Sleaford Mods

The first month of the year has already packed a punch both via the events that have taken place around the World and the music that has been released. We have a new President of the United States, the UK has finally left the EU after years of negotiations, vaccine roll-outs have begun across the globe and Donald Trump was (Better later than never) banned from Twitter. Glastonbury and Coachella have sadly had to cancel their huge events due to the ongoing risks with the CoVID19 pandemic. SOPHIE, the creative artist and producer, has tragically died in a freak accident. Halsey has announced that she's expecting a baby and news that Harry Styles is dating House star Olivia Wilde broke earlier in the month. Foo Fighters have been busy ahead of the release of their new album, Rag 'n' Bone Man returned with All You Ever Wanted and Lana (Amongst other things) released the title track of her up coming album, Chemtrails Over The Country Club. That's not all, January also gave rise to some other new music, and this is our pick of the bunch.

Selena Gomez: Photo credit, PA Images.

Selena Gomez - De Una Vez & Baila Conmigo.

Continue reading: January 2021 Favourites: From Selena Gomez To Goat Girl And Shame To Spare Ribs, We've Got It Covered

It's been an excellent month for music, which is just what we needed to start our end-of-the-month series of album favourites. We'll be exploring the best albums of every month, with no genre left unturned. Plus, stay tuned for the albums we're looking forward to listening to in March...

Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next

We barely had time to get over 2018's Sweetener before its follow-up Thank U, Next arrived earlier this month. Full of attitude with a touch more fun, it featured an empowering title single, the unapologetic 7 Rings and the rather hilarious Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored. We love Ariana's self-loving new attitude to life.

Continue reading: February Favourites: This Month Brought Us Ariana Grande, Ladytron, Sleaford Mods And More

Sleaford Mods, Crystal Fighters and Kelis are just some of the big names headlining the main stage at this year's Beat-Herder festival, proving it's as eclectic and surprising as ever in its 12th year. Genres from soul to old school dance and electro swing are scattered among the 20-odd stages at this Lancashire festival - 'odd' being the operative word. 

Beat-Herder Festival 2017

A church, a hotel, a high society hideaway and a working men's club are just some of the places bands and DJs will be entertaining the inhabitants of Beat-Herdershire this year. Each stage is carefully crafted and committed to its theme, down to the tiniest and funniest details.

Continue reading: Beat-Herder Festival 2017 Preview

10. King Midas Sound ft. Fennesz- Edition #1
Kevin Martin (AKA The Bug), poet Roger Robinson and singer Kiki Hitomi joined forces with Viennese avant garde composer Christian Fennesz to chart almost certainly the most enveloping travelogue of the year. The journey itself proved deep and magical.

9. Gengahr - A Dream Outside
One of the features on 21st century music is how 2nd and 3rd generation disciples of truly great bands - in this case golden oldies like the Beach Boys and Teenage Fanclub - are managing to make their inspirations sound so cool. London quartet Gehgahr replaced the now departed retro-future outfit Avi Buffalo in our hearts, to great effect.

Continue reading: Andy Peterson's Top 10 Albums Of 2015

10) Illum Sphere - Ghosts of Then & Now
Former occasional turntablist for those funky divas Radiohead, Ryan Hunn created a record that blended jazz, drum & bass, hip-hop and soul amongst many others, channelling his famous live sets into an always fascinating whole.

9)  Downliners Sekt - Silent Ascent
Fabrizio Rizzin and Pere Solé echoed everyone and no-one on this, their third album. Others made comparisons to Autechre, Burial and Booka Shade, but the reality was the duo were obsessively working their own deeply underground but still magical groove.

8) Objekt - Flatland
I'm not even sure we know definitively what "Dark Techno" is, but this second album for TJ Hertz under the Objekt banner proved to be far less dystopian than some anticipated. Flatland in truth was just as indebted to Detroit as Berlin, but it's sleek, clear lines were a lesson in intelligent design.

Continue reading: Andy Peterson's Picks Of The Year 2014