Latest Reviews

Nineties BritPop troubadour Richard Ashcroft has been in the news of late for his stance on Covid-19, pulling out of the Tramlines festival in Sheffield back in the summer after announcing on a now-deleted Instagram post: “Apologies to my fans for any disappointment but the festival was informed over 10 days ago that I wouldn’t be playing once it had become part of a government testing programme.”

Born in Sheffield, figurehead of the 90’s Britpop movement, longtime BBC radio presenter: Jarvis Cocker, were you to not know any more than this about him, wouldn’t seem the most obvious candidate for releasing a covers album of classic French pop songs. But Jarvis Cocker, the sartorially beguiling, Michael Jackson protesting, lyrically inspired flaneur: yes, actually a dozen French songs reworked by that Jarvis Cocker suddenly makes a lot more sense.

Album’s have all sorts of interesting and varied origin stories. From the tumultuous and difficult times that saw Fleetwood Mac crafting Rumours against all the odds, to Justin Vernon holing up in his father’s remote cabin for the winter to come to terms with a breakup and recording For Emma, Forever Ago in the process, the stories of how records come into being are often as rich and engaging as the album’s themselves. 

AYLA’s newest single. ‘Ride Along’, is a force not to be reckoned with – a driving energy that’ll inspire you to conquer your day.

In her own interpretation of the holiday classic, Becky Hill delivers a heart-warming performance in ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.

Ludovico’s brilliant imagery through the tips of his fingers shine brighter than ever in his newest single, ‘Natural Light’.

Continuing with the orchestral ventures Cody Fry has been delving into lately, Underground is a beautiful reimagining of one of the tunes on the artist’s first album.

The progressive metal gods have returned from the dead, Steven Wilson fresh with a couple new albums down his belt since Porcupine Tree’s last album, with a new single titled ‘Harridan’. The single is over eight minutes in length, with every second filled with bliss and talent.

Silk Sonic have delivered one of the funkiest tracks of the year, as part of their new LP ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’, titled ‘Fly As Me’, showcasing an array of talents from the two songwriters Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars.

The third and final single, ‘Smokin Out the Window’ from the upcoming album by supergroup Silk Sonic, composed of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, sticks with the same theme as the other two, while showing all sorts of different colours the last two singles hadn’t already painted.