CD: Metronomy - Metronomy Forever

★★★★ METRONOMY - METRONOMY FOREVER Double album finds band at both their most accessible and most challenging

Double album finds band at both their most accessible and most challenging

According to Metronomy maestro Joseph Mount, his first attempt of album number six was a much snappier affair. But it wasn’t until he broke from his self-imposed immediacy that it started connecting with him. In its final form, Metronomy Forever clocks in at 17 tracks of singles, instrumentals and soundscapes, and though it skirts close to double-album indulgence, you’re never more than one song away from a winner.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Tunnelvision - Watching the Hydroplanes

TUNNELVISION - WATCHING THE HYDROPLANES Factory Records footnotes get the album they deserve

Factory Records footnotes finally get the album they deserve

A ghostly voice pronounces “there’s no need to make the sepulchre white.” Following this declaration, what sounds like an ocarina wails mournfully over spindly guitar, a sonorous bass guitar and circular, heartbeat drumming. Tunnelvision’s “Whitened Sepulchre” isn’t a happy-go-lucky look at life.

theartsdesk on Vinyl 52: Yardbirds, Fad Gadget, Spoon, Cate le Bon, Cabaret Voltaire and more

THE ARTS DESK ON VINYL Yardbirds, Fad Gadget, Spoon, Cate le Bon, Cabaret Voltaire & more

Possibly the most extensive monthly vinyl reviews in the world

Welcome to the latest edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl, the monthly online musical resource that knows no genre boundaries as it treks through every release on plastic that it can find. This time round we’ve everything from death metal to obscure jazz to electropop, sounds for almost every musical taste. Dive in!

CD: Ezra Furman - Twelve Nudes

★★★ EZRA FURMAN - TWELVE NUDES Maverick sells short by adopting restrictive punk slant

American maverick sells himself short by adopting a restrictive punk slant

“This is our punk record,” says Ezra Furman of Twelve Nudes in its PR bumpf. In practice, the punk slant is manifested through distorted guitars, hell-for-leather tempi and howling vocals. The edgiest moment is the 55-second “Blown”, a close relative of the early Cloud Nothings and Swell Maps as they grappled with the then-current music zeitgeist.

Edinburgh International Festival 2019: JARV IS review - Britpop legend still delivers

★★★★ EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2019: JARV IS Britpop legend still delivers

Pulp frontman brings expertly crafted songs and a tight, talented band to Leith Theatre

”Cunts Are Still”. Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? Not my words, merely the title of one of JARV IS’s new tracks. In case you didn’t get it, JARV IS is a play on words and the name of given to Pulp frontman and founder Jarvis Cocker’s latest outfit. Cocker still is releasing new material. He still is an exuberant and energetic performer. He still is wearing those glasses. And still is very good.

Eels, Hammersmith Apollo review – dark, swampy and endlessly entertertaining

★★★★ EELS, HAMMERSMITH APOLLO Dark, swampy and endlessly entertaining

Mark Oliver Everett thrills with eclectic covers and rich pickings from his back catalogue

"Would you mind if I jammed on my new... castanets?" We’re halfway through Eels’ triumphant set at Hammersmith's Eventim Apollo and this is the kind of question we’ve come to expect from frontman Mark Oliver Everett, AKA "E".

CD: Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold

★★★★ CD: SLEATER KINNEY - THE CENTER WON'T HOLD New ground found, with casualties

Punks' St Vincent-produced search for new ground succeeds, with casualties

This album’s title began as a reaction to fractiousness under Trump, but gained more intimate meaning when drummer Janet Weiss quit Sleater-Kinney shortly before release.

The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru the Passion

A joyous return to form from the world's best bar band

At recent live shows, Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn has taken to describing the band’s current lineup as the best it’s ever been. Boosted to a six-piece by the return of Franz Nicolay on keyboards, the Hold Steady of the band’s latter-day London residencies has been well worth the annual 800-mile round-trip: celebratory; poignant; communal; joyous.

theartsdesk in Oslo: Øya Festival 2019 review

A musical communion in Norway’s capital

The timing seemed odd. Sigrid is internationally successful. She’s Norway’s highest-profile musical ambassador since a-ha. Yet instead of headlining at 2019’s Øya Festival, she hits the stage at 6.45. Has she been demoted in favour of Tame Impala, who are given the final slot at 9.30?

CD: Bon Iver – i,i

Ta-da! Justin Vernon treats fans to an early release of his band's fourth album

If you’ve been paying attention, you might have already heard most if not all of Bon Iver’s curiously named i,i album – weeks before its physical release on August 30. The band debuted two tracks (“Hey Ma” and “U (Man Like)”) at London’s All Points East festival back in June, and since then they’ve been dropping videos, teasers, singles and unrelased tracks all over the place.