Location: set your location

Music and Records

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

(3 stars)24 May 2012

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

Poliça

Single of the month: Poliça - ‘Dark Star'

Other releases by Liars, Tribes, Childish Gambino and Hot Chip also reviewed

22 May 2012

The pile of pre-summer releases on The List’s doorstep this month was rather intimidating, but here is a round-up of the best (and rest). Liars new track, ‘No 1 Against The Rush’ (Mute Song ●●●), is three-and-a-half minutes of slithering synths and…

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

A wise yet not world-weary record from the soul legend

(3 stars)22 May 2012

‘As a singer grows older, his conception goes a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he’s trying to say a little more...’ So said Sam Cooke back in the day, and so opens electro-soul hymn ‘Dayglo Reflection’, the fourth track…

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Minimalist experimental reissue from the regular Arthur Russell collaborator

(4 stars)22 May 2012

An excellent reissue of the out-of-print debut from Peter Zummo dating back to 1981, a long time session musician and collaborator of Arthur Russell’s – who also lends his distinctive cello and baritone stylings throughout. With its feet firmly set in…

Friends - Manifest!

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

(3 stars)22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Ultravox - Brilliant

Ultravox - Brilliant

Dull and pompous record from the no-longer-relevant Ure and co

(1 star)22 May 2012

Does the world really need another album, the first in 26 years, from the ‘classic’ Midge Ure-era Ultravox – a group of negligible lasting impact on music even at their mid-80s arena synth-pop zenith? The Trade Descriptions Act-violating Brilliant is…

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Inventive and charismatic return from Cherry in this free jazz/post-punk collaboration

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Neneh Cherry’s first album in 16 years is perhaps closer in spirit to the jazzoid post-punk of Rip Rig & Panic than the glorious hip-pop of Raw Like Sushi, but hot damn, it’s good. The Thing are renowned for their wild takes on cult rock and free-jazz…

Patti Smith - Banga

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

(3 stars)22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Gloriously melodic dance-pop in the vein of Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and the Avalanches

(5 stars)22 May 2012

This is a perfect example of how good pop music can be if it’s driven by a restless intelligence. Miaoux Miaoux, aka Julian Corrie, has been turning heads with his distinctive electro-pop sound for a while, but this first album for Chemikal Underground…

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Vibrant and inventive Malian Afro-beat, occasionally let down by naff blues guitar

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Described as Malian Afro-Beat, Ben Zabo’s music expands its scope well beyond the Fela Kuti-inspired sounds of 1970s Bamako to incorporate the bwa rhythms and melodies of his own Bo region, alongside elements of funk and rock. Slick production has…

Sigur Rós - Valtari

Sigur Rós - Valtari

A typically dazzling record from the Icelandic cosmic folk-pop outfit

(4 stars)22 May 2012

The rumours of an ‘indefinite hiatus’ might have left us thinking that was it for Sigur Rós, but the four years since their previous album have amounted to little more than a bit of creative refreshment time. Valtari (the infinitely less satisfying to…

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Accomplished, crisp and cool recordings by Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Joey Baron

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Pianist Steve Kuhn has worked with both bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Joey Baron in many contexts over several decades, but they had never played together in a trio setting prior to recording this last year. You would never guess that, though – they…

Oriole - Every New Day

Oriole - Every New Day

Distinctly Latin-influenced sounds from the F-IRE collective

(3 stars)22 May 2012

The latest offering from the ranks of the London-based F-IRE collective features music written by Oriole’s founder, guitarist Johnny Phillips, during a six-year stay in Cadiz. The distinctly Spanish/Latin melodic and rhythmic feel has an appealing…

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

The elctro-pop masters' fifth album is their most smartly accessible effort to date

(4 stars)21 May 2012

Every self-appointed creative with a WTF haircut and a MacBook thinks they’re an ‘electronic artist’ these days. But there’s more to it than bedroom-recording cry wank vocals over presets and dropping them to Tuesday night cheek-chewers. Hot Chip’s…

