‘Doom Days’ pretty much sums up the feeling that most of us hold about the world in its current state. Headlines are turning ever bleaker and the world is seemingly a darker place than it has been in a long time. This is ultimately what Bastille’s third album is trying to capture. However, in a time of sadness and madness, Bastille have been able to offer a more optimistic snapshot of reality. Personally, I don’t think anything will top ‘Pompeii’ (a song that it definitely st

The National. The umbrella that stops the hail from hitting your head, the first sip of water the morning after a heavy night of drinking, the woolly jumper that shields you from a bitter winter frost, you get the drift from this obsessional fan. The National are great, and they’re back with their eighth studio album at the perfect time. As I settle down after another arduous day of masters degree assignment writing, the stress-ridden short term future all of a sudden appears

Drenge’s 3rd studio album, Strange Creatures, due for release on the 22nd February is a thoroughly rambunctious affair characterised by loud, clunky guitars and an intelligent lyrical wit. It’s a record which demands your attention with a smorgasbord of sounds for your earholes: there’s the glitchy, ‘80’s-disco-gone-wrong’ bass-lines, the purgative guitar solos and vocalist Eoin loveless’ unforgiving Derbyshire twang to name but a few examples. Following on from 2015’s Undert

The Mic got an exclusive listen to Shadows Like Stranger’s debut album ‘CALI’ which is due to be released on February 1st, after nearly four years in the making. Shadows Like Strangers themselves are still less than a year old but the four-piece pop-punk group from Nottingham have had a successful time, ending last year supporting Lacey at Nottingham’s Rock City Basement for a sold-out show. The album opens with ‘Counterpart’ which sets the scene of the album perfectly being

The long-awaited release of Fickle Friend’s debut album “You Are Someone Else”, on Friday. Five years after their performance at Jamie Oliver’s music festival “The Big Festival” in 2013, the five-piece indie pop band have finally dropped an amazing sixteen track album, filled with their already popular singles and some new material that is sure to please existing fans as well as attract new followers. The album opens with singles “wake me up”, “Glue” and “Swim” that have show

The Wombats’ new album was released on the 9th Feb, three years after their previous album ‘Glitterbug’ and ahead of their UK tour next month. On first listen, the album combines sounds from both ‘This Modern Glitch’ and ‘Glitterbug’ to form a sound that mixes old and new and has worked so well for them in the past. The opening song ‘Cheetah Tongue’ has lead singer Matthew Murphy’s distinct vocals over the top of a slower, more melodic background making it sound different to

After much anticipation, Steven Patrick MORRISSEY brings us his first album in 3 years; along with a list of UK tour dates much to our surprise (the 58-year old previously said that his last UK tour may be his final one). After hearing Morrissey’s first single, ‘Spent the Day In Bed’, the direction the album would take was unclear, though if it was to be anything like the single, it could be assumed that it was to be fantastically charismatic, overtly angry at the government,

A full 10 years after their second album release and Indie rock group Milburn are back with their third album, ‘Time’. After their second album failed to live up to the billing of their first, as so often is the case with indie albums, ‘Time’ represents an opportunity for the band to make a comeback and show how far their sound has come. The title track ‘Time’ sets the album off with a nostalgic tone featuring a lengthy instrumental intro and light sombre lyrics, a stark cont

Speedy Ortiz frontwoman Sadie Depuis has replaced the last two letters in her forename with numbers and released an indie-pop solo album – “Slugger”. Depuis wrote and recorded the majority of the record in a two week period and it proves both intimate and meticulously put together. If you haven’t heard any of Speedy Ortiz’s stuff they’re a comic book loving alt-grunge band with articulate 90s influenced guitar lines. Fans of the band will find “Slugger” treads similar ground

Danny Brown has always been one of the most eccentric rappers in today’s hip-hop scene. I’ve always found he had somewhat of a Jekyll and Hyde quality about him; capable of a chilled out, socially conscious track immediately followed by an outrageous hedonistically mindless party banger. That’s probably just proof of his versatility but for some reason, that stark contrast visible on his past albums has always stood out for me, more than any other artist. However, the Detroit

