Is the association of jazz with heroin a fairly universal thing or have I inherited this unrealistic stereotype based on mid-20th-century cinema’s lazy caricaturing of counter-culture and “hippy music”? It would seem there is more “substance” to it, both in the supremely talented opiate-using US jazz maestros Miles Davis and Charlie Parker and in a […]
My first gig in eighteen months may have been in a socially distanced seated event, but blimey did it feel great to watch a live performance again. Every two years Manchester International Festival rolls around, and brings with it a feast of unique gigs, but none of us could have predicted just how unusual these […]
John Grant is an already well-established artist, who takes a seemingly cosmic direction with his new music. With a couple of albums under his belt, ‘Love is Magic’ and ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ to name two. The beginning of this album seems to be its awakening. Different instruments begin to chime in and it seems […]
The Hampshire based; electro-pop outfit Drug Store Romeos release their sombre, yet dreamy debut this week after meeting in the quaint town of Farnborough. The fifteen track album, throughout has capturing time changes and interesting descents into disco. I personally find the vocal style to be rather unique and is definitely not for everyone. Highlights […]
Everyone has things they wished they had done the last day before the first lockdown struck. Whether that is seeing loved ones, friends, or even have a good time before the inevitable misery of the months to come. This is the topic that opens Beabadoobee’s latest work, ‘Our Extended Play, which was produced by Matthew […]
The sun is shining, it feels like summer, we’re in the mood… what better music to put on than some ska? No, sorry, that was a rhetorical question. The answer is “Nothing, ska is easy summertime tunes that remind you of being young in the late 90’s and it should be piped into the world […]
Welcome back to the weird, wonderful, and downright enthralling world of St Vincent. St Vincent (aka Annie Clark) has been making music over the last two decades and growing in popularity and critical acclaim throughout six inventive records. Her 2017 record ‘Masseduction’ was her best yet, teaming up with the busiest man in pop music […]
Royal Blood return with a bang! Or should that be a sidestep and groove, as this new version of Royal Blood is dance-driven but as riff heavy as ever, making for interesting listening. After scrapping the original version of this album and deciding to take it in a new direction, with clear influences from Daft […]
Seeing Teenage Fanclub live again at the Academy 3 in 2018, reminded me just how uplifting music can be, well, their music at least. A large amount of time in my youth was spent listening to their records, whatever mood I was in, putting on a Teenage Fanclub album seemed to make the world that […]
I’d heard their name mentioned by some of my favourite bands, yet nothing prepared me for the whirlwind of noise induced melodic chaos which came blasting out of the radio, late one evening in my musically formative years. A sound that took you to the sonic boundaries of the deep, with melodies that entranced and full-on […]