Featured
The Brand New Heavies: Andrew Levy
Interview
I caught up with Andrew Levy, founding member and strong contender for the title of coolest man in Britain, to discuss all things Heavy. From line-up changes to collaborations, style inspirations and hanging out at the Playboy Mansion.
Read on LTW »
Kristeen Young
Interview
Read my interview with 'musical unicorn' Kristeen Young on her new album The Beauty Shop, why recording as a DIY artist can be a necessity for women, how it feels to be politically prescient in her writing, her love of TV serial killers and much more!
Read on LTW »
WINKIE
Interview
Presenting a kind of nightmarish mirrorverse to the classic two-popstars-and-a-keyboard combo, WINKIE offer up an arresting mixture of driving noise and ethereal melody, wrapped in an array of striking visual imagery.
I caught up with Gina Spiteri and Peter Santiago to try and get under the skin of what makes WINKIE tick.
Read on LTW »
The Only Thing worse Than Being Hated Is Being Bland
(or why annoying popstars make the best popstars)
Be ridiculous, be mouthy, be difficult, be self indulgent, be everywhere. Be annoying – but don’t be bland. Read my guide to what I think makes the most perfectly annoying popstar, along with some of my favourite examples.
Read on LTW »
Suede: Coming Up
25th Anniversary Retrospective + Interview with Jane Savidge
Suede’s third album, first line-up change and metaphorical second debut turns 25 this week. I look back on the lazy days, the crazes and the fads to find out if there is still chemistry between us.
Read on LTW »
Lady Gaga: Born This Way
10th Anniversary Retrospective
Ten years ago a birth of magnificent and magical proportions took place. Born This Way passes its first decade hovering in the musical multiverse and I reflect on one of the most fascinating periods in pop history.
Read on LTW »
Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey
Fresh from a spoken word poetry collection that nobody asked for, but somehow seemed the most ‘Lana’ thing ever, Chemtrails Over The Country Club is a beautiful record that should delight fans and infuriate detractors in equal measure.
Read on LTW »
The new Smu
The best new artists in my inbox this month
Discovering great new artists is one of the most exciting things about music for me. If you don’t champion the stuff you love, you can’t complain when you only hear the shit you hate on the radio.
There is an endless and thrilling sea of music out there, but it can be bewilderingly vast and not without peril. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet an artist formerly known as Prince. In this monthly column for Louder Than War I will be highlighting some of the most interesting releases I have heard by new and unsigned artists, wading through the audio slush pile so you don’t have to.
Recent artists:
END OF YEAR REVIEWS
A BEST OF MY BEST OF. HOW META..
Want to know what I loved last year? Or fancy digging through the cobwebs to find out what I was listening to in 2010? Visit this handy archive page for links to my my end of the year roundups, seasonal playlists and other related listicles.
RECENT ADDITIONS:
ALBUMS OF THE YEAR – 2022
THE NEW SMU - BEST OF 2022
FESTIVE PLAYLIST 2022
Recent & Selected Writing
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023
Wrap Up
Well, that's it all over for another year and as Noel Coward said, I went to a marvellous party. Let's do it all again next year!
Read More »All is Pink in West Berkshire County
Featured Fringe Review
Eat the rich? I think we all know the opposite is more likely to come to fruition any time soon.
Read More »Aidan Sadler: Melody
Featured Fringe Review
Sadler has the visual aesthetic of a being beamed directly to us from another planet, but also the musical chops to go with it.
Read More »Norma
Featured Fringe Review
I can never be mad at a retelling of Marilyn Monroe’s life that starts with a jab at the recent Netflix show ‘Blonde’..
Read More »And Then The Rodeo Burned Down
Featured Fringe Review
The cigarettes are fake, but the fire is real.
Read More »Double Goer
Featured Fringe Review
A surreal, witty, raw and captivating exploration of female competitiveness.
Read More »Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023
A selection of reviews from Edfest 23
Chasing down the best Theatre, Music and Comedy that you might not already have heard of. This page will be updated throughout the festival.
Read More »The Worm
HMLTD
“Dear listener, HMLTD front person Mister Henry Spychalski is exhibiting extremely volatile behaviour..”
Read on LTW »Dick Dynamite 1944
Movie Review
A riotous non-stop comedy blood bath filled with vomit, zombie children and and exploding corpses..
Read on LTW »The Great Leslie
Interview
We discuss musical direction, aesthetic sensibilities and how they would rate other great Leslies in pop culture.
Read on LTW »EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022
A selection of reviews from Edinburgh Fringe Festival 22
'Best of the fest' theatre reviews.
Read More »The Art of the Flyer
Edinburgh Fringe Fest Notes for International Paneling
A slightly sideways look at the Edinburgh fringe through the art of the flyer. From mysterious button badges to anatomical origami and everything in between.
Read on International Paneling »MURDER BALLADS – THE B COLLECTIVE
EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL 2022
There seem to be an unusually high number of shows that fall loosely under the bracket of ‘country’ at this year’s fringe, but this is likely to be the only one with such a gleefully twisted approach to manslaughter.
Read More »Freddie Hayes: Potatohead
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2022.
If the elevator pitch of ‘Doctor Faustus but starring a potato’ isn’t enough to get you in the door then the promise of surreal puppetry, sing-along karaoke and more spud based puns than you ever knew existed should be.
