On his 2018 album Love Is Magic, John Grant fully indulges the electronic quirks and avant-garde left-turns that made up much of his previous album Grey Tickles, Back Pressure. But Grant’s fourth album also ditches […]
Category: Gig previews
The Internet have finally found it
With a self-sabotaging un-Google-able name and a an open-doors fluctuating policy with members, The Internet don’t always make it easy for themselves. Frontwoman Syd (fka Syd Tha Kyd) also had a rocky enough start as […]
The Armed keep flipping hardcore
The Armed call themselves a “punk rock band from Detroit, Michigan” on their Bandcamp page, but they’re selling themselves short. The band take hardcore rage as a starting point and wrangle in atonal electronics, noise-rock […]
Deconstruction time again: Massive attack tear apart their masterpiece Mezzanine
In the hysterical climate of retromania, band reunions and anniversary tours, it’s easy to forget the albums that actually deserve the adulation. In recent times we’ve had 10-year anniversary tours of indie detritus bands such […]
Broken rules: Neneh Cherry’s still a restless maverick
Neneh Cherry has just won a Swedish Grammi Award – with her latest LP Broken Politics winning Best Electronic Album of the Year. It’s a quick reminder that she’s actually Swedish, even though she’s left […]
Gum Takes Tooth’s “what-the-fuck aural mesmerism”
London duo Gum Takes Tooth are a self-described “two-man everything machine endlessly seeking what-the-fuck aural mesmerism”, and they suit the hyperbole. The pair’s third album Arrow is a snarly, wired-up tangle of rusty electronics skuzzy […]
Sleaford Mods: We don’t need nobody else…
The 2017 Sleaford Mods documentary Bunch of Kunst followed the post-punk minimalists’ rise from the sticky carpet pubs of UK satellite towns to the Glastonbury Pyramid Stage and a deal with legendary label Rough Trade […]
Shabazz Palace: True cosmic hip-hop outliers
Seattle hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces’ journey from avant-garde rap to the astral plane outer limits got a cosmic turbo boost with their most recent album project. Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs […]
The Messthetics – way more than half of Fugazi
Post-hardcore punk experimentalists Fugazi are the least likely band to reform for a cash grab — after 16 years as the ultimate DIY act and capping gig tickets at barely break-even prices. But even if […]
Elvis-fronted Nirvana is like a drunken idea that even made sense the morning after
It’s the kind of drunken idea that rarely gets past the wtf checking your texts hangover stage — but Elvana really are a band of Geordies who play Nirvana covers — with an Elvis impersonator […]
Surely Time’s Up for Steel Panther?
Cock-rock parody act Steel Panther have always been a joke that kinda got outta hand, but who knows where they fit in the post-MeToo era. Seriously, though, they sold out the Academy in Dublin last […]
A big Shout-out to Tears For Fears
Too often, the shorthand for 80s pop is a few lazy pointers like frizzy perms, shoulder pads and cheap Casio preset production line hits. But when you dig underneath the anthemic choruses and tinny synth […]
Azealia Banks: If you’ve run out of celebrities to troll, just troll half a country
It takes some serious effort to be the most controversial person on the cesspit of humanity that is Twitter, but Azealia Banks has been there, done that, and she’s been racking up the troll points […]
Fucked Up: Stretching hardcore to the limit
Toronto act Fucked Up have transcended their hardcore punk roots without selling out in the slightest – on their 80-minute concept album Dose Your Dreams last year. Loosely, it’s a story of a factory worker […]
DJ Stingray is always the sound of the future
A key figure in the Detroit techno underground, Sherard Ingram aka Stingray has been DJing for over 25 years, as well as producing futuristic hyper-speed electro and conceptual ambient and downtempo works – the latter […]
Moo Kid 