REVIEW: THE HIVES - THE HIVES FOREVER FOREVER THE HIVES

4/5

Long Live The Hives

Japan's fantastic Fuji Rock festival welcomed The Hives alongside Haim, Vampire Weekend and many more to the ski mountains of the Land of the Rising Sun this Summer. And even almost fifteen years after we saw them playfully and cockily take over London's Hard Rock Calling festival in Hyde Park, the Swedish rabble rousers have not lost a single step. Fabulous frontman Pelle Almqvist still acts like his act is the best thing since sliced furniture...because it is. Remarking to the Naeba Ski Resort faithful how returning to this Japanese festival the Swedes have moved down a stage, but up a time slot (that's progress). All as their signature style and sound like, no other, stops in the middle of a song, before they break into their absolute classic. And Nicholaus Arson, Vigilante Carlstroem, Chris Dangerous and The Johan and Only never hate to tell you so...alright?!

At that July gig, The Hives announced their new album coming in August...and here it is. So say it with me, 'The Hives Forever Forever The Hives' in trademark and time-honoured humility. Their first album for the 'Veni Vidi Vicious' rockers since 'The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons' two years back. And this might be one of their best, like 'Tyrannosaurus Hives' (try curing that with cream) and 'The Black And White Album' for an act who are still your favourite band in logo all caps. Sporting royal regalia, in atrociously amazing album artwork and expressions only they could make (the guitarist looking like a Dalek), The Hives take these crowns and royal robes to the palace of their single and album title-track to close this bawdy affair. Almqvist won't stop dressing like the king he is on the actual lead single, but 'Enough Is Enough' as he screams into the trademark boxing microphone he swings around on stage. "Everyone's a little f####n' b####/And I'm getting sick and tired of this/Went to the doctor 'turns out I'm sick/Sick of everybody's bull####/And I ain't listenin', not hearing anything/Can't take no more." Actually entering the ring as a boxer, punching down on everyone...even the referee.

Don't blow the whistle, it's all fun and games for the fondly friendly group that have always sung with a tongue in their (and your) cheek. They just want to 'Legalize Living' in black and white, like "Rules on top of rules, all of this I do despise/Layers upon layers upon layers upon lies/They are putting the doubt in you/They tell you what they want you to do." Continuing to 'Paint A Picture' with more strong singles matched by amazing music videos. This one, a caricature of their best, looking like the halfway house of an a-ha- music video, or something Jack and Meg of The White Stripes used to take on. After the brackets of an introduction and some interludes, you'll be saying 'Hooray Hooray Hooray' for The Hives again and their big-three singles. All for their classic, quick-draw tracks for some of the best two minutes you'll have without your significant other complaining. Sure, Sabrina Carpenter is dancing with Colman Domingo in drag this New Music Friday. But apart from that, it's just a 'Stans' soundtrack of old Eminem records and The Fun Lovin' Criminals without Huey (no, thanks).

Yet The Hives are the same beautiful Nordic bastards who stole the show from my favourite Springsteen in London and beloved Haim in Japan. Every album of the year could have come out this weekend and 'Forever The Hives' would have still been one of the classics of the calendar. Recorded in Stockholm's studio syndromes of the bold YEAR0001 and the alphabet soup of Riksmixningsverket (owned by ABBA's very own Benny Andersson), this record like the label will really make you Play It Again Sam. A half-hour of all garage rock power, it's time to 'Roll Out The Red Carpet' again for a royal appointment with these Berry's that could make Beethoven roll over once more. Produced by longtime collaborator of the band (est. 1993) Pelle Gunnerfeldt and the Beastie Boy Mike D, this seventh seal of an album even has the Queens Of The Stone Age's very own Josh Homme rocking all over tracks like the good 'Bad Call' and the overdose of  'O.C.D.O.D.'. Mike D's presence actually made everyone so nervous, producer Pelle was tripping over wires. Murder for anyone with O.C.D.

