LIVE REVIEW – MAYA ONGAKU + HEDGEHOG: YES BASEMENT – 10/09/2026

Gigs are commonly places of communion, sweat, uncomfortable proximity to strangers, ringing ears and spilt beer. However, with Maya Ongaku’s most recent album Nothing Space Music representing their attempt to reconnect with silence and find beauty in the spaces between noise, it is hard to know how it would translate to a live setting. In […]
Various               Nigeria 80         ‘Nigeria 70’ was one of the ultimate compilations, shining a light on a vibrant music scene. It still sounds fresh today. This new release moves forward, diving deep into the explosive sound world of 1980s Nigeria. With all tracks reissued here for the first time, ‘Nigeria 80’ spans highlife, juju, Afrobeat, reggae, […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 11 SEPTEMBER 2026

ALBUM REVIEW – RODRIGO Y GABRIELA: OUR HOME

For Rodrigo y Gabriela, home is not necessarily a physical place, more a sense of having purpose and inner peace instead of seeking external approval. The seventh album from the Grammy award winning (for 2019’s ‘Mettavolution’) Mexico City-bred instrumental duo of Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero radiates that quality. However, place is also a key […]
Enemies of spellcheck, Stoke-on-Trent’s Formal Sppeedwear, parade a dazzling debut decked out with a lorryload of ideas. It is easy to recognise influences (Devo, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Fashion-era Bowie, Steve Reich, Talking Heads) but they manage to create something fresh, energetic and coherent from that sonic jumble. Although these are all 20th Century influences, they […]

ALBUM REVIEW – FORMAL SPPEEDWEAR: PUNCH CARD

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 4 SEPTEMBER 2026

 Arab Strap         Half-Told Tales               Their ninth album comes almost thirty years to the day since their first single was released. The most prevailing theme across the record is time. “The album title sounds like a fairytale book, until you get to the end of the record and you realise that I’m talking about lives that have […]
For some, three years is a long wait, but for others, a release every three years is more realistic. This is a tradition that Theory Of A Deadman have had for the majority of their career, and with each release, the American rock band claim that the new music is always worth the wait. For […]

EP REVIEW: THEORY OF A DEADMAN – FUNERAL SONGS: PART 1

ALBUM REVIEW – PULP: LIVE

An encore is an extra performance given at the end of a concert or show, or a call by the audience for the performers to return. After a career spanning almost five decades, Pulp make their debut at the O2 to prove what exactly they would do for an encore. ‘Spike island’ begins, welcoming an […]
The music of Dylan Young, who performs under the moniker Way Dynamic, had only really passed me by prior to this show. To my shame, I didn’t think to check out his latest record, last year’s ‘Massive Shoe,’ which having listened to since (before the show, obviously) and heard live points towards a promising career […]

LIVE REVIEW – WAY DYNAMIC: YES PINK ROOM – 26/08/2026

ALBUM REVIEW – JAMIE WEBSTER: RUNNING ROUND THE SUN

Since he burst onto the UK music scene in 2019 with his first single, Weekend in Paradise, Jamie Webster has turned the busy streets of Liverpool, football terraces, and everyday human struggles into songs that feel so personal yet so universal at the same time. His newest record, Running Round The Sun, embodies that yet […]
ANYX    Starline              Anchoress front-person’s solo debut. She takes a sculptural approach to her songs, starting with her voice and words as internal navigation from which she works outwards. Around this core, she builds minimal instrumentation – harp, keys, guitar, double bass – until each song is muscular and multi-dimensional. midori jaeger   (Re)planted      A counterpart to […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 28 AUGUST 2026