The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Posts by John Tindale

REVIEW: Hookworms – ‘Microshift’ (Domino)

Recovering from tragedy and set for a serious chart success, ‘Microshift’ looks like it will be the ticket to mainstream visibility for Leeds’ Hookworms.

REVIEW: Nils Frahm – ‘All Melody’ (Erased Tapes)

Calming, effervescent, sublime and grandiose – ‘All Melody’ is the work of an artist who understands the importance of texture in music like so few else. Nils Frahm not only manages to add to his reputation as one of the best neo-classical minimalists in the world today, but also expands on it.

REVIEW: Tune-Yards – ‘I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life’ (4AD)

Album number four from Tune-Yards is by no means the perfect record, and may in fact be Merrill Garbus’s worst yet, but it has a voice which deserves to be heard.

REVIEW: Charlotte Gainsbourg – ‘Rest’ (Because)

‘Rest’ isn’t an unmitigated success and there are times where the experimentation misses the mark, but, on album five, Charlotte Gainsbourg sounds as free as ever.

REVIEW: Shamir – ‘Revelations’ (Father/Daughter Records)

‘Revelations” tumultuous beginnings represent a triumph of sorts for Shamir, with its renewed lo-fi noise challenging the listeners to enter the uncomfortable world that Shamir inhabits. However, that doesn’t excuse poor songwriting and delivery to which it is painful to listen.

PREVIEW: Gigs of the Week in Leeds, 4th-10th November

The best gigs of the week coming up in Leeds – including Shopping, Gordi and a Kagoule / Catholic Action double-header!