Tag: Manchester UK

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Orielles Share Angular “Wasp”

Acclaimed, Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The Orielles — Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (bass, vocals), Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford (drums, vocals) and Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) — will be releasing their highly anticipated fourth album, the Joel Anthony Patchett-produced Only You Left through Heavenly Recordings on Friday.

Recorded last summer in two locations — the Greek Island of Hydra and Hamburg — the 11-song Only You Left reportedly sees the band consolidating the bold experimentation of 2022’s Tableau with the more stripped-back, song-driven approach of their earlier releases, channeling a return to the familiar. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio. 

The JOVM mainstays, who originally started out in Halifax first gained attention both nationally and internationally with the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Silver Dollar Moment, which recently celebrated its eighth birthday. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we’ve come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people,” the band says. 

As for the foundations of the forthcoming album, the band’s Henry Carlyle Wade says “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums.” “It comes naturally, the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford adds, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Interestingly through this process of creative renewal, the JOVM mainstays have managed to weather a pandemic, the fickleness of a trend-driven music industry and somehow emerge with something that’s familiar yet completely different. 

According to Wade, the first ideas for the new album can be traced back to May 2023: Esmé Hand-Halford had purchased a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar. These heavy drones would later form the background of album tracks “Wasp” and “Three Halves.” 

In breaks between tours, the band began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analyzing the voice notes with a granular attention to detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry Carlyle Wade. “We went so deep into what each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

While the Tableau sessions were semi-improvisational and partially written in the recording studio, Only You Left was fleshed out through a series of intense writing sessions between May 2023 and last summer. Each of the album’s 11 songs were meticulously refined and became its own distinctive work. “It almost felt really novel for us to be writing as a three-piece and really, really crafting these songs,” the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford recalls. “But Tableau gave us that confidence to know we could go into a studio and pull things together in that setting under the time pressure.”

Producer and engineer Joel Anthony Patchett, whom Esmé Hand-Halford dubs the honorary fourth member of the band, has had a massive influence on the album’s sound and approach. “Joel brings an extra level of interpretation and deep listening,” Henry Carlyle Wade says, “and it’s always exciting to explore that.” Sidonie Hand-Halford adds, “He’s constantly talking us through every step of what he’s doing and getting really, really involved with that process as well. And we’re just kind of learning together and making these mistakes and discovering things together.” 

Only You Left will include the previously released “Three Halves,” the double single “You Are Eating Part of Yourself”/”To Undo the World Itself,”Tears Are,” and the album’s latest single “Wasp.”

Anchored around a looping, buzzing and droning guitar line, an angular and propulsive bass line and skittering, off-kilter drumming and percussion, “Wasp” subtly channels In Rainbows while simultaneously evoking a wasp flying in figure 8s and circles higher and higher.

“Taking on another shift in perspective, the lyrics follow a [sic] miniscule wasp as it reaches the height of a mountain, one of nature’s grandest settings,” the band explains. “Inspired by the film Black Narcissus I wanted to capture this feeling of questioning faith, purpose and the self when confronted by such vastness, using a wasp to exaggerate this magnitude even further. In seeing through its perspective maybe we can relate to the plight of the wasp, but the real sting in the tale (hah!) is that ultimately it is nature itself that conditions the wasp to hurt us.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays The Orielles Return with Hook-Driven “Tears Are”

Acclaimed, Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The Orielles — Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (bass, vocals), Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford (drums, vocals) and Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) — will be releasing their highly anticipated fourth album, the Joel Anthony Patchett-produced Only You Left through Heavenly Recordings on March 13, 2026. 

Recorded last summer in two locations — the Greek Island of Hydra and Hamburg — the forthcoming, 11-song Only You Left reportedly sees the band consolidating the bold experimentation of 2022’s Tableau with the more stripped-back, song-driven approach of their earlier releases, channeling a return to the familiar. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio. 

