Album Review: Azzurro 80 – Flashback; warm 80s fused instrumentals hit the right spot
On Flashback, Azzurro 80 invites listeners into a lush, imagined memory of the 1980s—a world shaped more by the ghosts of old television idents and faded VHS movie trailers than by the actual charts of the era. It’s a beautifully constructed instrumental album where groove, mood, and nostalgia blend seamlessly into a single cinematic vision. Opening …
Live Review: Manic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking Tour, Manchester O2 Apollo, 2.5.2025
The Manic Street Preachers launched their much-anticipated ‘Critical Thinking’ tour with a sold-out show at Manchester’s O2 Apollo on May 2, 2025. Despite unforeseen delays due to a reported motorway fire and Glossop’s notorious traffic, which caused us to miss support act Honeyglaze, the evening unfolded into a triumphant celebration of the band’s enduring legacy. …
EP Review: Chapterhouse – White House Demos; early psych-fuzz brilliance from Shoegaze legends
Long before they carved out a legacy as one of the defining names in shoegaze, Chapterhouse were just four gigs in and brimming with raw psychedelic energy. White House Demos, recorded live in a single day in January 1989 at The White House studio in Weston-super-Mare, captures the band in their earliest and perhaps most primal …
Album Review: TVOD – Party Time; loud, jagged and full of heart
Brooklyn’s post-punk firebrands TVOD (Television Overdose) explode onto the scene with Party Time, a debut album that’s loud, jagged, and unexpectedly full of heart. It’s a record built for sweaty clubs and emotional release — an intoxicating mix of snarling guitars, warped synths, and chant-along choruses that channel chaos into catharsis. It’s punk for misfits who …
EP Review: DJ Cosworth – Hard30 EP; fierce and finely tuned UKG/tech-house from Hardline boss
Bristol’s own DJ Cosworth takes the wheel with Hard30 EP on his own Hardline imprint, with a debut that lives up to its name – three fierce, finely-tuned cuts that fuse tech house toughness with the rolling swagger of UK garage. This is music for dark rooms, low ceilings, and high energy. Opening track Nuff Gyal kicks things off …
Track: The Perfect English Weather release the gorgeous indie pop of London By The Sea / Flames
The Perfect English Weather – Simon and Wendy Pickles of 90s indie pop favourites The Popguns, return with a double offering that reaffirms their gift for crafting wistful, melodic indie pop soaked in gentle melancholy. “London By The Sea,” the second single from their upcoming album Just Beyond The Lights, is a beautifully rendered daydream — a shimmering …
Review: Prima Queen – The Prize; Melancholy, melody, and indie magic.
Every album needs a portal. The Prize, the radiant debut from Prima Queen, opens with “Clickbait”—a shimmering 40 seconds of ambient fog, like the band’s way of saying: “Give us a moment, we’re about to turn on the lights.” What follows is something both starry-eyed and deeply grounded: a collection of songs that walk hand …
Meet: “Let the Wound Stay Open”: Ezra Furman on Goodbye Small Head
Ezra Furman has never shied away from the raw, the sacred, or the chaotic. But with Goodbye Small Head—her new album described as “twelve variations on losing control”—she dives deeper into the uncontainable than ever before. Written in the throes of emotional, physical, and spiritual upheaval, the record is a fever dream of orchestral emo, …
Album Review: Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo; Grief grooves with funk-fueled resilience.
Emma-Jean Thackray’s new album Weirdo is a bold, technicolour triumph — deeply personal, fiercely original, and bursting at the seams with groove-laden jazz funk. Self-produced, self-performed, and self-mixed in the solitude of her South London flat, it’s the work of a visionary artist refusing to compromise. Across 17 tracks, Weirdo is a kaleidoscopic journey through …
Live Review: The K’s / CVC /Passion Parade – Octagon Theatre, Sheffield 25.04.2025
words: Jim F / pictures: Huw Williams, Jim F Last Friday night saw a sold-out Octagon Theatre absolutely bouncing as The K’s headlined a blistering triple bill that left Sheffield reeling. Riding a wave of momentum, the Earlestown quartet proved exactly why they’re one of the UK’s most talked-about live bands, delivering a riotous, passionate …