Obsessive compulsive Hives fans will come out in exactly that though when they hear the "Crawling out from under nothing/Ears are bleeding, head is hurting/Raise a glass to every fuse I blew/Look back and see the bridges burning/Behind you, see the closing curtain/Every single friend deserting you" of 'They Can't Hear The Music'. The guys that were all 'Born A Rebel', as they are right now taking the world by a storm of a tour, told Emily Garner of Kerrang that this album is "a new record so full of energy, joy, anger and life that you will be questioning reality as you have known it... Every single song a single, every single single a hit, every hit a direct hit in the face of the man." And man, what a rollout of hits, but maybe the one that hits the hardest is the anthem of the 'Path Of Most Resistance'. "You soak in lukewarm water and you flatten the graphs/All the good feelings and none of the bad/Swimming upstreams 'cause I don't wanna be/A little bit trapped and a little free/A little bit trapped and a little free/Always something for them but there is nothing for me," Pelle urges with power that fights those who want to take yours. Now, if that isn't rock and roll in the face of the modern day, I don't know what is, or what to tell you. A forever feeling like The Hives that will stay with you as you itch for more. The Hives aren't dead, and you shouldn't be, either. Long live. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Enough Is Enough', 'Legalize Living', 'Path Of Most Resistance'

Spin This: The Hives - 'The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons'.

LIVE REVIEW: SAKANACTION - SAKANAQUARIUM @ K-Arena, Yokohama, Japan (26/08/25)

5/5

Sakanaction Days

One of the biggest bands in Japan, Sakanaction, are concluding a six-month tour in their native Land of the Rising Sun with two shows in Yokohama's K-Arena. One of the biggest venues in the world, built solely for making music. Oh, and the portmanteau for "fish" ("sakana" in Japanese) and "action" have sold out both shows of this 20,000 seater stadium. And it's easy to see why, as Ichirō Yamaguchi, Motoharu Iwadera (Mocchi), Ami Kusakari (Neesan), Emi Okazaki (Zakki) and Keiichi Ejima (Ejii) brought out their big guns. Like their latest monster hit 'Kaiju', with the Godzilla green coloured corridors and 'Exit 8' yellow adorning many of the fans t-shirts descending on the awesome arena in a city that neighbours Tokyo. Or their signature 'Shintakarajima', as cheerleaders came out with pompoms like geishas with traditional fans for 'サカナクション - 夜の踊り子 '.  And the fans loved it as they stamped their SAKANAQUARIUM cards. All the way to the closing 'Night Fishing Is Good' from the band's sophomore set 'Night Fishing'. Ensuring emotion for everyone in attendance who grew up with the Sapporo supergroup.

Eight wonderful albums adorn Sakanaction's career, eighteen years after their major label debut. Their last album being the awesome 'Adapt', coming out of corona in 2022. Their latest killer 'Kaiju' song serves as the soundtrack to the amazing anime 'Orb: On The Movements Of The Earth'. And the band that are soaring as they are touring have never stopped casting their lines out into open water. Even brilliant bassist Ami Kusakari released her own acclaimed album of ambient beauty in her inspired instrumental 'Garden Studies' at the beginning of this calendar. These studies were on sonic display as fans took their seats enveloped in a mesmerizing and meditating mist that even the 'Seeing Sound, Hearing Time' epic exhibition of the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto would be proud of. Honestly, you could have sat there in a perfect peaceful state all night, but once Sakanaction came on stage to rapturous applause, it was time to go fish. And what better way to 'GO TO THE FUTURE', in opening, than with an act that's been doing exactly that ever since they pushed music's envelope with their dynamic debut album of the same name? Perfect penmanship graffiti greeting us with on-screen videos that met live streams seamlessly.

An amazing aquarium (this is the SAKANAQUARIUM after all), that actually looked like one as a video screen displaying an amazing actor and dancer (the revelatory Runa Miura) played out like a movie (directed by the great Yusuke Tanaka) after this show's opening credits introduced the band, separated the stage into a rectangular tank. And when it all operatically opened up, it was like that inspired IMAX scene in the best movie of this year, Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's 'Sinners', when the cinematic widescreen turns full for the final showdown. Words can't put into justice just how good this show was. How inspired it was. Yokohama is known for fireworks in the Japanese Hanabi Summer, called 'Night Flowers'. But even J Dilla would have been proud of these light works. Lasers pointed all across the arena and at one point framed an inspired Ichirō in a holy light that his incredible voice matched. Iwadera's influential, great guitar. Kusakari's beautiful bass. Okazaki's outstanding piano play. Ejima's definitive drumming. The famous five of Sakanaction work best together like bait, hook and line. And when they came back for an epic encore to DJ 'Music', behind their 'Shintakarajima' laptops and Elton John worthy glasses, you could see there was another level to these alternative rockers who know how to make a crowd move with electronic pop. The new wave is here to stay. The final show is set to turn Yokohama's K-Arena into "SaKArenaction" tonight. Time for some action. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Set-list Picks: 'Kaiju', 'Shintakarajima', 'Night Fishing Is Good'.