Now, as you may remember, the JOVM mainstays, which originally started out in Halifax gained attention both nationally and internationally with the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Silver Dollar Moment, which will celebrates its eighth birthday this months. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we’ve come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people,” the band says. 

As for the foundations of the forthcoming album, the band’s Henry Carlyle Wade says “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums.” “It comes naturally, the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford adds, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Interestingly through this process of creative renewal, the JOVM mainstays have managed to weather a pandemic, the fickleness of a trend-driven music industry and somehow emerge with something that’s familiar yet completely different. 

According to Wade, the first ideas for the new album can be traced back to May 2023: Esmé Hand-Halford had purchased a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar. These heavy drones would later form the background of album tracks “Wasp” and “Three Halves.” 

In breaks between tours, the band began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analyzing the voice notes with a granular attention to detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry. “We went so deep into what each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

While the Tableau sessions were semi-improvisational and partially written in the recording studio, Only You Left was fleshed out through a series of intense writing sessions between May 2023 and last summer. Each of the album’s 11 songs were meticulously refined and became its own distinctive work. “It almost felt really novel for us to be writing as a three-piece and really, really crafting these songs,” the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford recalls. “But Tableau gave us that confidence to know we could go into a studio and pull things together in that setting under the time pressure.”

Producer and engineer Joel Anthony Patchett, whom Esmé Hand-Halford dubs the honorary fourth member of the band, has had a massive influence on the album’s sound and approach. “Joel brings an extra level of interpretation and deep listening,” Henry Carlyle Wade says, “and it’s always exciting to explore that.” Sidonie Hand-Halford adds, “He’s constantly talking us through every step of what he’s doing and getting really, really involved with that process as well. And we’re just kind of learning together and making these mistakes and discovering things together.” 

Only You Left will include the previously released “Three Halves,” the double single “You Are Eating Part of Yourself”/”To Undo the World Itself,” and the album’s latest single “Tears Are.” Arguably the track that directly channels elements of their earlier sound, “Tears Are” is anchored around the JOVM mainstays long-held penchant for post punk-like hookiness paired with dreamy vocals. But the track ultimately fades out in a brooding, minor take on the song’s motif. The song evokes an unfinished thought or something left hanging without a sense of closure. The lyrics explore paradoxes with inversions and wordplay — and are intentionally ambiguous for the listener to make their own interpretations.

“ We had this vague imagery of wood versus metal,” the band’s Esmé Dee Hand-Halford says. “Hamburg was metal and Hydra was wood. Everything fell naturally into either category.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Nation of Language Shares Tom Sharkett Rework of “Inept Apollo”

Last year was a big year for acclaimed Brooklyn-based synth pop trio and JOVM mainstays Nation of Language. The trio — Ian Richard Devaney (vocals, guitar), Aidan Noell (synths) and Alex MacKay (bass) — signed with Sub Pop Records, who released their Nick Milhiser produced and mixed fourth album, Dance Called Memory, continuing an ongoing collaboration that included 2023’s Strange Disciple.“What’s so great about Nick is his ability to make us feel like we don’t need to do what might be expected of us,” says Nation of Language’s Aidan Noell.  

Sonically, the album is imbued with a subtly shifted palette: On some tracks percussion is smashed through a synthesizer as a nod to early-2000s electronic music. Chopped-up drum break samples also make appearances.

But ultimately, for the trio, the hope was to weave raw vulnerability and humanity into a synth-heavy album. “There is a dichotomy between the Kraftwerk school of thought and the Brian Eno school of thought, each of which I’ve been drawn to at different points. I’ve read about how Kraftwerk wanted to remove all of the humanity from their music, but Eno often spoke about wanting to make synthesized music that felt distinctly human,” Nation of Language’s Ian Richard Devaney says. “As much as Kraftwerk is a sonically foundational influence, with this record I leaned much more towards the Eno school of thought. In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators, I’m focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that… Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy.”

