THE BLACK CROWES
Happiness Bastards
SILVER ARROW
8/10
A sharp comeback from the Southern rock legends
The Black Crowes have been through a lot in their 30-year career: they achieved overnight success with their first album, topped that with their second, then spent decades trying to find a way forward. Happiness Bastards, their first album of originals in 15 years, surveys the carnage and shakes off the dust, as Chris and Rich Robinson get back to something like basics. They have a blast finding new ways to marry Stonesy swagger with crunchy riffs and psychedelic lyrics, with some handclaps and gospel choirs sticking out like peacock feathers in their crushed-velvet top hat. A surprisingly lively and assured comeback. STEPHEN DEUSNER
BLACK KEYS
Ohio Players
NONESUCH
8/10
Getting high with a little help from their friends
The Black Keys have been on a furious roll of late: Ohio Players is their fourth album in five years. This commendable restlessness manifests here through a hefty guestlist. Long-time fan/mentor Beck appears on half the tracks – his deadpan gospel is especially discernible on “Beautiful People (Stay High)” – Noel Gallagher on three songs, and an invigorating hip-hop influence is contributed by Juicy J, Lil Noid and Dan The Automator. The sum of these disparate parts is an album with that infectious quality of sounding like it was a total blast to make; Gallagher’s instinct for an anthem especially illuminates “On The Game” and “Only Love Matters”. ANDREW MUELLER
BLUE BENDY
So Medieval
THE STATE 51 CONSPIRACY
8/10
Genre-bending experimental guitar pop on London outfit’s debut
Blue Bendy show little regard for convention on their debut album. From the opening “So Medieval” – which shifts from tender spoken-word to eruptive leftfield rock – the band blast through everything from country to post-rock and pop to Midwestern emo. Structures and time signatures are equally unpredictable, such as the frantic yet thrilling twists and turns of “Mr Bubblegum” or the epic “Cloudy”, which ricochets between impassioned strums and piano stabs, to subtle instrumental interludes, and vocals that stretch from being reserved and quiet to bursting with euphoria. It’s a pleasingly unpredictable and singular debut. DANIEL DYLAN WRAY
BOB VYLAN
Humble As The Sun
GHOST THEATRE
7/10
Polemical grime-punk duo fight the power with both anger and humour
Black British duo Bob Vylan made history in 2022 when their self-produced, self-released debut crashed the Top 20 and earned these regicidal rap-rock grime-punks a Mobo award. This muscular sequel largely sticks to the band’s signature mix of angry political commentary, thunderous metal riffs and booming electro-funk beats on future moshpit anthems like “Hunger Games” and the Pixies-infused grunge-rocker “Makes Me Violent”. The charisma, charm, galvanising dynamism and radical positivity of frontman Bobbie, aka Pascal Robinson-Foster, works better on stage than in the studio; even so, his hilarious takedowns of Marx-quoting armchair revolutionaries and Brexit-voting Top Gear fans reveal a sharp, self-aware wit behind the headbanging polemic. STEPHEN DALTON
BROKEN CHANTER
Chorus Of Doubt
CHEMIKAL UNDERGROUND
8/10
Scottish songwriter takes aim at modern malaise
As frontman of Scottish indie-poppers Kid Canaveral through to his more recent work as Broken Chanter, songwriter David MacGregor’s particular skill is in camouflaging rage, heartbreak and despair as uplifting earworms. Chorus Of Doubt – the third Broken Chanter album, and his first for the storied Chemikal Underground label – is political songwriting with collectivism in mind, a call to arms in the form of an infectious, singalong reminder that “the rain doesn’t only fall on you”. A side-swipe into jagged post-punk on individualism-lampooning opener “Don’t You Think That Something Needs To Be Done” and the gloriously colloquial “Knock My Pan In” shows a band on top of their game, but at its best this is agit-pop with heart. LISA-MARIE FERLA
CAST
Love Is The Call
CAST RECORDINGS/ABSOLUTE
7/10
Britpop B-listers let hard times
