Album: Snow Patrol - The Forest is the Path

Struggling to find the good in this hugely successful band's lovelorn stadium plod

Contrary to popular belief, not all music journalists get off on being snide about the same old easy-to-slate bands. When something like this album arrives in my review schedule, my instinct is to seek the good, to stick two fingers up to my sneering peers. Unfortunately Snow Patrol’s new album is proving a challenge. I am struggling to find the positives.

Album: Tindersticks - Soft Tissue

More poetic heartbreak from Stuart Staples' mob

It has to be hoped that Stuart Staples’ songs for Tindersticks aren’t a reflection of his actual life experiences. No-one really deserves that much rejection.

Blu-ray: Floating Clouds

★★★★★ FLOATING CLOUDS Mikio Naruse's downbeat love story returns in a gleaming new print

Mikio Naruse's downbeat love story returns in a gleaming new print

Once regarded as highly as Kurosawa and Ozu, Japanese director Mikio Naruse’s star has fallen in recent decades, with few of his films readily available in the West. I’d suggest reading Hayley Scanlon’s concise introduction to Naruse’s work on the BFI website as a prelude to watching this restored print of Floating Clouds. Scanlon describes him as "cinema’s greatest pessimist", something that’s hard to disagree with on the basis of this work alone.

Album: Juniore - Trois, Deux, Un

★★★ JUNIORE - TROIS, DEUX, UN Elegant if deliberate retro-futurist garage-pop

Parisian trio showcase an elegant if deliberate retro-futurist garage-pop

Although it takes seconds to discern that Juniore are French, a core inspiration appears to be the echoing surf-pop instrumentals of Californian studio band The Marketts, whose 1963 single "Out of Limits" became their most well-known track. Add in – exemplified by Trois, Deux, Un’s fifth and sixth tracks “Amour fou” and “Grand voyageur” – the languid atmosphere of the early Françoise Hardy and the result is a form of Gallic retro-futurist garage-pop.

Album: LL COOL J - THE FORCE

OK you can call it a comeback

This album only has one serious flaw: LL COOL J didn’t open it with “OK you can call it a comeback”. Sorry, cheap joke (if you didn’t know, his classic hit “Mama Said Knock You Out” starts with the lyric “Don’t call it a comeback!” and this, his 14th album, is his first in 11 years).

Album: Fat Dog - WOOF

One of the year's word-of-mouth live sensations fires out their debut

As a live sensation, Fat Dog have been the talk of the year. The London five-piece offer a dementedly energized night out. Performative concerts, tight as zip-wire but hedonistic and loose round the edges. They’ve developed a solid rep for sending audiences nuts. Consequently, there’s a hungry new fan-base salivating for their debut album, WOOF. Coming in at just over half-an-hour, it captures their battering zing; short, sharp and ballistic.

Album: Boston Manor - Sundiver

A reflective and fun second chapter in this double album

Sundiver is the daylight chapter that follows Boston Manor’s 2022 introspective concept album Datura. The second half of the story continues with the same poetic, immersive style but offers a brighter and more substantial experience across the 11 tracks.

Blu-ray: Laurel and Hardy - The Silent Years

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: LAUREL AND HARDY - THE SILENT YEARS A collection of silent shorts

Always watchable, occasionally hysterical collection of silent shorts

Though among the most successful film comedians of the early sound era, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy’s cinematic partnership had actually started in the early 1920s. It’s easy to overlook their silent short films, 15 of which are collected here.

Album: Laurie Anderson - Amelia

Intimate story of an adventurous woman

Laurie Anderson is what Leonardo da Vinci would have hailed as una donna universale: inspired by science and technology, she's wide-ranging artist, a writer, film-maker, and explorer. She has a remarkable gift for story-telling, and her latest offering, an imaginative account of the woman aviator Amelia Earhart’s last voyage, taps into many of the creative currents that distinguish her.

Album: Lee Scratch Perry & Youth - Spaceship to Mars

Lee Scratch Perry reaches back from the next dimension with mixed results

Lee “Scratch” Perry, Reggae’s dub emperor and all-round sound magician died in 2021, after a 60-odd year career that is rumoured to have produced something in the realm of 2,000 albums and numerous additional tracks. So, perhaps it isn’t such a surprise that there have been a rash of releases in the last couple of years claiming to be Scratch’s last recordings.