For the fifteenth year running, we made our way to Richfield Avenue to enjoy Reading Festival. An annual tradition, it’s a festival where plenty of teenagers go through a rite of passage although this year there seemed to be a more varied age in the audience. This year’s main stage line-up wasn’t really geared towards…
David Batty. Nicky Butt. Scott Parker. All footballers who may not have been the most fashionable players – very few were rushing to get a Butt ‘8’ shirt on their Manchester United kit during the 1990s – but were vital cogs in the workings of their respective sides. Respected by managers and team-mates for the…
Melodic and mathy, Glasgow quartet Dialects have released the video for ‘Unknown Orbit’, the first single to be taken from their upcoming debut EP ‘Let the Kids Light these Lanterns’. This song is full of all the things post and math rock fans love – odd time signatures, dramatic changes in pace and delicately poised…
Painfully young (they’re still in their teens) and hailing from Latvia, Carnival Youth belie their tender years with a folk sound that sits between Fanfarlo’s hazy dream-pop and the more traditional indie-esque ambience of Stornoway. With a grand, cinematic video to accompany ‘Never Have Enough’, the lead track from their new EP, the band has…
Fifteen years later and American Football have unveiled a new video for ‘Never Meant’. Celebrating the reissue of their seminal debut self-titled album, the video harks back to Illinois in 1999 with vivid and nostalgic imagery that features the house on the record’s famous sleeve. With record shops, mixtapes and polaroid photographs, the video is…
‘Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only’ is a title that immediately pricks your ears; will you be transported to a strange and serene place away from all your worries while listening to it? Will the very dreamy atmosphere translate across to the sound? The third album from Torrance, California’s Seahaven, it follows the critically acclaimed…
A one-man band formed in James Brown’s bedroom in Birmingham just last year, Mutes has wowed people across the country with a solo show made up of loops, pedals, samples and reverb and now he releases his debut self-titled EP via One Note Forever Records. Echoed vocals open the EP on the strongly titled ‘Hope,…
Already a favourite with all the trusted BBC presenters, Sam Airey is set to release his debut album later this year, but first he will drop the first single in June, the title track ‘Station Approach’, via Hide & Seek Records. Recorded and mixed by Whiskas from ¡Forward, Russia! and mastered by the Leeds band’s…
Named after a satirical Ukrainian novel by Andrey Kurkov, Londoners Death and the Penguin have been quietly creating a buzz since emerging in 2013. Having played a few shows with Spectral Nights favourites Spring Offensive, we were excited to hear the results of their debut EP ‘Accidents Happen’, released via Best Before Records in May.…
Long-time favourites of Spectral Nights, Guildford three-piece Dragons that Make Love to Pandas finally release their new EP ‘Roundabouts’ via Bandcamp. With a CD available for just £2.50, the five tracks find the trio making huge strides forward and fulfilling the potential their early releases showed. Recorded at Opus Studios by Thom Ashworth from Our…
