The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Category Reviews

REVIEW: Dinosaur Jr. – ‘Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not’ (Jagjaguwar)

by John Tindale If anything has been shown since the third coming of Dinosaur Jr., it’s that they haven’t missed a beat since the three-piece’s ‘golden era’ in the late ‘80s. 2007’s Beyond was a mature record full of floating melodies, the following Farm (2009) and I Bet On Sky (2012) were dazzling in their experimentation.

REVIEW: Wild Beasts – ‘Boy King’ (Domino)

by Ed Biggs Five albums and nearly ten years into their career without making a single mis-step in artistic terms, Wild Beasts are one of the most trusted musical brand in Britain today. Having dazzled critics and won over new fans with their second and third albums, Two Dancers (2009) and Smother (2011), characterised by sensual, ambient guitar pop and smutty, self-effacing vocals and lyrics. 2014’s Present Tense pitched their sound

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REVIEW: Viola Beach – ‘Viola Beach’ (Fuller Beans Records)

by Ollie Rankine Where there is music, there will always be context. Records frequently come and go with time whilst each carries the weight of their own totally unique backstory. However, very few will match the immensely weighted and tragic baggage attached to what will be Viola Beach’s first and only album release.

REVIEW: Beaty Heart – ‘Till The Tomb’ (Caroline / NUA)

by John Tindale In a world where Drake’s ‘One Dance’ dominates the singles chart, Peckham four-piece Beaty Heart arrive with their second album and continue to question just what it takes to make pop that connects in 2016. Till The Tomb at times isn’t overtly pop, but nor does it qualify into any other genre: it inhabits the borderline between world, electronic and pop constantly and it when it works, it

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REVIEW: DJ Khaled – ‘Major Key’ (Epic / We The Best)

by John Tindale A producer to the stars and internet sensation in his own right, DJ Khaled is, without a doubt, a product of his generation; after rising to fame via Snapchat and becoming a glorified meme, Khaled, who in Major Key is releasing his ninth full-length effort, is closer to the mainstream than ever before. Sadly, the battle between irony and talent is won by the former making for a

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REVIEW: Bad Breeding – ‘S/T’ (self released)

by Ed Biggs Absolutely everything about post-hardcore punk newcomers Bad Breeding sounds perfect. Hailing from Stevenage, an increasingly anonymous Home Counties satellite town serving London, whose high street is absolutely identical to so many other British nowheresvilles and where the local economy has virtually disappeared from the ground, their guttural music at first glance scans as an existential howl of wasted youth, at the encroaching entrapment imposed by socio-economic dictates of

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REVIEW: Bear’s Den – ‘Red Earth & Pouring Rain’ (Communion)

by Ollie Rankine Perhaps it might be deemed a little unfair, but the reputation that has labelled London folk rockers, Bear’s Den as Mumford & Sons’ younger brothers has always been somewhat challenging to avoid entirely. Having long been friends as fellow artists and both bands previously sharing a stage for an earlier Mumford & Sons tour in the US, Bear’s Den’s 2014 debut Islands also followed an undeniably similar formula

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REVIEW: MSTRKRFT – ‘OPERATOR’ (Last Gang)

by Ollie Rankine Although Death From Above 1979 fans were left in a state of neglect after Canadian duo, Sebastien Grainger and Jesse Keeler parted company in 2006, the blow was somewhat supressed by Keeler’s already brewing side project with Alex Puodziukas, MSTRKRFT (pronounced ‘Master-Craft’) whose electro-punk demeanour struck upon similar a tone.

REVIEW: Michael Kiwanuka – ‘Love & Hate’ (Polydor)

by Ollie Rankine After an unusual four year hiatus riddled by much squabbling among artists hoping for a collaboration, (most notably, Kanye West) Michael Kiwanuka has finally, once again, found himself standing beneath the limelight with the release of his recent album, Love & Hate. Following up his Mercury-nominated, soul-folk debut Home Again, Kiwanuka returns armed with a far more accomplished production team than usual with British producer Inflo and Brian

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REVIEW: Clams Casino – ’32 Levels’ (Sony / Black Butter)

by Ed Biggs With a pretty impeccable CV of cutting-edge production for the likes of FKA twigs, A$AP Rocky, Vince Staples and ScHoolboy Q dating back to 2008, it’s incredible that it’s taken nearly a decade for Michael Volpe, the electronic magician known by his stage name Clams Casino, to deliver his first proper studio album.