Author: Jon Kean
The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding Album Review
If you were to emulate a musical Bruce in a highly-conspicuous manner, would you go Eagles with Hornsby, Iron Maiden with Dickinson, or my preferred option, Anfield Rap with Grobbelaar? On "Holding On", Adam Granduciel...
Review posted on 24th August 2017
Gabrielle Aplin 2017 Interview
It'd be ungentlemanly to mention a lady's age, and mightily crass to harp on about how well a young person has done for their age. Let's just say that Gabrielle Aplin has made two massive...
Interview posted on 17th August 2017
Morrissey and Marshall - We Rise Album Review
Has anyone made the Smiths joke yet? Yes? Right, let's crack on then. Dublin duo Morrissey and Marshall give it some full-band, bold-as-brass bluster on their second studio album. By their own admission, they would...
Review posted on 17th August 2017
Bella McKendree Waiting EP Review
Compact and bijou, the "Waiting" EP constitutes a shapely debut for Bella McKendree. Produced by Grammy-winning Brett Shaw (Florence and the Machine, Daughter), it showcases her crystalline, folk-tinged vocals and her songwriting poise, with plenty...
Review posted on 17th August 2017
Leopallooza 2017 The Wyldes, Cornwall Festival Review
Leopallooza was the festival the weather couldn't sink. On a weekend when other musical events were disappearing into their own swamps, or awash with health and safety crises, we partied on into the wee small...
Review posted on 8th August 2017
Declan McKenna What Do You Think About The Car? Album Review
Four-year-old Declan McKenna was asked what he thought of the new family motor, by his camcorder-holding sister, Rosanna. Diddy Declan cursorily approved of said wagon, then swiftly moved on to more pressing matters, announcing that...
Review posted on 28th July 2017
Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott Crooked Calypso Album Review
Paul Heaton's thirty-five-year career has been securely founded on acutely-observed lyrics, allied with tunes that either make you want to sashay round the kitchen in your oven gloves, or hold a loved one close on...
Review posted on 27th July 2017
Leopallooza 2017 Festival Preview
There are seven stages at Leopallooza, including The Temple of Boom, where you can have a spiritual experience to the beats, breaks and bass curated by Cornish DJ collective, Hong Kong Ping Pong. Falmouth's esteemed...
News posted in Music / Festivals on 27th July 2017
The Wonder Stuff Cheese and Grain, Frome 14.07.17 Live Review
While the "Theme from S'Express" was sitting proud at number one in April 1988, The Wonder Stuff first graced the charts at number seventy-two with "Give Give Give Me More More More". But did we...
Review posted on 19th July 2017
Waxahatchee - Out in the Storm Album Review
On "Out in the Storm", Katie Crutchfield and her formidable band, including sister Allison on keys and percussion, and Sleater-Kinney touring guitarist, Katie Harkin on lead guitar, have created an elemental, cathartic release. It's an...
Review posted on 18th July 2017
Public Service Broadcasting Every Valley Album Review
'Britons are building, hewing out of their native rock the foundations of the future,' booms a stentorian voice from a mid-Twentieth-Century broadcast. You know it's not true when you hear it. The plug was pulled...
Review posted on 7th July 2017
David Gedge - Interview
The Wedding Present first charted with "Kennedy" in October 1989, from their second album, "Bizarro". They were gruff, brusque, exhilaratingly Motorhead-loud and faster than a pharmaceutically-fuelled Olympic 100m final. Leading the sonic assault from the...
Interview posted on 4th July 2017
Ride - Weather Diaries Album Review
Should we talk about the weather? Should we talk about the government? To an extent, Ride's fifth album "Weather Diaries" does both. It's very British to get all meteorological and very 2017 to get all...
Review posted on 28th June 2017
The Wedding Present - Bristol O2 Academy 15.06.17 Live Review
Bristol's middle-aged moshpit, spurred on by some younger pogoing devotees, bounced their way through The Wedding Present's debut album "George Best" one last time in a live setting. Celebrating its thirtieth birthday, David Gedge was...
Review posted on 23rd June 2017
Lau - Decade The Best of Lau 2007-2017 Album Review
When the good ship Lau was launched with "Lightweights and Gentlemen" in 2007 - the infectious-to-pandemic-proportions "Hinba" was the champagne effervescing across the bows. In the ten years since that gobsmacking, 'what the folk?'...
