Debut albums often combine a collage of songs written and collected over a period of time, stitched together with the eagerness of infancy and the latitude to dream big, a first record can be anything it wants to be. Here in 2020, after many years of building the mechanics through endless streams of touring and […]
It’s been a year of double albums, retrospectives and optimistic introductions—in between we’ve set the record straight with Taylor Swift, campaigned for change with Greta Thunberg (via The 1975 and Fatboy Slim), and gone back to basics with Bruce Springsteen.
Despite labeling themselves “psychedelic indie-pop”, the Sheffield-based indie project Mr Ben and the Bens is much more than that, and the range and depth of their sound is on full display in their new album, Who Knows Jenny Jones? When we talk about music, we often describe it in terms of genres, of influences, of, […]
Two years after their last release, Seattle indie rockers Great Grandpa are back with something that sounds decidedly different from their previous effort, deceptively softer at face value but with a dark depth immediately underneath that surfaces in more than one point of this Four of Arrows, a long player getting its name from a […]
There are artists who approach their first long-player cautiously and others who like to go in all guns blazing, and even on the very first listen it quickly becomes apparent that FEET are definitely part of the latter group. The Coventry band’s debut album, What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham, more than keeps the promise […]
Plague Vendor are back, and their new release, the aptly titled By Night, is an uncompromising, restless ride that manages to feel raw and scathing in spite of being, at a closer look, clearly very finely tuned. The ten tracks of the album are, for the most part, uniform in length, most of them ranging […]
Sometimes to find your path, you need to get away. There’s truth to b found in the belief that your surroundings influence your state of mind, your thoughts, your experiences, your way of living. Harking back to the very foundations of Lostboycrow, when Chris Blair uprooted life from Portland to Los Angeles, he found his […]
There are albums whose release we expect with a very high degree of trepidation, as the (temporary, but no less important for that) end point of a trajectory that we have followed with a lot of emotional commitment. The stakes are always high in that kind of situation – even a partial disappointment would be […]
Birmingham trio JAWS embark on an attempt to recreate the mood of our times – alienated, worried but hopeful, detached but grappling with intense feelings – through music in their third studio album, The Ceiling.
Listen up, folks. We might have a new addictive band in town. Meet ViVii. Dream-pop trio extraordinaire hailing from music wonderland, Sweden.
After causing some well-deserved buzz with their single releases, alternative quintet FLING are now soon to release their first long player, Fling or Die. The Bradford outfit self-describes as ‘wonky pop’, but their sound is pleasantly hard to pinpoint, drawing from psychedelic rock, glam, and a hint of blues, and their aesthetic is an updated […]
If their first record Alas Salvation had caught – for good reason – the attention of both critics and audiences as something bold and new that was worth keeping an eye on, this second release by Yak makes it very clear that they are far more than a simple passing glitch. On the contrary, they […]
Welcome to the dawn of The Age of Zee. It is no understatement to suggest that listening to the debut album of Queen Zee could change your life for the better. For one, you’re going to be treated to one of the finest musical releases in quite some time providing enthralling, suffocating, dangerous rock music […]
Building a career in any profession takes time, but longevity is a different beast. Established in London in 2007 as a satisfying mix of cavernous gloom-pop and chant-worthy grandiosity White Lies nailed their specificity and honed it well, earning debut LP To Lose My Life a number one spot upon its release in the UK. Now a […]
While tech developments and access has changed how we consume our favourite albums the truth is, a body of work still remains important: how an artist connects with their audience may be continuously shifting but a great record will always rise to the top. Raising a voice and amplifying emotion is unequivocally powerful, to be […]
The 27 year old native to the Coachella Valley, Emily Brown, has promptly released her third studio album and it has found us like a little bird tensing for flight. Bee Eater is packed with a certain precision – one that both preserves and relinquishes the anxious romantics of being human in a beautifully poetic […]
Following a slew of recent single releases, alternative rockers The Vryll Society brace for impact with the forthcoming drop of their first full-length album, Course Of The Satellite.
Since 2006, Arctic Monkeys have been laying out the blueprint for contemporary rock music – their early releases were supercharged and witty, while 2009’s Humbug saw the band take a moody U-turn into darker territory. With 2013’s AM they became swaggering, bona fide rock stars and seemed bigger and more unstoppable than ever before. Half a decade […]
Emotion is central to Welsh-born Sarah Howells’ solo project Bryde, whether potently exalted, or hushed and tempered, Howells expresses with ferocious clarity and a strength of being that could withstand a hurricane. The full-length debut album collects a selection of already-released singles alongside a host of rather impressive new cuts, proudly chest baring the title: […]
Singer-songwriter Fenne Lily has been slowly making a name for herself, spreading her melancholy tunes across various venues these past two years as support for artists such as Dodie, Charlie Cunningham and Marlon Williams with only a sample of her music in tow. So it’s been longtime coming for the Bristol-based artist to release a […]