W/e 07/02/25 - Circa Waves, Brooke Combe, The Weeknd, Maribou State

Congrats to Brooke Combe for being our winner this week - in at #2 in our first top 20 of the year - and for having a popular TOTW.

It means Ela M retains top spot for a 3rd week, with Franz Ferdinand making up the top 3.

Annette has her first 😀 of 2025. Simon his first ☹️.

Bloc Party impressed a few who’d not heard this offering before and reminded most of us that they have at least 2 decent albums. Their score was very close to last weeks Inspirals, but exactly the same Glasvegas and Gorillaz so they sit with them in classics club.

Andy

Circa Waves - An enjoyable slab of indie while being pretty unoriginal, but that's fine sometimes 6

Brooke Combes - There's a lot of this sort of thing about but I'm rather fond of it. She's got a lovely soulful voice and the instrumentation lends it an old school vibe. Nice 7

Maribou State - The sort of bland dance music I can't quite get along with, even though there's nothing particularly offensive about it, it's just average 5

The Weeknd - Exquisite synth pop, when you get one of the absolute GOATs of the genre in for a feature you know you're on to a winner. It's said that this is the end of Abel as The Weeknd but hopefully whatever he comes up with next is more of this sort of thing and less of The Idol 8.5

TotW - Sao Paulo by The Weeknd

Bloc Party - This is terrific. After suggesting that Silent Alarm was their only album tongue in cheekily when we played 20 questions I actually think this might be better than the debut effort. Some absolute crackers 8

Phil

Circa Waves 6

Bouncy indie, mostly upbeat and reasonably pleasant, but too often just insipid. Not sure I’ll be waiting impatiently for Death and Love, part 2.

Brooke Combes 6.5

Nice to get a soul album to review but if I’m honest I’m pretty underwhelmed by it. Brooke has a decent voice and the arrangements are, the best word I can think of is workmanlike. The lyrics are OK if a bit whiney but none of it adds up to a memorable album.

Maribou State 5.5

Reasonably enjoyable dancey shit. Good to hear Andreya Triana on guest vocals.

The Weeknd 7

First half dozen tracks are very much generic synth/urban but things pick up from Baptized in fear onwards. Oddly, few of the tracks stick to one tempo and yet the overall effect is pleasantly dreamy. Abel has a fine voice and could probably sing anything and sound good. But by way of comparison, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange is very similar to this album but much better.

TOTW – The Weeknd – Take me back to LA

Classic

Bloc Party 5

I’ve somehow managed to avoid listening to Bloc Party up until now but I’m bound to say it doesn’t sound like I’ve missed much. The best thing about this record is the lyrics – there are some seriously passionate, even angry, songs here. But the arrangements, apparently designed to not sound like any other guitar band, instead sound wooden and the production is too clean. As a consequence there’s not a track on here that I would listen to again through choice.

Jim

Circa Waves 5

I’ve grown to love a few genres in the last 5 years, but I’m going the other way with light JJ. It has to be top notch to rise above the masses and this only did so on a couple of tracks - We Made It and possibly Everything Changed - but otherwise there’s a tonne of meh (land)filler. Hold It Steady a prime example.

Brooke Combe 8

Reckon I’d have loved being around the club scene in the Motown and Northern Soul eras if I’d been born too soon for House music. Really enjoyed this – sounds uber cool and timeless, Last Time and Guilt in particular. Andy if you’ve got other similar new offerings, please pass them on!

Maribou State 6

Not sure what this was trying to be – too light to be uplifting and lacking subtly to be a good chill out. Straight to the beach bar background music collection

The Weeknd 7.5

Well, that was a event. Felt like a 3-act play.

Act 1 was tremendous and had me hoping for a hannah classic, topped off with the fantastic Open Hearts, a shoe-in for my 25for25.

Act 2 had a slower pace and descended into a long run of indistinguishable tracks.

Act 3 picked up a bit with nice synths, the colab with Lana my fav.

Overall it is too long, and I think this can be true regardless of how good (when do you stop?) There’s a cracking 45-50 min album in here if he’d cut out a lot of act 2.

TOTW The Weeknd - Open Hearts, with a nod to Brooke’s Guilt

Bloc Party 8

I love the debut, I really like this. The opening salvos are excellent, runs out of puff a little. Looking forward to seeing them at the fest this year belting out Song for Clay

Guy

Circa Waves – No one will be surprised that “light JJ” is going to be up my street. Nothing like a good bit of indie landfill to get me going. Some good tunes on here. First half perhaps stronger than the second. Sensible album length – 7.2

Brooke Combes – Wasn’t sure what to expect here but I enjoyed this one too. Lovely voice and some pleasant tunes many of which zipped along. A nice surprise – 7.5

Maribou State – Agree with some previous comments that it could be described as a bit light-weight but I found it an easy listen which would be better suited to listening to on a summer day with a gin and tonic as the sun goes down - 7

The Weeknd – Decent enough but boy did it go on. I’m with Phil. The bloke could have done a really good 45 minute album but decided to pad it out with weaker tracks which brought the score down – 6.9

