Says who? These two words always spring to mind whenever I see a Best Of compilation by any given artist. Was it curated by the man himself? I doubt it, but really I have no idea. As with all these things, it’s down to personal preference. There are, granted, tracks that would probably cause riots if they were omitted from a collection such as this, so the indubitable classic ‘Born To Run‘, with its wild-eyed escapism and entertaining feelgood schtick is impossible to leave out, as are the era-defining, socially aware stadium belters like ‘Born In The USA‘ or ‘Dancing In The Dark‘, and you can ..read more

Dublin’s Pillow Queens signed to Royal Mountain Records after self-releasing their debut 2020 album In Waiting. Their second album Leave the Light On followed in spring 2022 and the quartet have now released their third album Name Your Sorrow. We took the opportunity to learn more about how life experience has shaped their creative process and music. Can you share a liitle on the themes of Pillow Queens’ new album Name Your Sorrow. Name Your Sorrow delves into themes of loss, grief, love, and exploration. It’s also very much a record about love. Similarly to our first two records, this album i ..read more

Rachel Love has releases her second solo album Lyra, which is a collection of electronic dream-pop tunes, ripe with compassion, melody and mystery that bring to mind the collage pop of the likes of Broadcast and Stereolab. Lyra by Rachel Love In the early 1980s, the teenage Rachel Bor as she was then known, was the guitarist and singer for Dolly Mixture, a post-punk Cambridge girl group, much-loved by John Peel. The trio wrote highly catchy pop songs that missed the mainstream but have been an influence over the years on everything from riot grrrl to indie pop. The album is a result ..read more

Newton Faulkner is a man on the move. Last month the English singer-songwriter was on the island of Ireland for The Wild tour. A few weeks later he was nearly 12,000 miles away, down under, playing in New Zealand. And then five nights ago, and just as the tour poster suggests, Faulkner set sail on a 22-date voyage around mainland UK on his Feels Like Home Tour 2 (the first leg of which took place in this country in late 2022 and involved a series of entirely different locations). He is not someone who likes to hang around. Tonight’s show in Leeds, like the majority of others on this tour, has ..read more

The hugely successful British singer Paloma Faith who in her illustrious career has achieved a UK number one single, five albums in the UK top 10, as well as a Brit award, released her sixth studio album, The Glorification of Sadness in February of this year. She then embarked upon an extensive tour of the UK at the beginning of this month in support of her new album. The tour reached Newcastle upon Tyne last night and our photographer Daniel Robson was there to capture all the action ..read more

Bill Cummings, Jim Auton and Cath Holland convene to preview this year’s Focus Wales which takes place across multiple venues in Wrexham from the 9th to the 11th of May. They pick out the artists they are looking forward to seeing from across the bill, explain what makes Focus unique and highlight their three artist picks. They finish with a track from Dactyl Terra who are playing GIITTV’s stage this year. Find out more about Focus Wales here: www.focuswales.com Tracklist WRKHOUSE – Getaway PYS MELYN -Bywyd Llonydd Melin Melyn – I Paint Dogs Dactyl Terra – Moonbeam Produced by Andy VonPip ..read more

Silhouettes. That’s the first thing that springs to mind when you’re watching Lainey Wilson live. Her stage stances are so iconic and pronounced, you’d be able to tell who it is just from her silhouette. There’s a reason the Louisiana native is one of the fastest-rising stars on the Music City scene, and it’s not just her tradition-laced modern take on country pop. Mainstream country music has a history littered with big-time performers, those who have an impenetrable stage presence, that’s been lost a bit over the last couple of decades with the identikit men of bro-country and its tangents d ..read more

Please welcome one of South Yorkshire’s finest, Sheffield’s very own musical answer to David Lynch. Their name is Dearthworms and just like the Twin Peaks director they trade in a similar currency of surrealism, strangeness, and freakish charm. Band member Nick Potter emphasises the point when discussing Dearthworms’ debut album, Sapsucker which is due out on 26th July via local imprint and occasional gig promoter, Redundant Span Records. “The record is about weird people and weird experiences. I’ve got a really vivid imagination and I like getting in the head of strange characters.” And God I ..read more

Goodness gracious great balls of fire, we’re rattling into May quicker than Laurence Fox into a court case. Next week we’ll be pottering off to Focus Wales in Wrecsam but we’ve got a bumper edition this week, you lucky lucky people. Have a good old delve into these beauties.  Laura J Martin – Living On The Wall Why we love it: We do like it when Liverpool and Wales get together and create something bountiful. Laura J Martin‘s duet with Iwan Morgan (producer for Cate Le Bon, Euros Childs and Gruff Rhys) is beautifully layered, pop eccentricity with wonderful call and response. Morgan’s me ..read more

Sonically, Sean Walshe‘s music exists in a stratosphere that lies somewhere between John Cougar Mellencamp circa The Lonesome Jubilee, and the Mike Cooley-penned songs that are often among the highlights of many Drive-By Truckers albums. This is especially so on American Son‘s title track, which opens proceedings here. And I mean lyrically as well as musically, with socially aware prose such as “The poor are used as pawns, generations strung along, raised on welfare, lies and reruns / We have to teach them how to read, and to believe they can succeed, stop enslaving them to alms, I don’t see e ..read more