The album features “Inept Apollo,” which continues a remarkable run of nostalgia-inducing 80s New Wave-inspired material that showcases the trio’s unerring knack for crafting slickly produced bops, anchored around earnest lyricism and songwriting.

Recently the JOVM mainstays shared Tom Sharkett‘s bold rework of “Inept Apollo.” Sharkett’s rework retains Devaney’s yearning vocal and some of the original’s New Wave/synth pop-inspired feel but noticeably increases the BPM and adds a strutting disco-like bass line. The result is a something that’s earnest, achingly yearning and yet even more dance floor friendly. It’s one-part Madchester-scene, one-part NYC dance club.

“We’re big fans of WH Lung, as well as Tom’s excellent recent LCD Soundsystem rework, so we were super excited when he reached out saying he wanted to take a crack at a new mix of ‘Inept Apollo,'” Devaney says. ” Our initial enthusiasm only grew when we received the end product a couple months later and were able to test it out in a club environment a few times. Can confidently report it sounds fantastic in a loud and crowded room. Here’s hoping it sees its way to a few dance floors in 2026.”
 
“I had an affinity with Nation of Language as soon as I heard their music,” Tom Sharkett says. “It felt like it came from the same place as the music I was making myself and with W. H. Lung, and the more of their music I heard, the more I felt it. It was hard initially to find a way in with remixing ‘Inept Apollo,’ as I loved the original so much. I knew I wanted to nod to the connection between NYC and Manchester started by the artists and DJs I feel we both love, without even having to name check them. It had to be wonky, and it had to be loose and lively. Hope you enjoy!”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Orielles Shares Two Dreamy and Expansive Tunes

Acclaimed, Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The Orielles — Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (bass, vocals), Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford (drums, vocals) and Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) — will be releasing their fourth album, the Joel Anthony Patchett-produced Only You Left through Heavenly Recordings on March 13, 2026. 

Recorded last summer in two locations — the Greek Island of Hydra and Hamburg — the forthcoming, 11-song Only You Left reportedly sees the band consolidating the bold experimentation of 2022’s Tableau with the more stripped-back, song-driven approach of their earlier releases, channeling a return to the familiar. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio. 

Now, as you may remember, the JOVM mainstays, which originally started out in Halifax gained attention both nationally and internationally with the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Silver Dollar Moment, which will celebrate its eighth birthday this upcoming February. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we’ve come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people,” the band says. 

As for the foundations of the forthcoming album, the band’s Henry Carlyle Wade says “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums.” “It comes naturally, the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford adds, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Interestingly through this process of creative renewal, the JOVM mainstays have managed to weather a pandemic, the fickleness of a trend-driven music industry and somehow emerge with something that’s familiar yet completely different. 

According to Wade, the first ideas for the new album can be traced back to May 2023: Esmé Hand-Halford had purchased a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar. These heavy drones would later form the background of album tracks “Wasp” and “Three Halves.” 

In breaks between tours, the band began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analyzing the voice notes with a granular attention to detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry. “We went so deep into what each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

While the Tableau sessions were semi-improvisational and partially written in the recording studio, Only You Left was fleshed out through a series of intense writing sessions between May 2023 and last summer. Each of the album’s 11 songs were meticulously refined and became its own distinctive work. “It almost felt really novel for us to be writing as a three-piece and really, really crafting these songs,” the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford recalls. “But Tableau gave us that confidence to know we could go into a studio and pull things together in that setting under the time pressure.”

Producer and engineer Joel Anthony Patchett, whom Esmé Hand-Halford dubs the honorary fourth member of the band, has had a massive influence on the album’s sound and approach. “Joel brings an extra level of interpretation and deep listening,” Henry Carlyle Wade says, “and it’s always exciting to explore that.” Sidonie Hand-Halford adds, “He’s constantly talking us through every step of what he’s doing and getting really, really involved with that process as well. And we’re just kind of learning together and making these mistakes and discovering things together.” 

