There’s something incredibly dignified about ‘Blue & Lonesome’, a covers album that shows the Stones as music fans rather than as rock gods.
Well, November was a bit of a downer wasn’t it? Most of the millennial generation looked on in bewilderment as an ill-educated loudmouth with improbable hair scooped the American presidency. The great Leonard Cohen, rock’s foremost man of letters and the guy at the top of the tower of song, was added to the list of legends who have passed away in 2016. On the musical front, things looked quite
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The enormous critical success and cult following which DJ Shadow’s seminal debut Endtroducing….. attracted has been a double-edged sword for its creator over the subsequent two decades. The first ever album to be constructed entirely from samples, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it came to so completely encapsulate the hazy, smoky trip-hop that became fashionable in the late ‘90s that it’s been an millstone for Josh Davis
In some circles, the fact that If You’re Feeling Sinister did not make Belle & Sebastian the most popular band of the late 1990s is regarded as the greatest injustice in the history of popular music, such is the devotion it inspires. While that may be an overstatement, it is certainly not contentious to say that Belle & Sebastian divide opinion. All of the characteristics for which their fans adore
The runaway success of Beastie Boys’ 1986 debut album Licensed To Ill marked the point at which rap and hip-hop truly went overground, becoming a mainstream phenomenon for the very first time. Along with Run D.M.C.’s similarly classic Raising Hell just a few months previously, it represented a watershed moment for the genre, finding a home on MTV when previously it was confined to the underground and those in the
A tribute to the great songwriter Leonard Cohen, and a whistle-stop guide to his discography.
Released in 1991, ‘Loveless’ expanded the boundaries for guitar music’s potential, re-marking the pitch upon which the game was to be played.
October has seen a number of pop and indie’s most prestigious names returning to the fold after significant absences. Two Door Cinema Club returned with their first record in four years, while Justin Vernon’s Bon Iver released our Album of the Month with the exceptional 22, A Million and Lady Gaga delivered her fourth album, Joanne. Big new releases come in the shape of Manchester’s Courteeners, indie/drone rock stars Toy,
Halloween at university is a time of topical costumes, ingenious cocktails, obscene house parties… and ace music. However, if you’re throwing a party this Halloween, or if you simply don’t want to listen to ‘Thriller’ again (however awesome it may be) and want to take over the music for a while, here’s an awesome Spotify playlist of 16 spooky songs from the worlds of rock, indie and hip-hop. Whatever you’re
‘You Want It Darker’ shows an erudite artist still intent on pushing himself and addressing the world as he sees it, even in his eighties.
