Another drizzly Download Festival is now in the books but even the dismal weather and the mud couldn’t stop 90,000 metalheads from having a great time at Donnington Park at the weekend. With headliners as varied as Def Leppard, Slipknot and Tool’s first performance at Download in 12 years, there was something for everyone. Away from the main stage also saw headline performances from All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus as supergroup Simple Creatures, Enter

Cheshire-based hip-hop collective deliver an impenetrable statement of intent on their blossoming sophomore EP. Hip-hop has invariably been an illusive genre to conquer since the illustrious first golden age of the genre transformed music worldwide in the late 1980s. With its diversity, incalculable temperament and sweeping lyrical mindset, the brand has undergone more changes in its history than the presenters of Top Gear, yet at its core lies a primal set of foundations, a

This Friday (21st June) sees the return of Hot Chip with their seventh studio album ‘A Bath Full of Ecstasy,’ their first since 2015. The London-based indie-tronica quintet famed for earlier songs such as ‘Over and Over’ and ‘Ready for the Floor,’ deliver an album celebrating joy and happiness while pursuing the melancholic approach of pain and toil which it takes to get there. A Bath Full of Ecstasy is also notable as it is the first time that Hot Chip have not self-produced

The classically trained London singer-songwriter delivers a documentation of life’s uncertainties on his glowing sophomore record. The burgeoning mass of British singer-songwriters that have emerged in recent years has slowly moulded into a quagmire of similarity and simplicity, taking away some of the joy from acoustic guitar-based music due to its increasing predictability. However, when London-based Charlie Cunningham released his hugely successful debut album Lines in 201

‘Doom Days’ pretty much sums up the feeling that most of us hold about the world in its current state. Headlines are turning ever bleaker and the world is seemingly a darker place than it has been in a long time. This is ultimately what Bastille’s third album is trying to capture. However, in a time of sadness and madness, Bastille have been able to offer a more optimistic snapshot of reality. Personally, I don’t think anything will top ‘Pompeii’ (a song that it definitely st

Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds played a short acoustic set at Rough Trade on Sunday in support of his new book ‘Dear Future Historians,’ which is a collection of all the Shikari lyrics, including essays explaining them. This is the second edition of the book, and this time round includes the lyrics from the most recent Shikari album ‘The Spark.’ Rou performed several songs off ‘The Spark,’ including lead single ‘Live Outside,’ and also played ‘Constellations’ from 2012’s

The second weekend of All Points East kicked off on Friday 31st May with a day that can only be described as an absolute triumph for British heavy music. Everything from Lotus Eater opening the North stage, all the way up to Bring Me the Horizon’s two-hour headline set was an exhibition of the best that British metal has to offer. Indeed it was clear that despite moving away from heavier music with their latest releases, BMTH still have a keen interest in promoting smaller ba

The Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of Twitter and most rapidly growing pop star to emerge from the UK since Adele surprises with a stripped-back debut which shows hints of greatness, but struggles to justify 12 songs of lethargic balladry. It’s a miracle I ever listened to this album. Its title is a top contender for The Mic’s ‘Worst Album Name of the Year Award,’ an accolade I’m considering setting up purely due to Divinely Uninspired’s existence, and the idea of yet anothe

The young Irish band’s debut album ‘Reasons to Dream’ is set to be released this Friday (24th May) and it is definitely something to get excited about. If you can’t wait that long, the first single ‘The Others’ is out now. whenyoung have created an interesting sound with their new album, with an array of messages and themes being found through the tracklist. From typical pop to politically charged tunes, whenyoung are able to create a good balance between feel good and think

Milky goodness for your eardrums Upon introduction to The Butlers, I wasn’t a massive fan. After hearing that Mako Road were performing at a charity gig in Christchurch I jumped at the chance to see them, not paying much attention to the other accompanying acts – including The Butlers. But I was very pleasantly surprised when they appeared on the makeshift stage area and began to play some cracking songs. The five-piece band is formed of Walt Robberds (vocals, rhythm guitar),

