pop
Album Review: ZAYN – “Mind of Mine”
Zayn Malik has certainly made plenty of headlines in the recent months and years, but now he has also made a record and apparently, made up his mind too. “Mind of Mine” sees the 23 year old unleash his version of events, as it were, on the musical world. Those expecting a bitter, revelatory expose …
LIVE: The 1975, Manchester Apollo, 12/3/16
On this tour, The 1975 are doing something rather special- instead of playing arenas to thousands of people like they so easily could, they’re choosing to do several dates at some smaller venues. London’s Brixton Academy saw the band take to its stage no less than four times last week, while the band are now …
Album Review: Låpsley – Long Way Home
Holly Lapsley Fletcher (aka Låpsley) is from Merseyside, but it’s easy to imagine she’s from Scandinavia based on the icy electronica melting under the warmth of her soulful vocals on debut album ‘Long Way Home’. This contrast of hot and cold is an interesting juxtaposition on album opener ‘Heartless’ and it’s a theme that continues …
Album Review: Raleigh Ritchie – You’re a Man Now, Boy
Jacob Anderson is without doubt a talented young man. As an actor, he is known to many as the second most famous (but definitely the most fearsome and endearing) eunuch in “Game of Thrones” where he plays loyal warrior Grey Worm, leader of the Unsullied army and servant to Daenerys Targaryen, the show’s Queen of …
Album Review: The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It
The 1975 have returned, following a brief disappearance from social media (causing ripples of panic to their fans), with their mammoth 17-track sophomore album I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. The record was released worldwide on 26th February 2016, swiftly followed by a tour across the …
Track: Gabriel Bruce – metal soul
Seemingly on the cusp of big things, largely due to his rich, attractive baritone and songwriting comparisons to the likes of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, but since his lauded debut album Love in Arms, things have been quiet. It’s therefore something of a relief that he’s back, on the other sid of the devastating …
New Music: Monkey Swallows the Universe – Sheffield Shanty II, plus live date
It’s niche, I grant you, but for some people somewhere (probably, in all honesty, Sheffield) the news that there is new music from folk/indie poppers Monkey Swallows the Universe, and a live date as well will be causing great excitement and gnashing of teeth and vexing of cattle and the like. Possibly. To be fair, …
Track: Iris Gold – Steve McQueen
The slightly retro but joyously laid back Pop feel of Iris Golds new single, Steve McQueen, perhaps owes something to her unconventional upbringing. Born in London, but brought up in what was essentially what appears to have been a nomadic childhood, which included time squatting for intervals above the famous Folkteatret (‘People’s theatre’) and autonomous …
Album Review: Animal Collective – Painting With
Animal Collective can say that they have most assuredly created their own unique musical world. No one can even come close to reinterpreting their sound and their vibe. Maybe t-U-n-E-y-A-r-D-s to some extent, but not to the exuberant extremes that AC do. I think for many Merriweather Post Pavillion was the point at which this Maryland four-piece …
A beginners’ guide to The Beatles
For me there is one genuine great body of creative work from the 20th Century which is beyond criticism. It towers above the collected work of artists like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. The collected writings of JRR Tolkien finds itself overshadowed by comparison. The original trio of films in the Star Wars franchise looks …