Return of the Good Souls: Starsailor Talk Past, Present and Future
The music business is nothing if not fickle. Few bands know that better than Starsailor, a group whose million-selling debut album ‘Love Is Here’ catapulted them into the limelight seemingly overnight before they crashed back to earth almost as fast.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 12 October 2017
Mr. Scruff: Get Inside A Groove/Get Lost In It
Since the ‘90s, DJ and producer Mr. Scruff has gone from left field beat-matcher to a bonafide fixture in British festival culture, deriving his own brand of sample-led electronica from a deep appreciation of soul and funk.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Monday, 09 October 2017
Comfortably Confident: Introducing Alex Lahey
When it’s put to Alex Lahey that ‘I Love You Like A Brother’, her first album, is impressively confident it makes her smile. But it is.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Ian Dury: Many Happy Returns To 'New Boots And Panties!!'
There are only a handful of artists who can claim they saw off extreme physical odds to forge hugely successful careers. Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, certainly, also Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 03 October 2017
This Is The World I Brought You Into: Propagandhi Talk 'Victory Lap'
Photo: Greg Gallinger There’s a phrase that Propagandhi's Chris Hannah keeps coming back to when discussing their new record, ‘Victory Lap’: rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2017
Past Lives, Future Me: Worriers' Lauren Denitzio On 'Survival Pop'
It feels stupid to describe this year as a good one for jean jackets in punk. Honestly, every year’s pretty solid.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Frank Iero: Good Things Come To Those With Patience
I remember buying ‘The Black Parade’ in Woolworths. We were on holiday at the seaside. My sister already had the album but I wanted to listen to it on my own shitty personal stereo, so I dragged my Dad into the now-defunct high street shop and asked if I could use my holiday money for it. It had a Parental Advisory sticker, so Dad had to tell the cashier that, yes, I could handle teenagers scaring the shit out of Gerard Way.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns'
Arcane Roots are survivors. That might seem like a big statement when you consider the long line of UK bands who have been beset by label troubles, the loss of key members and relentless touring with little reward.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 21 September 2017
Cradle of Filth: Still Evil After All These Years
Legends of extreme music, black metal blaggers or Hot Topic heathens...whatever your view on Cradle of Filth, it’s already been expressed on some internet messageboard. They’ve heard it all before. Dani Filth’s troupe of misfits have undergone various line-up and stylistic changes over their near three decade existence, but one thing remains the same: people online hate them.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Plug In, Get Radical: The Bronx Talk Their Fired Up Comeback
“Man, they fuckin’ rip. I’ll tell you right now.” Do you really, in the inky recesses of your heart, want new songs by the Bronx to do anything else? Since the release of their first eponymous LP in the summer of 2003, the Los Angeles band have become standard bearers for a brand of punk ‘n’ roll that clings to an even keel by its fingernails.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 19 September 2017
Public Service Announcement: Phaeleh Is Back With 'Lost Time'
The word dubstep conjures different images for different people. Many associate it with the obnoxious Skrillex-led style that briefly dominated the charts in the early 2010s. But for those who encountered the genre at its inception, it connotes atmosphere, mystery and introspection. Burial, arguably the movement’s most critically acclaimed artist, was already an established, influential presence when he revealed his real name in 2008, for example.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 18 September 2017
It's Cool To Care: Charly Bliss And A Love Of Pop Songs
Photo: Shervin Lainez Charly Bliss have a foot in two camps.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Find An Answer To That Question: Sparks On 'Hippopotamus' And Visual Songwriting
Sparks occupy a unique space in modern pop. Their new album, ‘Hippopotamus’ is their 23rd, and showcases the fundamentals of the band’s genre fusion: classically inspired songwriting shone through a prism of artful duality. It’s a kind of musical Theatre of the Absurd.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Nostalgia on Pause: The Movielife Return With 'Cities in Search of a Heart'
On April 18, 2003 the Movielife played a show that Vinnie Caruana shouldn’t remember. It was part of a tour in support of their third album, ‘40 Hour Train Back to Penn’, at a club in Cardiff, Wales that isn’t there anymore. The place was half full, at a guess.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Persistence And Patience: Kojey Radical Talks 'In Gods Body'
Photo: Ejiro Dafe Kojey Radical endeavours to educate his audiences by offering new and original perspectives on life. He presents ideas that challenge our ideals and promotes change through the rejection of societal norms and any sense of political dictatorship.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 11 September 2017
Capturing Chaos: Introducing Yassassin
Photo: Chris Almeida Yassassin come from all over the world, with members hailing from Sweden, Italy, England and Australia. But it was the East London music scene that drew them into each other's orbit. After appearing on the same bills with their previous bands they started frequenting the same parties and became friends.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
"It's life, you know?": Culture Abuse and What Happens Next
Photo: Alice Baxley “What do the Ramones sound like?” David Kelling asks. “They. Do. Everything. It’s all been done. But it’s about having fun and getting a feeling across.”
