Kacey Musgrave is about the simple things in life; love, nature and home. Following a period of time in nature (including a stint on the Aran Islands), re-centering herself on 2024’s “Deeper Well”, Musgrave is exploring singledom by going back to her hometown.

Musgraves is from a small town in Texas called Golden. She has sung about it on her 2015 hit Dimestore Cowgirl, “I’m still a girl from golden…it don’t matter where I’m goin’, I still ... read more

A lot has happened since the release of Kneecap’s Fine Art in 2024. A BAFTA winning motion picture, an Oscar nomination, A Coachella performance that resulted in Sharon Osbourne calling for their visas to the US to be revoked and a terrorism court case in a UK high court. The Belfast trio played with both sides of the hype/controversy coin, and have brought the Irish language and identity politics into focus globally in a way that has not been done in a long time.

What got regularly ... read more

The Great Divide finds Kahan doubling down on the folk aesthetic, and now, with a lot more eyes on him, it’s time to prove his bona fides. The first notch on his belt is a cosign from Aaron Dessner who provides production on several tracks. The rest of the tracks he produces himself with long-time collaborator, Nashville based Gabe Simon.

In an often-flaunted trick to show artistic growth, the tracks on The Great Divide are longer and more instrumental than on Stick Season. With 17 ... read more

John Flansburgh and John Linnell have released their first record in 5 years. This is an unusually long time for the duo whose prolific output in the 2010s included 5 records generated from their Dial-A-Song projects: along with children’s records and their usual brand of rock. This is due to both John’s experiencing some health issues, including Flansburg’s road traffic accident in a rideshare which resulted in him breaking several ribs.

Therefore, when writing this record; ... read more

Tomora is the moniker of The Chemical Brother’s Tom Rowland and the Norwegian “fairy of pop” Aurora. Known in her homeland for her ethereal soundscapes, Aurora is best known around these parts for her cover of the Oasis classic, and “The Royle Family” theme song, “Half The World Away” for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert. A few years after, she was performing in Glastonbury when she was spotted by Rowland and invited into the latest Chemical ... read more

While Jessie Ware is primarily known as a pop star; she’s known by more for role in the Table Manners podcast alongside her mom, Lennie. The show’s success, well into its tenth season, shows that Jessie is a pro at feeding her audience what they want. Whether it’s matzo ball soup on her podcast, or in the case of her music, disco.

2020’s “What’s Your Pleasure?” saw a pivot by Jessie from the languid pop soul of her third album “Glasshouse” ... read more

Two years ago this month, Raye was showered with six Brit Awards, including the gong for British Album Of The Year for her debut album “21st Century Blues”. While deserved, this also acted as the British music industry’s me culpa. Raye spoke publicly about being trapped in a record deal with Polydor who just wanted her to write bangers for Love Island, none of her big bonkers ideas were allowed, but she proved she could make them work. Now, with the industry’s approval ... read more

How I Became A Wave is the title of a musical project fronted by Pat Carey, who, along with Marlene Enright, worked as part of the folk-rock group The Hard Ground. Now he and his multi-instrumental coterie have collaborated to create a striking record which balances instrumentals and poetry.

While How I Became A Wave is effectively a moniker for Pat Carey, Carey is quick to point out that collaboration is at the heart of the project. On the record you can hear Carey’s former The Hard ... read more

On "Whatever's Clever!", Puth is ruminating on fatherhood - he and wife Brooke welcomed their first born earlier this month. Accompanied by a seriously Dad-core wardrobe, Puth is presumably raiding his father's record collection to bring Yacht Rock to 2026. Puth is a pop music historian; he can quickly identify similar chord sequences shared by Wu-Tang and Radiohead or song writing tricks used in the 70s which were parroted in the 90s. It's this encyclopedic knowledge, ... read more

"Sexistential" finds the electronic trailblazer returning to Klas Åhlund, the producer of her 2010 magnum opus, the "Body Talk" trilogy. Together, they return to their 2010 sonic palette, a smörgåsbord of shimmering and static synths which are deployed to capture the sexual trappings of the album. Take lead single "Dopamine", which dissects the post coital emotional rush over a bed of robotic throbbing, emulating a digital headboard banging on the ... read more

James Morrison makes a resilient return with "Fight Another Day", his sixth album and his first in as many years. The Warwickshire balladeer, known for a sound that draws on classic soul as much as modern pop, shares 13 songs which score the struggles of the last 18 months.

