11 March 2026

Gig review: Leigh-Anne at Rough Trade

Leigh-Anne Pinnock may have had previous evidence of success when she first embarked on her solo career in 2022 when Little Mix’s hiatus began, but nothing is guaranteed in the world of music. With her label lacking the budget to support her debut album’s release, she did what many artists before her have also had to do: she cut ties with the label and became an independent artist.
With both Jade and Perrie releasing their solo outings (THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! and Perrie) a few weeks apart in 2025,...

Clash Magazine • 4 March 2026

Book Of Churches - Book Of Churches

Felix Mackenzie-Barrow has spent the past few years in constant motion with Divorce, pushing towards their debut ‘Drive to Goldenhammer’ and hauling it across Europe and North America. Book of Churches feels like the necessary counterweight to that ascent. Written in snatched hours in vans and childhood bedrooms, the self-titled debut is not a detour but a deliberate act of reclamation, a quiet insistence on identity away from the collective surge. Opening track ‘Song By A Stranger’ establishes...

DIY • 4 March 2026

waterbaby - Memory Be A Blade

While her 2023 EP ‘Foam’ introduced Stockholm artist waterbaby in melancholic soft focus, this full-length debut moves with darker intent, its eight tracks denser, richer in arrangement and sharper in interrogation. Across ‘Memory Be A Blade’, she circles her memories not to wallow but to examine how they have shaped her, particularly in the aftermath of two relationships that reframed the record as it was being made. That sense of shifting meaning runs through the album’s emotional core, as son...

The Line of Best Fit • 19 February 2026

samxemma’s “SEE SEE WHERE WE GO” confronts toxic love through hyperpop intensity

Shaped more by the internet than any one city, samxemma’s Sam Cooper and Emma Kirsch describe their sound as distinctly online. “We don’t sound like we’re from Manchester,” Cooper admits. “All the music I find is online.” Yet their meeting was offline; at university. “Freshers week at Spoons,” Kirsch recalls – she is originally from San Diego, with Cooper from Northampton.
At the time they first met, they were both already making music but in separate bands. Cooper describes his as “The 1975-es...

The Line of Best Fit • 5 February 2026

My First Time skewer dopamine culture on snarling new single “Picture Of Health”

“Picture Of Health” tells the story of a fictional character who lives vicariously via online fitness and financial gurus, drifting through each day in pursuit of the next short-lived rush. “I’ve parted seas and I’ve smoked cigarettes, I’ve travelled a thousand miles just to make love in your bed. I’m a picture of health,” lead singer Isaac Stroud-Allen snarls on the chorus.
He created the character, with the track being inspired by ”over the top, emphatic tracks” like Bonnie Tyler's “Holding Ou...

DIY • 5 February 2026

DIY Class of 2026: Nectar Woode

For Nectar Woode, performing is at the heart of what she does, so it’s little surprise to learn that her set at Glastonbury this summer serves as the obvious highlight of her year. “It’s always been a dream of mine. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe I was [doing it]. There were so many people there,” she grins. “It was Friday and everyone was hopeful for the weekend. Everyone that goes to Glastonbury is gassed to be there, they know it’s a privilege, so the energy is 10/10. I felt great, the aud...

LeftLion • 29 November 2025

How local goth-punks Bloodworm built their profile with live shows

Though it would have been easy to stick to regular Nottingham gigs when they were starting out, Bloodworm were eager to push themselves further afield. "We started playing out of town very quickly, in places like Manchester," Chris reflects. "In our first four years, our focus has been gigging rather than releasing music." George adds, "We haven't done much TikTok or influencer stuff like a lot of bands have. We've done it just through playing gigs, which is the harder way of doing it, but it's...

DIY • 25 November 2025

She’s In Parties: “If you write thinking ‘this is going to be for a big venue’, it’ll happen”

Since releasing their debut EP ‘End Scene’ in 2023, Essex-London quartet She’s In Parties have been quietly carving out a world of their own: one of shimmering dreamscapes, soft-focus melodies and emotionally charged reflections. Now, with their third EP ‘Are You Dreaming?’, the band are moving beyond their shoegaze roots.It’s a shift that, as Irish-born lead vocalist Katie Dillon explains, stems as much from personal upheaval as artistic growth. “I moved away from the rest of the band just over...