Live Review: Darkwave alt-pop sensation – Artemas at the O2 Forum Kentish Town 11.11.24
I principally believe we are living in a post “one-hit-wonder” era where pop music is concerned, mostly owing to the space the online world has given artists. You can have an artist, completely devoid of songs you recognise, be unfathomably popular in a way you could never have realised. In this vein, I was invited …
Album Review: Kitty Fitz’s moving alt-pop statement: ‘The Man in Me’.
South East London-based songwriter: Kitty Fitz‘s music is on-paper, very consistent with what a good chunk of British indie music is now: DIY offshoots of bedroom pop that are lyrically confessional and sonically understated. But while a lot of bands and artists seemingly aren’t trying to diversify this, there’s a growing vein of musicians who …
Live Review: Kitty Fitz – Third Man Records, London 25.7.2024
Third Man Records’ Blue Basement simulates what it would be like if you crossed a TED-talk stage with a laserquest. There’s a big yellow Smeg fridge with the word Literarium printed on it that spits out coffee-table paperbacks if you slot magic tokens near a hole labelled: ‘Try a Lucky Dip!’. It’s compact but mercifully …
EP Review: London duo Nudista’s raw new vision on ‘Nothing Makes Sense Until It Does’
London based duo: Nudista are back on form with their newest EP since the lockdown-recorded folk rock outing: Halfway Here. When I reviewed that record, I was struck by the songwriting chemistry of the two key members: Pilar Matji Cabello and Robbie Carman. They work way more as a partnership than most bands, and though …
NYC trio: Trinket coalesces new shades of jangle-pop dreaminess on debut EP ‘New Hobby’
Trinket are a fresh new entry into the increasingly growing stir of jangle-pop bands. With their previous singles fusing shimmering, sweet guitar riffs and featherlight dream pop sensibilities well enough to book them for this year’s SXSW, I was excited to see what a fuller length exploration of their sound would be like. ‘New Hobby’ …
Album Review: Reciprocate’s explosive and extraordinary performance on ‘Soul to Burn’.
New from London noise-rock trio Reciprocate, is a record that seems inspired by the sounds of all popular noise rock of the last 25 years. From the on-the-nose heavy riffs of bands like Death from Above 1979, to the more math-centric complexities of bands like Hella and Lightning Bolt, there’s a sound on Soul to …
Symbol Soup release dreamy, lush and poetic new album: ‘Slow Puncture’.
Symbol Soup is the indie-folk project of musician Michael Rea, and their new record: Slow Puncture is an album that can be linked to a lot of buzzwords that are popular in UK indie journalism at the moment. For one, there’s a slight roughness to the sound on this new album, with too much of …
Track: The Last Dinner Party’s hotly awaited debut single ‘Nothing Matters’
There have been few bands coming out of London that have coalesced as much interest so instantly in the way that The Last Dinner Party has. It’s been just over a year since the band first started, and already here we are at their first major label debut single: Nothing Matters. Of course, this topic …
HMLTD’s new single and video: ‘Wyrmlands’ a madcap flash of exciting things to come.
London based HMLTD have always been a band who are hard to define. Since their first releases they have been seen as more of a look than a sound by some, but I had always liked the outrageous personality of their music. It could sometimes be long-winded or obtuse, but it always stood out from …
Joseph Futak stuns with earnest new singles: ‘Bank Robber’ and ‘This Morning’.
New from London-based producer and songwriter: Joseph Futak comes a furtive yet grandiose pair of songs: ‘Bank Robber’ and ‘This Morning’. This release marks a return of sorts for Futak, who has spent the past year behind the microphone rather than in front of it. His work can be heard on the last Tapir! EP, …