Music

It’s hard to understate the impact Spotify’s ‘Friend Activity’ sidebar has had on my listening habits. As the shadow of social connectivity crept across my Spotify account over the years, sprouting inboxes and sharing features as it went, the ‘Spotify Stalker Bar’ has made my listening habits at once more diverse, better-curated, and utterly, horribly micro-managed. For those unfamiliar with the Friend Activity sidebar, whether you are a mobile-only Spotify user or eschew the service entirely, this desktop feature allows you...

  Cultural curator, video remixer / audio-visual DJ Eclectic Method has revisited the Eighties and the sound of 80s synth lasers for this brilliant musical homage to time-travelling kung fu cop Kung Fury, the cult Swedish homage to everything that was on telly and silly in the Eighties. Kung Fury (you can watch it below) is an English-language Swedish Kung Fu comedy action flick written, directed by, and starring David Sandberg, paying homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films with more visual...

Mad Cool festival has sold out. All 45,000 tickets for its 2017 festival are taken, just under three months before the event takes place. Headlined by Green Day, Foo Fighters and Kings Of Leon, the three - day festival takes place at Madrid’s Caja Magica tennis centre, between the 6th – 8th of July. Mad Cool have also confirmed that they have reached an agreement with DIY magazine for them to become the festival’s official media partner for the next two...

April, you spoil us. Look at these releases. We had massive new cuts and genuine AOTY contenders from Kendrick Lamar, Arca and Joey Bada$$ to keep us busy, but it was really snaking, cooler-than-thou indie and alt that stole focus in the end, plugging the glorious gaps between the headline-stealing drops. Our header stars Pile released their slimy, heart-squeezing fourth effort, A Hairshirt of Purpose, in a tight show of musty Boston realness, while Milk Music and Hovvdy kept things slow, low and sleepy on...

"Eight riff laden monster tracks of sheer Northern misery.” At this moment, iconic UK metallers, Paradise Lost, are putting the final touches to their upcoming album, recorded at Orgone Studios in the misty countryside of Woburn, England. Together with producer Jaime Gomez Arellano, they have forged the follow-up to their highly acclaimed release The Plague Within, which brought them a step closer to their death metal roots. This time, Paradise Lost aim to toe a doomier line, as lead guitarist and...

Leeds-based five-piece Vessels have shared their hypnotic new single ‘Radiart’, the first cut to be taken from a new album to be released later this year. The track signals the direction of the new material - muscular, vibrant and euphoric. Take a listen below: ‘Radiart’ is Vessels’ first release of 2017 and follows their celebrated 2015 album Dilate, a record firmly focussed on the dancefloor. Formed in 2005, Vessels have released four wide-ranging albums, drawing comparisons with everyone from Jon...

In December 2016 Enemies released their third and final album entitled Valuables via Topshelf Records. Valuables documents a turbulent time for the band — intensive writing, recording and touring, coupled with a lack of shared vision, led to a decision that harmony in ending is ultimately more valuable than discord in continuing. Today the band have premiered a poignant mini-documentary with Upset, which was filmed at their last ever show in December. Speaking about the video the band said, "It's been four months since the night we...

The 4th band line-up announcement for 2000trees Festival has been announced and continues the festival's trend of variety and left-field picks. The latest bands announced late last week were: DEAF HAVANA SPRING KING DAVE HAUSE & THE MERMAID OATHBREAKER MILK TEETH SVALBARD EMPLOYED TO SERVE YOUNG LEGIONNAIRE THE DIRTY NIL LEMURIA FREEZE THE ATLANTIC and THE WINTER PASSING From festival organiser, James Scarlett: “Deaf Havana enjoyed headlining 2000trees so much in 2015 that we’ve all been trying hard to work out...

Describing themselves as a “(fucking) loud instrumental band”, Liverpool’s Alpha Male Tea Party have announced a fresh signing to Big Scary Monsters Recordings for the release of third album, titled health, on 23rd June Commenting on the new material, the trio say: “We spent a while working out how we wanted to make it happen and decided to be a proper band this time, so we booked out a residential studio in the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside for a week to create our newest Ugly Baby. We...