Flicking through Bombay Bicycle Club’s (BBC) plain but friendly website earlier in the day, it’s easy to be impressed by the tender yet raucous array of tracks beaming from the home page, particularly for a band only just out of school. Jack Steadman’s vocals echo that of a young Brian Malko, whilst the stop-start guitar […]

Festivals are often strange and idiosyncratic beasts – each has their own quirks and staples, and there are also a few select things which festivals are often associated with. For Glastonbury, it’s mud. T In the Park? Lager. And Supersonic, curated by Birmingham promoters Capsule, is synonymous with metal, beards and a plentiful supply of […]

If there’s a decade of pop music which is shrouded in almost unquestioning nostalgia and viewed through lenses of a rosy hue, then it can only be the 1960s. It was a supposed golden era of pop, although how anybody knows this remains uncertain, because we’re told that “if you can remember anything about the […]

Hailing from Alburquerque, New Mexico, A Hawk and a Hacksaw features Jeremy Barnes, formerly of seminal indie-folk act Neutral Milk Hotel, and violinist Heather Trost. Barnes, who was the percussionist with the Jeff Mangum-led band, has since moved away from the Elephant 6 collective and, working with Trost, has forged an entirely separate career.

The Dap-Kings, hailing from Brooklyn, are effectively a house band for hire – whether it’s for the Daptone label, or for uber-producer Mark Ronson, who enlisted their services when recording Amy Winehouse’s most recent album.
Channelling the iridescent rhythms and taut funk of classic soul stables Atlantic and Stax, this was a band with Georgia on […]

Pop music and deportation officers often make for uncomfortable bedfellows. It certainly proved to be the case for prog-pop ensemble Efterklang, whose violinist has missed this tour after being “kicked out and sent back” to their native Denmark.