The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Category New Album Releases

REVIEW: Arca – ‘Mutant’ (Mute)

by Ed Biggs Venezuelan-born production wizkid Alejandro Ghersi dropped Xen, his much-hyped studio album as Arca, at almost exactly this point last year, and it was obvious immediately why the likes of Kanye West, Björk and FKA twigs had approached him to harness the fluid, futuristic post-R&B sound that has become his trademark. Here was somebody painting a startling, imaginative way forward for electronic music at a prodigiously young age, able

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REVIEW: Kurt Cobain – ‘Montage Of Heck: The Home Recordings’ (Universal / The End of Music)

by Ed Biggs Please, please, please can we let Kurt Cobain rest in peace now? Surely, everything that could possibly be seen, heard, bought and pored over has been exhumed, so can we now get back to admiring a fine body of work without adding increasingly watered-down material to it? Okay? Brett Morgen’s documentary movie Montage Of Heck, released in April, was an unqualified success and one that really should have

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REVIEW: Oneohtrix Point Never – ‘Garden Of Delete’ (Warp)

by Ed Biggs Roughly a decade ago, when the internet started producing stars, everybody thought that the revolution would lead to artists bypassing the normal music industry model of finding success. Artists would attract fans to their own platforms, therefore making the A&R departments of the labels redundant. However, after a brief flurry in 2006 of artists of artists of who have lasted (Arctic Monkeys) and many others who haven’t (Sandi

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REVIEW: Grimes – ‘Art Angels’ (4AD / Roc Nation)

by John Tindale Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, has been going through a period of reflection over the three years since the release of last album Visions, a low-budget bedroom record of spectral synths that has had a seismic impact upon the sound of mainstream pop ever since. During this time, Boucher scrapped an album for being too “depressing”, but more importantly she wrote a song for Rihanna (‘Go’) that was subsequently

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REVIEW: Colder – ‘Many Colours’ (Bataille)

by Matthew Langham The brainchild of Parisian electronic producer Marc Nguyen Tan, Colder returns after ten years since his critically acclaimed album Heat. Known for his track ‘Crazy Love’, Colder was way ahead of his time following his 2003 debut album Again and decided in 2005 to take a back seat on his solo work and focus on other projects. Ironically, Many Colours has a monochrome, dreamy soundscape which doesn’t stray

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REVIEW: Ryan Adams – ‘1989’ (Pax Am)

by John Tindale Ryan Adams has gained himself a cult-like following by releasing alt-country albums at an alarming rate; 1989 is his 15th album in album in 16 years, and is possibly his most interesting release. The news of an entire Taylor Swift covers album went viral but critics were split on the validity of the artistic endeavour.

REVIEW: EL VY – ‘Return To The Moon’ (4AD)

by Matthew Langham Respectively of The National and Menomena / Ramona Falls, Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf make up EL VY, a pressure-free side project which features the baritone vocals of Berninger, but combined with a more upbeat pop sound which is a step away from his duties as vocalist of the celebrated indie masters. However, it’s Knopf’s multi-instrumentalist abilities which truly come to the forefront throughout the album.

REVIEW: Guy Garvey – ‘Courting The Squall’ (Polydor)

by Matthew Langham Manchester’s Elbow have gone from cult band to Mercury-prize winning album toppers with thanks to the success of singles including ‘One Day Like This’ and ‘Grounds For Divorce’. Whilst their chart success has not alienated their diehard fans or watered down their charm, frontman Guy Garvey has found his own personal success not just as musician, but as a radio broadcaster. The progressive leanings of 2014’s The Take

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REVIEW: Cheatahs – ‘Mythologies’ (Wichita / PIAS)

by Ed Biggs With their self-titled debut album at the start of last year, the British-Canadian four-piece Cheatahs displayed the kind of trans-Atlantic vision for shoegaze and noise-rock that you would expect from their international make-up. A mixture of the American road/death-trip drone rock you hear from the likes of Wooden Shjips and the melodic fuzziness we’re accustomed to on this side of the ocean, Cheatahs demonstrated a keen understanding of

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REVIEW: Joanna Newsom – ‘Divers’ (Drag City)

by John Tindale It’s been five years since Joanna Newsom released the critically acclaimed epic Have One On Me, but don’t take that to mean that she has been resting on her success; Divers is the culmination of five years of effort and it is a truly magnificent record for it. Newsom has it all, lyrical excellence to sonic brilliance: this is never more apparent than in lead single ‘Sopakanikan’.