Audioxide

From brotherly estrangement to Fabergéal financial ruin to dental calamity, Bleeding Gums’ soulful howling and gravelly tone is magnificient.

After six long, resolutely joyless years we passed another album review milestone. To celebrate here’s a look at some sweet, sweet data.

The record listens like an all-night jam at an impossibly cool bohemian gettogether. It’s funky, relaxed, audacious, exhausting... but above all, it’s brilliant.

The richest and most melodious harmonisations of four men since John, Mark, Luke, and Matthew collaborated on their bestselling project 2,000 years ago.

Krafty Kuts and Chali 2na seem to lack conviction on this album, never attempting anything overly exciting, content with being serviceable.

Reviews make a lot more sense when they can be put into context. After passing 150 albums reviewed we thought it was high time to look at the statistics.

Van Houten’s first and only studio album is flawed, for sure, but also profoundly personal. After 20+ years of mockery its reputation seems a tad unwarranted.

Artists can and should explore different plains, but Ruins sounds safe rather than bold. It sounds like Americana recorded in an air-conditioned studio.

The record is a rich and gloriously grubby collage of sounds. It stands somewhere between Pixies and Nirvana, with an added injection of psychedelic rock.