Album: Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness

★★★★★ AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS - CARTOON DARKNESS Australian pub rockers are a riot

Australian pub rockers are a riot

Amy Taylor’s lyrics on Amyl and the Sniffers’ previous discs could hardly be described as demure – especially with song titles like “Don’t Need a Cunt (Like You to Love Me)”. So, it’s encouraging to hear that the band hasn’t decided to censor themselves in any way as they hurtle towards what promises to be their big breakout with Cartoon Darkness.

Since Yesterday review - championing a neglected female music scene

★★★★ SINCE YESTERDAY The unjustly underrated world of Scotland's women bands

A chronological journey through the unjustly underrated world of Scotland's women bands

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands is one of those films that, perhaps embarrassingly, feels very necessary. An examination of the history of solely all female bands in Scotland since the 1960s, it is a great demonstration of how little seems to have changed, particularly when it comes to the industry’s perceived "risk" when backing these groups.

Album: Tess Parks - Pomegranate

★★★ TESS PARKS - POMEGRANATE With the Brian Jonestown Massacre association concluded, psychedelic auteur reintegrates with the wider world

With the Brian Jonestown Massacre association concluded, psychedelic auteur reintegrates with the wider world

Tess Parks’ fourth solo album is suffused with otherness. When lyrics are direct, they are destabilised by the etiolated, freeze-dried voice delivering them. “Sometimes it feels like everyone should be dancing, maybe I should be dancing,” she sings during “Koalas.” It does not sound as if Parks has the energy to dance.

Music Reissues Weekly: Rain - Tomorrow Never Comes: The NYC Sessions 1967-1968

RAIN: TOMORROW NEVER COMES: THE NYC SESSIONS 1967-1968 The final chapter in the story of Merseybeat pioneers The Undertakers

The final chapter in the story of Merseybeat pioneers The Undertakers

The Undertakers were central to the Merseybeat boom. The best of what they issued on single in 1963 and 1964 captured the raw, stomping sound adored by Liverpool’s audiences. But hits were elusive and they dropped off the musical map at the end of 1964. The Beatles never forget The Undertakers though. In 1968, former Undertaker Jackie Lomax was signed to their label Apple.

Public Service Broadcasting, Barrowland, Glasgow review - history given euphoric life

★★★★ PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING, GLASGOW History given euphoric life

From Ameila Earhart to the space race, the quartet were as creative as ever

The years may go by and the albums might change, but there are always a few constants with Public Service Broadcasting. There is the recorded message that precedes their arrival for one, a disembodied voice booming out to inform the crowd to put their phones away and not talk loudly.

Album: Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat

★★★ LAURA MARLING - PATTERS IN REPEAT An intimate ode to the miracle of life

An intimate ode to the miracle of life

If there’s a rough-hewn tinge to Laura Marling’s eighth album, then there’s a wildly valid reason for it. It was written shortly after the folk singer-songwriter had her daughter, and was recorded in a home studio with the baby ever present – either in between naps, or with her bobbing around in the bouncy chair while Marling strummed and sang.

Album: Kylie Minogue - Tension II

★★★ KYLIE MINOGUE - TENSION II Kylie's relentless energy never fails to impress

Kylie's relentless energy never fails to impress but are we hearing the law of diminishing returns in action?

There’s a real bind for Kylie Minogue. Her core audience want disco pop, people like me slag her off if she branches out from disco pop and goes country, she does disco pop well… but it’s really, really hard to do disco pop relentlessly well all the time.

Album: Elephant9 with Terje Rypdal - Catching Fire

Thrilling union of prodigious Norwegians

Just before the five-minute point, a Mellotron’s distinctive string sound is heard. Three minutes earlier, a guitar evokes Robert Fripp’s characteristic shimmer. Uniting these might result in King Crimson but, instead, these are just two elements of “I Cover the Mountain Top,” the wild, 22-minute opening track of Catching Fire, a studio-quality live album recorded on 20 January 2017 at Oslo’s Nasjonal Jazzscene.

Album: Mystery Tiime - Maudlin Tales of Grief and Love

Cold, crisp, bleak reality in a sad set of post-punk sketches

Londoner Ayman Rostom has been around the block and then some. For some 25 years he’s been a hip hop producer as Dr Zygote, for the past decade he’s made wiry and weird house music as The Maghreban – both of these aliases are still, it seems, fully functioning. Before that still he made jungle and drum’n’bass in the initial 90s boom. And now he’s got a new alias to write, as you may guess by the album title, some very sad songs.