Will Varley has reached an unstoppable velocity since signing with Xtra Mile Recordings in 2015 and shows no signs of slowing down as he announces fourth album ‘Kingsdown Sundown’ out 4th November 2016. With the follow-up to the stellar ‘Postcards From Ursa Minor’, an album that propelled Will into unexplored territory, return tours with The Proclaimers and unbelievable summer festival sets, he continues to build upon broken spirits with this set of almost unbearably raw song

From the very lowest moment in her life the extraordinarily talented Rebecca Ferguson has produced a breathtaking new album, ‘Superwoman’. It is set to be released 14th October and her first single ‘Bones’ will be available from 2ndSeptember (impacting 7th October). Forged from heartbreak and a tale of lover’s abandonment combined with the bittersweet joy of giving birth to his child, ‘Superwoman’ is infused with the strength of a woman who has finally taken control. Rebecca

Joseph Mount’s electro-pop act, Metronomy, have a lot going for them. The four piece have gained recognition for their winning blend of professionalism and pouty sass, and with their latest album they build on this formula to great effect. Summer 08 is an unashamedly enjoyable album. In interviews Mount has discussed how memories of partying in the late-naughties were prevalent in his writing on the record – it’s a nostalgic dip into the last decade. It cannot, however, be de

Three years after winning the Mercury Prize with his stunning sophomore album Overgrown, James Blake is back with the rather poetically titled The Colour in Anything. The young British electronic maestro returns after two critically acclaimed releases with a 17-track effort, which also features Bon Iver guitarist Justin Vernon and joint song writing from the now elusive Frank Ocean.  Tracks such as “Modern Soul” certainly sounded promising when they surfaced back in February,

The Coral are not just back – they’re back in a big way. A sold-out tour involving seemingly reinvigorated performances, a bundle of festival appearances lined up across the summer and, in the midst of it all, the release of their first album in two years in ‘Distance Inbetween’. First impressions, this album appears to be good. The more it is listened to however, it becomes deeper than that. This is a fantastically well-crafted collection of music, the songs seemingly intert

2016, the year in which Grime music is the next best thing- could there be a better time for Kano to make an appearance? Clearly not because this grime veteran is back, bigger and better than ever before with the release of his new album ‘Made in the Manor’. This exclusive album, featuring the likes of Grime legends Giggs and JME, reveals the shallow experiences of living life on the streets of East London. Jumping straight in with heavy drum ‘n’ bass track ‘Hail’, we’re inst

Their fifth studio album signals a fresh lineup for Bloc Party – drummer Louise Bartle replaces the virtuoso Matt Tong, whilst the band add American Justin Harris on bass to fill the gap left by Gordon Moakes. Do the new additions to the band bring promise for the future? In an interview with Annie Mac back in October, Kele stated that Hymns sounded ‘like nothing we’ve done before’. He was speaking the truth;  it’s no surprise considering the departure of Tong and Moakes that

British house duo Disclosure burst onto the scene two years ago with their debut album entitled ‘Settle’. With its slick and enticing sounds influenced by classic house, the album was both a critical and commercial success, with brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence deservingly being nominated for the Mercury Prize and a Grammy in 2013, and also having several hits on the charts with tracks like “Latch”, “White Noise” and “When a Fire Starts to Burn”. They have now just recently r

Is this the sound of Noel Gallagher finally emerging from beneath those Oasis-shaped clouds? Whenever Noel Gallagher releases a High Flying Birds album, he must sit back and wait for the inevitable tide of muttering about that band, and how his new music sounds just like them. The first stab at a solo career, a self-titled debut, did nothing to quell the voices. However, with the release of ‘Chasing Yesterday’ there is a sense of him finding freedom through experimentation wi

In 2010 LoneLady (aka Julie Campbell) tore up the post-punk scene with her debut album ‘Nerve Up’, cementing her place as a self-made, artistic musician who had attracted the attention of both NME and The Guardian. Flash forward to late last year and the release of follow-up single ‘Groove it Out’ and it’s easy to see why new album ‘Hinterland’ has been long-awaited. Like a wave, it crashes over the mainstream, propelling Lonelady into more colourful territories than ever bef