Only You Left will feature the previously released “Three Halves,” a track that derives its title from when the band’s Wade stitched together three recordings on Abelton and needed a working title. What initially began as a temporary placeholder quickly became a theme for Esmé Hand-Halford to riff on and a metaphor for the trio and their deeply shared connection.

Today, the JOVM mainstays shared the double single, “You Are Eating Part of Yourself”/”To Undo the World Itself.” “You Are Eating Part of Yourself” is a slow-burning and minimalist tune anchored around a looping, strummed guitar figure, dreamy vocal that gradually becomes a glitch-driven tide of feedback and cacophony before closing with a slow, piano-driven fade out. Seemingly nodding at OK Computer and Amnesiac-era Radiohead, “You Are Eating Part of Yourself” conveys a bittersweet acknowledgment of time irrevocably racing by before your eyes. “To Undo the World Itself,” is a expansive post-rock-like tune featuring reverb-drenched vocal melody ethereally floating over a propulsive, shoegaze-meets-dream pop arrangement of guitar, bass and drums.

Accompanied by a video directed by Neelam Khan Vela, which spans both tracks, the band said: “‘You are Eating a Part of Yourself’ began when a durational guitar loop was released from the archive of improv’s recorded in Henry’s bedroom. The title, which comes from a video artwork dating 1996, captures the darkness emanating from the original recording, and reflects the clarity to be able to define that feeling some years later. Through music (and some words) we unfurled the emotion captured back then, as we put our ears up to the organs of the body orchestrating their own symphony and dissonance.

Closing track of the album ‘To Undo the World Itself’ sings of rebirth and reversal, or outstanding finality, depending on the impression that ‘Only You Left’ leaves you with. The cathartic crescendo meant that this was a favourite to play in the various live rooms that we wrote / recorded in, where it was trialled against the backdrops of thunderstorms and peaceful sunsets alike.”

“After almost a decade of collaborating with The Orielles, we share a connection that makes our creative process completely intuitive, like a long rally where ideas are passed back and forth without needing to be spoken,” Neelam Khan Vela adds. ” The band filmed with Lewis and Giulia in Manchester, and from that starting point I let the emotional pull of the tracks guide the edit, completing the video through what the music evoked and what the evolving images seemed to ask for.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: cruush Shares “120 Minutes”-Era MTV-like “Rupert Giles”

Manchester-based indie outfit cruush — Amber Warren (vocals, guitar), Arthur Boyd (guitar), Fotis Kalantzis (drums) and Bruno Evans (bass) — quickly emerged into the national and international scenes with their first three EPs, 2023’s Wishful Thinker and last year’s Ladybird Song and Nice Things Now, All The Time, which saw them quickly establishing a sound that was both forceful and tender, and sincere to the point of snot-crying with layers of indie rock fuzz. Their music has been forged in the drudgery of soul-sucking service jobs, rainy Manchester days and nights.

So far, the British quartet have received coverage from The Independent, NYLON, NME, BrooklynVegan, Dork, DIY Magazine, So Young, The Line of Best Fit, Clash Magazine, Rough Trade and Consequence, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1′s Jack Saunders, BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq and Emily Pilbeam, and Radio X’s John Kennedy. And adding to a growing profile nationally, the quartet has shared stages with BDRMM, Pale Blue Eyes, NewDad, GIFT, BASHT and Girl Scout.

In a short period of time, the band’s sound has gone through a shift that has ushered a new era of tightly wound grunge pop rippers. And to further flesh out their evolving sound and approach, they enlisted Norfolk, UK-based Sickroom Studios producer Owen Turner.

Their latest single “Rupert Giles” may arguably be the most 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock-like song of their growing catalog, as well as one of the more purposely direct. Featuring a classic grunge song structure — alternating quieter verses and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses paired with layers of guitar fuzz and thunderous drumming, the song’s arrangement serves as lush and dreamy bed for Warren’s plaintive and gorgeous vocal. Yes, for those of you, who are like me, inching towards old, the song will bring about memories of some of the stuff you were listening to back in 1994 — but while being remarkably modern.