REVIEW: JON BATISTE - BIG MONEY

4/5

Money Talks 

Money sings. And in a time when we should all be speaking up for Colbert's show being cancelled by the powers that be (evil), Stephen's former bandleader continues fighting the good fight. It's not even been a year (November) since Jon Batiste gave us his twinkling take on his 'Beethoven Blues', the 'Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1', that came a calendar after the Oscar winning 'Soul' singer's 'World Music Radio', yet here we are. And we didn't forget his 'Saturday Night' live soundtrack, either. This week, Batiste is banking on 'Big Money' with his ninth wonder of an album, featuring nine wonderful songs that will surely track the top ten for the record. One that is reminiscent of the great Raphael Saadiq's (surely a muse) former iTunes album of the year, 'The Way I See It'. Not to mention it's fellow throwback follow-up, 'Stone Rollin''. All the way down to the guitar grabbing black and white album artwork. Singing to the heavens with the purple reign of big, bold type. 

Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Lana Del Rey, and Mavis Staples. Jon has recorded with them, and many more. But on this set he brings three big and diverse artists to the boil of this genre trip across the generations, closing with the No ID and Billy Bob Bo Bob assisted 'ANGELS' taking wing. Opening with the outstanding Andra Day track to 'LEAN ON MY LOVE', like when the great Bill Withers wasn't strong. But it's the friend Jon Batiste has in Randy Newman that really takes us back from a 'LONELY AVENUE'. You may know, 'Toy Story', but do you know the sheer greatness of the legend with the iconic voice behind the song that showed even a cowboy and spaceman could get along? "Now my room has got two windows/But the sun never comes shinin’ through/You know it’s always dark/It’s dreary since I broke it off with you/I live on a lonely avenue." Leaning over the piano of an instant vintage, absolute classic.

The Bible-belt thumping title-track and its throwback music video, nuanced in nostalgia, will leave you stepping. 'PETRICHOR' is a call to nature, and to nurture such ("swim in the ocean/What's left of her"). Whilst 'DO IT ALL AGAIN' circles back to "Coming and going/We reap what we're sewing/On time like a tambourine/Older and younger/You don't have to wonder what you mean to me, yeah." The 'PINNACLE' of this album is exactly that. Or maybe it's 'MAYBE'. Either way, 'AT ALL' costs, Batiste's biggest record since the one he sang for Jamie Foxx is money. Harmonizing with lyrics like, "I ain't gonna take this flight to London/Tomorrow/This is not a negotiation/I made the call/She understands me/But she's not all of y'all/If she understands me/Then you don't have to, at all." Years after his 'American Symphony' documentary movie on Netflix and all that he and his brave author partner Suleika Jaouad have fought through, there's another battle waging. One for America's heart, and who better than this man with soul to bring the big, good times back? Put your money down on it. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'LONELY AVENUE (Feat. Randy Newman)', 'PINNACLE', 'MAYBE'

Spin This: Raphael Saadiq - 'The Way I See It'

REVIEW: KID CUDI - FREE

3.5/5

Scott Free

One of the craziest things that came out of the Diddy case, aside from the sheer weight of all the evil wrongdoings, was the testimony that the disgraceful hip-hop mogul planted a bomb in Scott Mescudi, AKA Kid Cudi's car. All because the rapper was seeing Sean Combs ex-girlfriend Cassie. Truly terrible. It's enough to drive a sane man crazy, there the great Scott was, showing up for his day in court to testify against the man he said looked like a "Marvel super villain" after said event. It's safe to say, after this, and the social media firestorm, Cudi could do with a breather. And he finds it 'Free' of all this, on his first album since last year's 'Insano' release. An incredible follow-up (especially with the 'Nitro Mega' version like Lupe Fiasco's 'Samurai DX', also released this New Music Friday, like Ghostface and Jon Batiste) to his 'Entergalactic' soundtrack to the man on the moon's Netflix animated movie.

