by Ed Biggs For nearly fifty years, David Bowie has made a career from leaving his past behind him and forging a path for the future, for music as well as himself, making some of the most forward-thinking and celebrated and varied pop in the history of the genre and inspiring countless hundreds of other innovative artists. Truly, his is one of the most totemic reputations in all of popular culture,
Continue reading…
by John Tindale Tell Me I’m Pretty, the fourth album release by Kentucky alt-rockers Cage The Elephant sees the band at a lull in their career. After their initial success with hits ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ and ‘Shake Me Down’, the band now face the task of living up to the hype they had four years ago. Unfortunately, what they’ve come up with only serves as a reminder as
by Ed Biggs A Head Full Of Dreams arrives a mere 18 months after Coldplay’s last effort, no time at all in the grand scheme of major label acts’ recording, release and touring schedules. Posited as the yang to Ghost Stories’ yin, the bright, optimistic dawn of a new day following the dark night of the soul of its heartbroken predecessor, it’s also rumoured to be the band’s final album,
by Matthew Langham Released way back in September, Julia Holter’s fourth studio album has been merited as one of the most significant albums of 2015. While the L.A. musician may not have received much commercial attention from her three previous records, Holter is an artist who is continually shapeshifting through different soundscapes. Have You In My Wilderness sees Holter take on a seasonal soundscape; highlighting the light and dark between autumn
by Ed Biggs Venezuelan-born production wizkid Alejandro Ghersi dropped Xen, his much-hyped studio album as Arca, at almost exactly this point last year, and it was obvious immediately why the likes of Kanye West, Björk and FKA twigs had approached him to harness the fluid, futuristic post-R&B sound that has become his trademark. Here was somebody painting a startling, imaginative way forward for electronic music at a prodigiously young age, able
by Ed Biggs Please, please, please can we let Kurt Cobain rest in peace now? Surely, everything that could possibly be seen, heard, bought and pored over has been exhumed, so can we now get back to admiring a fine body of work without adding increasingly watered-down material to it? Okay? Brett Morgen’s documentary movie Montage Of Heck, released in April, was an unqualified success and one that really should have
by Ed Biggs Roughly a decade ago, when the internet started producing stars, everybody thought that the revolution would lead to artists bypassing the normal music industry model of finding success. Artists would attract fans to their own platforms, therefore making the A&R departments of the labels redundant. However, after a brief flurry in 2006 of artists of artists of who have lasted (Arctic Monkeys) and many others who haven’t (Sandi
by John Tindale Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, has been going through a period of reflection over the three years since the release of last album Visions, a low-budget bedroom record of spectral synths that has had a seismic impact upon the sound of mainstream pop ever since. During this time, Boucher scrapped an album for being too “depressing”, but more importantly she wrote a song for Rihanna (‘Go’) that was subsequently
by Matthew Langham The brainchild of Parisian electronic producer Marc Nguyen Tan, Colder returns after ten years since his critically acclaimed album Heat. Known for his track ‘Crazy Love’, Colder was way ahead of his time following his 2003 debut album Again and decided in 2005 to take a back seat on his solo work and focus on other projects. Ironically, Many Colours has a monochrome, dreamy soundscape which doesn’t stray
by John Tindale Ryan Adams has gained himself a cult-like following by releasing alt-country albums at an alarming rate; 1989 is his 15th album in album in 16 years, and is possibly his most interesting release. The news of an entire Taylor Swift covers album went viral but critics were split on the validity of the artistic endeavour.
