
Music is a funny ol’ business, and in the days of streaming, something interesting has happened. Thanks to algorithmic sentiments, it feels like it’s never been harder for smaller artists to reach an audience. Radio play is decided by committees and focus groups, which leaves us with a trace amount of DJs playing whatever they…

Well, Spotify have decided the way to fix the broken royalties model is to stop paying small bands. Now, that’s not how they’ll be spinning it, but it’s the reality of the situation. See, Spotify have a problem with ‘noise’ tracks and those generating plays by making ‘non music’. So, to fix that, they’re going…

The Chemical Brothers are saying ‘Goodbye’. Not forever, mind you. It’s the name of their new single and as ever, it’s got a really fancy, psychedelic video. They always have ace visuals don’t they? If you’ve seen them live recently, your eyeballs are probably still fizzing like Alka Seltzer in soup. Great craic. There’s also an…

Mildlife are an Australian band designed for dancing too. However, it’s also very much music of the head too, as they’ve been dubbed variously as ‘psychedelic jazz fusion’ and ‘prog disco’. If both of those phrases gave you a bit of the ick, don’t worry – this track you’re about to hear is cool, cool shit.…

For so many years, library music was only a thing that tapped people’s toes if they were absentmindedly watching TV, as it soundtracked incidental moments on shows and whatnot. However, nerds started valuing the complex pop-jazz moments, the ambient segues, and more. Soon enough, library music was having a renaissance. Matt Berry (who seems to…

If you’re not following Mystery Discs on YouTube, you’re denying yourself one of the most brilliant and unusual record collections on the planet. With the tagline ‘obscure records are fun’, you’ll find high school bands and amateur outfits performing shaky, gorgeous heartfelt music, Steely Dan covers, big jazz, wonkiness and loads of magic treasure that…

It’s poor form to liken a new artist to a legend straight off the bat, but there’s a wriggling, unescapable something about Ava Rocha that reminds us of Gal Costa. Gal, is of course, one of the most legendary artists to come out of Brazil and the Tropicalia movement, so no pressure Ava. However, while…

Aphex Twin, we’re happy to say, is at it again. Even though he’s not been especially prolific with sensible, mainstreamish releases, he’s been quite busy with a number of lung busting, eye frying shows around the world. Of course, there’s a been a slew of things released for the ultra-dedicated. Like what? Well, devotees will…

Hiroshi Nagai is the man who you may have seen the work of on a number of City Pop releases – for the uninitiated, that’s the cool ’70s and ’80s Japanese pop music that’s impossibly sophisticated; a bit like Yacht Rock with a smidge of disco and jazz fusion. Nagai’s work is synonymous with Japanese…
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