The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Category New Album Releases

REVIEW: Radiohead – ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ (XL)

by John Tindale Radiohead may be the most talked-about band the UK has ever produced, always trying to stay ahead of the curve on their records and in their approach to the wider industry. So, on the 3rd of May when new single ‘Burn The Witch’ was made available after a cleverly orchestrated social media blackout, understandably the whole world went into pandemonium – this is the band’s first album since

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REVIEW: Death Grips – ‘Bottomless Pit’ (Third Worlds / Harvest)

by John Tindale It takes approximately four seconds to be entirely captivated by Bottomless Pit, the fifth record from Sacramento three-piece Death Grips. By combining punk aggression with experimental hip-hop Death Grips have a sound completely unique to them that has seen them gain a cult following featuring the likes of Björk and Robert Pattinson to name but two. Previously alluded to opening track ‘Giving Bad People Good Ideas’ is an

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REVIEW: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Nonagon Infinity’ (Heavenly)

by Ollie Rankine Australian psychedelic rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard don’t have an off switch. Since forming in 2010, the band have managed to release eight studio albums, four of which being in just the last two years. From their Thee Oh Sees inspired debut 12 Bar Bruise in 2012 to the jazzed-up, prog-infused tones of Oddments, King Gizzard’s rapidly expanding back catalogue lacks any predictable development. Constantly succeeding

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REVIEW: Drake – ‘Views’ (OVO Sound / Young Money / Cash Money / Boy Better Know / Republic)

by John Tindale Widely known and hyped up as Views From The 6 until approximately 24 hours before his release before he ‘did a Kanye’, Views provides an insight into Drake‘s home city of Toronto. However, at a painfully long 81 minutes, this fourth album proper feels overly self-indulgent and too far of a return from the excellent 2015 mixtape-album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late to a re-tread of

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REVIEW: Brian Eno – ‘The Ship’ (Warp Records)

by Ed Biggs Nearly 50 years after his career began with Roxy Music, the legendary musician, composer and producer Brian Eno is still not content with resting on his laurels, still intent on breaking new ground and staking new territory for himself as well as his peers. Occasionally, his music fleetingly fits in with or fuels the zeitgeist (check out his 1974 debut Here Come The Warm Jets or 1977’s Before

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REVIEW: Katy B – ‘Honey’ (Virgin EMI / Rinse)

by John Tindale Kathleen Brien, better known by her stage name Katy B, is the definition of an artist with underground qualities becoming overtly mainstream. After collaborations with Benga, Magnetic Man and DJ Zinc she has firmly put forward her mantra for developing well-done pop with excellent production. It is from this idea that her sleek, sophisticated debut album On A Mission was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2011.

REVIEW: Rufus Wainwright – ‘Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets’ (Deutsche Grammophon)

by John Tindale Throughout Rufus Wainwright’s career he has long been able to combine mesmerising piano performances and an emotive vocal that could match many. But for the past decade he has more or less completely immersed himself (barring the oddly out-of-place Out Of The Game in 2012) in the art of classical music – in Take All My Love: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets we see Wainwright take on another expansive step

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REVIEW: Wire – ‘Nocturnal Koreans’ (Pinkflag)

by Ed Biggs The story of London post-punk cult heroes Wire is one of those where the artist’s influence is way out of whack compared with their actual sales figures. Their 1977 debut Pink Flag was post-punk before punk was even finished with its three-note thrashings, and two feverishly creative albums in 1978’s incredible Chairs Missing and 1979’s almost impenetrable 154 followed before the group disintegrated through creative differences.

REVIEW: Guided By Voices – ‘Please Be Honest’ (GBV Ltd.)

by Ed Biggs Coming just a couple of months after its lead singer’s last solo album, Please Be Honest is the 23rd by the indie institution / saga that is Guided By Voices. In their 30-year career that’s seen dozens of line-up changes, their Fading Captain Robert Pollard has been the only constant figure on the good ship GBV in a rotating cast of faithful musical fellow-travellers and occasional deckhands.

REVIEW: PJ Harvey – ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’ (Island / Vagrant)

by Ed Biggs The astonishing and quite unexpected success of Let England Shake, arguably the finest album of the decade so far, not only brought PJ Harvey back to her core fanbase after a number of years but also allowed her to access a hitherto unheard-of level of international publicity for an indie star. Suddenly, the modest, thoughtful and resolutely un-rockstar-like Polly Jean, used to lapping up the critical praise but

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