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 05 September 2017
Talent Will Out: Courtney Marie Andrews And The Road To 'Honest Life'
If you tuned in to Later…with Jools Holland earlier this year, you may have caught your first glimpse of Courtney Marie Andrews. Singing deeply introspective, poetic songs about heartache and personal growth with a hint of peak Joni Mitchell, that exposure was reward for years of toil that culminated in one of the finest albums of 2016: the soul-baring, bittersweet ‘Honest Life’.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 30 August 2017
Stereophonics: Many Happy Returns To 'Word Gets Around'
A budding artist's early influences will almost certainly shape the sound of their debut record. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, they were often rammed full of cover versions and songs already flogged to death by a band as they perfected their chops. The Rolling Stones’ eponymous debut, for example, contained just one track penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards – Tell Me (You’re Coming Back) – among its 12.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Time and Place: The Preatures Find A Reflective New Space on 'Girlhood'
We have our own personal waypoints. Musicians have them too, but many of theirs also populate vinyl racks and streaming services. When the Preatures look back on their new LP, ‘Girlhood’, they’ll see their studio space in Surry Hills, Sydney. They’ll remember a night spent on a balcony with friends prior to playing a big festival set. They’ll watch their younger selves navigate the yawning space that follows a breakthrough release.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 August 2017
Speak Your Truth: Downtown Boys Discuss 'Cost of Living'
Photo: Miguel Rosario Downtown Boys are a force to be reckoned with.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Pillow Queens: Talking 'Calm Girls' With Your New Favourite Band
Track down Pillow Queens online and you’ll find a tongue-in-cheek description on their social media pages: “Your new favourite band.”
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 14 August 2017
The Pop Kids: Heartache And Hooks With Girl Ray's 'Earl Grey'
Photo: Neil Thomson There are times when we become hopelessly fixated on certain songs. We get hooked on the way they make us feel, or the fact that they just get us. They talk to us when we perhaps can’t verbalise what we’re going through, and that’s one of the reasons Poppy Hankin loves pop music so much.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 August 2017
Laying It All Down: In Conversation With Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Cut Kenny Wayne Shepherd and he’ll bleed blue. Well, more specifically he’ll bleed the blues. The Louisiana native is a diehard. He has lived and breathed the genre since he helped to reinvigorate it in the mid-90s after bursting onto the block with a blistering sound that, although referencing the greats, gave the blues a youthful vibrancy and crossover appeal it badly needed.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 26 July 2017
A Fascination With Destruction: The Enduring Appeal Of Guns N' Roses' Finest Hour
The year was 1987 and, for many, rock ‘n’ roll was truly fucked. The reason? A hairspray-soaked posse of posturing pretty boys who had set up shop with a commercially-charged, overproduced pop sound full of empty hedonistic abandon. Any notions of authenticity, rebellion and anarchy were superseded by a relentless desire to party hard and get laid. Until one band, and one record, woke everyone up.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Elvis Costello: Many Happy Returns To 'My Aim Is True'
Take a look at the songwriting credits on the Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s seminal 1968 single Fire and, alongside those of the bandleader and his co-conspirator, Vincent Crane, you’ll find the names Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker. Less than a decade later, with the royalties from the record tucked in their pockets, the duo would turn four walls in north London into a den of punk creativity.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 24 July 2017
Play The Shitty Hits: Katie Von Schleicher's Ambitious Twist On Pop's Best Moves
Photo: Chris Baker You always feel a great pop song before you understand it. There’s a disconnect between a chorus that makes your heart swell, or a turn of phrase that makes tears well in your eyes, and the meticulous, sometimes sterile, process that helps transport a writer’s thoughts from the page to your turntable/phone/whatever. But Katie Von Schleicher finds magic on both sides of the equation.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 05 July 2017
Vampire Weekend's Baio: Bowie, Trump and Being a 'Man of the World'
“Bowie showed me what an album could be,” Chris Baio says. “When I was 18 I heard ‘Low’ for the first time. It’s full of these weird but tight pop songs like Breaking Glass - a song with a memorable chorus and a big guitar riff - and then on the back half you’ve got Warszawa - this very abstract, ambient piece of music. It all happens on the same record and it never seems contrived. It all makes sense.”
