The lost futures of Stereolab
In an age of genuine instability, do we still want to get our politics from pop music?
ByAlbum reviews
Read all the latest album reviews from the New Statesman here.
Lorde’s Brat moment
The pop star is supposed to be above this kind of self-conscious marketing.
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On Mayhem, Lady Gaga makes a chaotic return to form
The singer’s new album attempts to recapture the intense art-project pop of her early records.
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Sam Fender’s politicised rock
The North Shields artist’s third album, People Watching, shows the musician continues to find inspiration in his troubled roots.
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Vashti Bunyan’s second life
At 60, the singer released Lookaftering, her first album in 35 years – and sparked a career renaissance.
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Ethel Cain’s American Gothic
The singer found fame with her debut album in 2022 – but Perverts, a subversive horror movie of a record,…
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Laura Marling’s songs of experience
As the singer showcased her new album Patterns in Repeat at Hackney Church, the parallels across her work – and…
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Jennifer Lopez’s beautifully unhinged visual album
This Is Me... Now is a bizarre but poetic record of her rekindled love for Ben Affleck.
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The paradoxical moods of Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark
Released 50 years ago, the singer’s commercial breakthrough is a masterwork of ambivalence.
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Dolly Parton’s Rockstar is a cheesy, moving, joyful covers album
It’s too long, and unavoidably corny. But this is such a fun endeavour that it’s hard to resist.
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REM’s soundtrack to the end of history
The album Up captured the dehumanisation and sexless ennui that defined the late Nineties.
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Britain is scared of jazz
Ezra Collective is the first ever jazz band to win the Mercury Prize – lifting a curse on a genre…
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The Ballad of Darren is one of Blur’s best records
The band’s new album, like all their greatest work, is suffused with melancholy.
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Joe Dunthorne on Black Sunday by Cypress Hill: “My favourite way to get blazed”
From the Long Players series: writers on their most cherished albums.
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Heavy Heavy by Young Fathers: a revolutionary adventure in rhythm
On their fourth album, the Mercury Award-winning band fuse avant-garde pop and hip hop to create a truly exhilarating sound.
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The high-art cabaret of Christine and the Queens’ Redcar
At a circus venue in Paris the next evolution in the musician’s theatrical pop shows how real life seeps into…
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How Arctic Monkeys succumbed to solipsism
On The Car, Alex Turner sounds increasingly like a man who doesn’t need his band any more. The resulting record is…
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Are the 1975 geniuses, or simply mediocre?
The band’s new album is full of their signature contradictions. It is uplifting and ironic; ultra-modern yet nostalgic. Take it…
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Sheku Kanneh-Mason: “The cello is a part of you”
The 23-year-old has already played for the royals and tackled the Elgar Cello Concerto. Where does he go from here?
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Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind: best served tepid
Drake used to be our Prince Hamlet – but on his underpowered new album he is a journeyman extra offering…
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