Katy Kirby’s Cool Dry Place: soft but subversive folk-pop
Kirby’s sharp lyrics, layered melodies and complex manipulation of rhythm mark her out as an exciting and sophisticated songwriter.
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Virginia Wing’s Private Life: chaotic, dream-like pop
The brilliant, daring new album from the Manchester alt-pop outfit throbs with a contemporary sonic anxiety.
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King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s KG: sensitive microtonal psych-rock
The 16th studio album by the Australian six-piece, who have experimented in surfer rock, jazz and metal, reflects an entirely different way of…
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Nick Cave’s Idiot Prayer: stately hymns for the age of the solitude
The musician’s isolated Alexandra Palace show resembled a private rehearsal or a post-apocalyptic performance.
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Frances Quinlan leans into uncertainty on her debut solo record, Likewise
The Hop Along frontwoman’s album is a masterful example of songwriting as a mode of enquiry.
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How the Blurred Lines scandal changed pop
Despite denying it at the time, Pharrell says he now realises “Blurred Lines” was sexist. So why was the song…
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Both familiar and strange: Elton John’s “Your Song” and the elusive art of hit-making
I had dismissed it as too obvious, but then, the interesting thing about “Your Song” is how far from obvious…
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A line-by-line lyric analysis of Taylor Swift’s song Call It What You Want
Warning: this is very, very detailed.
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Kesha’s “Rainbow” insists that life’s traumas can’t kick the fun out of you
Perhaps the greatest surprise is how much like the old Kesha Rainbow sounds.
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