Boxed In is the vehicle respected producer Oli Bayston has chosen to fuse his vision of indie, funk and electronica. He’s put together a crack band who are getting on the road for some UK dates before jetting to the States for a short tour. He also knocks out tunes for other artists, and rumour …

I was one of those punters who turned up for Sarah Cracknell’s much anticipated City Varieties appearance on Sunday June 21st only to find it been cancelled at the last moment due to a throat infection. The St Etienne singers has now rescheduled for Sunday 26th July as she promotes her highly acclaimed second solo …

Helen Marnie was studying classical piano in her native Glasgow before dropping out to take a degree in pop music at the University of Liverpool. There she met Daniel Hunt, Reuben Wu and Mira Aroyo forming Ladytron who have influenced a generation of British electronic acts. With the band on hold Marnie is out on …

Sometimes having big money thrown at you can take the edge of off a band but with Pins it has made them stronger. Yes, the edges are smoother thanks to Dave Catching after they travelled to the Joshua Tree to work at his Rancho De La Luna, but that’s no bad thing. The vocals and …

Loop’s brutal riffs and brand of literate indie rock built them a cult following in the late ‘80s. Despite three successful albums and well received Peel sessions they imploded in 1991 before intense fan pressure encouraged them to reform in 2013. Ahead of a short string of dates Paul Clarke caught with the last founder …

Folk music is as hip now as it has ever been so it’s timely that Fairport Convention are back on the road because they completely revolutionised this most traditional of genres. Fairport may have been going 48 years, but once again they are on their traditional Spring tour of smaller venues and according to long …

It’s been a strange couple of days for arguably our nation’s best songwriting team. Tonight they are playing a small socialist club in West Yorkshire to 180 hard core fans, and tomorrow they face 50,000 as they support Foo Fighters at Old Trafford cricket ground thanks to a direct request from Dave Grohl. This might …

Any indie kid can instantly identify the trademark Wedding Present choppy guitars but main man David Gedge has a fascinating side line as Cinerema where he experiments with very different sounds. He’s really gone for this time on Valentina which is a radical recording of the Weddoes album in the style of a louche Vegas …

It seemed like Eagulls were an overnight sensation when Six Music’s Steve Lamacq picked them as his favourite new band of 2013 but this tight knit Leeds five piece have been together half a decade. Their self-titled debut album was one of the best British records of last year, but the band’s drummer Henry Ruddell …

It seems to be a great mystery why smug dullards like Elbow are packing out arenas when the infinitely superior Kloot are operating a couple of levels below. This splendid live album provides the answer as the sort of people who love soulless stadium shows would pee their pants faced with John Bramwell’s twisted poetry …