Last month, former Libertines and Babyshambles frontman Peter Doherty introduced us to his third musical project, ‘Peter Doherty and The Puta Madres.’ Doherty’s latest work is a lot folksier than his previous repertoire, demonstrating inspiration from his new Margate abode, and includes fantastic Doherty-esque instrumental interludes illustrating the individual musical talents of each Puta Madre. Arriving at 7:30, I managed to catch the majority of Riding the Low’s set, a con

At one time, Britain’s rising stars could only look to the likes of The Great Escape Festival and SXSW in America as showcases for new talent, but on Saturday 4th May, a new behemoth on the festival calendar announced itself with a stellar line-up across a multitude of stages and venues. Taking place across the first band holiday weekend of May, Live at Leeds 2019 proved to be an event fit for all music fans, highlighting the very best of new British talent alongside some sta

Australian Stella Donnelly and her band brought their show to the Bodega this bank holiday Sunday, providing a treat for the lucky fans who were in the venue. On the back of the release of her debut album ‘Beware of the Dogs,’ the musician, who is originally from Wales, brought the house down with an array of songs from the album as well as from her previous EP ‘Thrush Metal.’ The support act for the evening was Nottingham based singer-songwriter Alex Milne. Milne is a regula

Last night was The Mic’s last acoustic rooms of the year before the Christmas break, and it did not disappoint. Accompanying the usual great standard of live performance was a back drop of Christmas decorations, a tree and on top of the all-night happy hour, Rescue Rooms are also doing a different drinks deal each day in December. Kicking off the acoustic night were returning duo- Stella and Chris. The pair have opened a few of the previous nights and their unique covers of c

Nottingham based indie-rock band Don’t Forget Rupert headlined the Bodega last night for their last show of the year, managing to sell it out just under a day before. They were supported by Ava Saint and For the Girl, also both from Nottingham, and succeeded in performing an explosion of a homecoming show. Ava Saint kicked things off with an alternative-rock/punk performance including a unique take (but not quite cover) of Brittney Spear’s ‘Toxic’. Lead singer Holly Taylor-Ga

Kicking off the night was Elliot Willaims. Undeniably a strong singer – confident and loud, with an indie-rock style – he got the attention of the room straight away. Although strong, he could use some more variety in his singing and guitar playing – some songs were hard to distinguish from others. There were some nice switches between strumming, picking and palm muted strums, for instance in his song ‘A long way home’. A good song, which felt like an acoustic Kings of Leon s

After Alexandr Misko gave an amazing performance last week at Acoustic Rooms as a special guest, it was exciting to see what this week would hold. The beauty of an open mic night being you never know exactly what you’re going to see. The night started with Ryan Dunn from the band Gazelle, who performed a strong triad of songs, turning the volume high for the night with his acoustic guitar and rough vocals. Next up was singer Kaiori, also accompanied by her acoustic guitar. Sh

This week Rescue Rooms held another packed night of Acoustic Rooms, with the exciting addition of special guest Alexandr Misko – an amazing guitarist that impressed the whole room. Kicking off the night were the returning duo Stella and Chris with their jazzy rendition of ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motörhead. It’s clear that the duo has a lot of fun performing – their happiness fills the room through Stella’s powerful voice and big smile. Chris then performed a solo cover of ‘Space O

This week at Acoustic Rooms was a lot busier than last week, back to normal after a quieter bonfire night the week before. There were a lot more artists signed up to play so they kept to three or four songs each this time. First to perform were Stella and Chris- with Chris on guitar and Stella providing the vocals. Stella seemed very comfortable performing and interacting with the crowd and it was obvious this wasn’t her first performance. Next was Louis Croft, a young Jake B

The Mic caught up with Primal's guitarist Dan. You’re a Notts-based and you formed in the summer of 2017. Tell me a bit about how and where that came about? Absolutely. So, I’m the guitarist – I’m Dan. Rory is the singer and we used to go to school together. Went to all the same schools. And we were band mates really – over the previous few years we’d been in different bands and we’d always remained friends. So we got together – we were hanging out together as friends anyway