Back in the mid-noughties The Ordinary Boys were riding the crest of a wave; a series of hits, celebrity status for Preston via his appearance in one of the more memorable Big Brother series, and a sound that combined American pop punk with an English, Britpop edge, a fusion…
If there was such a thing as classic John Grant, it would be title track, ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’. Steeped in textbook songwriting with lush, sweeping, cinematic orchestration, there are killer chord changes abound and familiar yet fresh melody lines. Grant is quoted as saying that ‘Grey tickles’…
Hailing from Barrow in Furness, Andy Turner, producing under his hip-hop moniker, Aim, is one of the more illustrious artists to come out of the Cumbrian town. The son of a jazz drummer and instrument shop owner, Turner’s musical-mindedness manifested itself when he opened his own record shop in…
Exploring love, trust, and power in human relationships, Have You in My Wilderness is Holter's fourth album of dreamy, intimate yet cinematic vignettes that again demonstrate her unique talent; at once avant-garde and intellectual, but also sensual and primal. It is also her most accessible work to date, even…
‘Here We Go Magic’ have rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in indie with an ever-growing career trajectory that saw Nigel Godrich produce their last album, ‘A Different Ship’ (2012). They toured off the back of that with prodigiously talented songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and whistler extraordinaire, Andrew Bird,…
I’m having mixed feelings about that name. On one hand it has a gnarly punk sound to it that suits the band. But bird skulls are small, brittle things that you could probably crush under your foot. Birdskulls music in contrast, is anything but fragile. The three piece manage to…
There's life in the old dog yet, it seems. Quickly following on from Pink Floyd's underwhelming and semi-original album Endless River, Gilmour was straight back in the studio, this time to record a solo album of originals, his first since 2006's On An Island, and only his fourth in…
Over four hundred bands played The Great Escape 2015 and Cristobal And The Sea definitely stood out. They were playing the Paganini Ballroom with no shoes on and they could not stop dancing, creating an extremely infectious atmosphere which got everyone moving to their mystical musical rhythms in a…
Nineteen years have flown past for dance-punk masters !!! (pronounced “Chk Chk Chk”). Forming in California when three local bands came together (The Yah Mos, Black Liquorice and Popesmashers), the sextet release their sixth album together. I first came across !!! after witnessing an outrageous support set for the Red…
Warsaw Radio are one of those local bands who seem to have been on the periphery of success for a long time. I've been aware of them and I think I saw one of their first ever shows in Brighton, but I've not seen them live since and haven't really…