Latest Reviews

Hailing from Georgia, USA, Lauren Alaina first appeared in the public eye as a 15-year-old on series ten of American Idol, where she eventually finished as runner-up to Scotty McCreery. Her performances though earned her a record deal and her first album Wildflower followed later that year, debuting at number five in the Billboard 200 chart, and making Alaina the youngest female artist to debut that high since LeAnn Rimes.

Navvy is the stage name of Auckland-born Phoebe Lee Jasper, the latest graduate from Oceania’s apparent fast track development programme for smart, female electro-pop solo artists that launched the careers of household names such as Sia and Lorde (who even comes from the same town as Navvy).

Between You And Me marks eleven years of San Cisco, and the Australian indie-pop group have come a heck of a long way in that time. With three albums, all top 20 hits in their homeland, and a string of EPs and awards and nominations under their belts, they’ve become one of the biggest bands in their field down under, and gained an increasingly strong reputation beyond Aussie shores too.

Brighton quartet The Magic Gang won swathes of music fans over with their self-titled debut album that was about as feel-good a record as the indie scene produces. Packed with harmonious sunshine-tinged carefree tunes, it was a wonderful record and one that marked the band out as ones to watch.

It’s almost twenty years since American rockers Throwing Muses truly felt like part of the contemporary music landscape. After emerging as one of the defining alternative US bands of the late 1980s, they seemingly lost their way – and their interest – in the mid-1990s and the group disbanded, leaving lead singer Kristin Hersh to pursue a solo career.

From the howling vocal ad-libs to the intricate piano interludes with weaving musical arpeggios, this Avant-garde, from the howling vocal ad-libs to the intricate piano interludes with weaving musical arpeggios, this Avant-garde, freak folk style new release is organized chaos in audible form.

Indie pop foursome Fickle Friends emerged from the Brighton music scene in the mid-2010s with an undeniably impressive work ethic. In a bid to land a record deal, the group played 53 festivals in two years before being signed by Polydor Records, who recorded the band’s debut album, 2018’s You Are Someone Else, in Los Angeles with Brit Award-winning producer Mike Crossey. It reached number nine in the UK Album’s Chart and received some excellent reviews.

Welsh electronic musician and producer Kelly Lee Owens took an unusual step with the release of Inner Song, her second album and the follow up to 2017’s self-titled debut album which received widespread critical acclaim. With the Coronavirus pandemic looming large over us all, she chose to delay the release of her new album as a gesture of solidarity with record stores that had been forced to shut their doors.

If nothing else, Rudimental’s ‘Come Over’ presents one of the most inspiring tempos of 2020. As a master producer band, Rudimental know all too well about mixing up the beats and rhythms to develop pieces that are exhilarating, dynamic, and impassioned at the same time. This time around, they’ve listed the talents of fellow British artists Anne Marie and Tion Wayne to help take this feature onto the next level. 

Sasha Sloan’s ‘House With No Mirrors’ exemplifies the beauty of a simple, straightforward melody. At a time when the preferred style for most female artists seems to lean on the side of loud, showy, and explosive, it’s genuinely refreshing to see an artist touch upon her own vulnerabilities.