ALBUM REVIEW: STEREOLAB- INSTANT HOLOGRAMS ON METAL FILM

If ever there was a time for calming and uplifting synth riffs to ease the tensions of a world on edge, then it’s now, and so welcome back into the musical landscape the uniquely groove laden tunes of Stereolab! 2025 is fast shaping up to be the year of the reunion and although not strictly […]
Marc Ribot      Map of a Blue City     While it’s not a traditional singer-songwriter album, it is his first to centre his plaintive, wise voice quite so prominently throughout. Map of a Blue City showcases songs colliding disparate traditions: roots, bossa nova, no wave, noise, free jazz, and sounds that have no genre associations. There is […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 23 MAY 2025

SINGLE REVIEW – THE KOWLOONS: I DON’T CARE

With each pluck of a string and every beat to a drum, The Kowloons present their undeniable talents upon a polished platter of silver.  An upbeat rhythm with an infectious nature, ‘I Don’t Care’ draws a hit of jaunty acoustics before exhaling a sweet summer sound. Revealing a narrative, this track is “spoken like a […]
“You seem like a rowdy northern crowd if that isn’t too much of a stereotype.” From the roars of the boisterous crowd, they relish Ezra Furman’s description. Record shop in store shows can be strange events. Audiences tend to be more restrained as they are often clutching CDs or vinyl, precious cargo compared to the […]

LIVE REVIEW – EZRA FURMAN: LIVERPOOL ROUGH TRADE – 21/05/2025

INTERVIEW – AMMAR 808

  The latest album from Sufyann Ben Youssef under the moniker AMMAR 808, ‘Club Tounsi’, is a fearless display of heavy electronic rhythms combined with traditional Tunisian sounds. Ben Youssef’s back catalogue illustrates his alchemist’s skill in fusing disparate elements. His 2018 debut, ‘Maghreb United’, combined deep electronic elements with traditional North African instrumentalists, vocalists […]
AMMAR 808’s ‘Club Tounsi’ is a classic example of a culture clash that works magnificently. It is a mix of bass-heavy, floor-shaking dance rhythms from the TR-808 drum machine of Denmark-based producer, Sofyann Ben Youssef, combined with the Mezoued folk tradition of his native Tunisia. Mezoued takes its name from the goatskin bagpipes that provide […]

ALBUM REVIEW – AMMAR 808: CLUB TOUNSI

ALBUM REVIEW – SPORTS TEAM: BOYS THESE DAYS

Offering chaos and a distinctive style of music impossible to categorise, Sports Team’s upcoming album ‘Boys These Days’ might be their boldest release yet. With a constant infectious energy, Sports Team aren’t comparable to any other artist currently. Really slotting into their own niche of Indie-Rock laced with Saxophone and Keyboard, ‘Boys These Days’ is […]
As Robert Forster’s solo songwriting usually proceeds at a methodical pace, it is an unexpected delight to be welcoming a new album a mere two years after ‘The Candle and the Flame.’ This latest record, ‘Strawberries’, is out of the ordinary compared to Forster’s recent output. It was recorded in Stockholm and produced by Peter […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ROBERT FORSTER: STRAWBERRIES

ALBUM REVIEW – ANATOLE MUSTER: HOPECORE

If you’re a regular in the galactic digital aether we call the Internet, you will have come across the tag ‘hopecore’. A trend that has proliferated on platforms like Tiktok, it has become associated with a particular brand of short video, distinctive by the plaintive synth-pad soundscapes ever-present in the background, created with the intention […]
I miss Britpop. I wasn’t there – about eight years too late – but I miss it. Its optimism, rugged energy and ability to weave between storytelling and subtle social commentary all still translates today. Perhaps now though we reflect on it with the bittersweet notion of nostalgia, longing to return to a time where […]

LIVE REVIEW – SUPERGRASS: MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL – 16/05/2025