The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Category Reviews

REVIEW: Adrianne Lenker – ‘songs’ / ‘instrumentals’ (4AD)

An extraordinarily powerful evocation of isolation and heartbreak built with the barest of ingredients, Adrianne Lenker’s two new albums are spellbinding.

REVIEW: Gorillaz – ‘Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez’ (Parlophone)

Never originally intended for a conventional album release, Gorillaz’ first Song Machine collection ‘Strange Timez’ is dazzlingly diverse yet emotionally coherent, a perfect soundtrack to a world going wrong outside.

REVIEW: Bruce Springsteen – ‘Letter To You’ (Columbia)

Featuring key members of the E Street Band live in the studio with minimal post-production, ‘Letter To You’ is as energetic as Bruce Springsteen has ever sounded.

REVIEW: The Mountain Goats – ‘Getting Into Knives’ (Merge)

On ‘Getting Into Knives’, the 19th Mountain Goats album, John Darnielle keeps his songwriting arsenal sharpened.

REVIEW: Beabadoobee – ‘Fake It Flowers’ (Dirty Hit)

Making the leap from lo-fi bedroom pop to studio-bound, fully formed songcraft, Beabadoobee’s debut album ‘Fake It Flowers’ shows immense talent that’s still got space to develop.

REVIEW: James Blake – ‘Before’ EP (Republic / Polydor)

Arguably James Blake’s most out-and-out dancefloor orientated work yet, ‘Before’ is a reminder of what we’re missing under lockdown.

REVIEW: Matt Berninger – ‘Serpentine Prison’ (Concord)

Unlike his work with The National, it’s very much up to the listener with what they want to find in Matt Berninger’s debut solo album ‘Serpentine Prison’.

REVIEW: Kevin Morby – ‘Sundowner’ (Dead Oceans)

A soundtrack for isolation and reflection, Kevin Morby’s latest album ‘Sundowner’ is likely to be remembered as an outlier in his discography.

REVIEW: Foals – ‘Collected Reworks’ (Warner)

A four-hour monster of a remix album, there’s so much material on Foals’ ‘Collected Reworks’ that it’s worth your time to at least explore.

REVIEW: Future Islands – ‘As Long As You Are’ (4AD)

Emotionally unshackled but musically pristine, the contrasts of Future Islands’ sixth album ‘As Long As You Are’ make it their most rewarding so far.