The Winchester born and now Bristol based Rozi Plain comes up with some of the most original sounding alternative-folk to come out of the UK in recent times. After seeing her perform live at a remarkable show where she supported This Is The Kit, Rozi’s enchanting voice and musical…
Vultures begins with a curious bit of musique concrète, 'Horsley Fields' gives the listener 30 seconds of keys turning, chains rattling, footsteps and more keys… the sound of the band opening the gates to their lock-up in Wolverhampton's Horsley Fields. It creates a sense of tension and anticipation before the…
They only had the one hit, a minor one at that, in the form of the pychedelic-pop of 'Outdoor Miner'. Soon after that they released the frankly terrible live album, Documents, that effectively ended the first phase of Wire, a group of artful individuals that sprang on to the…
Nick Hemmings (no, nothing to do with me…) has been kicking around for nigh on two decades now. His early 90's band She Talks To Angels featured actor Paddy Considine and film director Shane Meadows (This is England), but despite some soundtrack work it wasn't until the formation of…
Marcus Hamblett, the man behind Brighton’s Willkommen Collective, is an immensely talented multi-instrumentalist who has performed with the likes of Peggy Sue, Willy Mason, Sons Of Noel And Adrian, Moulettes, Fear of Men, Eyes & No Eyes and Laura Marling to name a lot. For his debut, Concrete, Marcus…
Look Out Machines! is the ninth album by my counting from Northern Irishman, Duke Special (aka Peter Wilson). He’s been performing as a solo act since 2002, having had deals with V2 and Universal Ireland, and toured with the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Snow Patrol and The…
With this hugely anticipated follow up to the million selling debut album Boys and Girls and with a long sold out headline show as part of this year's Great Escape, this band of outwardly looking misfits continue to reap the bountiful harvest of an organic, soulful brew of gritty blues…
You probably already know the story – it's been 11 years since Blur last released a full-length album when 'Think Tank' appeared to be the last word from the band; but a final statement with guitarist Graham Coxon conspicuously absent always felt like unfinished business. Ever since the…
In May 2011, when Conor J O’Brien (Villagers) won the Ivor Novello prize for “Best Song Musically and Lyrically” with Becoming A Jackal, my ears pricked up. I enjoyed the album of the same name, too, and in turn, I quite liked 2013’s {Awayland}. Both records have some really strong…
Things are going extremely well for this young Brighton based 4-piece, they're playing the official Great Escape Festival for the first time this year after having created quite a storm at last year's event with their infamous basement party and shows performed from the back of a van. I…