LIVE: Periphery / Crooked Royals @ The Roundhouse, London

The crowd assembled for tonight’s sold-out show is already backed up to the Roundhouse’s iconic-yet-irritating pillars as opening act Crooked Royals walk onto the stage. They waste no time launching into technically impressive licks and riffs, bolstered by dual vocals and thundering drums. Hailing from New Zealand and signed to

Periphery, Crooked Royals @ Roundhouse, London

Pet Needs – ‘Intermittent Fast Living’

“When everyone’s super, no one will be,” taunts villain Syndrome in the first Incredibles movie. Pet Needs have always been the band which absolutely prove this animated bad guy wrong. Their superpower comes from channelling their normality and repurposing the magic they experience in their everyday lives as insightful,

LIVE: Dave Hause @ Union Chapel, London

Union Chapel in London probably isn’t haunted. Probably. That hasn’t stopped sincere punk rock survivor Dave Hause  from including the historic venue in his ‘Haunted Churches’ tour of Europe, but what’s conjured in his set isn’t ghosts or ghouls. It’s the spectres of Hause’s own past brought into

Laura Jane Grace – ‘Hole In My Head’

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Laura Jane Grace recounted a conversation she had with her daughter in 2018 ahead of undergoing life-altering surgery. The facial feminisation procedure, as part of the singer’s transition, would leave her with a scar on the back of her head. She told

Normandie – ‘Dopamine’

Normandie love a concept to draw their audience in, and their albums together. 2021’s ‘Dark & Beautiful Secrets’ was a musical exorcism surrounding the legacy of a religious upbringing, and their latest offering, ‘Dopamine’ takes on a vision of the chemical future. “The whole album is about the chase

LIVE: Spanish Love Songs / Heart Attack Man @ Electric Ballroom, London

Spanish Love Songs are regular visitors to the UK, averaging at least a brief tour every year for the last six years (the grim years of the pandemic not included), but the potency of the Angelinos’ unflinchingly honest but also somehow uplifting sound is not diluted by their frequent

Spanish Love Songs, Heart Attack Man, Suds @ New Century Hall, Manchester

Snayx – ‘Better Days’

Snayx are starting their 2024 with a bang. Or, more accurately, with the raucous, cynical mashup of Kid Kapichi and the Prodigy that we need right now. They’re leaving the haters in their lives in the dust and propelling themselves forward with a nitro boost of confident, vital beats. Title

LIVE: Samiam @ New Cross Inn, London

Steam billows from the door every time it opens as if South London’s historic, sticky-floored New Cross Inn is exhaling into the night. This show is cult underdogs Samiam’s only UK stop on their European tour, which by itself would already make this a particularly special sold out evening.