This Wicked Awesome/Republic pop rock album finds itself on the green of Scott's back nine following his appearance in Adam Sandler's 'Happy Gilmore 2' (doesn't beat his one in the 'Bill & Ted' sequel though, for Keanu's classic line). Finding 'Neverland' and a 'Grave' new single to go along with the latest, 'Mr. Miracle', that should keep you up to speed on just how this Kid made it through all of this. After this epic, eleventh (WHAT?!) album's instrumental intro, 'Echoes Of The Present', Cudi starts off strong with two singles for the boards. All before this album, with no guest features a la J. Cole, gets into Scott Mescudi's 'Opiate' love addiction. "Tenderness entering/Just a kiss, damn it, it's the beginning/To mean something/Caught the flame." From there he goes 'Deep Diving' with Jean, not Jon, Baptiste. Right out the blue sky cloudy doorway of a 'Truman Show', Jim Carrey like leap of faith. And in case he doesn't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.

All the way down to 'Submarine', Cudi submerges, serving "Way too deep to ever reach the summer breeze/God save me/I'm too deep, a psychedelic dream, I'm too deep" lyrics before the dust of 'Ashes' proceeds the 'Grave'. If you've heard it in a 'Past Life', like Maggie Rogers, then you know you don't even have to say it. Sometimes life is just that hard, but when you leave the past where it belongs, you can begin anew. The poet's prose gets profound from the Sia like jump of, "A chandelier on a thin string, hangin' onto reality/I'm losin' faith more than time bleeds, at least I still got some air to breathe/Grain of sand in the hourglass, havin' fun while I still can/I wanna know what the end say, but I can't rush the story." 'Picnic In Paris' is a perfect getaway, as is the 'Stargazing' that comes before the closing 'Salt Water' for the man who has no more salty tears. "Is this thing real or placebo?/Walk through the clouds out a blue door/Can't lose the dreams that I reach for." It's real Kid. Cudi is free. Like Diddy should never be. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Neverland', 'Truman Show', 'Picnic In Paris'

Spin This: Kid Cudi - 'Entergalactic'

REVIEW: GHOSTFACE KILLAH - SUPREME CLIENTELE 2

4/5

Supreme, Supreme 

Legend still has it on the Mass Appeal of real hip-hop in 2025. Following the man who gave this artist even more jewels to run with on Jay-Z's 'Fade To Black' tour, Slick Rick ('Victory'), and his own Wu-Tang Clan closest ally, Raekwon ('The Emperor's New Clothes'), Ghostface Killah is back. Following his 'Guns & Roses' album that 'Set The Tone' last year with his 'Rise Of A Killah' memoirs, it's not over for Pretty Tone. As a matter of fact, 'Iron Man' is back with a new mask and same task like Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom, whilst we still hope for that Starks and MF collaborative album. But like the red and blue Looney Tunes album artwork for the record, that's not all, folks! Ghostface, this New Music Friday, has finally given us the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel to his most iconic work, 'Supreme Clientele 2'. Just like the sequel album, he appeared on like a chef's kiss, when Raekwon proved he was still built for Cuban linx.

Strong samples (the best being 'The Zoom' of The Commodores), skits ("paause") and singles ('Rap Kingpin', 'Metaphysics') across the board, Dennis Coles is back in that rich vein of form he had from 2004-2007 ('The Pretty Tony Album', 'Fishscale', 'More Fish' and 'The Big Doe Rehab'), with the closest to the 'Clientele' since his wallets were as bulletproof as vests across chests. Not to mention the classic collaboration records (Adrian Younge, BADBADNOTGOOD) like the ones here. Introduced by Bricks City's very own Redman, who has his own 'Muddy Waters 2' successful sequel recently, 'SC2' is executive produced by Kanye West and Mike Dean. M.O.P. mash out on a 'Sample 420' in the air as Styles P and Conway The Machine help pay tribute to 'Curtis May'. Ty Boogie and Aisha Hall throw it back to a classic 80s robotic 'Beat Box', for all of you that went to a police academy. And there's real posse cuts on 'Soul Thang' (featuring Driz, Nems, Ice, Supreme-Intelligence, Sun God, Pills, and Reek da Villian) and the Wu-Tang for the children storybook of 'The Trial' (Raekwon, GZA, Method Man, Reek da Villian, and Pills). The judge, jury and executioner of Meth also appearing on 'You Ma Friend'. 

