (Hyperion)Thomas Dausgaard and the BBC Scottish Symphony conjure grand landscapes and a rousing plot with Helena Juntunen and Benjamin Appl the persuasive soloistsSibelius had mixed feelings about Kullervo, the work that in 1892 […]
Aldous Harding: Designer review – a true original by Kitty Empire on 28th April 2019 at 8:00 am (4AD)Had Aldous Harding remained preserved in aspic, with just two mesmeric, folk-adjacent albums to her name, she would still be numbered among this generation’s true originals.Renown and greater budgets have allowed this New Zealander to trade up […]
Karen O and Danger Mouse: Lux Prima review – soul-pop sass meets funk by Kitty Empire on 17th March 2019 at 8:15 am (BMG)The last time Karen Orzolek made a record without the rest of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it was a set of very lo-fi bedroom recordings about love, written about a decade earlier: […]