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Full of wit, panache, brutal self-examination and abundant tunefulness

(5 stars)21 May 2012

The title alone gives you a tingling feeling that something glorious and redemptive lies within: and so it proves on Dexys’ – formerly Dexys Midnight Runners – first new album in 27 years. Following the young soul rebels’ disastrous plunge in fortunes…

SAY Award shortlist announced

SAY Award shortlist announced

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, Mogwai and Rustie nominated for inaugural Scottish Album of the Year

17 May 2012

The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) shortlist has been announced today. After some toothcomb sifting and careful deliberation, the judging panel have whittled down the nominations from a beefy 20 to a lean top 10. Through some hi-tech gadgetry, savvy…

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

Also featuring Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny

27 Apr 2012

What’s the consensus on imitation to the point that it rivals, perhaps even betters the source? Well, Glasgow’s Marvel Heights almost achieve such an accolade, kicking off this month’s singles run-down with their straight-outta-Paramore, angsty rock…

Zulu Winter - Language

Zulu Winter - Language

The indie rockers' debut is disappointingly unadventurous

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Play It Again Sam) With their unabashed love of Czech new wave cinema, Steve Reich, TS Eliot, Ayn Rand and modern dance troupes The List won’t even pretend to have heard of, we expected something a little more adventurous from Zulu Winter’s debut…

PAWS - Misled Youth

PAWS - Misled Youth

A pacey, frantic and melancholy EP from the Glasgow garage pop-rock trio

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Fat Cat) Grrr, Paws are good. Be it gigging in weird places (the Glasgow trio have played in bathrooms, skate shops and on top of double decker buses) or the bedroom recordings released on painstakingly put-together, hand-numbered limited edition…

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

Underwhelming concept album from the indie-poppers

(2 stars)23 Apr 2012

(weePOP!) Naming themselves after a notoriously annoying tabloid columnist might be mistake number one, but it isn’t the worst of The Just Joans’ crimes. Claiming to have created an ‘audacious artistic undertaking’ of Bowie and Zappa-like proportions…

Two Wings - Love's Spring

Two Wings - Love's Spring

A warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and English folk-rock

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Tin Angel Records) The strident classicism of Two Wings may come as a surprise to those familiar with the avant-folk of Hanna Tuulikki’s other group Nalle. That project’s eerie soundworld is replaced by a warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and…

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

A timeless album from the Americana heartbreakers

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

Bonnie Prince Billy is not the only alt-country bard to have dibs on Glen Lyon. Americana heartbreakers Star Wheel Press are based in Aberfeldy (BPB’s erstwhile stomping ground), and have quietly amassed a dedicated following since their lovely debut…

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

An album of light, buoyant jazz ballads, ideal in small servings

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Pumpkin Records) The airy combination of alto saxophone and guitar and a leaning toward ballad tempos gives the music on this duo outing a light, buoyant feel which does pale a little over the whole album, but works beautifully on any individual…

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Long-awaited debut admirable in perfectionism, but feels laboured

(2 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Song, by Toad) ‘I’ve waited two bloody years for these muppets to finish this album,’ writes Song, by Toad boss Matthew Young in an amusingly frank note accompanying Edinburgh seven-piece Jesus H. Foxx’s debut. We’ve shared his frustration in…

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Celestial drones, mesmeric synths, ambient noise and unearthly vocals

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Night School) Perhaps you read that album title and started hollering the Bee Gees song or god forbid, Steps. Thank the stars, then, for LA composer and minimalist pop diviner Julia Holter, who will banish your garish disco horrors with celestial…

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

An astute and highly promising opening salvo from Glasgow band

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Electric Honey) What a satisfying thing it is to hear a pop song that bypasses the tyranny of the chorus and sticks to its guns with a series of ear-warming verses. ‘Younger’, the shoulder-high stand-out track from the debut collection by French Wives…

