Look, pop music is bloody great right now and everybody knows it. Ryan Adams knows it, which is why earlier this year he covered Taylor Swift’s magnum opus, the pop monolith 1989 in its entirety. The UK electronic underground knows it, which is why a collective like PC Music…
Sam Shepherd’s debut album, Elaenia, pieced together sporadically over a five year period has been a labour of love for the virtuoso producer and DJ. Renowned for his finely tuned productions, the 29 year old, who only last year was able to pursue a career in music full time…
I was recently offered a ticket to see Joanna Newsom at the Dome, only the second night of a tour that would see her performing live for the first time in three years. For some time this unique artist has been on the periphery of my attention, I was…
With their debut album of 2012, Dark Eyes, the Montreal based four-piece were very much of the time, all quirky, off-kilter melodies and song structures, and tonnes of percussion, and vocal harmonies a la Fleet Foxes, within a generally stripped back and brooding atmosphere, Radiohead also figuring prominently. In…
Bursting on to the scene in 1995 with the serene “Next Type of Motion”, Rodney Smith aka Roots Manuva quickly developed into the most prominent wordsmith of UK hip-hop. His prophetic, story-teller tone and smooth lyrical flow became the narrative to urban struggle at the beginning of the millennium.
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – what kind of music should you expect from a name that evokes such a surreal image. It is certainly psychedelic, and perhaps rock, but apart from that you can’t really pinpoint a sound, much like their music. In the five years they have…
By this point Deerhunter are pretty much untouchable. Every album has been awarded ‘Best New Music’ by tastemaker website Pitchfork, something really quiet extraordinary for a website notorious for its tendency to ‘build ‘em up and knock ‘em down’ in regards to the artists it chooses to champion.
Octopuses long-awaited début album comes smartly packaged with a bright yellow sun shining down on green fields behind large bold letters spelling out the singularly positive title Yes Please. There's a certain faux-naivety that carries from the bold artwork through to the lively music within. Octopuses like to present…
Throughout their mad 37 year career, KJ have invariably railed against power, corruption and lies, via a soundtrack and lyrical content, that while diverting into occasional bouts of dub, electronica and pseudo-classical pop, have largely employed a musical palette that, according to drummer Big Paul Ferguson, is 'the sound…
What can you say abut the Welsh maestros? Commercially, they just keep on piling up the sales; of the nine albums they have released, this is their sixth number one, and represents a comeback of sorts after their two previous albums failed to hit the top spot. You really…