by Ed Biggs Absolutely everything about post-hardcore punk newcomers Bad Breeding sounds perfect. Hailing from Stevenage, an increasingly anonymous Home Counties satellite town serving London, whose high street is absolutely identical to so many other British nowheresvilles and where the local economy has virtually disappeared from the ground, their guttural music at first glance scans as an existential howl of wasted youth, at the encroaching entrapment imposed by socio-economic dictates of
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by Ollie Rankine Perhaps it might be deemed a little unfair, but the reputation that has labelled London folk rockers, Bear’s Den as Mumford & Sons’ younger brothers has always been somewhat challenging to avoid entirely. Having long been friends as fellow artists and both bands previously sharing a stage for an earlier Mumford & Sons tour in the US, Bear’s Den’s 2014 debut Islands also followed an undeniably similar formula
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
by Ed Biggs With a pretty impeccable CV of cutting-edge production for the likes of FKA twigs, A$AP Rocky, Vince Staples and ScHoolboy Q dating back to 2008, it’s incredible that it’s taken nearly a decade for Michael Volpe, the electronic magician known by his stage name Clams Casino, to deliver his first proper studio album.
by John Tindale It has been a tough time for Top Dawg Entertainment in recent years. Yes, there has been the unrivalled success of Kendrick Lamar and his classic To Pimp A Butterfly, but on the whole, the label’s reputation and visibility has certainly dropped from its peak buzz back in 2012. Jay Rock’s 2015 album 90059 remains painfully underrated and Ab-Soul’s These Days was passable at best, but in ScHoolboy
by John Tindale “I always believed I had the potential to be a pop star,” Roisin Murphy quipped on her return to music after eight years away with the excellent Hairless Toys, the follow-up to possibly the most underrated album of the noughties in Overpowered. But, as is the case with many stars, Murphy never seemed to transcend popular culture, in just the same way as her similarly underrated group Moloko
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 Ed Biggs Although they hailed from the comparatively affluent neighbourhood of Hollis in Queens, the trio Run-D.M.C., consisting of rappers Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels and music Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell were arguably the most respected and authentic voices back in the mid-1980s of the then-embryonic genre now known as hip-hop.
by John Tindale Way back in November 2000 – which, from the point of view of 2016, is so long ago it may as well be ancient history: before 9/11, and when Napster was still a thing and iPods weren’t – Australian music collective The Avalanches released their first full-length LP Since I Left You, which was one of the most creative and original albums of the decade. Constructed with painstaking
