As the year draws to a close, we thought we’d take a look at some of the records that have soundtracked our past 12 months. As ever, we’ll remind you that music is not a competition and there is so much to discover out there – and with the government’s (in the UK, at least)…
Manchester-based indie heroes crush have shared new single ‘So Strange’, a song that vocalist and guitarist Amber Warren says is all about overcoming negative thoughts and feelings in a powerful way: ‘It’s a dialogue in the first person, addressing anxiety in a cathartic defiance of the emotions that arise from it’. The band list My…
Ty Segall’s ‘Harmonizer’, his first album in two years, finds the psych-obsessed singer-songwriter exploring new soundscapes and embracing thick keyboard textures, potent guitar sounds and much, much more… ‘Ride’ opens the album in suitably squelchy, synthy and kaleidoscopic fashion as Ty tries to recall the past – ‘She can’t remember where it was’ – and…
Bleach Lab follow the sublime singles ‘Talk It Out’ and ‘Real Thing’ with the ‘Nothing Feels Real’ EP. Produced by Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths, The Cranberries), the EP follows praise from BBC 6 Music, DIY and The Line of Best Fit and finds the South London four-piece opening up about their personal struggles, toxic…
Manic Street Preachers release ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’, the 14th album in their glittering career. Inspired by the bands the trio grew up listening to – ABBA, ‘Fables’-era R.E.M. and Echo and the Bunnymen – the record finds the Welshmen examining where we all fit in today’s uncertain and divisive world. It also features guest…
Alcopop! Records’ signings Snow Coats have shared ‘Right Fit’ – the first new material to be taken from an album due to be released next year. Anouk van der Kamp says the song tackles that phase in a relationship when things start to grind to a halt through no fault of either party: ”Right Fit’…
Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tori Zietsch (pronounced like peach) has shared her debut album ‘To Enjoy is the Only Thing’ via Partisan Records. Written while she was living in Brighton, the record finds Tori digging deep into personal experiences – from growing up in a restrictive religious household to falling in and out of love and travelling:…
Gloucestershire-via-Manchester singer-songwriter Chloe Foy releases her debut album ‘Where Shall We Begin’ on 11 June. Recorded at Pinhole Studios in Manchester and inspired by the likes of Tyler Tamsay, John Congleton and Gillian Welch, Chloe co-produced the album alongside her musical collaborator, Harry Fausing Smith. Chloe says the record’s songs ‘are my most inner and…
Blackpool’s Strange Bones have shared ‘England Screams’ ahead of the release of their debut album of the same name on 20 August via FRKST/300 Entertainment. Frontman Bobby Bentham says the new single focuses on the tumultuous thought process behind human behaviour: ‘It’s like we’re living in a pantomime, everyone is waiting and expecting for something shocking…
Released as part of Nice Swan Records (Sports Team, Pip Blom, Hotel Lux) ‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series, English Teacher’s ‘R&B’ is a powerful and loud piece of art rock with a delicate edge as Lily Fontaine delivers words about caring for someone so much that you end up writing them R&B – even if these…
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