TotW – The Last Time – Brooke Combe

Bloc Party – I’ve never been the biggest Bloc Party fan but I did enjoy this. Not every track is a cracker but there are enough on here to make me confident that their set at Reading will be a must-see. Hunting for Witches is obviously a classic – 7.9

Sam

Circa Waves : I’m with Guy , lovely slice of bouncy jangly indie . 7.3

Brook Coombes: very like Raye , quite well arranged , not really my bag . 5.5

Maribou State : oddly limp and dull . 5.2

The Weeknd: it felt like it took a whole weekend to listen to it . Parts were fine but overall pretty average pop . 6

TOTW : We made it : Circa Waves

Bloc Party : a fine choice ! I recognised a few but it’s chock full of spiky indie bangers . Nice one : 8

Simon

Circa Waves: despite a half-promising start this quickly defaulted to landfill indie mode - it wasn't particularly terrible, just very average, and won't be troubling my Spotify playlist again. 5

Brooke Combe: reminded me a bit of the Gabriels in the sense of it being a modern take on a retro style - it's a feel good listen, she's got a great voice and you can imagine the more uptempo numbers like This Town and The Last Time ripping up the dancefloor at a Northern Soul club. 7.5

Maribou State: agree with Guy and Jim - this is one for the summer. Doesn't move the dial much in that we've been here before with the likes of Groove Armada, and whilst it was pleasant enough there's not a lot that sticks in the memory apart from Eko's. 6.5

The Weeknd: I'm all for a bit of synth pop but

this is a bloated exercise in self-indulgence - there's a few decent upbeat tracks early on but it then descends into endless, identikit mid-paced ballads before finally disappearing up its own rectum. Unimpressed. 4

Bloc Party: one of those bands that I seemed to have overlooked at the time, but I enjoyed catching up - smart, muscular indie pop of a high quality throughout. 8

TotW: Brooke Combe - The Last Time

Justin

Circa Waves - more than indie landfill. More like indie iron clad, ticking all the indie boxes but ultimately a bit forgettable. 6.5

Brooke Combe - fantastic voice, nice chilled 70s vibe to the music 7.1

Maribou State - definitely more summer than winter, but overall I really liked the chilled ambient vibe. Thought some songs were a mash up of Mylo and Jungle (the band not the genre) 7.3

The Weeknd - some great synth tunes and good voice. Too long though 7

TOTW Open Hearts -The Weeknd

Bloc Party - didn't recognise any of the songs so I think I am really just a silent alarm fan. A few really good songs but a few do grate a bit. 6.9

Mark

Circa Waves - above average Strokes/Two Door indie pop, short and sharp with no excess fat - 7

Brooke Combe - lovely northern influenced stuff. Produced by James Skelly, like Bill Ryder-Jones another ex Coral guitarist turned producer -7.5

Maribou State - all a bit over the shop for me to get a handle on it, some clever electronica in places but lacking in identity - 6

The Weeknd- the bloke clearly has talent, and some of this was like prime Quincy Jones era Michael Jackson, but far too long - 6.5

TOTW - This Town by Brooke Combe

Erol

Circa Waves - decent indie, not quite landfill but nowhere near the standard of T-Shirt Weather. 6.5

Brooke Coombe - a thoroughly enjoyable, soulful retro romp. Craig Charles will be all over this. 8

Maribou State - as everyone else has said, this is far more summer than winter. Definitely brings Jungle to mind. Decent stuff though. 6.9

The Weeknd - the first few tracks are really promising with a good dance/disco vibe. It then loses itself in self indulgence with a host of synth love tracks that all sound basically the same. After the first hour was up, I couldn’t wait for it to end. 6

TOTW - This Town, Brooke Combe

Bloc Party - never having listened to one of their albums, this was impressive. Really punchy, catchy rock-indie. I’ll definitely be looking over their back catalogue. 8

Annette

Circa Waves: 6.5

Brooke Coombe : 8

Maribou State: 7.5

The Weekend: 7

TOTW: Brooke Coome - This Town

Classic: Bloc Party - 7.5

Adam

Circa Waves

Good fun upbeat indie. Not loads of depth, but not everything needs to. My only criticism is the sound hasn’t really evolved a lot over time - but just basing on this album, enjoyable stuff. 6

Brooke Coombe

Smooth soulful vocals from this Scottish singer. Felt like a salve for the soul. 7

Maribou State

Love their back catalogue and this also hits the mark. As others have said, let’s get this belting with the sunshine and a few schooners. Nice to see long time collaborator Holly Walker back with her delightful vocals across a few tracks. 8

The Weeknd.

Actually quite partial to the Weeknds sound - good start with Justice collab on Wake Me Up. Heavy synth and soulful singing - giving some big pop energy a cross numerous tracks. It’s just…too long and gets a bit samey after a while. Could have been much higher with stronger a edit. 6

TOTW - Maribou State - Otherside

Bloc Party - glad a few others have been enjoying this. Definitely my favourite album of theirs. The Prayer, Hunting for Witches are bangers and the underlying tone of the album is one of dissatisfaction with the state of the world - nothing changes much eh. 9

Matt

Circa Waves - 7.6

Brook Combe -7.8

Maribou State -6

The Weeknd - 5.5 (less than the sum of its parts)

Totw - This Town, Brooke Combe