Such is the attention span of the music media for anything outside of the usual parameters of pop, rock, hip-hop and the rest that there only tends to be room for one act from the less high profile genres at a time. For the past few years, it has been the turn of North Africans…

Katy Perry took the big prize and Lady Gaga turned up dressed as a leather clad bloke, but it was Beyonce who stole the headlines at last night’s VMAs by revealing that her and husband Jay-Z are expecting their first child. You can watch a lot of the footage at Mr World Premiere. Here’s Tyler…

This time last year, I reviewed two albums for this very website. I gave them both the same rating, a middling score that suggested both could do worse, that both could do better. One was The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, the other Planet Jedward…. I accept now that I may have been wrong about

With just a week to go now, the full list of stage times for the Electric Picnic have been released. As usual a few clashes will have you tearing your hair out but isn’t that all part of the festival fun? It’s always good to see the weekend spread out before you and there are…

It’s safe to say that the majority of the world hasn’t exactly been on tenterhooks waiting for Hard-Fi’s third album. While their debut Stars Of CCTV had a underdog charm and was of a place and time, the follow up Once Upon A Time In The West… saw them fall out of favour and a

For a man with the world at his feet, Abel Tesfay must be looking over his shoulder. Such was the praise heaped on his debut mixtape as The Weeknd and such is the fickle nature of the modern music world that the response to this follow up can’t have been a foregone conclusion. Everybody loved…

Currently getting much love from Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, General Fiasco have released the lead track from their forthcoming EP, Waves… – due out on 30th October. The band play Reading and Leeds Festivals this weekend before undertaking the following dates:
Oct 22nd Academy 2 Dublin
Oct 23rd Thekla Bristol
Oct 25th King

Songwriter Jerry Leiber has died in the US at the age of 78. As one half of a partnership with Mike Stoller, he was responsible for some of the most famous songs in the history of rock ‘n’ roll – penning the likes of ‘Hound Dog’, ‘Stand By Me’, and ‘Jailhouse Rock’ in a career…

Florence and the Machine will release their second, as yet untitled, album on November 4th. The track ‘What The Water Gave Me’ is being billed as a ‘taster’ rather than an official single, although it does have the video clip that you can see below. Produced once again by Paul Epworth, it sounds pretty good…

Yes, you heard correct. Lady Gaga’s fairly iffy new single ‘You And I’ (featuring Queen’s Brian May on guitar no less) has been given to Wild Beasts for a once over. The results are not quite as bizarre as you might imagine, with the Londoners managing to extricate a decent melody from the overblown original…

Canadian duo Tasseomancy, also currently appearing as part of Austra’s live band, are to release their debut album at the end of the month in a special candle pack. Ulalume… will come with said candle, a vintage matchbox, artwork, tracklisting and download code. Order your own bundle of goodies here.

The writing was on the wall for The Vaccines’ Electric Picnic slot when they cancelled Belsonic due to illness and now the Londoners have officially pulled out of the weekend bill. Likewise Killing Joke, although no reason has been offered as of yet.
On a more positive note, the line-up for the Salty Dog stage…

And So I Watch You From Afar release their new single ’7 Billion People All Alive At Once’ through Richter Collective on Sept 16th, the second to be taken from the Gangs… album. As well as the original track, the single comes with this very different remix from Jape. Hear both versions below…
7 Billion

St. Vincent – creative alias of Annie Clark – releases her third studio album, Strange Mercy…, on 9th September through 4AD and embarks on a European tour in support, with a show at The Workman’s Club on November 13th. Accompanying her on the trip will be her new band consisting of Toko Yasuda (Blonde