The Hives

It's clear that a lot care goes into the Hives' seemingly immediate, fired-up sound: this is a band, after all, that has only released three full-length albums in its 11-year lifespan. While the 2002 collection Your New Favourite Band ended up winning the group many more fans thanks to its fortuitous timing with the garage rock revival craze (and also ended up being the band's most consistent release to date), it didn't do much to disguise the fact that the Hives hadn't released a new album since 2000's Veni Vidi Vicious. Two years later, Tyrannosaurus Hives arrives, and proves that the band isn't just a fossil from the days when everyone (or critics, at least) thought that the Hives and the other bands lumped in with the rock revival were going to change the face of pop music. It may have taken the Hives awhile to follow up Veni Vidi Vicious, but they didn't waste any time: Tyrannosaurus Hives is half an hour of highly compressed, high-contrast rock that is far and away the band's best album.

Undisputed icons of rock and roll The Hives are back, channelling the electrifying energy of the group’s greatest hits with their first new album in over 10 years. Their colossal new album, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons, reignites the band’s lore in arresting fashion, exploring the disappearance of the band’s mysterious sixth member Randy Fitzsimmons. Having gone missing some time ago, the band are without their best man, and things are not well in the manor. Maybe, just maybe, the release of new music will get Randy’s attention and bring him back from the void…

Harking back to the days of homemade mixtapes, BBC's television program Top Gear released its own version of a road-trip album in a two-disc, 38-song compilation they call The Ultimate Driving Experience. According to the label, Family Recordings, the first disc is a selection of "recent" hits (though if the Stone Roses song "Love Spreads" from their 1994 album, Second Coming, really qualifies as recent is debatable), while the second focuses more on atmosphere (aka electronica, techno, and house music). What this basically means is that there is a disc for day and then one for night, though, perhaps because of the incessant rain in Britain and the lack of sun in the winter months, there are some songs on the first that seem to better apply to low-light situations (DJ Shadow's "You Can't Go Home Again," UNKLE's "Panic Attack," and Snow Patrol's "Run," for example).

Change is good. Change is important. Change is the enemy of stagnation, a vital means to keep things fresh, innovative and exciting. For TAX THE HEAT, ‘change’ means something else too. The title track of the acclaimed British band’s stunning new album, »Change Your Position«, sees them addressing the turbulent state of the world right now and the very real impact it is having on people. “It’s looking at division in society and people using it as an excuse to do wrong and say wrong,” says singer and guitarist Alex Veale. “It’s saying, ‘Look, change your position.’ It’s holding up a mirror to things.” Fittingly, »Change Your Position« - recorded once again with maverick producer Evansson - represents a huge leap forward for TAX THE HEAT, who are completed by guitarist JP Jacyshyn, bassist Antonio Angotti and drummer Jack Taylor.