Early Maze was a band – with some band members – but now they number just one among their ranks. Thankfully, that remaining member is Jamie Harwood. Harwood (who lives in Hexham) has a fine ear for a rollicking melody and there are bags of them on this al…
Sam Ryder stole our hearts after bagging second place in Eurovision with ‘SPACE MAN’. While the number 1 hit features on his debut, its title being a line from the song, Sam Ryder deserves to be so much more than a one hit wonder. From uplifting anthem ‘S…
SZA has been in everyone’s headphones lately, starring in a string of successful collabs, and her single ‘I Hate U’ achieved the royal status of a TikTok song. The drop of this album, then, was eagerly awaited, and fans will be delighted that SZA has spoi…
Billy Nomates is the project of Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, and this, her second album, is an absolute gem. Her self-titled debut album from 2020 was replete with Patti Smith-like punk rock, grungy guitars and …
I don’t make enough time for instrumental music, but ‘In Our Softening’ demands to be heard. Created on an abandoned 1903 upright, the album is a collection of 9 beautifully soft piano pieces. Subbayya notes “Through our collective softening, we can open …
This third album from New Orleans’ Dawn Riding - the musical alias of Sarah Rose Janko - is a beautiful, emotive take on country music. “I love music that talks to you and keeps you company”, she shared, and this is definitely something that ‘You’re Still…
We’re suckers for an up and coming north-east artists, and this slice of psychedelia from Nancy hits the spot. I was already sold when he described it as “inspired by midnight shadows behind closed curtains in crummy B&Bs, cigarette smoke after hours in s…
The second album from this New York native is a release to cherish – particularly if you like your alt-rock to be a little bit frazzled around the edges. She’s dunked these swaggering songs in a big vat of psych and pulled in all manner of other influence…
This Scottish singer/songwriter has penned stuff for the likes of Jessie Ware and Olivia Holt but she also shines as a solo artist with her third album ‘Älskar’, in particular, really setting down a marker. And now that very same album has been released i…
The debut album from this local fella should excite anyone who enjoys rock of a classic nature. There are all sorts of echoes to be found within these grooves, from Steely Dan to Mark Knopfler to Fleetwood Mac, with the emphasis being on memorable tunes, …
George Lamb remains one of the best blues guitarists in the region and for his latest album he’s roped in a real roll-call of some of the north-east’s leading lights including Don Airey (Deep Purple), George Shovlin (Blues Hall of Fame) and Emma Wilson (w…
Eliza Carthy is the daughter of folk legends Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, but over the last thirty years she has managed to carve out her own distinct niche on the scene. And she’s celebrating those illustrious thirty years with this album which feat…
Discovered by Peter Gabriel, and mentored by Allen Ginsberg, Addie Brik – who was born in US but has lived in the UK since 1998 – is an artist who just keeps coming up with the goods. Her latest album (which features contributions from Deacon Blue’s Jim P…
Since they released 2018’s ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, Arctic Monkeys’ new sound has been divisive to say the least. Though, like many, I’m admittedly much more a fan of their older albums, there were a handful of songs from the 2018 release I real…
Once dismissed as just another pop princess, with her dating history of more interest than her talent, Taylor Swift’s incredible, poetic lyricism is finally being embraced, allowing her to shine particularly bright on ‘Midnights’. The concept of the album…
Billingham’s Phil Smart – in his guise of To Kill A Nation – has enthralled us in the past with his electronica, and now he’s back with his second full album. It’s been two years in the making and, pleased to report, it’s certainly been worth the wait. He…
‘Hold the Girl’ is a pop album with a difference. British-Japanese artist Rina Sawayama has the same kind of power in her vocals as some of the most influential women in pop - there’s a hint of Ariana Grande here, a Gaga-esque belt there. From emotive, me…
Through this second release, Noah Cyrus introduces herself as a force stronger than the diminishing label of ‘the youngest Cyrus’. ‘The Hardest Part’, which leans into her Nashville roots by mixing acoustic pop and country, is simultaneously contemplative…