Before he has his own Mass Appeal 'Legend' album out with DJ Premier, like Mobb Deep, De La Soul and the late, great Big L, Nas features on 'Love Me Anymore'. Shining like this sequel's silver. There's even some classic Dave Chappelle soundbites for this show. But as the '4th Disciple' opens 'Windows', when he goes it alone he bodies everybody and anybody in two minutes or less. 'George Porgy' does it like Bess and over some 'Break Beats', Ghost rhymes, "Dodgin' bullets while I'm guardin' the base like Steve Garvey/Alkaline chips in the bezel, a cold body/Calculated snipers, Eastwood vision, crispy assault rifles/Army of twelve, I call 'em my disciples, bustin' off the Eiffel." Towering even more on the inferno of hot licks on 'Candyland'. Sweet like, "Tootsie roll coke blunts is rolled to perfection/Now I lay the 8-ball, sell without question/Known for my Skittle gang, pills like a hospital/You could taste the rainbow, Dutch joints'll follow you." Drugs may be bad, m'kay (but seriously, dare to resist), but these Killah rhymes are the real addiction. Still a part of the best clientele in rap, there's no ghosting from this face. Compared to all that came before, this is truly Supreme, like the sleeve. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Rap Kingpin', 'Iron Man', 'The Zoom'.

Spin This: Raekwon 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt. II'.

REVIEW: CHANCE THE RAPPER - STAR LINE

4/5

Second Chance

Chancelor Johnathan Bennett takes a second chance on a Marcus Garvey inspired 'Star Line' for his first album since 'The Big Day' of 2019. Although there's been plenty of singles, features and tapes for your crates over the year. This New Music Friday also sees a new album from pop rockers Maroon 5, but this album of the week is what love is really like. For every Kendrick Lamar, Drake and J. Cole (brief) beef to see who the best in the game is ("f### a big-three", it's just big HE), there are the real artists of the genre like Tyler The Creator and Chance The Rapper. And following Tyler's surprise 'Don't Tap The Glass' a few Mondays ago, comes this train, breaking new ground.

An aurora behind him, designed by artist Brendan Breux, in amazing album artwork, this line heads for the northern lights in ALL CAPS. "Steeped in travel and personal change, incorporating different life lessons, experiences, and sounds he encountered over the past several years", as Chance told Rolling Stone at Lollapalooza. Jamaica. Ghana. Garvey's work. Art fairs. It all helped shape this second set and the rapper himself. And with no label, this self-released second album is set to share that with all his friends. Just like the 'Tree' of life single featuring Lil' Wayne (also weezing with Maroon, this Friday for Carter collaborator of the week) and Smino, sampling the great India Arie's 'Video'. Outstanding, like the opening single of 'The Highs & The Lows' (featuring Joey Bada$$) as we pass it, pass it. All whilst other singles, since 2021, have been passed on and down to the cutting room floor (the milk carton features 'Child Of God' and 'Bad Boys 2').

After an inspired intro, we get to 'Ride' with a legend in 'Do Or Die'. All before, Jamila Woods shows us that in this country there are 'No More Old Men'. Monster collaborations across the board and these boards also feature fellow Chi-town artist BJ The Chicago Kid on 'The Negro Problem' (not to mention a sweet Anita Baker and Richard Pryor sample). BabyCheifDoIt appears on 'Drapetomania'. VIC MENSA on 'Back To The Go'. Young Thug and TiaCorine put a 'Gun In Yo Purse'. Whereas LION BABE and The Chicago Kid again hit you like the 'Speed Of Light'. But for all the anti-Cole guest features. Especially the bonuses of 'Just A Drop' with the great Jay Electronica and the 'Speed Of Love' closer with Jazmine Sullivan, it's when the rapper goes alone on this seventeen track and one hour and seven minute album where he really takes a chance.

