Born out of a session of some good ol’ fashioned internet stalking (more on this later), Matt Kivel’s third full-length album ‘Janus’ sways between the soft and delicate folky storytelling of Fleet Foxes and the breezy summer guitar pop of Real Estate. Where Kivel differs from these two bands is in the darker musical moments on…
Rebecka Bergh is a solo folk artist from Scotland. She makes minimalistic heart fuelled tunes that have proved their longevity. We featured her a long time back, and her small voice of calm endures. Here are a duo of freshly released visuals to accompany her sound Not all music need to make a big noise to make a…
Madrid all girl four piece Hinds have already broken records. This summer they became the first Spanish band to play a main-stage at Glastonbury, and are the pick of the bunch of acts currently blossoming from Espagne. A few months back the girls released a ‘Very Best of Hinds so far’ compilation EP – an audacious move…
To celebrate the announcement of their recent UK tour in the autumn, The Staves have added a handful of tracks to gorgeous album If I Was. Produced by the heart-achingly talented Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, If I Was demonstrates the maturing and continually elegant sound created by The Staves. With a band name derived…
For someone whose self professed favourite activity is sleeping, it is hardly surprising that Max Richter went the length of working with neuroscientist David Eagleman to create an album that is ‘a person lullaby for a frenetic world’. The 8 hour composition was crafted for playing during sleep, taking natural sleep cycles into consideration, intending…
Before September’s HITnRUN Phase One has had the chance to settle controversy among his fan base, Prince now drops surprise release HITnRUN Phase Two only three months later. Although Phase One flirts dangerously with the generic, Phase Two reinstates what we know and love about an artist that exudes complete weirdness, brilliance and soul. The entirely analogue…
Happy Christmas Happy Diwali Happy Hannukah Festive Happies Christmassy Cheers Seasonal Felicitations Winter Greetings December Pleasantaries Merry New Year and finally BAWK
The shoegazing Saint Petersburg five-piece released debut album ‘Everything Else Matters’ at the start of this year. But before you can even blink they are on to their second full LP ‘Grandfeathered’ which is out in only two months’ time. With this announcement comes new single ‘The Cherry Pit’. This track has all the ferocity…
Ambient, reverby, down tempo electronics to soothe your turkey bloat, here’s the debut single from RYD. We featured this London bedroom producer aka Ryan Downie way back when he first emerged onto Soundcloud – he’s still here, and still awesome. Following a recent support slot with Pixel Fix at the Waiting Rooms, RYD’s EP is currently in…
Maasai’s self written and produced debut album Feeling Blue, Seeing Orange is a collision between fiction and reality. Full to the brim with drama and flair, all ten tracks are strong enough to stand alone, yet retain a coherence within the album. Dominique Teymouri and Zackarias Ekekind’s formation of this Swedish ‘cinematic pop’ duo…
It’s that time of year when the nights draw in and the glittering lights are as expected as the sound of sleigh bells and the glasses of mulled wine. Cue also the endless dirge of Christmas songs, the same every year, with the latest edition of an irrelevant X-Factor submission, and the DJ’s notable…
Cage The Elephant, a four-piece rock band from Kentucky, are probably the most difficult band in the mainstream music scene to second guess. Since 2008, they’ve released three albums, all varying wildly in style, channelling everything from blues to grunge. Album number four, ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty‘, follows this trajectory of ceaseless change, this time…
Yndi Halda are an English Post-Rock band hailing from Canterbury who don’t follow the paint-by-numbers approach to the genre. Instead, they offer a more diverse dynamic, reminiscent of more experimental Post-Rock bands such as *shels. This month they released four-minutes of track Golden Threads From The Sun, from their upcoming album Under Summer, their first release in 8 years. It’s only an excerpt of…
When the madness of the festive season is gone and the winter nights find you tucked up with a roaring fire and dimmed lights, let the beauty of Don’t Pull Away fill your ears and calm your soul. A mirage of instrumental perfection combined with digital manipulation and vocals with a silky purity from…
If Hanne Kolstø looks a little sleepy on the cover of While We Still Have Light, it’s probably because this is her fifth album in as many years. But she doesn’t sound tired, which is damn impressive, since the new record definitely puts her through her paces. Tied together by some stunning vocal performances…
Turner award winning Wakefield artist Martin Creed, known for such seminal works as Work No. 88 (a balled up sheet of A4), Work No. 200: Half the air in a given space (1998, a room half filled with balloons), and Turner Prize winning 2001 Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (a room with…well…), is now sharing his…
If you’re even only vaguely aware of Art Brut, it’s probably as a result of the hype surrounding their 2004 debut single: Formed a Band. It’s a catchy arty pop song which goes, for the most part: ‘We formed a band! We formed a band! Look at us, we formed a band!’ Luckily, lead singer Eddie…
All of a sudden, everything seems to be happening all at once for Matt Grocott and The Shrives. Originally hailing from Grantham in Lincolnshire with only a few singles on their back, it wasn’t long before they were being flown out to the sun-bleached state of California to record their debut album with Grammy award winning…
It must have taken Brothertiger a few sleepless nights to decide which tracks from his recently released LP, Out of Touch, to reveal as teasers before the record came out. In a single-driven industry that is our modern music business, Out of Touch stands on a firm footing as a sonically complete record, not one…
‘Christmas can be a time of high drama; the old family argument that always seems to come up, or it can be a time when you realise all the great stuff in your life.We’ve made an EP with some new songs celebrating all those things’ Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey of London duo Summer Camp.…
Islington Assembly Hall, with its vast polished wood floor, industrially sized mirror ball and rather frilly architecture, seems a bit too grand for the undying simplicity and honesty of both acts performing tonight. Opening duo Truckstop Honeymoon enter the stage and launch straight in to some of the most effortlessly entertaining music available. Husband and wife Mike and Katie…
Texas-trio Ringo Deathstarr have produced a Beauty and the Beast like fifth album with ‘Pure Mood’. It’s a gruelling monster with a soft and fragile core. The 12-track LP manages to mix the daydream stargazing vocals of bassist Alex Gehring with aggressive and bending reverb-heavy guitars. A constant dynamic switch up between the two provides…
Björk‘s done it again. The opening track for latest groundbreaking album Vulcinara (out now) combines tech magic with music to create a fascinating interactive audio-visual experience from home. The 360 degree music video was first used on the video for Noa Neal’s Graffiti and has since been adopted by Foals, RHCP, Duran Duran and many more. The Chickens have…
As the raging wind beat against the masses of crowd descending upon the ‘hard rock’ district of London; deep in its heart the unmistakable crash of cymbals could be heard signalling The Facemelter 2015 finale , at the infamous Our Black Heart, Camden. First up were Vodun – with their masterful fusion of tribal, psychedelic metal, infused with elements…
‘I am an expressionist; I sing what I say, I say what I feel and I feel what I play by honesty and none other but honesty’. This is what the London based, Mercury Prize winning artist, Benjamin Clementine had to say about his music. His latest LP ‘At least for now’ (released January 12,…
Chickens are Dinosaurs 