by Ollie Rankine Although Death From Above 1979 fans were left in a state of neglect after Canadian duo, Sebastien Grainger and Jesse Keeler parted company in 2006, the blow was somewhat supressed by Keeler’s already brewing side project with Alex Puodziukas, MSTRKRFT (pronounced ‘Master-Craft’) whose electro-punk demeanour struck upon similar a tone.
by Ollie Rankine After an unusual four year hiatus riddled by much squabbling among artists hoping for a collaboration, (most notably, Kanye West) Michael Kiwanuka has finally, once again, found himself standing beneath the limelight with the release of his recent album, Love & Hate. Following up his Mercury-nominated, soul-folk debut Home Again, Kiwanuka returns armed with a far more accomplished production team than usual with British producer Inflo and Brian
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by Ollie Rankine It’s slightly amusing to have an external view of the differing blend of continually simmering opinions amongst the ever-growing fan base behind Scottish heavyweights Biffy Clyro. Whilst the battle still rages on between the pre-Puzzle militants and post-Puzzle revolutionaries, the bizarre state of affairs within Biffy-enthusiast civil war may be about to hit overkill with the addition of their seventh studio album, Ellipsis.
by Ollie Rankine Although a significant degree of social progress has been achieved since the mid-20th century civil rights movement for black Americans, 2016 still bears witness to countless acts of unthinkable and unthinking prejudice and discrimination. It seems fitting that Devonté Hynes’ racially charged third record under the name Blood Orange follows up his 2015 track, ‘Do You See My Skin Through The Flames’, which was incidentally released during the height
by Ollie Rankine Having now tucked 20 years of sporadic, noise rock-induced chaos under their belts, San Francisco quartet Deerhoof reveal no intention of pulling the plug from the amplifier any time soon. Being no stranger to distortion that’s so dirty you can taste it, Deerhoof continue their illustrious career with the volume remaining well and truly turned up to eleven with their 17th album, The Magic.
by Ollie Rankine An artist employing the aid of external songwriters in the 21st century is by no means unusual. Whilst the music industry remains dominated by large corporate record labels, commercial viability has never been so important and if the writing talent doesn’t match up to the attractive image, the necessary precautions must be taken. Perhaps with something to prove, the title of Jake Bugg’s new record, On My One
by Ollie Rankine After releasing six indie pop-soaked albums and then spent five years on recording hiatus, Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John have eventually found themselves embarking on the pilgrimage to full blown pop perfection. Perhaps hoping to finally be rid of that never-ending whistle hook that at first helped mould the trio’s career highlight but completely dwarfed their many other fine accomplishments, PB&J’s new album Breakin Point looks for
by Ollie Rankine It’s certainly easy to be cynical about bands like The Temper Trap. Often placed somewhere between the dreariness of U2 and Coldplay, and certainly not helped in the long term by that ubiquitous 2009 song, the Australian four piece’s distinguishing traits are easy to unfairly ignore. For starters, the flawless falsetto vocal range of frontman, Dougy Mandagi provides The Temper Trap with an edge not many artists can
by Ollie Rankine It was sometime after the release of their 2011 album Blood Pressures that The Kills guitarist, Jamie Hince, slammed his hand in a car door which consequently rendered one of his fingers totally useless. Although Hince has undergone five operations in an attempt to return the use of such an essential tool of playing music, the severity of his injury has forced a total shakeup in his guitar
by Ollie Rankine The usual stir of speculation that surrounds the potential sound of an incoming album has so often been proven to be a futile practice due to a recurring lack of accuracy. For anticipating fans of newly formed super group, Minor Victories, cracking the art of guessing seemed a more attainable task than usual.