Review posted on 16th June 2017
Hazel English - 2017 Interview
Is it any surprise that an Australian, living in California, makes tunes that feel balmy and sun-kissed? Is it any surprise, furthermore, that someone whose surname is English should make summery songs that have a...
Interview posted on 5th June 2017
Amber Arcades - Cannonball EP Review
When Annelotte de Graaf emerged in 2016 with her self-recorded album "Fading Lines", there was pleasant happenstance that brought her to the fore. She had money saved up, and rather than spend it on transient...
Review posted on 31st May 2017
Kate Rusby - Kings Theatre, Southsea 20.05.17 Live Review
The South coast met South Yorkshire, as Barnsley Nightingale, Kate Rusby graced the King's Theatre in Southsea. On the spring tour of her Life in a Paper Boat album, she treated us to a rich,...
Review posted on 23rd May 2017
Wasuremono Komedia, Bath 12.3.17 Live Review
"Why you gotta waste Alan's time?" sings Wasuremono lead man, Will Southward on recent 6Music-lauded track "Alligator". Never mind just Alan, they are rapidly becoming many people's favourite waste of time, building a growing following...
Review posted on 18th May 2017
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker 2017 Interview
If life was a bowl of cherries, we'd all be surrounded by grinning idiots. If every day was halcyon, nourished by cakes and ale, we'd all sing silly songs and the radio would resound with...
Interview posted on 15th May 2017
Hoops - Routines Album Review
There's a good tradition of naming your band after something curious: Francois and the Atlas Mountains (epic geography), Belle and Sebastian (cute children's story) and Arab Strap (ask your dad). Hoops assumed their moniker as...
Review posted on 12th May 2017
Harry Styles - Harry Styles Album Review
I was hardly the right demographic for One Direction's oeuvre, so I was massively expecting, and perhaps hoping, to react to Harry's stylings with similar indifference, like that 'oh balls, here we go again' groan...
Review posted on 12th May 2017
Fazerdaze - Morningside Album Review
In the 60s, we were regaled by the Singing Nun. In the 70s, we all got lashed on Blue Nun. From the 1980s, however, nun-related fun went turbo-charged and excitingly un-convent-ional with the advent of...
Review posted on 9th May 2017
Michael Kiwanuka - Colston Hall, Bristol 03.05.17 Live Review
In an industry where the allure of fast-click fame and fast bucks can make artists crave cheap retweets or knock out undernourished releases, Michael Kiwanuka does not strike as a man in a hurry. Critical...
Review posted on 5th May 2017
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker Shelley Theatre, Bournemouth 29.04.17 Live Review
On a shiny Bank Holiday Saturday, at umpteenth beer o'clock, 200 metres away from a long, sandy beach, what better pastime than to sit in a darkened auditorium and indulge in a power-hour of glower...
Review posted on 2nd May 2017
Sylvan Esso - What Now Album Review
Diaphanous and spritely, yet with weighty industrial churn, Sylvan Esso's electro-folk is a seductive array of contradictions. It can be radio-friendly in sound, yet espouse distinct radio-unfriendliness in message. Whilst rich, reverberating beats free your...
Review posted on 29th April 2017
BNQT - Volume 1 Album Review
When I first saw BNQT, I wondered if it was a hitherto-unknown acronym for an ethnic group or a sexual orientation. Then I learned it's pronounced 'Banquet', missing out the vowels, like in text lingo...
Review posted on 29th April 2017
Keston Cobblers' Club 2017 Interview
Keston Cobblers' Club has a rare band chemistry. Not only has Julia Lowe known Matt Lowe all his life (being his elder sibling and all), but Matt and Tom Sweet met at Nursery school as...
Interview posted on 28th April 2017
Maximo Park - Risk to Exist Album Review
It only takes a cursory glance at the news most evenings (or an hour in downtown Taunton on a Saturday night) to know that, in 2017, it's a risk to exist. Maximo Park's sixth studio...
Review posted on 21st April 2017
Kate Rusby - Interview
It becomes obvious after a short time in Kate Rusby's company that she has a lot to say. It's not a case of unfiltered, big-star pontifications. It simply stands to reason that when you've lived...
Interview posted on 19th April 2017
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Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]
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Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review
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WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
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Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
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Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
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Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
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Dekker talks to us about writing with Jose Gonzales, making headway in the U.S and the difficulties associated with wearing a hat! [EXCLUSIVE]
Ahead of the imminent release of his second solo album - Dekker, aka Brookln Dekker, took time out to let us know about the musical project he...
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