I’ve been finding lots of albums in the good to very good range this year, but not many great ones. Here are three more strong, but not classic, albums. American indie rock artist Lucy Dacus, Canadian post-rockers Godspeed You! Black…
In an unplanned coincidence, today’s three recent releases are from English settlements ending with on. Post-punk band Squid from Brighton, London’s Cleo Sol, and Swindon’s Andy Partridge. Squid Bright Green Field 2021, 8.5/10There’s a whole crop of young, critically acclaimed…
There’s a strong batch of newish albums this week. The retro 1970s sleaze of St. Vincent’s Daddy’s Home, the diverse indie-pop of Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee, and the Nigerian ambient field recordings of Emeka Ogboh. St. Vincent Daddy’s Home 2021, 8.5/10Annie…
1970s avant-garde German band Can pull a classic show out of their archives, while Mdou Moctar plays desert blues in Niger. Indie band Xiu Xiu are up to their twelfth record, but it’s the first time I’ve checked in with…
Welcome back to new music reviews, with three recent albums. Manchester Orchestra’s earnest stadium rock, tUnE-yArDs’ eclectic indie-soul, and Wolf Alice’s valiant attempts to reignite mainstream rock. Manchester Orchestra The Million Masks of God 2021, 8.5/10In spite of their name,…
Three new-ish records this week. The fifth album in little over two years from London’s enigmatic Sault, a debut from Australian R&B artist Genesis Owusu, while Miranda Lambert joins two other country artists for a literal campfire singalong, Sault Nine…
Coincidentally this week, I review two 7th studio albums by New Zealand bands starting with C. As well as Porter Robinson’s electro-pop album Nurture. Crowded House Dreamers Are Waiting 2021, 6.5/10It’s increasingly difficult to differentiate Crowded House from Neil Finn’s…
This week we look at three releases from contemporary female American artists – R&B artists Jazmine Sullivan and Dawn Richard, and actor Olivia Rodrigo, who’s rapidly become a pop superstar in 2021. Olivia Rodrigo Sour 2021, 7.5/10Olivia Rodrigo came to…
Welcome to what’s surely the longest headline in the history of Aphoristic Album Reviews. Coincidentally, all three albums in this week’s review pile are collaborations between multiple artists. It’s a diverse week – Australian elder statesmen Nick Cave and Warren…
There’s an Americana theme with these three new releases. Jenn Wasner covers a lot of musical ground with her excellent second record as Flock of Dimes. There’s an unlikely Canadian-New Zealand Americana record from Kacy & Clayton & Marlon Williams,…
Aphoristic Album Reviews takes a look at three new releases from women this week. Ingoma, from South African teenager Azana, is a record from July 2020, while Cassandra Jenkin’s An Overview on Phenomenal Nature and Lana Del Rey’s Chemtrails Over…
We stay in the USA for this week’s new albums. Literate bar-rockers The Hold Steady still have new ideas on their eighth studio album. Tennessee indie artist Julien Baker is back with a third album of introspection, while Paramore’s Hayley…
