A Grande Evolution: From Child Star To Dangerous Woman

With the announcement of a world tour in support of her new album 'Sweetener’, there’s no better time to get to know the real Ariana Grande. If puppy dog eyes and pleasing R&B-influenced pop songs are anything to go by, she couldn’t be sweeter—see what we did there? Let us take you on a trip down memory lane to see what made the singer the woman she is today, and the path that led to the release of what could be her most successful album to date.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Friday, 21 December 2018

The List: Stereoboard's Best Albums Of 2018

td#right {display:none !important;}   So, there's another one ready for the history books. This year has been a weird, often depressing ride, but the tunes have been great. So we have that at least. Scroll down for the albums we believe deserve mention as the best of the year, from across the genre spectrum. Hopefully you'll find a few gems you don't know among the ones you think should be recognised. Thanks for reading, we'll see you next year.  

Written by: Stereoboard | Date: Monday, 17 December 2018

I Feel Like We Only Just Got Here: How Hop Along Fell Into Place On 'Bark Your Head Off, Dog'

td#right {display:none !important;} Illustration: Sam Davies   The train is late. The trains are always late. Table the lost minutes. I absent-mindedly scroll Twitter in a glass shelter as the December cold gets its claws in. Before skipping over a review of the latest Jungle Book remake I’m stopped mid-feed by an autoplay video. Julia Roberts dances in a subway carriage for the New York Times. She grins, the plastic chairs smile back with yellow and orange teeth. The sound is off—my headphones are still playing Hop Along’s Not Abel. The weird thing is, that song won’t yield the floor. Instead it steps in to lead.  

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 14 December 2018

The Greatest Showman: The Theatrical Rise Of Hugh Jackman

td#right {display:none !important;} Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've been waiting for! Hugh Jackman has announced a worldwide arena tour, where he’ll perform hits from The Greatest Showman, Les Misérables and other film and Broadway favourites. The Man. The Music. The Show has seen incredible demand for tickets, with more and more extra dates getting announced across the UK and Ireland. So why all the fuss? Find out by getting to know more about the man, the music and, you guessed it, the show.

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Thursday, 13 December 2018

A Lot Of Love In The Room: How Turnstile's Big-Hearted 'Time & Space' Made Its Mark on 2018

td#right {display:none !important;} Illustration: Tom Norton Turnstile vocalist Brendan Yates—shirtless, slick with sweat and shredded beneath a surfer’s tangle of curls—is standing on top of a speaker stack at the Globe in Cardiff. “No future!” he yells as his bandmates’ guitars churn and howl. Arms reach towards him from the morass below, and then he’s gone. One front flip later he’s part of the crowd, thrashing his way to the end of Drop just like everyone else.​

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 12 December 2018

What Comes Next? Doe Talk Blood Pacts and Tour Plans For 2019

Photo: Andrew Northrop Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite albums of the year. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 12 December 2018

What Comes Next? The Beths On Touring, Touring, Touring and Summer Swims in 2019

Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite albums of the year. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Tuesday, 11 December 2018

Nice Guys Finish First: Inside Boy Azooga's Whirlwind Year

td#right {display:none !important;} Photos: Liam Taylor/Solidlight   On Quay Street, a dogleg corner away from Womanby Street, Cardiff’s live music hub, sits the Blue Honey Night Café. During the day it’s a hard hat-friendly, bacon and eggs greasy spoon called Sully’s, but come five pm it’s a fried chicken and beer hangout spot. Directly opposite there’s an alcove that smokers use to hide from the rain when the building’s awning is packed with a motley crew of punters, and it’s here in the spring of 2017 that a local musician called Davey Newington set up his guitar and a kick drum to play some songs.  