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 30 June 2017
Moving, Mutating, Surviving: Jehst Talks 'Billy Green is Dead'
Urban music and culture in the UK - whether that’s hip-hop, grime or any other format - has always by its very nature represented working class interests and struggle. It’s not surprising to see artists like Akala, Stormzy, Lowkey and Loyle Carner speaking out on incidents like the fire at Grenfell Tower or supporting anti-establishment figures like Jeremy Corbyn. Nevertheless, this movement’s increased visibility on public forums has inevitably sparked wider interest: who are these soapbox or ‘political’ rappers?
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 29 June 2017
ABC: Many Happy Returns To 'The Lexicon of Love'
Last year finally saw the release of one of the most long-awaited sequels in musical history: ABC’s ‘The Lexicon of Love II’. The album landed almost 35 years on from the pop outfit’s landmark debut, echoing and rivalling the original.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Algiers: Communing With The Ghosts of Pop on 'The Underside of Power'
Photo: Dustin Condren Drop the needle on Aretha Franklin’s Young, Gifted and Black and you’ll also find yourself in the room with the song's composers, Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine, as well as its inspiration: the playwright Lorraine Hansberry. You’ll hear notes that accompanied the civil rights movement in America, words that rose in throats alongside spirituals and folk songs dating back decades. That’s pop music: a conversation between past and present. It’s the chance to commune with ghosts.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 20 June 2017
Radiohead's 'OK Computer' At 20: The Footprints of a Masterpiece
Twenty years ago, Radiohead put out the seminal ‘OK Computer’. The record is being reissued to mark the occasion, alongside assorted b-sides and rarities, while the band will soon headline Glastonbury, something they also did in the immediate aftermath of its arrival back in 1997.
Written by: Jacob Brookman | Date: Friday, 16 June 2017
Fill In The Gaps: Anathema Evolve Further On 'The Optimist'
First impressions count for a lot in the music business. If an artist nails a marketable aesthetic on their debut, it can dictate the direction of their entire career. That perhaps explains why Liverpool collective Anathema aren’t recognised as one of the greatest alternative rock bands to come out of the UK in the last three decades.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Friday, 09 June 2017
Sad Girls To The Front: Introducing Kamikaze Girls
Kamikaze Girls want you to know something: it’s OK to be sad.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Sad Songs and Serendipity: Introducing Jade Jackson
Photo: Xina Hamari Ness Sometimes our lives feel like a series of completely random experiences. Like a series of haphazard, unconnected dots we spend our time trying to arrange into a meaningful pattern. Then there are those magical moments when an intangible masterplan seems to be unfolding; when everything feels like it’s happening for a reason. Hailing from smalltown USA, specifically Santa Margarita, California, singer-songwriter Jade Jackson knows that feeling. For a while it’s seemed like the universe wants to make her a star.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 31 May 2017
EXCLUSIVE: Stream My Name Is Ian's New Album 'Cincinnati Cola'
My Name is Ian are set to release their latest album, 'Cincinnati Cola', on June 2 via Bubblewrap Records and you can stream the collection exclusively below.
Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 30 May 2017
No Compromise: Employed To Serve Make Their Mark On 'The Warmth of a Dying Sun'
There’s a man wearing novelty cufflinks. He’s not actually reading the copy of the Financial Times in his lap, but his eyes are glazing over at the pictures. A woman has brought her entire house onto the train carriage like an urban hermit crab. Children are screaming. Someone’s shouting the details of a banterous night out with the lads down a phone. This is a daily commute. This is hell.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 18 May 2017
If You Don't Gamble You Don't Win: Inglorious Aim For The Big Time
Ignoring the obvious quips about the importance of size, if we were to describe British rockers Inglorious in one word, then it would be ‘big’. Or maybe ‘massive’. Either way, both terms encapsulate their sound and what they aspire to become.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Duran Duran: Many Happy Returns To 'Rio'
When Duran Duran released their second album, ‘Rio’, in May of 1982, the power of the music video as a promotional tool had barely taken off. Aside from the legendary Queen video for Bohemian Rhapsody – put together in a matter of hours and subsequently aired on Top Of The Pops – the marketing possibilities had yet to be adequately explored, particularly in relation to sales.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 10 May 2017
The Devil Is In The Detail: The Rise And Rise of Zeal & Ardor
“We wanted to…how do you say it? Spit fire? When you take the special liquid, take the torch and blow on it. That. We did that with gasoline for a moped. Not really reflective stuff, just kinda dumb kid stuff. The shit you get into when you’re really bored, I guess.”
