BOOK REVIEW: MARTIN ASTON – FACING THE OTHER WAY: THE STORY OF 4AD

This might seem blasphemous appearing on a Manchester-based website but I would argue that 4AD was the most important record label to emerge in the post-punk era, eclipsing even Factory Records. Although it would be impossible to deny the impact of a select few acts that Tony Wilson’s label is associated with (Joy Division / […]
“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

LIVE REVIEW: ADRIENNE LENKER -AVIVA STUDIOS 25/04/24

Two friends embrace in the foyer of the Aviva Unilever Proctor & Gamble Tony Wilson Factory Arena Studios International (I think that’s it’s full name?) after this most magical of Adrianne Lenker performances: “What are you doing here?!” “Crying!” Two partners next to me watch on in hushed rapture, intertwined in each other’s embrace, heads […]
The first time I listened to this album, I wanted to be sat in the bath. I felt that I needed to be embraced by the warmth of the water, feeling each word that fell from Adrienne’s mouth wash over me, hoping to distract myself from the emotion that would arise. I left my face […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ADRIENNE LENKER: BRIGHT FUTURE

ALBUM REVIEW – PIXIES: PIXIES AT THE BBC, 1988-91

Pixies influence on music is undeniable. They played a major role in developing the loud/quiet template, with the emphasis on the noisy part, that the likes of Nirvana went on to exploit commercially. On a personal level, they were my sound of 1988 and their music is entwined forever with memories of emotionally turbo-charged gigs […]
Lucinda Chua, a singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in South London and newly signed to 4AD, has released a second EP of solo work, ‘Antidotes 2’. The EP’s opening track ‘Until I Fall’ with an accompanying video directed by William Kennedy. Chua says: “For me, this song is about rebirth and finding the […]

LUCINDA CHUA’S RECENTLY RELEASED TRACK ‘UNTIL I FALL’ OPENS UP HER SECOND EP ‘ANTIDOTES 2’

FUTURE ISLANDS PRESENT NEW VIDEO FOR ‘GLADA’

Future Islands new video for ‘Glada’ has been unveiled from their 2020 album ‘As Long As You Are’. Directed by actress and frontman Sam Herring’s partner, Julia Ragnarsson, who makes her directorial debut, it was edited by the renowned Ponyhans. It features the Swedish countryside and follows a lasting love between characters as the changing […]
Following the recent single ‘Horizon’ – a lover’s call to arms which also features on her 4AD debut – Aldous Harding releases its follow-up. Check out new single and video for ‘Imagining My Man’; an intensely intimate listen as Aldous explores the curiosity of a lover’s idiosyncrasies. The video was created by ‘Horizon’ director Charlotte […]

ALDOUS HARDING IS ‘IMAGINING MY MAN’ WITH NEW VIDEO WITH 4AD DEBUT ALBUM OUT MAY

ALBUM: FUTURE ISLANDS – THE FAR FIELD

I fell hard for Future Islands when I heard ‘Seasons (Waiting For You)’ from their last album – 2014’s Singles.  To be more accurate I fell in love when I saw them play the track on Jools Holland – that lush, buxom electronic backdrop and lead singer Samuel T. Herring’s impassioned vocals.  Actually to be […]
The Lemon Twigs share their new video for ‘I Wanna Prove To You’. Watch the video below. The Lemon Twigs are teenage brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario from Long Island, NY. Check out their debut album, Do Hollywood, out now, which was recorded in Los Angeles with Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado. Having recently performed on The […]

THE LEMON TWIGS POKE US WITH ‘I WANNA PROVE TO YOU’ VIDEO BEFORE UK TOUR NEXT MONTH