The Knife - Shaking the Habitual (2013) Review and CD Covers

It's been 7 long years since the excellent Silent Shout graced our ears (3 if you count the Fever Ray project,

The Knife do what they're good at, and what they're really good at is causing a cacophony of melodic noise and haunting vocals, with a dash of foreboding beats and ominous atmospheres to set the mood. A good portion of this album has some great cuts on it, including Cherry on Top and Full of Fire, while few others are just plain filler and tend to drag out the album to unnecessary lengths (Fraking being the prime example).

David Bowie - The Next Day Review and CD Covers

This is a very good David Bowie album, in my view. It's a great relief
to say it, because when some of the

We have had a little time now to digest the track Where Are We Now? and to assess its true merit now that the "Blimey!" factor following its surprise release has worn off a bit. I still think that it's a very good song indeed. I did worry that some of the fragile, almost-out-of-tune vocal wasn't a deliberate effect but the voice of a man who can't quite sing as he used to, but - thank heavens - I was quite wrong. It is followed on the album by Valentine's Day, a track which wouldn't have been out of place on Aladdin Sane and which Bowie sings superbly, and there's plenty of other evidence here that he's still got it.