Tag: album review
-
Cory Wong: Lost In The Wonder review – a lacklustre collection of singles from funk’s busiest guitarist
Known for his signature guitar riffs, superhuman turnout of albums, and wider collaborative efforts, Cory Wong is well-established within the funk sphere. But with his latest release he’s perhaps gotten too comfortable, suggests Matthew Rowe.
-
Every Mercury Prize 2025 nominee, ranked
The Mercury Prize is back, and a new album will be crowned as the UK and Ireland’s best in Newcastle on Thursday 16 October. To celebrate this year’s competition, Undertone listened to all 12 nominated albums. Which is the best, and which has the best shot at winning? The verdict is in…
-
Black Country, New Road live at the Glasshouse review – not what it once was
The boundary-pushing Cambridge band have boldly ventured forth into a third album after departing frontman Isaac Wood left a gaping hole in the lineup. Three years on, the band’s spectacular glory days still cast a long shadow over this middling live set in Gateshead.
-
Welly: Big In The Suburbs review – puts the fun back in British indie rock
Welly’s debut album is winningly silly, although its political satire feels a little too safe, and the comedy in Elliot Hall’s cartoonish vocals wears thin quickly.
-
Courting: Lust for Life review – overwrought concept album pulls its punches
The Liverpool band’s drive for creative risk-taking is admirable, but the experiment doesn’t pay off on this messy, underwritten third album.
-
Vulfpeck: Clarity of Cal review – at long last, a hit
After a string of increasingly unfunny joke albums, Jack Stratton and co get (a little) more serious on this latest collection of joyful funk-pop tunes. It ranks as one of Vulfpeck’s finest outings to date, even if they let it slip in the closing stages.
-
Divorce: Drive to Goldenhammer review – endearing, open-hearted folk-rock
Framed around a quest to the fictional place of ‘Goldenhammer’, the Nottingham indie band’s impressive debut is packed with one gorgeous duet after another, plus a wealth of plaintive melodic earworms.
-
Sam Fender: People Watching review – the Geordie Springsteen delivers a classic
Valorised Geordie hero Sam Fender paints a vivid picture of ordinary working-class life in this extraordinary third record. Never has Fender’s trademark brand of melancholic beauty sounded so potent.
-
Ezra Collective: Dance, No One’s Watching review – jazz champions play to their strengths
The jazz group that set the Mercury Prize alight last year return with an album that goes all in on infectious dance grooves. Their knack for melody seems to have been forgotten in the party, but this bloated record does conclude with the most moving track of this band’s career.
-
Summer of funk: five groovy albums to keep in your rotation this summer
Now that Summer has finally arrived, Alex Walden has been on a deep dive in an attempt to collate his summer playlist. While the process remains unfinished, Alex has found five albums that he deems to be essential listens this summer.
-
Home Counties: Exactly As It Seems review – a masterpiece in diverse post-punk
After the addition of a new member, upgrading Home Counties from a 5-piece to a 6-piece, the band has truly found their sound and developed it perfectly to cover and tackle many problems in a war against the mundane. Matthew Rowe explains all.
-
Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft review – more soft than hard
A compelling tale of love and loss, Hit Me Hard and Soft sees Eilish embrace her sexuality on her own terms via knotty and unpredictable pop. The love songs are delectable and the showpiece moments titanic, although not every sonic experiment comes off.
-
Maggie Rogers: Don’t Forget Me review – assured third album brims with singalong choruses
The ballads are few and far between on Maggie Rogers’ brilliantly written third record, which delivers one singalong belter after another. Don’t Forget Me doesn’t reinvent the singer-songwriter wheel, but what a fabulous wheel this particular album is.
-
Jacob Collier: Djesse Vol. 4 review – his most gloriously incohesive yet
Ticking off everything from electropop to metal, Indian folk music to club-ready dance numbers, the finale of Collier’s four-album extravaganza is eclectic even by his standards. It makes for a mightily impressive listen, even if the 26 featured artists might overwhelm even his keenest fans.
-
KNOWER: KNOWER FOREVER review – a grand return for the LA duo
Louis Cole, Genevieve Artadi and an incredible collection of collaborators have crafted an album elevated far above any of their past music, shaping a promising future for the electronic funk duo, writes Matthew Rowe.
Undertone 