In January 2024, Morrison's wife, Gill Catchpole, died by suicide; a truly world-shattering event for Morrison and his two daughters. He shared "When I leaned into how I was feeling, that's when ... read more

White Lies burst onto the UK post-punk revival scene in 2009 with "To Lose My Life…", a brooding, baritone-driven debut that topped the UK charts and cemented their place among the indie sleaze elite. Across the next 5 albums over 13 years, the band have recieved mixed reviews; the synth pop heavy "Friends" in 2016 was considdred a low point with its generic lyricism and safe production. However, 2019's "Five" was seen as a career high, blending ... read more

Fans of BBC's "Celebrity Traitors" may only be aware of Cat Burns, as a shy, unassuming but treacherous character in the UK's most watched show. The London raised BRIT school alum garnered overnight success with her kiss off "Go" going viral on TikTok in 2022. But like all overnight success, it happened after a lot of hard work. With a voice equal parts soul and pop; Burns cuts her teeth busking in South London. This informs her sound today, guitar led, soft ... read more

2022's "Dance Fever", Welch's fifth record, found Florence answering life's big question through the examination of a medieval dancing plague called Choreomania - a novel allegory for the global pandemic the world was emerging from. But while "Dance Fever" cavorted with hope, "Everybody Scream" finds Welch annealed with grief. On stage in August 2023, Welch had to rush to hospital when an ectopic pregnancy ruptured, resulting in life saving surgery. ... read more

Last year, Taylor punctuated the second leg of the highest grossing tour of all time, "The Eras Tour" by announcing the release of her 11th album, "The Tortured Poets Department", a 31 track long, sprawling tome sharing her distain for ex Matty Healy (1975) and love for new beau Travis Kelce. The album opened with a gargantuan 2.6M units at #1 on the US album chart and went on to sell over 8M records - in the age of streaming you don't get numbers like that anymore, ... read more

For many, Sabrina Carpenter was a relatively unknown entity until she burst onto the scene last April with her shot of "Espresso".  Hardcore Disney fans will recognize her as Maya Hart in the show 'Girl Meets World'. Many pop fans will recall her as being one third of the "Driver's License"- love triangle along with Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett. But, like all overnight successes, Sabrina has been grafting for a long time to become the household name ... read more

In 2023, the Swedish garage punk group The Hives announced their first album in over 10 years with their sixth offering "The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons" which was favorably met by fans and critics alike. Two years on they are back with another record jam packed with riotous rock.

Recorded in Riksmixningsverket, the studio owned by Benny Anderson of Abba fame, and produced by Pelle Gunnerfeldt, who worked on their debut record "Veni Vidi Vicious", and Mike D from the ... read more

One of the most satisfying things to see in life is a well-earned, slow, success story. I remember in the 2020 lockdown, tuning into the livestream of CMAT eating an 80-piece KFC bucket as promo for her debut single "Another Day (KFC)". This year I tuned in to see her perform to a heaving crowd on the Glastonbury Pyramid stage. Even from the outside, that journey feels hard fought and well earned.

Her debut album, 2022's "If My Wife New I'd Be Dead" was a tour de ... read more

CMAT's ability to weave contemporary topics (insomnia, frantic romance and having the horn for actors) into old sounds makes her a standout star on her debut. The scrappy production is made up by her shear force of personality, humour and ear for melody.

Following a 2 album journey of self-rediscovery, Marina is finally having fun again with both form and feel. Incredibly at ease with who she is and what she does best, 'Princess Of Power''s scattergun approach to pop is effortlessly charming.