In an age where a lot of popular music is generally downbeat and often difficult to pin down into genre, I can’t imagine how fresh the trip hop sound must have felt during its peak in the early to mid-90’s. One of the genre’s most essential albums is Dummy, the 1994 debut by British group Portishead - a great example of the genre’s ability to blend its diverse influences. “Sour Times” samples the chiming bells and bassline from cinematic score to create a ... read more

Now this is the kind of brooding gothic rock I’m talking about!

Often considered The Cure’s magnum opus, 1989’s Disintegration comes in a decade into the band’s career as a result of lead singer Robert Smith’s ambitions to create a defining musical work as he approached the age of 30. In doing so, he created a gothic masterpiece that is dreamlike, sprawling and achingly emotional.

Disintegration is instantly striking to me for its waves of ethereal ... read more

Joy Division’s 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures is an important album in laying the foundations of what would eventually come to be post-punk - an offshoot of punk music which preserved punk’s raw energy and infusing it with experimental influences and an overall gloomier mood.

Joy Division aren’t a band that I took to immediately - I used to always feel that they were bland compared to the bright dancey synth-pop that the members would eventually make as New Order. But ... read more

Until very recently, The National were a band that I only really knew in passing – I had heard some of their songs on indie radio and some of my favourite bands have noted them as an influence. From what I had heard from them, I never found them as a band interesting enough for me to check out. Of course, when Taylor Swift had announced that The National’s guitarist Aaron Dessner would be working on Folklore (and eventually also Evermore), I figured it would be the right time for me ... read more