If you feel in need of the kind of euphoric rush that will provide balm for your very soul, then Warm Digits are your go-to band. I barely thought it possible that Warm Digits would manage to scale even greater peaks than they already had, but when they r…

Dutch three-piece Under The Surface are one of the most extraordinary and thrilling propositions around and they’re coming to Newcastle this December. Bunting up! Since 2017 – when Under The Surface released their beguiling debut album – this special trio…

If someone could harness the sheer power of Merisa and the Moth’s raw sound then all of our energy problems would be solved at a stroke. Marisa and the Moths play the kind of grunged-up-rock that would shove a bomb under any kind of mosh-pit, and they fir…

Who’s this smoky-voiced human dynamo, then? It’s Elles Bailey of course, and she’s coming to Sage Gateshead to hit you up with a drop of the good stuff. Elles Bailey is from the UK but for her ‘sound’ she draws deep from the wells of various US influenc…

I’m in love! And the object of my amour is a band from Rotterdam named Rats On Rafts. They’re playing North Shields this December. Oh Rats On Rafts! Where have you been all my life? I only got on board with this year when they released their startlingly g…

Sunderland has an incredible new music venue in the shape of The Fire Station, and their line-up for the coming weeks and months will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and go “Woo! Woo! Woo!” Sunderland must have been very good this year…

The Quietus – your online go-to guide for all that’s best about the chin-stroking end of the indie spectrum – have slapped Black Country, New Road with a ‘Best Band in the World’ rosette. Fancy that! I’m not sure if Black Country, New Road are the best ba…

Armed only with her trusty ukulele, Middlesbrough’s Amelia Coburn is one of the most captivating artists in the north-east. A couple of years ago, we loved Amelia Coburn so much that we put her on the cover. Back then she traded mainly in cover versio…

Hey Komparrison! Why the funny spelling? A ‘K’ instead of a ‘C’? Two ‘Rs’? Krrazy! But they’re a band who only recognise two sets of rules in this goddamn dirty world: theirs and everyone else’s. Guess which ones they play by? When I first clocked a pictu…

Oh! My eyes! I hate these migraine-inducing press pics. But Sunderland’s Faye Fantarrow can hit us up with any kind of image she likes if she keeps making alt-indie-pop that is as good as her latest single ‘Noughties’. “I wanted Noughties to be a complete…

The wondrous Jessie Ware is back in Newcastle in early December to get the party season started with a back catalogue of songs that are designed to set rumps a-rotating. Jessie Ware’s ‘What’s Your Pleasure’ was the best album of 2020. There. I’ve said it.…

Grace Petrie is one of the most impassioned folk singers the UK has produced in recent years, and she’ll be bringing her fiery solidarity to both Newcastle and Middlesbrough over the coming months. You may know Grace Petrie for the song ‘Black Tie’, which…