Review: Nick Jonas is all loved up on his new solo album Spaceman

by Joe Sharratt
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Nick Jonas found fame as one third of the Jonas Brothers, the American pop rockers who emerged from their Disney Channel beginnings into one of the biggest boy bands of the late 2000s. Unlike many of his contemporaries though, Jonas managed to carve out a successful solo career once his group had split, with the singles Chains, Jealous, Close and Bacon in particular showing that he was capable of varied, contemporary pop classics with his distinctive high-pitched vocals.

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Review: Silk Sonic Intro Silk Sonic

by Nicholas Gaudet
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The dynamic duo is out and about again, just a week after their debut single, with another offering. This time, weirdly enough, they decided to release what is most likely the intro to their upcoming album, and despite only being a minute in length, there’s still plenty to unpack in this tune.

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Selena Gomez drops long-awaited first Spanish language EP Revelación

by Joe Sharratt
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When lockdown first started a year or so ago, many of us made our peace with it by turning to that lengthy to-do list. ‘What a great opportunity to catch up on some jobs’, we thought. ‘Or perhaps I’ll learn a new skill’, we kidded ourselves. ‘I know, I’ll learn Japanese, and the piano’, we outright lied, as we locked the front door, kicked back on the sofa, and lined up yet another box set marathon. 

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Arab Strap reunite for daring new album As Days Get Dark

by Joe Sharratt
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It's been sixteen years since Glasgow duo Arab Strap last released an album, and with it announced their split after a decade of subverting the airwaves with their gritty and sometimes absurd tales. In many ways, they paved the way for acts like Sleaford Mods to take their work to the mainstream, and in this post-truth, pandemic-ridden time, it feels like a new Arab Strap album would land perfectly.

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Fyfe Dangerfield channels online birdwatcher project into new EP

by Joe Sharratt
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Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield released his first (and so far, only) solo album Fly Yellow Moon back in 2010, while his band were still in their heyday. It’s easy to forget how big Guillemots were for a while, their debut album Through The Windowpane was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize (though it was beaten by the Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not), and their dreamy hits like Get Over It and Made-Up Love Song #43 resonated within the indie scene at the time.

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Review: Serotonin Girl In Red

by Nicholas Gaudet
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If you were to pick four or so genres of music and jumble all of them in some musical blender and pour yourself a song from the blend, you’d come close to something akin to Serotonin by Girl in Red, and you bet that you’ll do your best remembering that recipe.

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Review: Kings Of Leon charm with introspective new album When You See Yourself

by Joe Sharratt
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When the Followills (brother Caleb, Nathan, and Jared and their cousin Matthew) burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, few could have predicted that two decades on they’d become the sort of global super band that sell out arenas in minutes and can stake a legitimate claim to the title of biggest act in the world. But here we are in 2021, and Kings Of Leon are basically there.

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Dan Sultan releases mesmerising new single Tarred and Feathered

by Joe Sharratt
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Australian singer, songwriter, actor and author Dan Sultan dropped his debut solo album Homemade Biscuits in 2006 at the age of twenty-two, the album which introduced the world to his rich voice, story-filled lyrics and ear for a hook. His second album, Get Out While You Can followed in 2009, and saw him win Best Male Artist and Best Blues And Roots Album at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards. In 2014, he followed that success by claiming Best Rock Album for his third studio album Blackbird, while his 2017 album Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. 

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Julien Baker weaves intricate stories on expansive new album Little Oblivions

by Joe Sharratt
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Little Oblivions is the third album from indie folk rock singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julien Baker, and it’s a record that continues her journey, building on the simple, heartfelt majesty of her debut, Sprained Ankle, which laid bare stories of self destruction and drug abuse over sparse acoustic guitar and piano, and its follow up Turn Out The Lights, which expanded on its predecessor, sonically and emotionally.

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Review: Like a Ship Leon Bridges & Keite Young

by Nicholas Gaudet
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When it comes to soul, the genre has been shaped into its modern form by artists such as Sam Smith and Daniel Caesar. However, it’s grown incredibly distant from its roots to an almost indistinguishable degree, but that doesn’t mean that old soul like our grandparents used to enjoy is dead and gone. In fact, Leon Bridges might be the largest force in keeping that energy alive to this day, and he does a better job than ever in his newest single with Keite Young, Like a Ship.

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Melvins return to original lineup for raucous new album Working With God

by Joe Sharratt
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The Melvins played a big part in the development of grunge and sludge metal in the 1980s and early 1990s, and now in their fifth decade together, the veteran rockers are still going strong. Working With God is their 24th album (not including split records) and, though they’ve been through all sorts of personnel changes over the years, this new release finds them back in their original 1983 lineup of Buzz Osborne (vocals / guitars), Dale Crover (bass), and Mike Dillard (drums).

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Zara Larsson's Infectious ‘Look What You’ve Done’

by Shaoni Das
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Zara Larsson is emphatically fierce in her latest single, ‘Look What You’ve Done.’ The infectious melody will immediately grasp you and immerse you within its celebratory but slightly wistful atmosphere. Zara has had a lot of success in embedding eighties-themed disco-pop sounds into her tracks, where she usually pairs a modern verve with an intoxicating, devil-may-care attitude.

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New album Nature Always Wins is Maximo Park at their rousing best

by Joe Sharratt
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Geordie rockers Maximo Park threw caution to the wind with their last album Risk To Exist, an angry, acerbic record that took aim at Brexit and Trumpism and marked a significant lyrical shift from frontman Paul Smith. The album was accompanied by a zine that included a contribution from political commentator Owen Jones, and essays from Smith. For fans and critics alike, it was a dramatic transformation from the band that burst onto the scene in the mid-2000s with the swaggering, indie dance pomp of Graffiti and their debut album A Certain Trigger.

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Madison Beer bares her soul on long-awaited debut album Life Support

by Joe Sharratt
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American singer and songwriter Madison Beer got her break aged just thirteen when Justin Bieber tweeted a link to Beer’s YouTube cover of Etta James’s At Last, then signed her to Island Records. Her first single Melodies was then released in 2013 (the video featured a cameo from Bieber himself), and Beer began work on her debut album, reported at the time to have pop and R&B influences.

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Aloe Blacc drops powerful and heartfelt new single Other Side

by Joe Sharratt
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Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III – known by his stage name Aloe Blacc – is a man of many talents. As a musician, singer, songwriter and record producer, he’s worked on a wide variety of projects. He topped the UK charts with his singles I Need A Dollar and The Man, and wrote and performed vocals on Avicii’s Wake Me Up, which topped the charts in 22 countries, and has amassed almost 1,250,000,000 streams on Spotify. Alongside fellow US record producer Exile, Blacc also forms the hip hop duo Emanon.

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