Lone - Galaxy Garden

Lone - Galaxy Garden

UK producer's fourth album draws on Detroit techno, Chicago house and 90s rave

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(R&S) Impressively, given Matt Cutler is still only a relatively tender aged 27-year-old, ‘Galaxy Garden’ is actually his fourth album recorded as Lone. However, in something of a musical departure from its hip hop, 80s boogie and rare groove-inspired…

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Cross-cultural fusion partly inspired by the Hebrides

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Keda Records) A fresh and deftly executed cross-cultural fusion featuring a tabla player with strong jazz connections, a classical violinist and a jazz guitarist, playing music inspired in part by the Hebrides. Violinist Jacqueline Shave’s ‘Machair to…

Various Artists - Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2

Various Artists - Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2

Two-album reissue of classic compilations from 1989 and 1993

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(World Circuit) The sinuous dance rhythms of the Colombian music known as Cumbia are captured in this nicely packaged and documented two-album reissue of two compilations regarded as the classics of the genre, which first brought Cumbia to wider…

The Scottish Album of the Year Award, and why it's worth taking seriously

The Scottish Album of the Year Award, and why it's worth taking seriously

FOUND, Mogwai, Rustie and more longlisted for inaugural award

12 Apr 2012

It isn’t the punchiest tagline to slap on your press release, but the Scottish Music Industry Association’s assertion that the recently-announced Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award will be ‘a qualitative arts prize for music which is discerning…

Record Store Day 2012 - events roundup

Record Store Day 2012 - events roundup

Edwyn Collins, Human Don't Be Angry and more to play live in support of independent music shops

29 Mar 2012

In these days of digital piracy, the life of the indie record store seems constantly overshadowed with doubt; thankfully, the annual Record Store Day reminds what a pleasure can be hand from flicking through dusty vinyl LPs and just enjoying music in…

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Django Django, Kate Bush and Lightships also reviewed

28 Mar 2012

TS Eliot got it wrong. April is not the cruellest month. Not where our ear canals are concerned, anyway. April is killing us with its pop kindness. Take ‘Storm’ (●●●●, Because), a sojourn into sun-dappled collage-rock, courtesy of vintage exoticists…

Lightships - Electric Cables

Lightships - Electric Cables

Teenage Fanclub's Gerry Love album of sun-soaked, blissed-out guitar pop

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Geographic) Gerry Love might have insisted on a band name for this new project, but the sound is all Gerry. Love’s contributions to Teenage Fanclub are invariably the understated gems, and so it is here with this sumptuous, trembling collection of…

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful

Debut from Hype Williams pair is striking and boundary-crashing

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Hyperdub) Can Tupac and Kanye West-lensing promo director Hype Williams finally have gotten wise to the ridiculously inventive London duo using his name? Is that why the pair are using their own names for this debut album on Kode9’s Hyperdub? The…

Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry

Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry

Komische-influenced instrumental masterpiece from Malcolm Middleton

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

Scottische Pop (Chemikal Underground) In the bowels of a radioactive pop bunker somewhere between Glasgow and Falkirk, Malcolm Middleton has spent 18 months incubating a (super) heroic alter-ego. We all thought we knew the mild-mannered Middleton…

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

New collaborator on band's eccentric psych-folk rock

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Honest Jons) Over three albums in as many years, Trembling Bells have refined their heady mix of courtly psych-folk, Yorkshire country and colliery band jazz, losing some of their rickety charm, while gaining in dynamism and panache. For their…

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

Throbbing Gristle's Chris & Cosey collaborate with Factory Floor

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Mute) Fans of doom-laden industrial machine music might find their clockwork hearts oiled slightly by the release of this most definitive of collaborations, as Carter Tutti (Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, nee Chris & Cosey…

Graham Coxon - A+E

Graham Coxon - A+E

Latest lo-fi gem from Blur guitarist delivers arch and ugly meditations

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Parlophone) What need for Blur these days? While their will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer…

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

Americana full of understated charm

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Bella Union) M Ward is probably best known these days for being one half of She & Him, his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, but long before that partnership he was dishing up dreamy slices of Americana like this. As the title hints at, this…

