Latest Reviews

Canadian singer and songwriter Alex Frew made a lot of people sit up and take note with his debut single Get Out Alive, which was released earlier this year. That track was a smart, slickly produced pop number that framed his rich vocals with a slow beat and warm sound.

Critics of the pop-punk genre often (unfairly) point to the formulaic output of many of the scene’s bands, but that’s a criticism that could never be levelled at Knuckle Puck. The five-piece craft richly complex songs that manage to be at once immensely catchy, but also reward repeated listens by slowly unveiling the components that come together to create their tracks.

Canadian punk rockers PUP only dropped their third album Morbid Stuff last year, but already the frantic four-piece are back with a new single called Rot, taken from their upcoming new six-track EP This Place Sucks Ass, which is due out through Little Dipper/Rise on 23 October.

New York rockers American Authors burst into the mainstream more than half a decade ago with their hit singles Believer and Best Day Of My Life taken from their 2014 debut album Oh, What A Life. By that point though, the band had been together for almost a decade, having met while in college in Boston and played together under the moniker The Blue Pages until they rebranded in 2012. A heavy touring schedule and follow up albums What We Live For in 2016, and last year’s Seasons continued to win the group fans for their eclectic, party-starting anthems.

After dropping her debut album On Hold in 2018, Bristolian singer songwriter Fenne Lily toured Europe and spent time on the festival circuit, before holing up in Berlin to pen a follow up. That new record, Breach, is a deeply personal offering, much like her first, only this time there are a far wider range of elements under the microscope, which isn’t surprising. On Hold was written when Lily was just a teenager, while this record, in her own words, “is proof that I can be emotionally stable, even if right now I feel a little bit up and down”.

Justin Bieber’s latest single ‘Holy’ featuring Chance the Rapper is a sweet, serendipitous exploration of love at its most sacred and innocent.

Ali Gatie’s latest single ‘Welcome Back’ would have been a pleasing, catchy tune on its own but Alessia Cara’s inclusion takes it to the next level.

Astrid S’s new single ‘It’s Ok If You Forget Me’ functions as an adorable nostalgia piece that will transport you straight to the last 1990s.

Kygo once again travels back to the late seventies to seek inspiration for his latest mix ‘Hot Stuff.’

Few bands remain as synonymous with their biggest hit as Semisonic, whose 1998 smash hit Closing Time has become the band’s legacy, the kind of signature track that has far outlasted the group itself. More than that, Closing Time has passed into wider popular culture, appearing in a wide variety of films and TV shows, and will probably remain on karaoke playlists for centuries to come. It’s not ridiculous to speculate that more people know that song than know who wrote it.