ALBUM REVIEW – TIAN QIYI: SONGS FOR WORKERS

Hearing Tian Qiyi for the first time, in session on 6Music’s Riley and Coe show in 2023, was one of those dumbfounding moments. Here was something outside of the realm of my common experience. While there is a saying about music being a universal language that may really be more a celebration of cultural homogeneity […]
Grounded upon a musical foundation of gloriously youthful indie-rock sounds, four-piece New York based Frankie Cosmos declare their talents with sixth album Different Talking. At first, the 17-song track list appears daunting, but with songs no longer than three minutes, we are met with an almost rapid fire of snappy yet thought-provokingly relatable lyrics set […]

ALBUM REVIEW – FRANKIE COSMOS: DIFFERENT TALKING

ALBUM REVIEW – LOYLE CARNER: HOPEFULLY!

Known for his introspective and sociopolitical lyrics, Loyle Carner has changed the UK rap scene. With beats that wouldn’t be out of place on a The Roots or MF Doom album allowing the listener to truly hear what he is saying. Carner is adored by critics and all of which is shown by numerous award […]
People all process emotions differently. It is part of what makes us unique. Music for a lot of us is our outlet to let emotions such as grief, stress and anxiety come out, and that is why music tends to be so relatable. This is what metalcore duo Deadlands strive to emit through their music, […]

EP REVIEW – DEADLANDS: SEVEN

ALBUM REVIEW – BRIGHDE CHAIMBEUL: SUNWISE

When I was growing up in England, bagpipes were often subjected to ridicule. Whilst this could in part have been due to their tonal contrast with conventional pop music of the time, there may have also been the unthinking residue of anti-Scottish prejudice that led to the instrument’s widespread mockery. Fortunately, in recent months, Glitterbeat […]
David Bowie’s 1972 appearance on Top of the Pops with ‘Starman’ is usually cited as the ultimate transformative performance on the show. As someone who was a couple of years too young for Bowie, Sparks’ debut with ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’ seemed similarly iconic. Whilst the seven-year-old me might not […]

LIVE REVIEW – SPARKS: MANCHESTER APOLLO – 22/06/2025

ALBUM REVIEW – BC CAMPLIGHT: A SOBER CONVERSATION

There is always unadulterated glee running through Silent Radio’s suite of luxury offices when a new BC Camplight album is announced. His most recent classic, ‘The Last Rotation of Earth’, was our album of 2023 and the culmination of a run of four records dating back to 2014’s ‘How To Die in the North’ that […]
The Sick Man of Europe        The Sick Man of Europe        Their name connects the current post-Brexit landscape to the austerity of Thatcherite Britain and the social conditions that shaped the likes of Bauhaus and Joy Division. These are touchstones for TSMOE, but the influence and discipline of Neu!, Suicide and Swans are just as intrinsic […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 20 JUNE 2025

LIVE REVIEW – KIM DEAL: NEW CENTURY HALL – 17/06/2025

When an artist has been in the public eye for nearly four decades like Kim Deal, her audience brings a bundle of memories to her shows. In my case, that includes a first encounter in spring 1988 when Pixies were touring with Throwing Muses. In hindsight, it seems unimaginable that such a dream double bill […]
“You gotta dance til you feel better.” So begins ‘Like James Said’, the James Brown quoting opener to Meg Remy’s latest album as U.S. Girls, ‘Scratch It’. While it might be more appropriate to categorise the nine tracks that comprise the record as hyper-emotional pop music, they also occasionally scratch the urge to dance. “Stretch […]

ALBUM REVIEW – U.S. GIRLS: SCRATCH IT