"I grew tall overnight, I woke up one day a man/walked back by the crib/Where we would one day raise a fam/I’d been around the world/Done all the things I can/I’m a giant now, I can’t wait ’til you see how big I am," Chance raps on 'Space & Time' just so you can see just how far he's come. 'Link Me In The Future' is a yearning lost lover's lament for the one that got away...and still could stay. Whilst 'Burn Ya Block' does exactly that with a basketball to concrete beat for the streets. Yet before the Chancelor of the expresser gets 'Pretty' with a sweet soul sample, he writes some 'Letters' to Emerald Avenue with a broken heart for his departed aunt. "I've watched you worship idols/Brand a Bibles, sell it for double/Brandish rifles, curse and libel/Withhold shelter from n####s for survival/First Lady's walking around with furs and titles/Watch you spit in a man's face and call it "God"/But when it's really on your dogma, it's Silent Bob." Taking it to Trump and anyone that listens to him. The number three cap on his second set is flipping off the red ones. And with that line, a reborn star shows he has more to say in his raps. And it ain't no chance, it's by the grace of the real God from a true mover of the crowd. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Ride (Feat. Do Or Die)', 'Link Me In The Future', 'Letters'

Spin This: Tyler The Creator - 'Don't Tap The Glass'.

REVIEW: MAROON 5 - LOVE IS LIKE

3.5/5

Love Is...

A burning butterfly in black and yellow adorns the blue album artwork of Maroon 5's new set, 'Love Is Like'. Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, James Valentine, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton and Sam Farrar's first since 2021's 'Jordi'. And this eight wonder (ninth if you count 'The Fourth World' as Kara's Flowers) from the Californian collective finds them hitting the sweet spot of their sound, much like when fellow LA pop rockers Haim had 'Something To Tell You'. 'Love Is' like the big-three of 'It Won't Be Soon Before Long', 'Hands All Over' and 'Overexposed' for the 'Songs About Jane' legends. Recorded in Cali's classic Conway studios, this is another half-hour album of power this New Music Friday, like The Black Keys ('No Rain, No Flowers') and BABYMETAL ('Metal Forth'), last week.

Going against Chance The Rapper's 'Star Line' this one, Five's 'Like' features big collaborations like their 'Red Pill Blues' matrix. The biggest coming from BLACKPINK's own LISA. The 'Priceless' track, which was teased like a movie for its massive music video, is exactly that. And now the monster with the Thai rapper slash singer has become a top-ten single in eighteen regions. Put it next to Maroon's best like 'This Love', 'She Will Be Loved', 'Sunday Morning', 'Wake Up Call', 'Moves Like Jagger', 'Payphone', 'Animals', 'Sugar', 'Don't Wanna Know' and 'Memories'. Hollywood name rapper's Lil' Wayne (on the title track) and Sexyy Red ('I Like It') also appear alongside the platinum blonde buzz cut of Adam, showing that their forthcoming fall world tour could prove some great guest features. From the opening 'Hideaway', to new singles, this album is set to play 'All Night' for the best pop rockers since Sting and The Police.

Yet it's the closing 'California' track and single which is saved for last, like the best from these Los Angeles Times. Like 'V's' (the fifth album, not the BTS star) 'Leaving California' this continues the trend of beautiful ballads for Levine's legacy of songwriting. Jane's 'Sweetest Goodbye'. 'Goodnight, Goodnight' ('It Won't Be Soon Before Long'), 'Just A Feeling' (from 'Hands All Over'), and even 'Woman' from the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man soundtrack and 'My Blue Ocean' bootleg LP. But this top of the ten tracks asks, "Shooting stars come and go, but I wanted you to know/That I've nеver met nobody quite likе you, woah/You were gone in a flash, never had a chance to ask/Did I make this s### up in my head or do you feel it too?" Picture perfect, like the postcard lyric video traditional to these American dreams. Or so they seem.

This 222 and Interscope record is the first one since 'Hands All Over' to feature the same line-up as the preceding LP. Not just that, it's also the first since they were 'Overexposed' to credit other band members, aside from Adam, as songwriters. Like your very own Valentine, James. So, despite the big-three collaborations, this is mostly a family affair, like Sly and the Family Stone. Most tracks hover just above the two-minute mark, like 'Burn Burn Burn' and 'My Love', and no time, nor a note, is wasted in nuance. They just give it to you straight, no chaser, like the 'Jealousy Problems' of "I know this behavior’s beneath the spokes/But I think the f##### up thing is how it brought us closer now/I know it’s crazy, but I kinda like this dysfunction/I know you probably disagree, but I won’t make assumptions/But let me tell you something, I really wanna change/But that’s impossible, ’cause bad habits live, stay/Bad habits live, stay, stay, stay/Stay, stay." "There's a reason you keep coming back", Levine keeps repeating on the outro of 'Yes I Did'. And us too. This love is like this band and their muse. And she still will be. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Priceless (Feat. LISA)', 'All Night', 'California'.

