BEST OF THE REST
Other new releases out this month.
Ruts DC
ElectrAcoustiC
Astutely re-imagined for the trio’s acoustic live sets, The Ruts’ cannily constructed chart hits (Babylon’s Burning et al) take on new life when stripped back and allowed breathing space thanks to a clean Pat Collier production. 8/10
Jaded Hearts Club
Live At The 100 Club BMG
Unlikely supergroup featuring Matt Bellamy, Graham Coxon and Miles Kane brutally, brilliantly and enthusiastically assault the classics (Gloria, Paint It, Black) in irresistibly raucous Pebbles-era garage-band style. 8/10
Birdpen
All Function One JAR
An album about ‘living a cyber life’ that covers isolation, sadness, loneliness and paranoia: the full post-millennial package, but in a good way. Superb electro alt.prog with lashings of en-vogue existential misery. 7/10
Starmen
By The Grace Of Rock ’N’ Roll MELODIC PASSION
Coming on like a Swedish Paul Stanley-based cheese dream, this slick if image-hobbled quartet have raided vintage melodic rock’s songwriting style guide (and its make-up bag) to surprisingly satisfying effect. 7/10
iDestroy
We Are Girls CD BABY
A gloriously hook-driven mash-up of sparky pop-punk, surly attitudedrenched alt.rock and Huggy riot grrrl bite from a Bristol trio with Bowery swagger and similar crossover potential to vintage Elastica. 8/10
Reflection Club
Still Thick As A Brick MADVEDGE
Unlikely German Canterbury scenester Lutz Meinert (Margin) delivers a double concept work (complete with newspaper) that’s such a precise, loving homage to Tull’s Thick As A Brick that any committed Tull fan would be a fool not to seek it out. 8/10
Cobra Cult GMR
Second Gear
Eight winning tracks on which relentless Motörhead blazing collides head-on with punk pace and Johanna Lindhult’s distinctly Swedish take on strident Runaways-era Cherie Currie vocals. Unashamedly trad, but not at all bad. 7/10
Ed Cosens
Fortunes Favour DISTILLER
The Reverend & The Makers guitarist’s command of classic songwriting tropes, en-vogue blend of modern indie-folk manners with orchestral scope and Sheffield origins all invite comparisons to Richard Hawley. Engaging and assured. 7/10
Tomahawk
Tonic Immobility IPECAC
An unnerving but relentlessly rewarding fifth album from Mike Patton (Faith No More) and Duane Dennison (Jesus Lizard) reflecting lockdown intensity with brink-dwelling vox and gloriously agitated riffs. Prime uneasy listening. 8/10
The Members ANGLOCENTRIC
Bedsitland
There’s a vast breadth of ambition here from the Camberley postpunk vets (now led by JC Carroll). Additional hands – Guy Pratt, John Perry, brass, pipes etc – do what they can, but it’s not enough. Clumsily produced, surprisingly shambolic. 4/10
Goodbye Mr MacKenzie
A Night In The Windy City
Having re-formed in 2019 without Shirley Manson, Edinburgh’s Martin Metcalfe-led, genre-nonspecific MacKenzies took their majorlabel-friendly pre-grunge indie rock to Glasgow’s Barrowlands, where they clearly triumphed. 6/10