Feautured
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
Recent & Selected Writing
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 »Best of 2021
The best new artists in my inbox this year
A festive Quality Street tin of aural joy for you to binge on whilst nursing your new year’s headache.
Read on LTW »SOME KILLERS, NO (STOCKING) FILLERS
Christmas 2021
A playlist of festive oddities, forgotten favourites and alternative classics for you to slip in amongst the Slade and Wham.
Read More »SUEDE: COMING UP TOUR
EDINBURGH, USHER HALL
Kicking off the first date of their Coming Up tour in Edinburgh, the 90s may be gone but Suede are very much still here.
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 »Small Flames
Dylan Blackthorn
Small Flames, the debut solo release by Dylan Blackthorn, is an energetic and entertaining album that should delight anyone who likes their country served with a dash of the unexpected.
Read on LTW »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 »CRYBABY
TASH
BIG BOYS DON’T CRY-AY-AY but that’s exactly what TASH expects of their man.
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 »JUNK-SHOP PUNK-ROCK GLAM-ROCK DISCOTHEQUE
Sarah Sunday
A riotous injection of day-glo, bubblegum pop punk right where we need it!
Read More »YOUR DISCO NEEDS YOU
Kylie Minogue.
Kylie and disco go together like glitter and sequins so this should be a triumph - and it very nearly is.
Read More »THINGS GO BETTER WITH A LITTLE BIT OF RAZZMATAZZ
iDKHOW
I Don’t Know How But They Found Me are exactly the kind of band who will annoy almost as many people as they will be adored by, and Razzmatazz is exactly the kind of album you would expect a band like that to make.
Read More »LONELY TOGETHER
Unify Separate
Is ‘pandemic pop’ a recognised genre term yet? Because if not then I think this is it..
Read More »SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON
Tempesst
Usually when sponsored ads stalk me on Instagram it leads to antipathy but in the case of the promo clip for sumptuous, retro tinged single ‘Mushroom Cloud’ it was an instant obsession.
Read More »POP MUSIC EMERGENCY. 911
Lady Gaga
After doing a three album (and one movie) tour of duty of the Gaga version of a midlife crisis, Chromatica has now beamed down to earth in all it’s tecno-pinkness to bestow us with some classic Stefani bangers.
Read More »CHILDREN OF NATURE
Alanas Chosnau & Mark Reeder
A fantastic tour of retro-tinged gothic electro.
Read More »AFTER FOUR YEARS, DON’T YOU THINK I’M OVER ALL THIS?
The 1975
Notes On a Conditional Form (or NOACF as its merch-ified) is a beast of an album spanning 22 tracks and despite being written whilst on one of their seemingly never ending tours it is an ambitious and uncompromising release.
Read More »MEET ME IN HAMBURG, MEET ME IN THE AFTERLIFE
HMLTD
Sonically diverse but also cohesive, if you like your rock and roll smeared in lipstick and accompanied by synths this is probably one for you.
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