Spin This: Maroon 5 - 'V'

REVIEW: BABYMETAL - METAL FORTH

4/5

New Metal 

About a year ago, I was meant to see BABYMETAL live at the Tokyo Garden Theatre in support of American rock act Incubus. But I missed their set (deep bow). I'll level with you, I was on a date. And when lunch turns into more conversation, it's not exactly like you can be like, "well, this is great and all, but I really got to catch my train before I miss seeing three other Japanese girls. They're kawaii, you know." Well, needless to say, a calendar and change later, I regret not doing just that. And not just because here I sit typing away in a shoebox of an apartment, built for one minus one, as single as the last dollar bill in your wallet, firmly in the social media friend zone with said could have been. But also because of hearing 'from me to you'. The opening track of the Tokyo band's fifth album, 'Metal Forth', featuring Poppy. "I've had enough from your mouth/You can shove it/'Cause you know you don't stand a chance." These are the lyrics, not what I would say to my now friend. The one who never stood a chance, was me.

I missed the train (in more ways than one) when Su-metal, Moametal and Yuimetal (now replaced by Momometal) arrived on the scene a decade and a half ago, supporting the legendary likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on tour across the world and back home in the UK before their self-tilted debut in 2014). If I knew more of the metal 'Resistance' and 'Galaxy' than I would have certainly showed up on time for their show (I'll let it go now, I promise). Especially as I'm getting more into Japanese music after my Scandal-ous start, with everyone from the amazing Aimyon to the legendary Sakanaction. Now the heavy metal outfit's, with even better costumes in concert, first album since 'The Other One' (that's the name, I'm not being a lazy writer) in 2023, features a who's who of the rocking industry. Poppy, Electric Callboy ('RATATATA'), Slaughter To Prevail ('Song 3', take that, Blur!), Bloodywood ('Kon! Kon!'), Polyphia (the beautiful 'Sunset Kiss'), Spiritbox ('My Queen') and the Nightwatchmen Tom Morello of the great Rage Against The Machine on 'メタり！！(METALI!!)'. Not that these superstars themselves need any help.

Shining like the diamond encrusted cover of this legacy logo album artwork, looking like the now Instagram famous glass escalator entrance to the Tokyu Plaza mall in Harajuku (which has the best Starbucks with a view, a train away from the world's biggest, may I add?!) The red lantern of 'METAL!' introduces Morello perfectly ("踊る阿保に見える阿保/同じ阿保なら踊れでしかし/ここで踊らにゃいつ踊る/メタり！メタり！") before he rages and rips on the guitar like he did with The Boss, when Springsteen had 'High Hopes' after their 'Magic Tour Highlights' reawakening of 'The Ghost Of Tom Joad'. There are so many 'KxAxWxAxIxI' anthems from the Japanese kawaii metal band, that could go spiky toe-to-toe with all the maidens and their iron, burning bright until the 'White Flame -白炎-' reduces everything else to ash. This somewhat long delayed album, produced by Kobametal on their new Capitol Records home, is well worth the wait. Rocking for just over a half-hour, like The Black Keys return with 'No Rain, No Flowers', also out this New Music Friday.

All the collabos are singles, save the best of the set, 'Sunset Kiss' (not yet, anyway). But the real collaboration is with new member Momoko Okazaki for this "beyond metal" album that pops in all sort of genre places. The US, Canada, Germany, India and Russia all come into play, as does the UK as Bring Me The Horizon's Jordan Fish produces alongside Kobametal, following Babymetal's appearance on the band's song 'Kingslayer'. Suzuka Nakamoto, Moa Kikuchi and Okazaki don't normally feature many guest appearances, but this is no departure for the band. However, as soon as you hear their signature sound and the social media algorithm ready rhythms of 'Algorism', you'll realize nobody is quite like them. Singing, "Don't break it now, don’t turn away/Don't break it now, don't leave me now/Don’t break it now, don't turn away/Don't break it now, no pain, no gain, no pain, no gain", in a brutal and beautiful breakdown. Going forth with what's actually their fourth album (they don't count the 'Other' concept one as mainline), Baby still has the mettle. I might have not been (here I go again), but this big-three stays ready to rock. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'KxAxWxAxIxI', 'メタり！！(METALI!!) (Feat. Tom Morello)', 'White Flame -白炎-'

