No Frills Reviews

The Barker Band Help You All Night

Pure pop sensibilities combine with traditional influences on the barnstorming latest single from London folk veterans, The Barker Band. With Nella Johnson’s vocals sounding like a lost Haim sister, the track gradually builds from a soft shanty until it culminates in an ecstatic stomp. Like Fleetwood Mac gone bluegrass.

The High & Mighty The Rose Bowl (feat. Your Old Droog)

20 years on from their last album, Rawkus Records alumni, The High & Mighty, tease a new project with this forceful shot of minimalist menace. With production from an old acquaintance in The Alchemist, the Philly duo draft in a verse from one of the biggest names to emerge from the rap underground in their absence, Your Old Droog. It’s a hard-edged throwback that manages to sound fresh by virtue of sounding unlike much else in modern hip-hop.

Labrador Dry Out In June

Philadelphia trio, Labrador, describe themselves as Maximum Alt-Country. The maximum in that description roughly translates to a gleeful mix of early-80’s power-pop and mid-60’s mod-rock. They preview their upcoming album, with a track that joyously bursts into life and simply never lets up; it could be a pop-rock classic of any era.

Little Strange Bad Days

Throwing out a Black Keys comparison feels like a bit of a back-handed compliment in 2025. But Manchester’s Little Strange recall when the Akron rockers were still worth listening to. Last year’s excellent, Ain’t Got Nothin’, was the kind of fuzzed-up blues banger that the Keys could knock out for fun in the 2000’s. And for their latest single, they channel the cinematic pscyh grooves of Turn Blue. An evolution of their sound is already evident across their short career, marking them as band well worth keeping your eye on.

PUNCHBAG I’m Not You Punchbag

With their vocals ranging from over-earnestness to obnoxiousness, and videos showing them looking like a couple of insufferable teens caught up in an explosion of primary colours, my instincts scream that I should hate PUNCHBAG. But just as I found with their previous single in February, I can’t help but be won over by the South-London siblings. Sounding something like Charli XCX meets Sleigh Bells, this is an exhilarating sugar rush of a single; hooks on top of hooks on top of hooks. An explosion of primary colours might actually perfectly illustrate their sound; an absolutely vibrant mess.

YG 2004 (feat. buddy & the gang)

“When I was young I got raped” – the opening line of 2004 is as attention-grabbing as it comes. Documenting being taken advantage of by a woman twice his age as a teen, and the long-lasting ramifications; this is a raw confessional from YG. Lyrics aside, it’s a breezy, head-nodding slice of G-Funk. But it’s those lyrics that’ll last long in the memory. Coming from a well-established star, and one with his roots in Compton’s Gangsta rap scene no less, it shouldn’t be underestimated just how important this kind of profound vulnerability can be; the kind of song that’ll help change lives.