Foo Fighters, Christin Nichols, My New Band Believe, Web Web: The albums of the week in the sound check

Web Web: Kover Kover (Compost)
On the seventh album, the famous band around master pianist Roberto Di Gioia also came up with something new: namely, to re-record music from yesterday. So: cover versions. Of course not just anything. The repertoire shows Di Gioia’s great antennae and the courage to experiment. Hits like Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” or “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by the Eurythmics stand alongside web-web versions of pieces by German jazz legends Klaus Doldinger and Volker Kriegel. What’s brilliant is that Web Web turns all of these disparate compositions into a minor key and turns them into something entirely their own. File under fabulous. Andreas Müller, moderator

Christin Nichols: Christin Nichold (PIAS)
Christin Nichols simply names her third album after herself: Sounds like ego, but it’s more consistent. Nothing between self-doubt and self-empowerment is resolved here, but rather spelled out. Contradiction as a permanent state. Feelings come unfiltered, with diagnoses: PMDD, serotonin deficiency, dysfunctional nervous system. Everything inside.

Musically there is less polish, more edge; Press guitars, of course pop can still have a say. And hanging over everything is their specially chosen catchphrase “Hopecore,” which works well until you realize how hard this hope has been earned. Claudia Gerth, radioeins

My New Band Believe: „My New Band Believe“ (Rough Trade Records)
“We are taking a break for an indefinite period of time, but the Black Midi door remains open.” This is what it sounded like from the warehouse of the London experimental band in August 2024. Bassist Cameron Picton took advantage of the free time. Together with musicians from Caroline and Shame, among others, he worked on fragments from which songs suddenly emerged. Playing without a plan. The complete opposite of working at Black Midi, where there was always a lot of talking before the recording. The subsequent live shows were promising enough that the momentum of a solo record was in the air: “My New Band Believe” – a garden full of noises and ideas.

Cameron Picton turns everything up to 11. Eight minutes of prog rock belters, frenzied guitar runs, jazz, baroque choirs, strings and lovely folk vocals. Revenge songs meet thoughtful love lyrics. It is not known whether Cameron Picton is narrating in the first or third person. It’s sometimes a nice game that he plays with you. An avant-garde pop that relishes cutting through the conventions of the genre. The lack of direction is the program here. But it comes at a price. Some of the admittedly pretty mini-operas are overwhelmed by too much artistic desire.Oliver Schwesig (Deutschlandfunk Kultur)

Foo Fighters: Your Favorite Toy (Roswell Records/RCA Records)
Dave Grohl now wears ugly hipster glasses and the Foo Fighters have hired Ilan Rubin, the second successor to drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died in 2022. He does a good job on the group’s twelfth album, whose melodic trademark rock is a bit rougher this time. Overall, solid fan service before the upcoming stadium tour. Nadine Lange, Tagesspiegel