A to Z

PP ARNOLD

The New Adventures Of PP Arnold EARMUSIC

7/10

Back on the soul train after half a century

Arnold’s first album of entirely new material for 50 years taps directly into the hip mod soul of her ’60s hits, from producer Steve Cradock’s Bacharach & David-referencing “Baby Blue” to Paul Weller’s hymnal “Shoot The Dove”. The octave-leaping testifying of old gets a fresh workout on the lush, orchestrated overhaul of Sandy Denny’s “I’m A Dreamer”, while there’s a purer pop joy to Mike Nesmith’s “Different Drum”. Arnold’s voice is as rich as ever on this upbeat, triumphant return to the spotlight, crystal clear and cutting straight to the heart, especially on the self-penned standout, “Though It Hurts Me Badly”. TERRY STAUNTON

BLANCK MASS

Animated Violence Mild SACRED BONES

8/10

Fuck Buttons man scorches consumerism on fourth LP

Each Benjamin Power album arrives with a manifesto. This time, it’s the self-serving, destructive consequences of humans choosing money over the natural world that gets his temples throbbing. That, mixed with personal grief. The output is furious – a dense, combative electronic slab that’s more thrash metal than minimal techno. Drums gallop, synths surge, the rare vocal is sometimes a distorted scream. But alongside the general pixelated bombast, it also represents Power’s most melodic work. “Death Drop” and “Hush Money” are simultaneously aggressive and rounded. It’s only a solitary harp on “Creature/West Fuqua” that provides a little respite from the enjoyably bruising onslaught. GREG COCHRANE

WILD BILLY CHILDISH & CTMF

Last Punk Standing DAMAGED GOODS

7/10

Another excellent, primitive pop set from the Medway crew

Four decades in, and poet, artist and garage rocker Billy Childish isn’t letting up. The title Last Punk Standing nicely captures Childish’s dedication to his craft, an impressively single-minded devotion to punk as an ideological position. But it also does much to summarise just why Childish continues to hold the fascination he does for so many; with the 14 songs here, he’s writing as primitively as ever, the better to get to the core of the matter. This one feels a bit brighter, more pop, than usual, though the Stooges lift of “Some Unknown Reason” is dankly bloodied. JON DALE

CLAIRO

Immunity FADER

4/10

Debut album from internet bedroom-pop songwriter

Clairo’s authenticity has been the subject of much online debate since her adorable “Pretty Girl” clocked millions of views on YouTube in 2017. She said that success was due to algorithms; others cynically linked her rise to her father’s career as an eminent marketing executive. Calculated or not, there’s very little that’s stirring about Immunity. Musically, the Massachusetts 20-year-old’s forte is easygoing stuff, coy pop melodies with neat edges (Rostam Batmanglij, formerly of Vampire Weekend, co-produces). But while there’s plenty of laidback sheen, the collection is void of original hooks. “Bags” bucks that tame trend, but four minutes of dreamy lo-fi indie sweetness can’t hold up the rest. GREG COCHRANE

CROSS RECORD

Cross Record BA DA BING!

9/10

Sublime post-rocking from Texas-based dreampop balladeer

Drifting further away from her indie-folk slowcore roots with each release, Emily Cross has created something of a mesmerising mini-masterpiece with her third, self-titled Cross Record album. Conceived in Mexico and recorded in Texas, most of these crepuscular reveries push Cross beyond singer-songwriter terrain to embrace post-rock sonics couched in ambient throb and vivid electro-funk percussion. Cross mourns the end of her heavy-drinking lifestyle on the gorgeous, hilariously titled lament “Face Smashed, Drooling” and warps her voice into a dazzling whirlpool effect on “I Am Painting”. But the killer track here is “PYSOL My Castle”, a voluptuous amniotic ballad of shimmering Liz Fraser-isms and otherworldly, heart-melting beauty. Swoon. STEPHEN DALTON

ROSALIE CUNNINGHAM

Rosalie Cunningham CHERRY RED/ESOTERIC ANTENNA

8/10

Terrific debut from ex-Purson/ Ipso Facto sorceress

Since the demise of London quintet Purson in late 2016, frontwoman Rosalie Cunningham has been steadily stockpiling tunes for this first solo effort. It’s clearly been time well spent, the songs displaying a new sense of freedom and assurance as they skitter between psychedelia, prog and playful avant-pop. Her strident vocals, reminiscent of Grace Slick or Sonja Kristina, intensify the anything-goes sweep of epic saga “A Yarn From The Wheel”, while the majestic “Fuck Love” could easily be a lost John Barry theme. In quieter moments, as on “Butterflies”, she manages to channel the essence of ‘White Album’ McCartney. ROB HUGHES

CHERIE CURRIE AND BRIE DARLING

The Motivator BLUE ELAN

7/10

’70s trailblazers’ cover-heavy collaboration

This hook-up between the Runaways singer and sometime Fanny drummer/singer Brie Darling has the air of two elder stateswomen of rock with nothing to prove, but plenty of fun to have. Three-quarters of the 12-track set consists of vintage covers such as the T.Rex title track, and their lived-in vocal chords often suit the material surprisingly well. The world probably doesn’t need another cover of “Gimme Shelter”, but on the gutsy strut through The Kinks’ “Do It Again” they bring an irresistible riot grrrl snarl. The pick of their three originals is the defiant pop-rock anthem “This Is Our Time”. “It ain’t over yet, turn up our voices past 10,” sings Currie. And they have. JOHNNY SHARP

JESSE DAYTON

Mixtape Vol 1 BLUE ÉLAN

7/10

Well-travelled Texan’s covers album is a romp

The premise is as familiar as the Maxell cassette and handwritten J-card on the cover – it’s the choices of material and approach that gives Jesse Dayton’s Mixtape Vol 1 its considerable kick. The Texas native and his band ramp up the lasciviousness of Jackson Browne ’s “Redneck Friend”, lean into the staccato riffage of Dr Feelgood’s “She Does It Right” and transform Neil Young’s “Harvest” into a tear-stained campfire ballad, while giving AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta Rosie” a blistering John Lee Hooker groove. In a sublime meta-move, Malin’s shit-kicking roadhouse rendition of The Clash’s “Bankrobber” inverts the injection of British punk Joe Strummer and company pumped into The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought The Law”, bringing it all back home. BUD SCOPPA

THOM YORKE

Anima XL RECORDINGS

8/10

Radiohead frontman dives into a deep inner world on his third solo LP. By Louis Pattison

FEW have pondered the nature of our