Gruff Rhys has always been brazen with his political beliefs, particularly in the run up and aftermath of Brexit back in 2016. Before the result, Rhys released ‘I Love EU’ which was “An attempt to make an emotional case for Mother Europe – this flawed, fantastic, potentially utopian megaclub that…
Over the last few months, Kanye West has been back to his controversial self in the run-up to the release of his new, much debated album ye. West has openly supported Donald Trump, made controversial comments about slavery and drawn further criticism for his choice to use Whitney…
A musical collaboration born out of a chance meeting, LUMP is the creation of Laura Marling and Tunng’s Mike Lindsay. Introduced to each other at a bowling alley following the former’s Neil Young support slot at The O2, they immediately hit it off and were in the recording studio just…
When Lindsey Jordan dropped her Habit EP as Snail Mail in 2016, it seemed as though the industry had a strong desire to make her the next big thing. She’s young and seems to have a better grasp of life than most of her seniors. There’s a relatable sense to…
After finishing the first ever Boy Azooga demos, frontman and visionary of the band, Davey Newington, was just going to put them on SoundCloud, but someone persuaded him to send them to record labels. Speaking about his dream record label, he stated that “Heavenly Recordings would be a dream, they…
Five years on since her last solo project, Neko Case returns with her latest studio album, Hell-On, a 12-track record which burns with the same lyrical fire from which the album gets its namesake. Being written following Neko’s house burning down in the early hours of a morning in…
The Cornwallian singer/songwriter has cut an unlikely hero at times. Young teenagers couldn’t get enough of him when he first appeared, even though he was never a teenage heartthrob in the traditional sense. Witnessing him once when he was on the cusp of big things, a very noticeable thing…
What do you do when a sound that you have largely defined has been copied and homaged so much that you can barely move for 80s-tinged electropop indie bands? For Glaswegian group Chvrches, it was time for a small but important change. Their previous two albums, 2013’s The Bones…
Happy Endings begins with an odd, exasperated count-in, before the bombastic sound of an old school rhythm and blues band style intro: pulsating drums overwritten with piano flourishes, before hitting into the trumpet and synth-pad dominated verse of ‘Rescue Mission’. These drums may come as an auditory surprise for anyone’s…
In a surprisingly rapid follow-up to Pure Comedy, Josh Tillman has thrust out a record that’s arguably his most concise to date. Leaving the outward looking meta-analysis behind, he moved into a hotel for six weeks to gaze deeply inward at his struggling marriage while binging on drink and drugs.