The Student Playlist

Showcasing the Best New Music, Curating the Classics

Latest Reviews

Inside (Deluxe) – Mother Mother

On January 28th 2022, the alt-rock band Mother Mother (who TikTok recently discovered the music of, and as a result the band rapidly grew their…

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Loved You a Little – The Maine, Taking Back Sunday and Charlotte Sands.

January 27th 2022 saw The Maine release their brand new single ‘Loved You a Little’ with Taking Back Sunday and Charlotte Sands. The track has…

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REVIEW: Black Country, New Road – ‘Ants From Up There’ (Ninja Tune)

Having released their debut album For The First Time almost exactly a year ago to the day, Black Country, New Road were prevented from a…

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REVIEW: Yard Act – ‘The Overload’ (Island)

Some critics have recently been arguing that Britain’s ongoing post-punk revival has jumped the shark. That there’s only so many variations of the angular chords,…

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An interview with The Slates

The Slates are an indie-rock band from Mirfield. They are cheeky, charismatic, youthful and talented. These boys are bracing the indie-rock scene with a cheeky…

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Dead Friday Society – Hazel Door Mouse and Support (Northern Quarter)

https://youtu.be/UBnnq6dupPE A diverse range of talents preforming at one of Huddersfield's best bar and music venues. @marnieglum_ - Started off the night with her incredible…

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Staff Playlists

PLAYLIST: August 2021

Catch up with all the best new music released throughout August 2021 with our Spotify playlist below! Happy listening! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2w33e0Cy8VEAkPCmO2HRg8?si=31ac29fd49f04a14

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PLAYLIST: July 2021

Revisit all the best new music released throughout July 2021 with our Spotify playlist! Happy listening! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6sNJgFR1rUvfGzy4tV8ALi?si=115a3e8e3fa24e0e

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PLAYLIST: June 2021

Catch up with all the best new music released throughout June 2021! Happy listening! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5z9zfaqT9t1tYa0QdPMABi?si=b4f18007800d4142

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Live Music

Gigs & Festivals

PREVIEW: Gigs of the Week in Leeds, March 14th-20th

All information correct at the time of publishing - to our knowledge! - regarding Coronavirus cancellations Band.io presents ‘Grl Pwr’ @ Hyde Park Book Club,…

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PREVIEW: Gigs of the Week in Leeds, March 7th-13th

Mush @ Brudenell Social Club, Saturday 7th March Riding high on the recent release of their debut album 3D Routine, a collage of jaunty DIY…

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PREVIEW: Gigs of the Week in Leeds, February 29th-March 6th

Supergrass @ Leeds O2 Academy, Sunday 1st March Commercially successful yet perennially underrated in the context of Britpop, Oxford-based trio Supergrass announced last year that…

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Classic Albums

2000s

CLASSIC ’00s: The Strokes – ‘Is This It’

From the point of view of this writer, now in his mid-thirties and on the brink of first-time fatherhood and actual, tangible adult responsibilities, to…

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CULT ’10s: Bon Iver – ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’

Created with a gargantuan effort to blend the more acoustic sound of For Emma, Forever Ago with Justin Vernon’s more intriguing electronic inclinations and even…

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CULT ’00s: The Shins – ‘Oh, Inverted World’

When two tracks by The Shins’ debut album Oh, Inverted Worldappeared on the soundtrack to 2004 film Garden State - a movie proudly espousing liberal…

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Classic Albums

1990s

CULT ’90s: Dr. Octagon – ‘Dr. Octagonecologyst’

Although he had spearheaded one of hip-hop’s most influential groups as a member of Ultramagnetic MCs – their 1988 debut Critical Beatdown is one of…

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CULT ’90s: Underworld – ‘Second Toughest In The Infants’

In the summer of 1996, at the height of Cool Britannia, a remix of a little-known minimalist house single that had stalled well outside the…

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CULT ’90s: Sparklehorse – ‘Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot’

While much is made of the studio in which an album is recorded, and often rightly so, it’s always worth remembering that less conventionally professional…

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Classic Albums

1980s

CULT ’80s: Mission Of Burma – ‘Signals, Calls, And Marches’ EP

The difference between visibility and obscurity in pop music is surprisingly often a matter of timing. One illustration of this rule is the story of…

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CLASSIC ’80s: Grace Jones – ‘Nightclubbing’

At the turn of the Eighties, despite having established a perfectly successful career in commercial terms, Grace Jones was not the towering, influential pop genius…

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CULT ’80s: Kraftwerk – ‘Computer World’

While they had spent the previous half-decade ahead of the pack with their futurist electronic symphonies – the unstoppable run of albums from Autobahn to…

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Classic Albums

1970s

CULT ’70s: Funkadelic – ‘Maggot Brain’

For some people, hearing the name Funkadelic may likely conjure up images of the rhinestone-studded, outer-space wackiness of mid-to-late ‘70s P-Funk, complete with Bootsy Collins…

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CLASSIC ’70s: Joni Mitchell – ‘Blue’

Before even beginning to think about the significance of Blue, it’s worth remembering and appreciating the extent to which Joni Mitchell was a trailblazer in…

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CLASSIC ’70s: Marvin Gaye – ‘What’s Going On’

For anybody who thinks that the Motown label was a flawless hit-generating machine that churned out classic after classic, consider the reception that greeted Marvin…

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Classic Albums

1960s

CLASSIC ’60s: The Rolling Stones – ‘Let It Bleed’

Pop critics and historians have never been able to agree on what exactly caused the Sixties utopian ideal of love, peace and understanding to expire,…

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CULT ’60s: King Crimson – ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King’

Progressive rock, or ‘prog rock’, has consistently had something of a tainted reputation in the world of music criticism ever since the punk revolution in…

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CLASSIC ’60s: The Beatles – ‘Abbey Road’

Not only is it one of the defining pop culture images of the 20th century, but, in retrospect, the iconic front cover of Abbey Road…

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Staff Lists

The Top 50 Albums of 2021

2021 has been a strange one: novel but repetitive, optimistic and dispiriting at the same time. Although live gigs have finally returned, the wider social…

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The Top 50 Albums of 2020

More than any other year in living memory, music has felt incredibly important in 2020. Not just as a structural means for idling away lockdown…

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The Top 200 Tracks of the 2010s

The indestructible gold standard for pop since the dawn of the recording age, the single format benefitted from an explosion in technology that made its…

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Artist Profiles

“Living Proof At My Fingertips” – A Beginner’s Guide to Echo & The Bunnymen

If the universe was a fair place – and for various reasons, let’s face it, it isn’t – then Echo & The Bunnymen would have…

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“Under Neon Loneliness” – A Beginner’s Guide to Manic Street Preachers

When the Manic Street Preachers began their career on the cusp of the 1990s, they conceived of themselves as a reaction, a contemptible sneer against…

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FROM WORST TO BEST: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

As a presence and influence in popular music, Nick Cave is an institution easily worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with the likes…

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