It has been a big year for the album, pivotal, you might even say. World records have been set, historic numbers have been sold and creativity has been high. Not only have we experienced new works from some of the globe’s most prevalent stars (including Adele, ABBA, Billie Eilish and Coldplay) but there has been […]
Songs tell stories, sometimes these stories have the power to change perspectives, or maybe even inspire change to happen, or at the very least, they can inform and entertain. Opening our eyes to other ways of thinking, other ways of being, enlightening alternate paths to the ones we might currently be taking, but then again, […]
While it is easy to encapsulate 2020 as a year of challenge and global crisis, the last twelve months have also spurred a great deal of reflection, community resilience and spirit. Initiatives like Tim’s Twitter Listening Party, Snow Patrol’s Saturday Songwrite and Bandcamp’s Bandcamp Fridays have shown what pure intention and dedication can create, especially […]
2020 beckoned a new decade, and with it a whole host of change erupted. We’re glimpsing a global population gasping for transformation, buoyed by hope with an awareness that things can get better if we speak up and challenge it to be. The musical output of this year reflected a need for comfort as well […]
A name change, a new sound, a rebrand – these elements together signalled the start of a new era for Sydney-based musician, songwriter and vocalist, Huck Hastings. After spending a few years out of sync with his solo project, due to other commitments and other musical projects, attention was diverted back to Hastings’ solo pursuits […]
Bitter Sweet Symphonies was founded on the basis of two elements: music and community. The want (but more accurately, the need) to share good music with more than just oneself, to foster a collective space in order to start conversations, to spread the word about underground gems and celebrate this communal medium.
Live events might have ground to a halt in the very unusual lockdown times that we’re living in, but music isn’t stopping, and punk in particular has a history of thriving in times of adversity. We have been witnessing a bit of a moment of spotlight for the genre in recent years, but this might […]
After five years on the scene, October Drift released their largest body of work yet, with January’s drop of long-awaited debut album, Forever Whatever. A high octane melange of grunge, hard rock, pop hooks and shoegaze; the songs enclosed offer a focussed lens on the band’s career to date: from the revelrous ‘Oh the Silence’ […]
Meg Markwick and Lily Somerville met at University in the early 2010s, it was there that pair formed a kindred alliance that would later transpire into a musical project called IDER. Soulful sensations of R&B and electronic pop serpentine to create a scintillating burst of new wave pop, contemporary and current but also reminiscent of […]
Having just signed to Secretly Canadian, a label that counts acts like Whitney and Yoko Ono amongst their close pals, Porridge Radio dropped the second prelude to their next album: a song titled ‘Sweet’. Packed with the band’s usual blend of washed out, lazy day deliveries and tumbling ramshackle guitar battles, ‘Sweet’ continues the trend […]
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.
A track has the ability to say so much and equally not enough, but in the same breath it has the capacity to launch a career. The single song culture of today is built on this rule. Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Mabel and Camila Cabello are just a few artists that […]
From day one Yonaka embraced originality, displaying a fierceness that is breathtaking to behold and a formidable talent that any fresh-faced band would seize if they had the chance. Brighton has been the band’s home base from the start, and it seems that it was always meant to be like that, offering the four-piece freedom […]
What to say about this year’s round of Neighbourhood Festival? It was eclectic. The programming was focused on a few particular styles of music, yet the acts and what they brought in their live shows ranged from highly conceptualised spectacle, cathartic solitude, breathtaking precision, to beautifully collective uproar – as well as steadily providing entertaining […]
This autumn, Snow Patrol will embark on a UK/IE-wide tour in celebration of their forthcoming Reworked album, due 8th November. Industry accolades and career-affirming milestones have been rolling in since the five piece released their long-awaited seventh studio album, Wildness, last May; completing a third appointment at Bangor’s Ward Park last year (which saw the […]
Live music is like food. It can be one of three things: 1) totally unpalatable, 2) necessary stodge that fills you up but leaves you empty, or 3) joy-inducing combinations of flavours that leave you fulfilled, but wanting more later. Calva Louise fall into the third category. They are at once a familiar ride through […]
Talkboy, ever poised to fill your ears with rich audio, have returned with a fresh new cut by way of Come Play With Me and LAB Records. ‘All Works Out‘ draws on the same bottomless well of energy as their previous single ‘Wasting Time’. However, never ones to be pinned as one-trick ponies, ‘All Works […]
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.
Occupying the second Bank Holiday weekend in May, Neighbourhood Weekender returned for its sophomore run with a packed schedule of live music, performance and fairground fun. The festival benefits from its central location and easily accessible site, taking place in Warrington’s expansive Victoria Park the event is uniquely staged and administered. Covering all forms of […]
We’ve all heard the prescribed notions of what a singer-songwriter is and should be, but basics are basics and it is time to clear the slate. Every artist deserves to be heard fairly, few find success and few are successful but many have talent. Joel Baker is one of the latter. A pure talent. His […]