“You don’t know what’s in store.” In 2011, the lead line from House of Balloons introduced us to The Weeknd. Fast forward ten years and it’s no question that The Weeknd has had a huge effect on the music industry. The 80s influenced single, ‘Blinding Lights’, is a masterpiece that cements his place in commercial […]Read More
The Strokes arrived in 1998 filled with fire and brimstone, their brash new york attitude a breath of fresh air in a rock scene which was considered diluted with soft rock and mundane anthems. The boys quickly became one of the most exciting bands of the 21st century, with the debut of seminal debut album, […]Read More
Part of me died inside upon first witnessing Michael Stipe lip-syncing in the ‘Losing My Religion‘ video, something the enigmatic R.E.M. frontman previously vowed never to do. That personal betrayal marked the beginning of the end for me and a quartet whose back-catalogue soundtracked my student life. To add insult to injury, their signature track […]Read More
The second half of the 1990s was a productive period for Cat Power (Chan Marshall). She had released no music prior to 1995 but an eleven-month period saw her shoot out her first three albums: Dear Sir, Myra Lee and What Would The Community Think?, to cult adoration. This trio saw her keeping grunge sentimentality […]Read More
Released on 11 March 2011, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? was the start of a new era of indie music across the UK. Its predecessors, such as Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, as well as Courteeners’ St Jude, had been encapsulated by hyper-regional narrative-bound tales of juvenile […]Read More
On 11 January 2011, Kentucky rock-band Cage the Elephant released their second studio album – Thank You, Happy Birthday. With a variety of styles and musical influences, this album is often acclaimed as the piece of Cage the Elephant discography that demonstrated their versatility and breakthrough talent as a band across all pop, punk, indie […]Read More
Stock Aitken Waterman’s domination of the charts lasted a decade, but the music press’ revulsion towards their work has lasted much longer. Derided as formulaic, cheesy and grating, they have received little serious critical attention, despite having worked with some of the most popular (Kylie, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Steps) and most respected (Donna Summer, Depeche […]Read More
I find it hard to fathom that it was five whole years ago, in January 2016, that Hinds’ LP Leave Me Alone debuted. I remember its release well. I was a single unemployed graduate, you know the story – emotionally vulnerable, unsure, lost in life. I had heard a couple of Hinds songs, and thought […]Read More
Looking back on No More Idols, the album that made drum and bass royalty out of Chase & Status.Read More
It’s always an interesting listening experience when we dive into earlier releases from a successful artist’s discography. It’s a chance to see how they were approaching their music at a time when they were still finding their voice and developing their own distinctive style. Looking back at the last decade, it’s hard to revisit Schoolboy […]Read More
Five years ago today, Anderson .Paak dropped the Grammy-nominated Malibu, a neo-soul masterpiece often cited as his best work. I’d be inclined to agree with the consensus: Oxnard felt like slightly bland pandering with its excess of features (although the presence of Q-Tip was much appreciated) and Ventura was a bit closer to what was […]Read More
“Five years, what a surprise,” to quote the man himself in the curtain-raiser from his definitive long-player The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Indeed we’ve all been crying for the last five years, hard to believe half a decade has already flown by since David Bowie’s passing, three days […]Read More
Widely regarded as something of an enigma in Gorillaz’s discography, The Fall was infamously recorded on an iPad mid-tour. The album features the predominant work of bandleader Damon Albarn alone (with a short feature from Bobby Womack and several recorded conversations and radio broadcasts). More than enough criticism has been directed at the record for […]Read More
Whilst they may have faded a bit more into the background these days, from the late ‘00s to the mid ‘10s After The Burial were one of metalcore’s biggest rising stars. Their first two albums Forging A Future Self and Rareform showcased a uniquely brilliant take on a genre that was starting to become a […]Read More
A couple of weeks ago, Kid Cudi released a YouTube video teasing the third instalment of the Man on the Moon trilogy; a trilogy of albums that had commenced with his 2009 debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day. And now, his sophomore effort, the 2010 concept album Man on the Moon […]Read More