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Thursday, 27 April 2017
The Stranglers: Many Happy Returns To 'Rattus Norvegicus'
Great songwriting partnerships are scattered throughout the history of music in the UK. Most famously, of course, you have John Lennon and Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, whose compositions took on lives of their own beyond the confines of releases by the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Monday, 24 April 2017
Have We Learned Nothing? Nine Inch Nails' 'Year Zero' A Decade On
Everything gets written down. Are you an optimistic person? What does the future look like? A decade ago, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor pulled us aside and told us how things were going to go down. We would become sedate and pliable, he said. We would allow government control to become our norm. We would stop fighting back. He called this warning ‘Year Zero’.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Wednesday, 19 April 2017
The Smith Street Band: Wil Wagner And The Power Of Storytelling
The best stories don't travel directly from A to B. Often it’s the digressions and asides, the forays into deep background and analysis, that are the colour between the lines. That's true whether tales are told over a table stacked with empty glasses or read from a book with a cover plastered in pull quotes. The telling is every bit as important as the details. “Our stories, our books, our films are how we cope with the random trauma-inducing chaos of life as it plays,” is how Bruce Springsteen put it in his autobiography.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
From The Outside Looking In: Dream Theater's Keyboard Wizard Talks 'Images And Words' And Beyond
When it comes to any artistic form, masterpiece is a word that should be reserved for works of true genius; those unique creative expressions that are pioneering, inspiring and timeless. Dream Theater’s hallowed sophomore record ‘Images and Words’ more than fits the bill, having birthed a legion of imitators by fusing metal riffage, melodic beauty and progressive experimentation together into a ball of virtuosity and emotion that’s as powerful today as it was in 1992.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 12 April 2017
Tei Shi: On 'Crawl Space' And The Desire To Be Inspired By Light
Tei Shi composes devastatingly poetic love songs. Whispering in sexy, tobacco-stained tones, her voice stalks like a bird of prey. She suddenly owns her powerful choruses with intent; her vocal buildups are all-consuming and dominate emotions and senses upon first listen. Tei, real name Valerie Teicher, released ‘Crawl Space’ via Polydor at the end of last month and proudly unveiled an accomplished, autobiographical body of work decorated with a picture of herself on the sleeve.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Tuesday, 11 April 2017
The Neal Morse Band: Enjoying Life's Grand Experiments
If this world had been created by Neal Morse, there’d be no such thing as subtlety. Mountains would be 10 times taller, romantic gestures more grandiose than a billionaire’s cocktail party and movie screens so ginormous they’d render IMAX puny by comparison. Fortunately for lovers of bombastic progressive rock, he is but a mortal man, so instead he channels his widescreen, Technicolor vision into albums like last year’s near two hour concept piece ‘The Similitude Of A Dream’.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 07 April 2017
The Flatliners: Finding Quiet In A 24/7 World
“Let’s just go home.” It looks like a simple idea when it’s written down. But for the Flatliners, a Toronto punk band who’ve been on tour pretty much non-stop for the last decade, it sparked a sort of quiet revolution in their ranks. What if, instead of grinding through the gears of writing a new record while quite literally doing the same in the van, they just...went home for a while?
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
First Time's A Charm: Can't Swim Set Out Their Stall On 'Fail You Again'
Could you hum the melody of the first (only?) song you wrote?
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 04 April 2017
Creeper: Eternity, In The Charts?
I’m locked out of my flat with no shoes on. I’m locked out of my flat with no shoes on and Ian Miles, guitarist from Creeper, is on the phone. “You’re breaking up again, mate,” he says. “Do you want to try calling on Facebook?” “Cracklexxyxyxyxcracklefuzzzzzz,” I reply, hanging up and sprinting to the door.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 24 March 2017
Me And That Man: Nergal And John Porter Sing Out Their Darkness
“Me and That Man is a side dish,” says Nergal. “A salad.” “A dessert,” says John. “Some songs are like a fuckin' thick, bloody steak, while others are desserts,” says Nergal. “Others are appetisers. Does that make sense?”
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Friday, 17 March 2017
