new music reviews, news & interviews
Kieron Tyler |

Following the 2010 release of The Fallen By Watch Bird, Jane Weaver has gone on to issue a further four conventional albums – there are also remix sets, reconfigurations, collaborations and soundtracks. A new album is planned for 2026.

Thomas H. Green |

Last time we heard from Blackburn heavy rockers Sky Valley Mistress, they were a four-piece who'd recorded their 2020 debut album in the Mohave Desert (strong hints at their musical motivation lie in their name, draw

Joe Muggs
It’s no coincidence that synth heavy 1980s AOR is one of the first genres to generate significant online hits. Not just because its structures are…
Liz Thomson
One of the many dispiriting things about the nine years that span Trumpino’s 2017 inaugural and today is how very few musicians have had the courage…
Jonathan Geddes
A new look and new vibe for Grant-Lee Phillips at this pared-back performance, part of the Celtic Connections festival that takes over Glasgow for a…

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Ibi Keita
Fun, gritty and… jazzy?
Kieron Tyler
Spellbinding Ethiopian jazz-inflected soul
Sebastian Scotney
A magnificent listening ethos and flow
Thomas H. Green
More melodic than of old, but Eighties Essen metallers still hammer hard
Thomas H. Green
London band offer offer pithy wordage and light musical skronk
Kieron Tyler
When less craft would add impact
Guy Oddy
East Midlands’ punk-funkers have plenty to say as the house burns down
Kieron Tyler
The 1982 debut album from South London musical free spirits Clive and Mark Ives
Tim Cumming
Ambient Sufi songs for inner space
Graham Fuller
The Isle of Wight's finest flex their musical muscles
Ellie Roberts
All-consuming pop perfection
Kieron Tyler
Unaffected Doors homage from the most unlikely band
Ibi Keita
Never enough hype, never enough volume, never enough Turnstile
Kieron Tyler
Unadorned chronicle of the Brian Jones years
Tom Carr
Second album from Canadian metallers edged ahead with its graceful yet heavy tones
Sebastian Scotney
Natural harmonics ring out subtly, gloriously, magically
peter.quinn
From haiku to heartstrings: the year's essential vocal jazz recordings
Kathryn Reilly
Imbued with duende, this stellar masterpiece sets the bar sky-high
Kieron Tyler
Fresh slants on the known, in a year when Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy!! was the most startling archive release
howard.male
Documentary adds little to what we know about British rock's greatest solo star
Nick Hasted
Saxophonist's beautiful, bittersweet melodies confront a time of war
Liz Thomson
Authentically Mary
Katie Colombus
Finding strength not in reinvention but in turning inward to listen
Kieron Tyler
Home-counties prog rockers are collected in a box

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