This Mumford and Son has gone it alone - a wise decision. ‘Cannibal’ steals the show for me - addressing Mumford’s experience of sexual abuse as a child for the first time publicly, in a raw, cathartic and poetic way that struck me to my core. ‘Grace’, is…
This Anglo/Scottish duo met as students on the folk degree course at Newcastle University and – what do you know – they’re still based in Newcastle. And this – their debut album – is a real delight from beginning to end. Their playing (taking in everythin…
Newcastle’s Richard Dawson has carved out the same sort of niche for himself today that Robert Wyatt did for himself in the 1970s. They batter genres into new and interesting shapes. His latest album is the final part of a trilogy that began with ‘Peasant…
Durham’s Prince Bishop are a three-piece who are certain to gain national recognition, certainly if their debut album is anything to go by. It’s a superbly crafted release that shares the DNA of classic rock bands of yore – with Supertramp and ELO being o…
Daniel Clifford – wearing his Amateur Ornithologist trousers – returns with another collection of pop songs that are whip-smart in the best English tradition of whip-smart pop outfits: The Kinks, XTC, Squeeze etc. He’s equally adept at slowing things righ…
Summer Night Air is a local artist who makes electronica that is fleecily warm and shot through with starry-eyed delights. This album features collaborations with Jennie Brewis (the gorgeously ethereal ‘Words Halfway’) and local rapper Reali-T (the langui…
This album is strangely chilled out for a 1975 album, and while it’s interesting to hear a different sound, it just doesn’t stand out enough to match the power of their previous releases. The lyrics are preoccupied with romance - a stark contrast to the p…
Manchester’s Pip Millett has been building a steady following and her much anticipated debut album delivers a huge dollop of good vibes – particularly if you like your R&B to be as slinky as silk. This is real throttle-back stuff, but Millett breathes lif…
This review is technically 45 years late, as ‘Natureza’ was recorded back in 1977. However, this album from Brazilian feminist icon, Joyce Moreno, is only just seeing the light of day, and it is an injustice that we have been starved of its delicious soun…
The title ‘Garageband Superstar’ hit a bit close to home for me; my 15 year old self desperately tried to create the next hit via Garageband, and yet here I am, writing about other people’s music. However, I will humbly let Lauran Hibberd have this victor…
If you grew up in the noughties like I did, the title of Ari Lennox’s new album may just take you back to a dodgy chat room where “ASL?” was the go-to greeting. This isn’t the only nostalgia the release brings. ‘age/sex/location’ has the smooth, sultry so…
Angsty lyrics, powerful vocals and jangly guitar melodies dominate the new release from NYC’s MAYA LUCIA. Sprawling across genres ranging from garage to pop to indie to punk, the singer-songwriter’s rich pool of influences and refusal to be pigeon-holed s…
This is the second album from this bunch of London rabble-rousers whose full-throated folky punk will be manna from heaven for fans of The Pogues. It’s a concept album of sorts, with each song intending to provide a snapshot of life on the British Isles. …
After the heartbreak heavy ‘Old Flowers’ the Arizona alt-country star Courtney Marie Andrews returns with an album that sees her turning her face to the sun. This is a decidedly more upbeat affair and filled with a renewed sense of romance and freedom. Fe…
North London’s Sorry crashed a few Best Albums of the Year lists in 2020 with the release of their debut album ‘925’ – a playful mix of indie, jazz, pop and sass. They claim that for this release they’re paying homage to classic songwriters of the 1970s, …
Phil Tyler & Sarah Hill are a popular duo on the local folk scene and their new album is just another example of why they’re so loved. They deliver music that feels steeped in tradition, with minimal instrumentation (guitar, banjo and ukulele are variousl…
Michael Baines is a stalwart of the Teesside music scene – having been a musician, sound engineer, gig promoter and more – and WOOLCRAFT is his solo project of which ‘Y.Y.U.Y.B’ is his seventh release. He likes to operate in those little gaps that exist b…
Jo Bartlett – who was part of the C86 scene and ran the Buzz Club in Aldershot – has an excellent blog, Indie Through The Looking Glass, in which she write about, well, all things indie. This album features old interviews/band rehearsals with the likes of…
