NEWS – LOUDER THAN WORDS FESTIVAL STARTS TODAY

The premier festival for books about music, Louder Than Words, kicks off today at the Innside Hotel in Manchester. Over the course of the weekend, there will be appearances from Will Sergeant, Trevor Horn, Ian Broudie, Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet), Don Powell (Slade), Nick Banks (Pulp) and Pauline Murray talking about their new books. Other […]
Nadine Shan has made a welcome return with her first new music since 2020’s ‘Kitchen Sink’. ‘Topless Mother’ is the initial track to be released from her forthcoming album, ‘Filthy Underneath’, which will be out on 23 February 2024 via EMI North. Shah describes the song as being “about a counsellor I worked with that […]

NEWS: NADINE SHAH ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM

NEWS: THE BUG CLUB ANNOUNCE FORTHCOMING ALBUM

The continually prolific Bug Club have announced their new album, ‘Rare Birds: An Hour of Song’. A double album weighing in at 64 minutes, it contains (count them) a colossal 47 songs and is touted as the Faust Cycle for people with shorter attention spans. The songs were written at home in their garden which […]
Asthmatic Kitty Records will be hurling a new Sufjan Stevens album, ‘Javelin’, into the world on 6th October 2023. It will be his first solo release since 2020’s ‘The Ascension’ and the first in full singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s ‘Carrie & Lowell’. The ten songs are promised to encapsulate the entire experience of Stevens’ 25-year […]

NEWS: SUFJAN STEVENS ANNOUNCES OCTOBER RELEASE OF NEW ALBUM

NEWS: OSEES RELEASE NEW SINGLE FROM FORTHCOMING ALBUM

Today, the ever-industrious John Dwyer releases the latest video, ‘Stunner’ from OSEES forthcoming album, ‘Intercepted Message’. Dwyer describes the album as “A pop record for hard times” and “Early grade garage pop meets proto-synth punk suicide-repellent”. Judging from the singles released so far, it is guaranteed to be a blast. ‘Intercepted Message’ will be released […]
Animal Collective will release their new studio album ‘Isn’t It Now?’ on September 29th via Domino. Their structure has long been that of a playground, an open space for exercising and indulging new notions and influences, for saying “Why not?” from way up on the high beams. Maybe that means allowing Panda Bear to focus on his drumming more or […]

NEWS: ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM

PREVIEW: MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL RETURNS

Manchester International Festival has made a welcome return to the city, running from 29th June to 16th July, across various venues with music, theatre, art, and many free events taking place at Festival Square, the hub of the MIF. This year Festival Square is located in Aviva Studios, a new purpose built home for the festival […]
To coincide with their appearance at the Meltdown Festival and without any advance fanfare, Sigur Rós have unexpectedly released their first studio album since 2013, ‘ÁTTA’. Multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson has returned to the fold, joining frontman Jonsi and bassist Georg Holm. With three people in the room, they found themselves “just wanting to have minimal drums […]

NEWS: SIGUR ROS ANNOUNCE FIRST NEW ALBUM IN TEN YEARS

NEWS – TROJAN RECORDS LAUNCH ESSENTIAL ARTISTS COLLECTIONS

Definitive reggae label, Trojan Records, have announced the launch of their Essential Artists Collection. Profitably raiding their back catalogue and with a particular focus on their finest vocalists, this month sees the release of compilations by John Holt and Ken Boothe in double coloured vinyl, double CD and digital formats. Holt fronted Jamaican vocal trio […]
Rave collective, Acid Klaus, has premiered a new single, ‘You’re a Freak’, taken from an EP of the same name which will be released on Yard Act’s Zen F.C. label later this summer. Acid Klaus is the project of Adrian Flanagan (founder of The Moonlandingz and The Eccentronic Research Council) together with a variety of […]

NEWS – ACID KLAUS ANNOUNCE NEW SINGLE ‘YOU’RE A FREAK’