by Matthew Langham and Ed Biggs Following on from the word-of-mouth success of her 2013 double EP A Sea Of Split Peas, it’s quite hard to believe that Sometimes… is Courtney Barnett’s debut album. Already, she has gained a significant following on the back of her EP which included tracks, ‘Avante Gardener’ and ‘History Eraser’. The former track documenting an unfortunate day in which she had an allergic reaction whilst
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by Ed Biggs Following her resplendent fourth album Once I Was An Eagle, which was our second highest-ranked album of 2013 and had critics drawing breathless (and justified) comparisons with the great Joni Mitchell, British alt-folk heroine Laura Marling was suffering from exhaustion. Dissatisfied with the initial batch of songs she wrote in the aftermath, she recharged her batteries in Los Angeles by travelling, meeting people and accumulating experiences and
by Ed Biggs What is it about The Cribs that inspires such devotion? Every true-spirited indie fan knows the answer. The Wakefield trio’s wholehearted devotion to the independent music cause has always been genuine and diligent. Their emergence in 2004, alongside a whole host of lesser grotty British “indie” groups now consigned to the landfill of history, has always seen them unfairly labelled as ‘cocky’, ‘swaggering’ or ‘brash’. The truth
by Ed Biggs It may not seem like it sometimes, but there’s a good reason why some people go on, and on, and on about Bob Dylan: it is quite impossible to overstate the influence he had upon the sound and structure of popular music. He was arguably the first pop musician to use the album format as vehicle to make an artistic statement – before 1964, the album was
by Ed Biggs Twin Shadow is the recording name of Dominican-born American vocalist George Lewis Jr. For those unfamiliar with his music, Lewis’ voice is that of the DJ for the Grand Theft Auto V radio station ‘Radio Mirror Park’. His previous two albums Forget (2010) and Confess (2012) have steadily gained him plaudits and warm critical notices, landing him a support slot on Florence + The Machine’s U.S. tour
by Matthew Langham and Ed Biggs The War On Drugs stopped off in Leeds on their victory lap of the UK, celebrating the slow-burning commercial success of last year’s Lost In The Dream, this publication’s runner-up for album of 2014. The band’s growth has been such that tonight’s gig had to be upgraded in venue size from the Brudenell Social Club to the O2 Academy, and the album’s reputation burgeoned
by Ed Biggs Shedding Skin is the third full-length album from former Mercury Music Prize nominee Ghostpoet, the recording name of Londoner Obaro Ejimiwe. His 2011 debut Peanut Butter Blues And Melancholy Jam was considered a dark horse at the awards ceremony, and though it was eventually beaten by PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake, it set him up as one of the most promising artists of the new decade. A
by Ed Biggs Three years after their exceptional debut album Shrines, the world has now just caught up with Purity Ring. The Edmonton duo’s quirky, sparse brand of electro-pop seemed to suggest a future that had not yet arrived but was just around the corner. Along with similar minimalist artists like Grimes, they’ve influenced the aesthetics of pop and hip-hop in the time they’ve been away. Despite triggering a frenzied
by Ed Biggs Ever since the disappointment of Oasis’ third album Be Here Now, the fall-out from which was enough to kill off an entire musical movement in one go, the genial Noel Gallagher’s career has been something of a paradox. His forthright, self-effacing interviews are invariably a lot more entertaining than the music he’s there to promote. This has been problematic for his development as an artist, since no
by Ed Biggs Few would have thought that of Montreal would ever turn into a minor musical institution, but that status seems to have snuck up on them by accident in the last five years. The group has been elastic in number since its 1997 debut, with leader Kevin Barnes using it as a vehicle to explore the darker corners of his own psyche and allow his fancies to take
