Album: Death In Vegas - Death Mask

★★★ DEATH IN VEGAS - DEATH MASK Electronic music perennial returns with an hour of deep techno illbience

Electronic music perennial returns with an hour of deep techno illbience

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away called the late 1990s, there was a scene known as “big beat”. It consisted of club culture sorts making music closer in flavour to rock, and easier to drink beer to than house and techno.

Album: Boris - W

★★★★★ BORIS - W The Japanese doom metal / dreampop trio on the form of their lives

The Japanese doom metal / dreampop trio on the form of their lives

This is just boggling. The Japanese rock trio Boris have been together in the same lineup for over a quarter of a century – and it’s longer still since their original formation – but they’re outdoing themselves record by record. Their last record, NO, was the most energetic record they’ve ever made.

Alan Sparhawk, EartH Theatre review - an absorbing game of two halves from the former Low mainstay

After the death of Mimi Parker, the duo’s other half embraces all aspects of his music

For the first half-hour of this show – on the day before the release of his new album Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles – Alan Sparhawk moves ceaselessly. Whirling, arms sweeping like the sails of a windmill, gliding across the stage. He sings, his voice treated: auto-tuned, pitch-shifted. The only breaks come with momentary pauses to set rhythm tracks for the next song. Then, off again.

Tallinn Music Week 2025 review - Estonia’s capital accommodates all flavours of music

TALLINN MUSIC WEEK 2025 Estonia’s capital accommodates all flavours of music

The festival where everything appears on an equal footing

Langenu are a black metal band. On stage at Estonia’s Tallinn Music Week, they are fearsome. Blood-vessel-burstingly intense. Tempering their force with twists into progressive, psychedelic-adjacent territory, they are a band any rock fan would dig.

Album: Miki Berenyi Trio - Tripla

★★★★ MIKI BERENYI TRIO - TRIPLA Debut set from Lush singer-songwriter’s new trio

Debut set from Lush singer-songwriter’s new trio

I saw the Miki Berenyi Trio play a warmly received sold out set at the Lexington last autumn, at which many of the songs now coming out on Tripla ("three" in Hungarian) had their live previews, alongside a few from the Lush years – the likes of “Kiss Chase” and “Ladykillers” – and Piroshka, the four-piece that emerged briefly from the ashes of the 2016 Lush reunion.

Album: The Horrors - Night Life

A new line-up proves no hindrance to a band bringing electro-rock zip to the darkness

For fans of The Horrors, the headline here is that, 20 years into the career, for their sixth album, the band have lost two of their founding members. Original keyboard player Tom Furse has gone, as has drummer “Coffin” Joe Spurgeon, to be replaced, respectively, by Amelia Kidd of Scottish synthy post-punkers The Ninth Wave and Jordan Cook of alt-indie Welsh outfit Telegram.

Album: bdrmm - Microtonic

★★★ BDRMM - MICROTONIC Post-shoegazing quartet’s third album evokes the communal musical experience

Post-shoegazing quartet’s third album evokes the communal musical experience

Microtonic comes into focus on its third track, “Infinity Peaking.” Album opener “Goit,” featuring a guest vocal by Working Men’s Club’s Syd Minsky-Sargeant, is doomy post-Balearic impressionism with spoken lyrics seemingly about the loss of self. Next, the distant-sounding rave-shoegazing hybrid “John on the Ceiling.” “Infinity Peaking” is the point of coalescence; where beats-bedded, drifting electronica is suited to the comedown experience.