“On a writing retreat to Wales we took a sunrise hike up Penygader. We listened to nothing but Neil Young, Brownhorse, and the Van Halen song ‘Panama,’” the band recalls. “We were sitting by this lake at 6am, with the sun rising, listening to it and all felt well. We knew we had a great song written, we were all sleep deprived and sweaty, the stars were aligning.”

Directed by Zack Arlo, the moody and impressionistic visual for “Rupert Giles” manages to further emphasize the 90s MTV-era vibe of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Orielles Share Expansive “Three Halves”

Acclaimed, Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The Orielles — Esmé Dee Hand-Halford (bass, vocals), Sidonie Dee Hand-Halford (drums, vocals) and Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) — will be releasing their fourth album, the Joel Anthony Patchett-produced Only You Left through Heavenly Recordings on March 13, 2026.

Recorded last summer in two locations — the Greek Island of Hydra and Hamburg — the forthcoming, 11-song Only You Left reportedly sees the band consolidating the bold experimentation of 2022’s Tableau with the more stripped-back, song-driven approach of their earlier releases, channeling a return to the familiar. “There’s nothing more trad than a three-piece,” quips Henry, in reference to the band’s decision to return to their roots as a trio.

Now, as you may remember, the JOVM mainstays, which originally started out in Halifax gained attention both nationally and internationally with the release of their full-length debut, 2018’s Silver Dollar Moment, which will celebrate its eighth birthday this upcoming February. “These things come in like seven year cycles. So we’ve come in like a full circle back to a familiar place, just as different people,” the band says.

As for the foundations of the forthcoming album, the band’s Henry Carlyle Wade says “You’ve got to die and be reborn between albums.” “It comes naturally, the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford adds, “it’s not something we consciously do.” Interestingly through this process of creative renewal, the JOVM mainstays have managed to weather a pandemic, the fickleness of a trend-driven music industry and somehow emerge with something that’s familiar yet completely different.

According to Wade, the first ideas for the new album can be traced back to May 2023: Esmé Hand-Halford had purchased a freeze pedal, which allowed her to play around with sustained notes on her guitar. These heavy drones would later form the background of album tracks “Wasp” and “Three Halves.” 

In breaks between tours, the bands began to meet up and record their practice room sessions, later analyzing the voice notes with a granular attention to detail. “We recorded everything on our phones, every snippet,” explains Henry. “We went so deep into what each song needed or what we wanted to hear from it.”

While the Tableau sessions were semi-improvisational and partially written in the recording studio, Only You Left was fleshed out through a series of intense writing sessions between May 2023 and last summer. Each of the album’s 11 songs were meticulously refined and became its own distinctive work. “It almost felt really novel for us to be writing as a three-piece and really, really crafting these songs,” the band’s Esmé Hand-Halford recalls. “But Tableau gave us that confidence to know we could go into a studio and pull things together in that setting under the time pressure.”

Producer and engineer Joel Anthony Patchett, whom Esmé Hand-Halford dubs the honorary fourth member of the band, has had a massive influence on the album’s sound and approach. “Joel brings an extra level of interpretation and deep listening,” Henry Carlyle Wade says, “and it’s always exciting to explore that.” Sidonie Hand-Halford adds, “He’s constantly talking us through every step of what he’s doing and getting really, really involved with that process as well. And we’re just kind of learning together and making these mistakes and discovering things together.”

Only You Left‘s first single “Three Halves” derives its title when Wade stitched together three recordings on Ableton and needed a working title. What began as a temporary placeholder soon became a theme for Esmé Hand-Halford to riff on, a metaphor for the trio and their deeply shared connection.

At points noisy and driving and dreamlike and mediative in others, “Three Halves” is an expansive study in contrasts that’s experimental yet accessible while anchored by the razor sharp hooks that the Manchester-based outfit had been known for.