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Sixth album from flamboyant glam-pop weirdo

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Fire Records) Imagine if something really emotionally scarring happened to, say, Prince, something in his formative years that sent him down an altogether darker path. Now say hello to Bobby Conn, flamboyant glam-pop weirdo from Chicago with a…

Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup

Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup

Yahweh's Lewis Cook release of Scottish-accented chillwave-pop

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Instructional Media) Lewis Cook’s first release as Mother Ganga was made mostly round at his girlfriend’s flat, in her bedroom. The 21-year-old’s calling it ‘electronic haze-pop’, and the wonky, chillwavey results (on a limited run of 100 cassettes…

Review of Reviews - Human Don't Be Angry

Review of Reviews - Human Don't Be Angry

What we said and what they said about the debut album from Malcolm Middleton's latest project

26 Mar 2012

What we said ‘While Malcolm Middleton’s solo lyrics are typified by self-deprecation, Human Don’t Be Angry’s vocalisms are more forthright, driven and loved-up.’ The List What they said ‘Middleton is a master when it comes to this and previous…

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Mark Ronson-produced album's expanded instrumentation feels misplaced

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Polydor) Releasing career retrospective House of Rufus last year and now drafting in ubiquitous producer Mark Ronson, all signs point to reinvention for Wainwright. Never one to shy away from the idiosyncratic in his operatic and multi-genre-infused…

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Lo-fi pop trinkets and demos from chillwave pioneer

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Carpark) Chillwave pioneer and Carolina native Chazwick Bundick follows up last year’s second release Underneath the Pine with further lo-fi pop trinkets dating back to June 2009 (hence the title), which should be stacked alongside the likes of his…

Seamus Fogarty - God Damn You Mountain

Seamus Fogarty - God Damn You Mountain

Dreamy, mesmerising folk music with Americana feel from Irish singer-songwriter

23 Mar 2012

(Fence Records) We’re beginning to suspect Fence Records have some secret laboratory in Fife where they genetically splice brilliant musicians to create new wonders. In the case of Irish singer-songwriter Seamus Fogarty, that would involve DNA…

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Alto saxophonist gives vibrant treatment to new compositions

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Mack Avenue Records) Here we find Kenny Garrett – a Detroit-born alto saxophonist who began his career performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra before pursuing a solo career — in his most melodic vein, accompanied by a fine pianist, Benito…

Roberto Fonseca - Yo

Roberto Fonseca - Yo

Pianist combines cutting edge jazz, lyrical poems and more clubby sound

(4 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Montuno/ Jazz Village) Hitherto dressed by number one French fan Agnès B, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca literally strips naked to underscore journeying into the diaspora of his Afro-Cuban roots. As eclectic as ever, Fonseca walks a fine line between…

Batida - Batida

Batida - Batida

African-inspired electronica record that probably works best in a club setting

(3 stars)8 Mar 2012

(Soundway) Having carved out a reputation for unearthing rare tracks of touchstone Latin musics, Soundway now champions hot sounds heard today on the streets of Luanda. Angolan/Portuguese DJ Mpula (aka Pedro Coquenão) creates electronic dance music…

VCMG - Ssss

VCMG - Ssss

Vince Clark and Martin Gore minimal techno album is great fun

(4 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Mute) For many, the news that Vince Clark and Martin Gore were making minimal techno together seemed the perfect coda to the screenplay-like story of their respective musical lives. The former Depeche Mode bandmates’ last musical contact came in…

Psyche and Wounded Knee share Single of the Month title

Psyche and Wounded Knee share Single of the Month title

Also featuring Martin Creed, Ladyhawke and Estelle

28 Feb 2012

What this world needs is more high-concept ephemera created by actual, proper artists like Martin Creed, who create minute-long folk ditties like ‘Where You Go’ (Telephone) ●●● amidst light switch-flicking their way to the Turner Prize and Scotsman…

1,466 articles.

Sorted by date / most viewed. Showing 25, 50, 100 per page.

RSS feed