Mike Diver
Blog posts in total 19
Posts
Best Albums of February 2013
Ten of the best albums from the month of February 2013... Click to the BBC album reviews pages to read more, as well as hear track previews and leave your own comments.
Best Albums of January 2013
Ten of the best albums from the month of January 2013... Click to the BBC album reviews pages to read more, as well as hear track previews and leave your own comments.
Six of the Best: EPs of 2012
Positioned between the quick-fix single and the longer-commitment album, the extended play release is often a perfect chance to check out an artist's work in depth, but without taking too much time out of your day. And, every so often, a standout EP makes it to BBC Music's album reviews pages. H...
Six of the Best: Mixtapes of 2012
Look at the BBC Music Top 25 Albums of 2012 and the BBC Sound of 2013 longlist, and it's clear that the hip hop mixtape community is producing artists and albums - as these collections are, often, every bit as much long-players proper as commercially released sets - with real mainstream reach. ...
BBC Music's Top 25 Albums of 2012
Welcome to the top 25 albums of 2012, as voted for by a wide selection of BBC Music critics, DJs, and presenters from Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 1Xtra, 6 Music, BBC Scotland and BBC Ulster. How was this list compiled? Each voter was asked to submit their own top five albums of 2012. The...
The Best Albums of November 2012
The Best Albums of November 2012 Straight to business... Below you'll find details on 10 standout releases of November 2012. Do click through to the relevant review pages to read more about these great records; and keep them peeled for our very special Top 25 Albums of 2012, which will pop int...
The Best Albums of October 2012
Straight to business - below are 10 really rather excellent new albums that were released in October 2012. They are by no means the only really rather excellent albums released in said period; merely, they are a representation of the quality the month had to offer. Check in with all of BBC Music...
The Best Albums of September 2012
September is often a fantastic month for new album releases. This time in 2011, we were filling our ears (well, I was at least) with superb records by Mastodon, Boom Bip, Wilco and Laura Marling, alongside many others. Rewind another year and the best of September featured long-players from Aloe...
The Best Albums of August 2012
The music industry's summertime release schedule is rarely graced by excellence - but the 10 albums below are well worth spending a little time with. Album of the Month… Jessie Ware - Devotion (Island/PMR; released 20 August) Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, MistaJam, An...
Album Reviews Q&A: Rita Ora
Artist: Rita Ora Album: ORA Recommended by: Fearne Cotton Rita Ora has had a tremendous 2012. As lead vocalist on DJ Fresh's Hot Right Now, she scored a first number one in February; and the 21-year-old singer has followed that with two solo chart-toppers: How We Do (Party) i...
Mercury Prize 2012: Shortlist Predictions
The shortlist of the 12 albums that will contest this year's Mercury Prize (for Album of the Year) will be announced in roughly a month's time, on 12 September. For this year's prize, the eligibility period runs from 12 July 2011 to 10 September 2012 - which means last year's SBTRKT album can't ...
The Best Albums of June and July 2012
You may have noticed there was no Best Albums of June. Instead, we told you about The Best Albums of 2012... So Far according to the likes of Huw Stephens, Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley and Janice Long. So to catch you up, here's a double-dose of monthly round ups - first, 10 great sets from June in brie...
The Best Albums of 2012... So Far
Six months down, six to go. BBC Music asked a selection of its own DJs and reviewers, plus a handful of friends from across the industry, to name their favourite albums of the year so far. And below are the results. Enjoy! Please note that these lists are not ranked - they're just five albums ...
The Best Albums of May 2012
Plaudits aplenty went the way of one man in May, the driving force behind two special hip hop albums. With his third solo album proper, Cancer4Cure, Brooklyn producer/MC El-P broke new mainstream ground with wall-to-wall positive reviews, and performed on iconic US talk show The Late Show with D...
The Best Albums of April 2012
Well, that was one impressive month for high-quality new album releases. I've an idea that a fair few of these might feature in the year-end best-of lists. Album of the Month Death Grips - The Money Store (Columbia; released 23 April) Recommended by: Zane Lowe, BBC Introducing in Wales ...
The Best Albums of March 2012
Recent years have seen some truly brilliant albums released in March. In 2010, the third of 12 witnessed outstanding collections from Liars, Joanna Newsom and Erykah Badu; in 2011, there were albums-of-the-year lists contenders from King Creosote and Jon Hopkins, Julianna Barwick and Kurt Vile. ...
The Best Albums of February 2012
BBC Album Reviews Editor Mike Diver picks the best of a fantastic bunch of new albums released in February Album of the Month Gang Colours - The Keychain Collection (Brownswood; released 27 February) Recommended by: Lauren Laverne "The music made under this could-be-confrontational mo...
The Best Albums of January 2012
BBC Album Reviews Editor Mike Diver casts an ear over the best of the bunch from January's raft of new record releases. Album of the Month Django Django - Django Django (Because Music; released 30 January) Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, Vic Galloway, Tom Robinson, Lauren Laver...
Upcoming attractions: 10 imminent albums to get excited about
New year, new music. BBC Album Reviews Editor Mike Diver looks at some of the collections coming the listening public's way in the first three months of 2012. Hi, readers. Now, there are lots, and lots, of great new albums forthcoming in early 2012. But this selection of 10 represents the mos...
