This week’s New Music Friday features new album releases from Taylor Swift, Arctic Monkeys, Tegan and Sara, Loyle Carner, and Dry Cleaning. Happy listening!
“Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift
Album: Midnights
Description:
“As a diary entry, defined by dark nights of the soul and cast in the same bluish-purple hues, ‘Midnights’ offers little of revelatory purpose to those who have yet to succumb to Swift’s charms. For those already swayed by her craft, however, it may reasonably go on to be recognised as her best album to date, a reminder that magic prevails beyond the frustrations, fantasies and damnations she casts across her latest near-perfect body of work.”
– Clash Music
“I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” by Arctic Monkeys
Album: The Car
Description:
“‘The Car’ is almost overwhelming in terms of its ambition and scope, but provides ample motive to revisit this record over and over again. Whether it’ll be enough to reach across the divide and convince the naysayers is yet to be seen, but given they’ll be playing in stadiums up and down the UK and beyond next year seems to suggest a rapprochement is in motion. For now, though, Arctic Monkeys stand alone like the abandoned saloon on the rooftop: the last – and greatest – band of their generation still operating at their highest level.”
– NME
“Smoking Weed Alone” by Tegan and Sara
Album: Crybaby
Description:
“Trading major label calculation for hard hitting immediacy, Crybaby is ironically more memorably catchy than some of their more obvious tilts at commerciality. Conversely that strength is also its slight flaw: the energy is so high on certain tracks that any slow to mid-tempo songs can naturally feel like lulls when actually they provide necessary variation.No matter, Crybaby still adds up to a powerful reaction to the pain and strain inherent in coping with change and the challenge of growing up – art doesn’t get more universal than that.“
– The Line of Best Fit
“Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)” by Loyle Carner
Album: hugo
Description:
“The vulnerability Loyle Carner presents has always been incredibly complex, on ‘Hugo’ it comes across as even more so. The truth is that in matters of injustice, anger is one of our most powerful tools and with it ‘Hugo’ showcases an essential part of the depth and criticality Loyle Carner possesses as an artist.”
– Clash Music
“No Decent Shoes for Rain” by Dry Cleaning
Album: Stumpwork
Description:
“It is a shame that Dry Cleaning are so often talked about simply as a post-punk band – or even worse, lumped in with a ‘sprechgesang’ movement. They are a four-piece guitar act, and Florence Shaw’s performance drifts between singing and speaking, but that’s really where such comparisons should end. If nothing else, on their second album ‘Stumpwork’, Dry Cleaning prove they are unique.“
– NME
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