It’s that time of year again, as we reach the end of September the UK’s Northern climate becomes increasingly more seasonal, outdoor living starts to feel less practical, so we retreat indoors, and fill the hallowed spaces of cosy back rooms with renewed warmth. Just as festival season appears to be over for another term, […]
Tag: 2019
EP REVIEW: Galli – ‘In The Roundhouse There’s Hornets’
Some bands defy easy classification, eschewing genre stereotypes in order to dig deep into what their music is about and what they stand for. Galli is such an outfit. Hailing from Norwich, the four-piece gained plaudits earlier this year off the back of their debut single ‘Sabika,’ with airplay and support from 6Music and BBC […]
Road to Sŵn Festival // FEET
As a third wave of artist announcements has rolled in, and little more than a month separates us from the start of Sŵn Festival, the multi-venue musical event to take place in Cardiff on the weekend of the 18th to 20th October is shaping up to be one to remember. Our previous entries in the […]
ON REPEAT: Five songs for your playlists
On Repeat: the place where we round up the most exciting new music releases. Five tracks, all recently released, featuring artists we can’t get enough of right now – so, almost certainly, you’ll find at least one song in this bunch to add to your playlists.
TRACK OF THE DAY: Amber Run – ‘The Darkness Has A Voice’
With the impending release of their third album Philophobia, Amber Run have made me even more excited to hear what they have in store with their latest single ‘The Darkness Has A Voice‘. Bringing a very different vibe yet familiar compared to the previous release ‘Neon Circus,’ this new track is another perfect introduction into […]
Jumping Track // The Route to Broken Hands’ Sophomore Album
The next steps following a debut album can be tricky to figure out, after tour ends and the crew return home, what’s left at the end of it all? Scattered, half-processed memories of dingy backrooms from dive bars the world over, images of riotous nights rendered forever in casts of amber, cities of enthusiastic faces […]
SONG OF THE WEEK: Chartreuse – ‘Three Days’
Few things in life are more mentally draining than emotional purgatory, be it unrequited love, the patience required for plans to come to fruition – even something as simple as moving house requires a suspension of excitement, substituted for stress. It is this patience, or the lack thereof, that forms the basis of Chartreuse’s new […]
LIVE PREVIEW: Sŵn Festival 2019
Summer may be drawing to an end, but the festival season of 2019 is far from over. Sŵn Festival is coming to Cardiff in October, bringing three days of innovative, out-of-the-box, challenging and refreshing music to the Welsh capital. Founded by Huw Stephens and John Rostron, and now run by local grassroots music institution Clwb […]
EP REVIEW: Dead Nature – ‘Taking My Shadow’
As a Spring King fan, I’m used to the brash, fast, upbeat rhythms of their sound, yet Dead Nature (aka. Tarek Musa) creates an EP that transports you into a nostalgic, synth bubble of euphoria. I’d recommend listening to this EP with headphones in to truly feel and listen to the sounds and lyrics.
ON REPEAT: Five songs for your playlists
On Repeat: the place where we round up the most exciting new music releases. Five tracks, all recently released, featuring artists we can’t get enough of right now – so, almost certainly, you’ll find at least one song in this bunch to add to your playlists.
ON REPEAT: Five songs for your playlists
On Repeat: the place where we round up the most exciting new music releases. Five tracks, all recently released, featuring artists we can’t get enough of right now – so, almost certainly, you’ll find at least one song in this bunch to add to your playlists.
Road to Sŵn Festival // Silverbacks
Among the many things to grace this year’s Sŵn Festival, now not too far away with the weekend of October 18-20th looming ever closer, there is a sizable contingent of Irish bands. If the UK music scene has been enjoying a moment of particular grace lately, bands across the Irish Sea have been no less […]
Road To Sŵn Festival // Indian Queens
As the second wave of artists performing at Cardiff’s Sŵn Festival has now been released, the line-up of the multi-venue festival coming to the Welsh capital next October is looking even more impressive than it already did. There are many reasons why this year’s edition is shaping up to be one not to miss, among […]
EP REVIEW: L. Norton – ‘Skin’
Electro pop has grown out of favour in the alternative scene, a gradual shift in tastes and convenience has seen us streaming less and less genre music with song classification adopting a more mood-based, representative format in which the listener assumes an active role in the process. Artists are responding and the result is a […]
Road To Sŵn Festival // LICE
Our path towards Sŵn Festival, the multi-venue festival that is going to take over the Cardiff music scene for the weekend of 18th, 19th and 20th October, touches base in neighbouring Bristol yet again, as I discuss musical oddities, the state of the post-punk scene and dark humour with Alastair Shuttleworth, vocalist for self-described satirical […]
LIVE PREVIEW: Y Not Festival 2019
Summer festival season is gearing back up, it’s that time of year where we abandon city skyscrapers and trek to the countryside for an extended weekend of partying in the fields and singing our lungs out to our favourite bands, gathered with our nearest and dearest. In July, Derbyshire’s idyllic Y Not Festival returns – […]
EP REVIEW: Maguire – ‘Préludes’
London-based artist Gillian Maguire, or to give her stage name, MAGUIRE, follows up two impressive single releases so far in 2019 (‘Behind the Screen’ and ‘Fallible’) with her debut five track EP, Préludes. A classically trained instrumentalist from the age of sixteen, her calling card is her line in dexterous, instantly memorable piano lines that […]
EP REVIEW: THUMPER – ‘Out of Body Auto-Message’
There’s something interesting happening in Ireland. Here’s another music scene that seems to have picked up pace in the last couple years, with a number of young bands emerging, and to some extent establishing themselves, with a clear intention to try and do something different and find their own voice. This is also the intention […]
Road to Sŵn Festival // Heavy Lungs
Sŵn Festival is coming back to Cardiff next October, and from the first wave of artists announced it already looks like this year’s line-up for the original Welsh multi-venue festival is going to be one of its most exciting. As the festival approaches, I’ll be talking to some of the artists that are going to […]
ALBUM REVIEW: Plague Vendor – ‘By Night’
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 […]




