Read More »MYTHOS: RAGNAROK
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2022.
A raucous, riotous mixture of action, comedy and Norse mythology – you won’t find anything else like it at this year’s Fringe.
Read More »FREEDOM BALLET OF UKRAINE
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 2022.
A cavalcade of raw sexuality and dark glamour shot through with wry humour, gorgeous cabaret costumes and ingenious staging.
Read More »LADY GAGA – CHROMATICA BALL
LONDON 30TH JULY 2022
A long-awaited and well-crafted trip around planet Chromatica.
Read More »Want
Johnny Hunter
From the insistent surge of the opening track, a fast-paced, punky blast of energy, this is an album that knows where it came from and who it wants to be.
Read on LTW »The Devil Has The Best Tunes
Spinal Tap meets Spice World The Movie via Evil Dead meets Repossessed.
This was never going to be a work of highbrow cinematic genius, but for something that could easily have been genuinely terrible, Studio 666 is actually a pretty great night out.
Read More »Bat Man
Dead Freights
Bat Man delivers a perfect one-two punch of punk aggro and pop culture pastiche. Watch the video premier now!
Read on LTW »Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Here’s The Sketch Show..?
Episode 1 of the Sky re-boot reviewed.
Read on LTW »Jupiter Rising Festival
Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
Striking just the right balance between a welcoming, family friendly atmosphere and an unapologetically daring lineup it proved to be the perfect way to enjoy some fantastic, and occasionally challenging, artists over a blissfully sunny, late-summer Scottish weekend.
Read on LTW »Dawn Of Chromatica
Lady Gaga
If one trip to the planet Chromatica wasn’t enough for you then you are in luck, because Dawn Of Chromatica is beaming its way into our lives on September 3rd.
Read on LTW »Jupiter Rising Festival
Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh
Festivals are a thing again! Read my preview for next week's Jupiter Rising on Louder Than War now to get you in the mood. I can't wait!
Read on LTW »Powder Pink!
When world’s collide
Miley covering Shampoo for Gucci feels both completely surreal and totally perfect..
Read More »Sentient
Jackie Higgins
Our human experience of the senses is surprisingly limited when compared to the more curious corners of the natural world, but possibly not as limited as we think.
Read on LTW »NO WONDER THERE’S PANIC IN THE INDUSTRY, I MEAN, PLEASE
The #FreeBritney movement goes mainstream, read my thought on it here
Read More »Passion Play
Kristian North
Former Babysitters’ frontman Kristian North is back with his second solo release, Passion Play, an eclectic and quirky sophisti-pop delight.
Read on LTW »BLEAKSCAPES
The Dept. of Phantom Limbs
Transmissions on the midnight radio from Johnny Day, sole employee of The Dept. Of Phantom Limbs, a somewhat shadowy agency responsible for the broadcast of ‘cursed sounds, haunted recordings and anomalous audio’.
Read on LTW »Gintsugi EP
Gintsugi
Gintsugi releases her eponymous debut EP, a beautifully crafted set of songs with an unsettling but elegant sound.
Read on LTW »TL;DR: WTF? HMLTD NFTS FTW FYI
Musicians making (doge)coin
HMLTD announce that they are moving into the crypto sphere. Read my thoughts on this and techno art in general.
Read More »It's really you but no one ever discovers
Dear Hannah, Love Miley.
Has there ever been a more perfect trip through the infinity mirrors of pop alter-ego than the love letter to Hannah Montana penned by Miley Cyrus this week?
Read More »Anaximander
Alex Gage’s Flagship
Tonight’s presentation will contain twists, turns, low drama, high comedy and at times…music.
Read on LTW »Sufferin’ Safari
The Dead Freights
I caught up with frontman Charlie James and drummer Louis Duarte to discuss on-set near-death experiences, upcoming style choices and bringing the sexy back to rock & roll.
Read on LTW »Don't go in the bushes
Everything you never needed to know about the Village People but will be glad I told you anyway.
Read More »Nick Cave's Bar
Aug Stone
Taking place in those strange, hazy, pre-internet times when travelling unprepared was a more perilous proposition there is a pleasingly shambolic quality that will be familiar to anyone who ever had a really great idea they didn’t quite think through.
Read on LTW »Dumb Enough
Kirin J Callinan
The enfant terrible of the Australian music scene and father of the screaming cowboy meme is back.
Read on LTW »Dying on the vine
Unify Separate
Continuing on from where Solitude & I left off, Dying on the Vine tackles the inescapable avatars of modern digital life.
Read on LTW »Lioness
Stony Sugarskull
A fierce, feline mix of psychedelic, punk, shoegaze and kraut-rock fitting of its title
Read on LTW »Fever and the Thunder
The Dead Freights
A last minute entry to my top singles of the year.
Read on LTW »Elleven Women
Steve Kilbey
An inventive collection of songs with a neat and intriguing concept..
Read on LTW »REBEL YELL
Miley Cyrus
It should be no surprise that pop’s own Rebel Queen might eventually go rawk but Plastic Hearts is in many ways a surprisingly grown-up affair.
Read More »Automatic Paintings
Mark Fernyhough
Read my review of the track and interview with Mark where we discuss the recording of his upcoming album, international film soundtrack projects and the collision of music and art.
Read on LTW »