In the past they used to talk about things being ‘in the water’ when exceptional stuff happened in specific places, but perhaps it’s a lot simpler than that. The Calder Valley is …

Many good stories start with a case of beer and a blank canvas, so maybe the newly formed Protmartyr had some kind of premonition when entering Chicago’s Hi Bias studios in late 2011. With on…

ALT: a man with a beard is making a funny face and says not me .

As an artist the last thing you want to hear said about your work is the phrase ‘diminishing returns’. For some avoiding it is more difficult than others – imagine for instance if…

Released : 1980 Time: an elusive, conceptual measure of existence, or resistance to, reality. To say Remain In Light, the Talking Heads album from which The Great Curve is stripped, was ahead of ti…

Those of you wanting to understand the dynamics of Scotland's nascent - and for the most part forgotten - indie music scene in the aftermath of punk could do worse than read Grant McPhee's Postcards From Scotland, Scottish Independent Music 1983-1995. Lovingly cataloguing a host of groups from across the country, one characteristic defines nearly all of them, that of a desire to make art whilst on the dole sound as good as possible.

ALT: a man in a red plaid shirt is standing next to a woman

Released : 2011 Lana Del Rey’s first single, like cuts being the deepest, was her best. It’s a love song into which you can infer a milion different dreams or nightmares. Is the singer …