Latest Reviews

London’s own Oscar Lang had an alarmingly busy 2020. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic torpedoing live music, Lang saw his stock rise considerably, releasing not one, not two, but three EPs – Overthunk came first, then Hand Over Your Head, before Antidote To Being Bored rounded out an incredibly, and surprisingly, productive year.

American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and photographer Faye Webster got what was, by any definition of the phrase, a big break when, at the end of last year, none other than former President of the United States of America Barack Obama picked her track Better Distractions for his end of year ‘best of’ list. 

Having carved his name into the list of the last decade’s biggest indie troubadours with his smash hit Another Love (520 million plays on Spotify and counting), a song that will play long into the night at weddings up and down the land for years to come, Chichester singer-songwriter Tom Odell could have ridden off into the sunset, his future and legacy secure, safe in the knowledge his music is loved by many.

Twenty-two-year-old singer songwriter Claire Cottrill – known better as Clairo – began posting her music online around six years ago, quickly winning fans with her unflinchingly honest and real stories. 2017’s lo-fi track Pretty Girl, and it’s accompanying homemade video, proved to be something of a breakthrough, wracking up close to 80 million views on YouTube to date, and leading to her penning a deal with Fader Label, who dropped her debut album Infinity in 2019 to widespread critical acclaim.

If you were looking for a measure of quite how successful The Killers have been in the UK, how completely we’ve taken the Las Vegas outfit to our hearts, then the fact that Mr Brightside, their defining, signature hit, recently passed 280 weeks in the UK top 100 is it. By that metric, it is the most successful song ever released here, and it’s not even close – Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, itself a chart behemoth, is it’s nearest rival with a paltry (by comparison) 166 weeks in the top 100.

For now, Jake Bugg arguably remains Nottingham’s biggest recent star, but he should be wary because hot on his heels in Chloe Rodgers, the latest breakthrough act to emerge from the city’s burgeoning underground scene.

Northumberland-born singer Jade Bird’s self-titled debut album was chock full of gorgeous acoustic guitar and Americana-influenced vocals and songwriting. It reached the top ten of the UK albums chart, and topped the UK Americana chart, making Bird a rising star in the field of contemporary country music. And so, when she decamped to New York and Nashville to work on a followup, it seemed likely that Bird would continue in a similar vein. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

Finneas’ newest single, The 90s, is a harmonious lament with plenty of production tricks and polish expected in a Finneas track.

When the then seventeen-year-old Jake Bugg burst out of the Nottingham suburb of Clifton and onto the Glastonbury stage a decade ago, with his tales of teenage life told in his distinctive and entrancing drawl, he was an almost instant sensation. As the hype built and his songs filled the airwaves, he seemed to be on the verge of becoming the UK’s defining indie star of the decade, a new Gallagher brother for the Snapchat generation. 

In one of the most ambitious and unexpected collaborations of all time, Earth Wind & Fire, Lucky Daye, and Babyface put their talents together to rework and modernize the first’s classic song “Can’t Hide Love” under the new name “You Want My Love”.