ALBUM REVIEW – GIRLPUPPY: SWEETNESS
girlpuppy cover photo credit Tonje Thilesen Love is and has never been linear. It’s a complicated obstacle course, some moments will thrill you with intense, fascinating sensations. But other times, it can drown you in its complicated, existential drawl, leeching away at you until it’s feasted on your very soul. …ok that was dramatic. Trust me when I say, love isn’t, for the most part, ACTUALLY going to suck you until you are practically lifeless. But it can certainly... Read More
LIVE REVIEW – SPIRITUALIZED – APOLLO 24/03/2025
Having just moved from Manchester to London in 1995, excited but terrified at the same time, embarking on an new adventure working in for an independent record label, little did I know then that one band, more than any other would come to define my time in the capital. ‘Pure Phase’ released in March 1995, in its glow in the dark cd case, sat proudly on my cd shelves in my new London home, its luminosity shining out throughout the night. No need for a new bedside lamp, I had... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – LUCY DACUS: FOREVER IS A FEELING
If you’re someone like me, you miss Boygenius. I miss Boygenius. So, when the news broke that Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers were going to feature for backing vocals on Forever is a Feeling the fourth studio album from Lucy Dacus, you hit the roof with excitement. The album cover is that of a painted portrait that you would find in a 19th century manor house and that sets the tone of the album perfectly as ‘Calliope Prelude’ opens the album with creaky, squeaky violins... Read More
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 28 MARCH 2025
Destroyer cover. Photo credit David Galloway. A tumultuous week for new releases. ‘Spoilt for choice’ describes it nicely. Here is our selection. Destroyer Dan’s Boogie Spectacle-laden pop epics, personal piano ballads, and smouldering works of mood that blur the lines between song and novel and cinema. Great, Grandpa Patience, Moonbeam Their new album contains signature elements – their nontraditional song... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – PERFUME GENIUS: GLORY
Listening to ‘Glory’, the seventh album from Perfume Genius, it becomes apparent why Mike Hadreas’ performance moniker is so appropriate. There is a subtlety to the music and especially his voice that lingers. Initially seeming wispy and fragile, there is more substance than originally seems apparent. It is the equivalent of a scent that strikes you almost as an afterthought minutes after the wearer has walked past instead of having your senses assaulted by someone who has... Read More
EP REVIEW – PUBLIC ORDER: HELLO
Capturing the familiar sentiment that comes with your teenage years alongside the heartbreak and relationship struggles that are also a part of youth, Public Order’s ‘Hello’ is a detailed journey through love, nostalgia and vulnerability. The group’s sun-soaked debut single ‘Feels like summer’ has quickly launched the band onto introducing playlists and festival lineups even with only five tracks currently released. Although there are similarities across ‘Hello,’... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – COCOROSIE: LITTLE DEATH WISHES
There is a nursery rhyme like quality to CocoRosie’s music. It starts from a place of apparent simplicity and charm but underneath there are darker aspects. It would be easy to be swept along by the bricolage of sounds, a veritable junkyard of cheap keyboards and dismiss it as playground pop. Yet in reality, they have performed the magic trick of transforming an avant-garde approach into something immediately accessible. On their eighth album ‘Little Death Wishes’, sisters... Read More
LIVE REVIEW – ANTHONY SZMIEREK: ALBERT HALL – 21/03/2025
Anthony Szmierek. Photo by Martin Bush Unlike comedian Louis CK (CK for “Székely”), Anthony Szmierek has the chutzpah to stick with his given name, and also the confidence to almost single-handedly bring back the faded-in perm and banging ‘tache combo. It shouldn’t really work, but boy does it. Just like an English teacher from Hyde mixing spoken word delivery with phat round beats… and even rave vibes … possibly shouldn’t work. But try telling that to Anthony Szmierek…... Read More
LIVE REVIEW – THE DARE: NEW CENTURY HALL – 19/03/2025
“It’s just rock ‘n’ roll, you won’t die!” If there’s one thing The Dare, also known as Harrison Smith, knows how to do, it’s open a show. On the night of his 29th birthday, Smith walks out onto the stage with snippets of ‘Open Up’ ringing out through the venue, he’s greeted with screams and cheers, as if the crowd is witnessing something religious happening in front of them, and honestly, I get it… I’m screaming too. He’s wearing his signature outfit,... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – HANNAH COHEN: EARTHSTAR MOUNTAIN
When an album has such a high-quality, diverse set of influences (Dusty Springfield, Gal Costa, Minnie Riperton, Ennio Morricone, Neil Young and Sly & The Family Stone) and an individual way of realising them, it would require a complex mathematical formula to explain what has happened. It would not be fair to say that Hannah Cohen’s fourth album, ‘Earthstar Mountain’, is greater than the sum of its parts because those components are special. While there are moments... Read More