I happened to be on a treadmill of all places when I listened to Hot Chip’s eighth album. Very few songs are able to get me through my cardio slog, but opening track ‘Down’ is so ridiculously addictive and funky that I actually rather enjoyed my run for a…
Winnipeg’s Living Hour are now three albums deep into their career, and this third release is a haze of laidback and woozy sounds that make space for contemplative, emotional lyrics. There’s a delightful softness about this album, and it’s easy to get los…
I always find it heartening that The Unthanks have risen to such national prominence, despite the fact they sing about starving bairns who live in coal sheds and can only find warmth by wrapping themselves in the shredded rags they steal from corpses hang…
Megan Thee Stallion is without a doubt one of the most exciting rap artists of the modern scene, and in ‘Traumazine’ she is on top form, spitting the kind of lyrics that have made her such an empowering (and, inevitably, divisive) figure. She is ferocious…
The fourth album from Bay Area’s Sarah Bethe Nelson delivers a fresh new batch of laid back indie tracks with witty lyrics and a sound she has become synonymous with. It has the introspection that one would expect from an album recorded in a living room d…
‘Renaissance’ is quite a juxtaposition of a title, as this long-awaited album feels more like a culmination of the new Beyonce introduced by 2016’s ‘Lemonade’, rather than a revival of her past as the queen of the pop ballad. In fact, there’s not a single…
This is the third album from this New Zealand quartet, with Elizabeth Stokes once again mining her own life for tales which are autobiographical but also a basis for character sketches touching on family, love and friendship. Musically, the band are still…
In her first solo album SRSQ (aka Kennedy Ashlyn) navigated the grief caused by the death of her Them Are Us Too partner. For the follow up – and in wake of an ADHD and bipolar diagnosis – she’s searching, and finding, redemption through some incredibly s…
Kramies is a US singer/songwriter who has found much favour among the alt-Americana, indie-folk, lilting-space-rock crowd and his latest sees him weaving together hazy memories and half-remembered stories for an album of rare beauty. If you’re a fan of Gr…
A lot of the talk about this sixth Kasabian album is debating whether or not former frontman Tom Meighan is missed. To address that elephant in the room: he did something really shit, so no he is not. Back to the task at hand, ‘The Alchemist’s Euphoria’ h…
This is Beth Orton’s first album in six years and, pleased to report, it’s replete with the kind of soul-baring, and soul-lifting, songs we’ve come to expect from her. It was written, apparently, on an old battered piano she saved from Camden Market. I do…
Local outfit The False Poets are purveyors of all things freakbeat and they’re celebrating their tenth anniversary with their third album (and first compilation), which pulls together some of their finest cuts. Tracks such as ‘Did It Feel Real?’ drip with…
Featuring Brian Wahlstrom (Gods of Mount Olympus) and Zach Quinn (PEARS) this San Diego outfit have caught the ear of many a taste-maker with their ‘yacht punk’ sound – which is basically up-and-at-‘em alt-rock given a seventies and eighties gloss. It wor…
Unwanted (Dirty Hit) I was previously of the opinion that once you’ve heard one Pale Waves song, you’ve heard them all, but this third album from the Manchester band offers something a little more intriguing. It expands on the pop punk territory that was…
Born in Kenya, raised in Switzerland, Canada and the Bahamas, Nuela Charles has been compared to everyone from Etta James to Amy Winehouse to Adele, but, in truth, she’s very much her own thing. Her latest album is rich with anthemic soul songs that luxur…
This new album from MUNA is filled with a free, feel good sound. It’s so refreshing to not only see a queer, female/ non-binary band putting themselves on the map (they have quite the fan base), but also writing songs that actively encourage other queer…
Swedish post-punk band Viagra boys are no stranger to lifting the lid on the grim reality of the world we live in through their witty lyrics and funky beats, but this third album goes one step further to encapsulate modern hysteria in a genius, if-you-do…
The second EP from Isle of Wight newcomers, As We Leave, offers a fresh take on indie psych-pop that fans of Tame Impala and Blur will take very well to. Their hazy, dreamy sound, made up of gentle vocals, jangling melodies, laid back percussion and just…
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