Motorhead: Many Happy Returns To 'Ace Of Spades'

Months after World War II came to an end, late in the summer of 1945, thoughts turned to a peaceful Christmas as rebuilding began in earnest. The year had already seen the births of numerous future rock superstars - Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Ian Gillan, Van Morrison and Pete Townshend among them - but Christmas Eve would produce possibly the biggest legend of all: Ian Fraser Kilmister.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Noise Not Music #14: Wolf Eyes, Blood Folke, Coil

Photo: Wolf Eyes It’s a bumper edition of Noise Not Music this month, with 12 largely essential releases to get through, ranging from avant-garde post-industrial noise to defiantly original extreme metal and deformed contemporary techno. So, without further ado…

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 18 November 2015

EXCLUSIVE: Stream Baby Brave's New EP 'Tacky Birthday'

Baby Brave, the Welsh indie-pop quartet, are set to release their latest EP, ‘Tacky Birthday’ on November 21 via Drum With Our Hands.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Trust Fund: Ellis Jones, Accidental Choruses And 'Seems Unfair'

td#right {display:none !important;} What you will always get with Trust Fund is Ellis Jones. Arranged behind him on any given day, though, are musicians who in another time or context might be considered hired hands. They aren’t.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 16 November 2015

EXCLUSIVE: Stream My Name Is Ian's 'In The Best Case Scenario We'd Die At The Same Time'

My Name Is Ian, the Cardiff-based garage-pop trio, combine scuzzy lo-fi guitar and heavy bass with abstract, amusing lyrical musings.

Written by: Jennifer Geddes | Date: Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Stuck, But Not For Long: Introducing Peaness

The phrase 'rail replacement bus service' is writ large on the gates of hell.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Monday, 09 November 2015

Wet Plate Portraits: Skindred's Benji Webbe

Photograph: Gareth Jarvis In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, let us introduce you to Benji Webbe. Formerly the frontman of Dub War and currently the mouthpiece of Skindred, who last week put out their sixth studio album, ‘Volume’, he’s one of the most recognisable, widely-loved faces in the UK metal scene.

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 04 November 2015

'I Don't Look Back': Chelsea Wolfe Enters The Abyss

Photo: Shaina Hedlund With ‘Abyss’, the mysterious figure of Chelsea Wolfe reached out to a wider audience than ever before. The California-based musician’s fourth full-length album is quite a journey, one where dystopian electronics often dominate even as Wolfe’s tendency towards fragile and delicate sounds is retained. Their presence, meanwhile, only affirms the darkness of the title.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 23 October 2015

The Cult: Many Happy Returns To 'Love'

As wrong as it may seem, one song can make or break a record and there have been many examples over the years of sales figures swelling thanks to a game-changing track.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Tuesday, 20 October 2015

A Blade In Your Wrist Tape: The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell, Punk Rock And Pro Wrestling

Dan Campbell of the Wonder Years is a couple of thousand miles from home and among an excitable crowd of a few hundred at a California American Legion hall. There’s no back line in place and he’s not about to pick up a microphone. He’s gone coast to coast to watch wrestling.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 15 October 2015

Wish You Were Here: Pink Floyd's Finest Hour

Ask a random person on the street to name a Pink Floyd album and it's a safe bet they'll say 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'.  Considering it is one of the biggest selling albums in history, a cast-iron classic and owner of one of the iconic sleeves in rock, that's hardly a surprise. But it isn't the band's creative zenith. That honour belongs to 1975’s 'Wish You Were Here', a record that recently celebrated its 40th birthday and one that flawlessly encapsulates each element that made the legendary group tick.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Devin Townsend: Louder Than The Pope

Friday afternoon. London hustles and, occasionally, bustles. St James’s church peeks from the Piccadilly landscape, but inside its hallowed confines is something strange. Something different.

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Monday, 12 October 2015

No Back Up Plan: The Return Of City And Colour

“I never really had a dream to be a successful musician. I just started singing and playing from a young age and that’s all I latched on to. I was never really interested in anything else. I’m glad it worked out, ‘cos I didn’t have a back up plan.”

Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Wednesday, 07 October 2015

Critical, But Funny With It: FTSE On 'Joyless' And Collaboration

Sam Manville is a realist. He named the debut FTSE album ‘Joyless’ because, sometimes, that is exactly how he feels about life.

Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 05 October 2015

Trivium: 'Silence In The Snow' And A Debt To Dio

August 7, 2015. Sabaton scorched the Earth beneath their feet in a pyrotechnic-fuelled display of manliness. Fists were pumped. Muscles were flexed. Testosterone flooded the floor of Bloodstock and the gauntlet was thrown with tremendous force at Trivium's feet. As debut headliners, following that should have had the Floridian metallers quaking in their unbelievably shiny boots.  

Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Misery Loves Company: The Cult Allure Of Tom McRae

When it comes to the world-weary troubadour, being an outsider fighting for recognition is pretty much a cast iron badge of authenticity. In which case Tom McRae – who has spent the last 15 years quietly forging a reputation as one of Britain's finest songwriters – is the bona-fide sheriff of the guitar-wielding posse.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Monday, 28 September 2015

Black Sabbath: Many Happy Returns To 'Paranoid'

In 1970, free love, flower power and the psychedelic excesses of the previous decade were still fresh in the memory. The ‘60s had culminated in Woodstock, and there was anxiety and concern at the outset of a new time, almost as though a generation realised that the fun couldn’t last forever. Heavy rock hulked into view, part saviour and part destroyer of what went before it.

Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 23 September 2015

'You Have To Believe It's Going To Get Better': Craig Finn's Faith In The Future

The crowd was too quiet. No one spoke, no glasses clinked. It was a cabaret of sorts, hosted by the New York Times and dotted with Broadway talent. Immediately before his set, a tap dancer performed. Mid-song, backed only by his guitar, Craig Finn thought his hands might start to shake.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 18 September 2015

The Menzingers: Portrait Of A Band As Cult Heroes

td#right {display:none !important;} One bus and two tubes. The 355 to Brixton, the Victoria line north and District west. Headphones in, likely crammed against the frame of a door. In the summer of 2010, my iPod played the Menzingers' 'Chamberlain Waits'. Every day.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 September 2015

Noise Not Music #13: Blacklisters, Christian Fitness And More

A late Noise Not Music this month, but one that hopes to make up for its belated appearance with a wide range of brilliant noisemaking, from Leeds’s answer to Big Black to avant-garde extreme metal at its most thoughtful.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 17 September 2015