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 10 December 2018

Beyond The Hits, Beneath The Surface: How 'An American Treasure' Re-Shaped Our View Of Tom Petty

td#right {display:none !important;} Illustration: Sam Davies Whether it’s through their work, the magazine articles we devour or—these days—social media accounts that bombard us with the daily minutiae of their lives, it’s very easy to form the belief that we know everything about our favourite artists. But, while the mediums might be ever-changing, that’s nothing new. Released earlier this year to commemorate the first anniversary of Tom Petty’s death, ‘An American Treasure’ was a bountiful box set that delved deep into the rock ‘n’ roll icon’s work, revealing a journey where the musical and personal were forever intertwined.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 10 December 2018

What Comes Next? Psych-pop Heroes HMS Morris Plot A Future In Immersive Theatre

Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite albums of the year. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Monday, 10 December 2018

You Want To Be Able To Belong: Kevin Devine On The Thrills and Challenges Of Devinyl Splits

td#right {display:none !important;} ​ Illustration: Tom Norton “If you’re a basketball player you don’t get better by playing people you can beat easily. You get better by playing people you might lose to.”​

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 07 December 2018

What Comes Next? Lice Talk Plans To Make Their First Masterpiece In 2019

Photo: Lindsay Melbourne Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite albums of the year. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Friday, 07 December 2018

'It Seemed To Come From Somewhere Outside of Us': Jonathan Meiburg Talks Loma's Sublime Debut

td#right {display:none !important;} Photo: Bryan C. Parker   We’re rarely short of a collaboration to get excited about, but 2018 nevertheless stands out as a banner year. Whether they were born out of a desire for blockbuster streaming figures, an attempt to reinvent an artist’s image, or simply the itch to work with one of your closest musical mates, this year’s best and worst tie ups spanned genres, countries and cultures. At the time of writing, nine of the top 20 songs on the Billboard chart are collabs. Working together, it seems, has never been so fruitful.  

Written by: Helen Payne | Date: Thursday, 06 December 2018

What Comes Next? Goat Girl Talk Sold Out Shows, Staying Creative And Plans For 2019

Photo: Holly Whitaker Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite albums of the year. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 06 December 2018

What Comes Next? Estrons Discuss Their Next Move After A Breakthrough Year

Photo: Imogen Forte Over the last year we’ve been fortunate enough to speak with some awesome up and coming bands about some of our favourite new albums. But we wanted more. MORE!

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 05 December 2018

Star Wars For The Ears: Def Leppard's Phil Collen On 'Hysteria' and Beyond

For the last five years Def Leppard fans, those without money to burn, may have feared the old saying ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ would prove depressingly true for them. After all, it was 2013 when the Sheffield quintet performed their 1987 masterpiece ‘Hysteria’ in its entirety during a residency at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Nevada.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 30 November 2018

Born To Do It: Skindred Frontman Benji Webbe's Top Tips For A Rocking Live Show

“You’re either born to do it or you’re not, and I guess I was born to do it,” Benji Webbe says, a few hours before hitting the stage at Cardiff’s Tramshed with his band, Skindred. “The whole stage performance thing, I fell in love with it from a very early age—I loved putting on the clothes for the Christmas play in Junior School.” When he says early he means early, then. Start as you mean to go on.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Tuesday, 27 November 2018

Driven By Honesty: Barry Dolan Discusses Oxygen Thief's 'Confusion Species'

Photo: Chris Taylor When Bristol-based songwriter Barry Dolan released 'Destroy It Yourself', the first Oxygen Thief album, in 2011, he stood out for his entirely acoustic take on melodic hardcore if not the subjects he explored. Dolan conveyed ruminations on love, loss and hypocrisy through cryptic metaphors and sharp turns of phrase, complemented by fitful riffing without a backdrop.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Thursday, 22 November 2018

Nice Electricity: Inside Jawbone's Sizzling Old School Debut

Photo: Rob Blackham Sometimes an album arrives from out of nowhere and knocks you off your feet. There’s something new, yet familiar, about its melodies, its heart-warming immediacy and the effortless chemistry that oozes from the bewitching songs within. We’re basically talking the musical equivalent of love at first sight, which is exactly what fans of bluesy rock ‘n’ roll and American roots music will doubtless feel after hearing Jawbone’s quietly magnificent self-titled bow.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Wednesday, 14 November 2018

'We Wanted To Reach People on a Personal Level': Pijn Discuss The Genre-Defying Power Of 'Loss'

A striking development in the past decade or so has been the extent to which people discover music through mood as opposed to genre. Streaming services have adapted to perceived consumer demand by releasing reams of playlists tailored to every emotion or context imaginable, from deeply depressed to “songs to sing to in the car”. This has its upsides and downsides for a band like Pijn.

Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Monday, 12 November 2018