Treeboy And Arc by Jord Mercer
Music fans are familiar with the issues band face on their first album.
They may have a lifetime to write it, but they don’t have any such luxury when it comes to recording it. Sometimes they may have trouble transferring the ferocity of their …
Pulp live at Finsbury Park by Sarah Louise Bennett
This is what they do for an encore.
Shortly before their set begins, the big screens give a potted history of the main attraction with old home-movie footage of a pre-fame Jarvis Cocker and …
Jamie T live at Finsbury Park by Sarah Louise Bennett
It’s taken a while – for reasons most likely his own (having recently expressed his notable disillusionment with the music industry) – but nearly 20 years into his career, Jamie T finally …
Oh, to be young and talented.
With three albums in four years, Fontaines D.C. have become one of the leading lights of the contemporary guitar scene.
After a successful 2022, during which they seemed to be playing …
Although he’s never far from the public consciousness and there has been plenty of new music in that time, it’s been a hefty five-and-a-half years since the last studio album from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, the fanbase-rupturing Who Built The Moon? …
Arctic Monkeys by Zackery Michael
Barring TV appearances in promotion for seventh album The Car, UK audiences haven’t been able to see Arctic Monkeys in action since Reading & Leeds Festival last August.
In the nine months since they’ve been touring …
Leftfield by Steve Gullick
There’s something melancholic about seeing the electronic generation reach middle-age.
With Underworld, Orbital and The Chemical Brothers all active and touring, their greying hair is a reminder that time comes for us all.
Their music, which soundtracked so …
Chappaqua Wrestling by Iona Lily
Since their formation in 2018 – spearheaded by principal songwriters (and guitarists) Jake Mac and Charlie Woods – Chappaqua Wrestling have built up a solid bank of songs influenced by shoegaze, grunge, and, unashamedly, Britpop.
With the …
Marseille by Jason Bridges
One of the new breed of young bands proudly taking their influence from 90’s Madchester and 60’s Merseybeat, Marseille are a five-piece band …
Peter Doherty with The Libertines live in Manchester (Gary Mather for Live4ever)
While the wait for new Libertines music enters its ninth year (the hotel’s up and running chaps, chop chop!), it seems even their biggest firebrand is struggling to fill his …
As grim as it was there were a few positives to come out of the pandemic, depending on your point of view.
Where one sits on the rise of digital engagement is down to the individual, but there’s no denying the increased …
DIY is an oft-used phrase in music nowadays.
One of the many reasons that solo artists are rising in prominence is that, from an instrumental perspective, everything can be done in the bedroom.
Why bother going through the stress of …
Orbital by Kenny McCracken
Although ticket prices for gigs are a bone of contention in some quarters these days Orbital are, in their own way, offering excellent value for money on their latest tour.
Ostensibly to promote brand new album Optical Delusion, there’s also the small matter of their …
With this his seventh album (and fifth in six years) Kele Okereke, the frontman and main songwriter of Bloc Party edges ahead of his parent band in terms of albums released.
Yet, somewhat ironically, The Flames Pt. 2…
Somewhat unjustly, Inspiral Carpets are largely perceived as third in the ‘triumvirate’ of the Madchester scene.
While it’s fair to say they didn’t burn as brightly or have the same cultural impact as the Stone Roses, or fuse as many different …
Trigger warning: Contains swearing.
Defiance. It’s an easy characteristic to define and to portray but not so easy to implement in contemporary society.
Sleaford Mods are the very embodiment of defiance. After multiple attempts to make headway in music through the traditional ‘band’ route …