2018’s edition of Off The Record underlined the festival’s fast-growing reputation as a key catalyst for spreading the awareness of and celebrating new music, with the conference taking place throughout the day on Friday 16th November and artists performing way into the night.
It’s not often you see indie pop described as ‘interesting’ – but Kawala is a band to which it applies well. A vocal and strong acoustic core is amplified by afrobeat-infused drums, rhythmic bass and electric hooks, allowing for a beautifully layered listen.
The type of artists I am drawn to interviewing are those I watch live and want to run up to after (or perhaps rebelliously, during) the set and ask ‘just how do you do that?’.
Rosie Carney is no stranger to eloquently crafted, expressive music which gets under the emotions and explores them – even those which can be difficult. As we heard in an earlier track – ‘Bare’ – her approach often shares the accumulation of experience over time, so giving the listener not just sound, but a sensation. […]
Isle of Wight-based artist RHAIN has recently released her single ‘Time Traveller,’ a follow-up to ‘Solid Gold,’ ahead of a headline show at Servant Jazz Quarters on the 5th September.
Are you afraid of what lies beneath your skin? That’s the concept that Los Angeles artist Rebeca Arango of Oddnesse attempts to explore in the latest track ‘It Runs Wild’ – a trip of telltale intensity and an enchanting kind of atmospheric closeness.
When you are a creator of stunning sonic soundscapes – it can be difficult to build on an already strong back catalogue without falling into the same patterns. Josey Marina, a musician alternating between Manchester and Brighton, has already gained much acclaim from earlier material, including the majestic Violet Desires EP. It’s refreshing to realise […]
Imagine a cover version of the iconic Madness track ‘Baggy Trousers,’ but brought to a new emotional level with soaring female vocals, keys with an almost visceral quality and emphatic cello. Well, imagination is no longer required – as Little Sparrow’s latest, much anticipated EP ‘Just 3’ (released 13 July) stars a strikingly powerful and […]
‘Remembering In Colour’ is one of those rare tracks which enters, occupies and expresses a state of mind so much more evocatively than a string of words could ever convey. This is the latest track from Manchester-based musical project Stray One – consisting of Jay Plent and Benjamin Harris.
Vibrant African influences burst through the latest track ‘Break My Silence’ from Gabrielle Sey—which airs first below—delivering not just a sound which is distinctly refreshing but commands a whole new rhythm to deliver a determined message: speak your mind, speak your experiences.
It takes a particular power for musicians to capture the mood outside on a sensuous summer evening and bring it in with them – but Jess Kemp and Dave Gorman, co-headlining Manchester’s Deaf Institute, with guest Thea Brooks, managed just that on Friday 18th May.
Rosie Carney is a singer-songwriter and musician who holds the power to mould music from the minimal – as we have already heard in her previous powerful track Awake Me.
Oddnesse is an artist capable of weaving worlds of thought and potential inside her tunes – and her latest single ‘Trust’ certainly does not disappoint. Think a moment of mindfulness made into music.
Get ready for a track which persuades the listener to peel off the layers of identity and enter into reflection. ‘Angels’ is the latest track from Manchester-born now Dublin based artist RUNAH – and the final single to be lifted from her debut EP, We Only Go To Church In Winter.
‘Bird’ is a track which pulls the listener into its tide, awash on the ear with its mellow opening before wielding waves of verses which burst to a brilliant height – thanks to the skill of London-based Sabiyha.
Elle Mary’s music is a beautifully expressed, carefully-crafted confrontation. That’s right. Her debut album under the name ‘Elle Mary & The Bad Men’ has seen her swap acoustic for electric, evade the barriers of genre and take on the ending of a relationship through rhythms which walk the tightrope of intensity and intimacy.
A band from Ireland bringing a sound like you’ve never heard before.
January and February can feel like tired times of the year – a lot of recycled material, recycled offers. Then new music works its way through and hits your eardrums like a dash of springtime – you celebrate in the sound. That’s certainly the effect of ‘Nobody’s Baby,’ the new single from Emily James.
A song which speaks of someone being sawn in half in the first line certainly isn’t subtle. And I like it that way.
The day dawned to a sprinkling of snow on Friday 17th November, as if providing a blank canvas before the array of events ahead at M for Montreal.