Spin This: BABYMETAL - 'The Other One'

REVIEW: THE BLACK KEYS - NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS

4/5

Songs In The Keys Of Life

Sinatra has a sound that is so signature you could just let his whole playlist play for hours, days maybe, and it would blend so seamlessly and beautifully together. Getting richer, like wine, as it ages. That's just the great American songbook for you. Like rock and roll. And now that one of our generation greats, The Black Keys, have hit more than a dozen albums, you can say the same for these Ohio bandsmen and kids from Akron. They've never left it that long between albums, since their 'Big Come Up' in 2002 (one year before their fellow Akron native, LeBron James, own dynamic debut). Maybe a calendar, or a couple. Only really since their big-three of 'Brothers' (2010), 'El Camino' (2011) and 2014's 'Turn Blue'. But four years after that, it's been an onslaught, like an 'Everlasting Love'. 'Let's Rock' (2019), 'Delta Kream' (2021), 'Dropout Boogie' (2022), all getting us through COVID, before last year's bowler-rama of the 'Ohio Players'.

Now just a calendar and change after that Big Lebowski with the likes of Beck, Black Keys are back. 'No Rain, No Flowers' waters their thirteenth album that is luck for us this New Music Friday. Yet, you would have forgiven the iconic duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney if they perhaps wanted to take a brief break. Like the greatest rollers of this rock generation could. "We got f####d. I'll let you all know how so it doesn't happen to you," Carney claimed in a now deleted tweet after the Keys fired their management last year. Now, this Warner Record recorded in Nashville's Easy Eye Sound studio marks changes in more ways than one. Marking their first collaboration with hit song maker Rick Nowels (he's not far off a century of classics on the Billboard 100), multi-instrumentalist Daniel Tashian and super-producer Scott Storch, who was so hip-hop in the early 2000s he once cut the roof off of a Rolls-Royce to make it a drop-top. All for the beautiful bloom of these flowers, we need, like the deserts need the rain.

Rain and flowers will give you a North American fall tour from these brothers in arms, straight out of their dire straits. Feeling refreshed for a half-hour record of all-power, there are plenty of singles to get the crowd ready before the classic comes into play. The opening title-track. The second track and first single, 'The Night Before'. The beautiful 'Babygirl'. The moving 'Man On A Mission', for a pair on a rejuvenated one. And the outstanding 'On Repeat', that will be exactly that, like the Spotify shuffling of this band's definitive discography as a perfect playlist, with no need for edit, it's so epic. But like their last few records, the Keys finish strong like the late, great Mister Cee (Scott will know what we're talking about). The King James, D-Wade and Chris Bosh like big-three of the introspective 'All My Life', the atmospheric 'A Little Too High' and the gleam of a new 'Neon Moon' ("When you’re at the crossroads/And you don’t know where to turn/And everything is backwards/From all the bridges that you burned/Don’t let yourself get down too long/‘Cause a change is coming soon/You can always find your way back home/By the light of the neon moon") really takes you home.

Black and white like a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club album artwork confirms this as a classic for a band that reach back to their raw roots. The leather clad and bare chested figure on the front almost looks like Brian Fallon from fellow legendary luminaries, The Gaslight Anthem, as a teardrop tattoo hangs from his eye like the loose cigarette from his lips. Whereas a red rose, the only colour on the cover, wrapped with the notion of 'No Rain, No Flowers' hits his sternum like a thorn. There's no more in Auerbach or Carney's side, however, as The Keys play once again like Sam for the record. On 'Down To Nothing', Auerbach still searches for hope in this love and life, singing, "Behind the clouds/Beyond the stars/Above the crowds/In some lonely bar/I’ll meet you there." All until his muse will 'Kiss It' better. It's the kind of haunted heart that will 'Make You Mine' like, "I’ve been alone/So f#####g long/I’ve cried the tears of a clown/I need a break from my mistakes/But that’s the price of starting over/How many times is one time too many?" A yearly yearn that burns. Just like Black's everlasting light. The reign is still here. So give them their flowers. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Babygirl', 'All My Life', 'Neon Moon'.

Spin This: The Black Keys - 'Ohio Players'.