“Citing ideas that we took interest in during the early stages of writing the new record, ‘Three Halves’ flips between its absurd contrasts as the name suggests,” the band says. “Built upon a soundscape of droning organs, guitar, and cello it floats between noise and emptiness, precision, and catharsis, welcoming each half leads into the next.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Still Blank Shares Punchy and Anthemic “Same Sun”

Rising, transcontinental duo Still Blank — Kaua’i, HI-born, Los Angeles-based Jordy and Manchester, UK-based Ben — have quickly established a difficult to pigeonhole, often minimalist yet emotionally rich sound that draws from shoegaze, grunge and folk.

The duo’s unique sound comes from other unlikely roots: Jordy grew up immersed in the natural rhythms of island life in Hawaii, gigging at weddings and fundraisers by the time she was in her early teens. Her early musical efforts drew inspiration from Hawaiian traditions and Kaua’i’s solitude. Ben, who ,was raised steeped in Manchester’s rich and deep musical legacy, played some of his earliest gigs in pubs with his dad’s band. He developed a love of ambient textures, citing The Durutti Column and Vini Reilly as formative influences.

The duo’s unlikely meeting in the UK sparked a lightning-in-a-bottle creative partnership that started as casual jam sessions in a Liverpool basement and quickly evolved to sessions ranging from stripped-back recordings on a broken, classical guitar to long studio sessions fueled by long walks through rural Wales and a shared commitment to imperfect perfection. 

As a band, the transcontinental duo’s work seemingly echoes the mood and vibe of acts like Yo La Tengo, Big Thief and Cat Power paired with lyrics informed by people-watching, dreams, nature, introspection and existential observation.

The pair’s highly anticipated self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a November release through National Anthem/Capitol Records. “This was a transformational period of our lives, which is reflected throughout the entirety of the record,” Still Blank’s Jordy explains. “Some of the songs were written when we first met, some on other sides of the world while navigating separation, and others born into existence in less than a day, after we initially thought we’d finished the record. With a record written before we’d even conjured up a name, the whole creation of this album felt serendipitous – from a chance meeting between ourselves to magically finding likeminded collaborators who took a chance on 2 kids and allowed us to experiment without any pressure from outside sources.”

The self-titled debut will feature their debut single “What About Jane,” which received praise from the Under The Radar, Clash, Dork, DIY and more, the breakneck post-punk-like “Ain’t Quite Right,” and their latest single “Same Sun.” “Same Sun” is a punchy and propulsive tune that sees the transcontinental duo pairing rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with a gritty, 90s grunge-meets-post punk-like arrangement. And it may arguably be the pair’s most urgent, forceful song they’ve recorded to date.

Built around a hypnotic baritone guitar riff and recorded in a single take, the song as Jordy explain is “about how we can be so disconnected from the reality of other people’s lives around the world, but at the same time we’re all connected in a fundamental way, we’re all staring at the same sun.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: poor effort. Shares Throbbing “talking mouth (on & on)”

Salford, UK-based singer/songwriter Matty Dagger is the creative mastermind behind the rising British synth punk project poor effort. Emerging last year with a run of pithy singles that included “You’re Wrong, I’m Right (Symphony)” and “HRMC,” which received coverage from DIY Magazine and Louder Than War, as well as airplay on BBC 6 Music. Those two singles saw Dagger quickly establishing a sound and approach that saw him parting trippy beats and pencil-sketch riffs with relatable humor. While being a barrage against a surrender to bleakness and hopelessness, the Salford-based artist has specifically set out to cultivate a distinct environment of lo-fi storytelling.

The Salford-based artist built upon a growing profile by playing with a rotating cast of musicians in venues across the region, including Colours Hoxton and The Eagle Inn — with more shows scheduled throughout the rest of this year.

Dagger’s Dean Glover-produced poor effort self-titled EP reportedly sees him dipping in and out of alternative hip-hop, post-punk and electronica while inspired by Benefits, Sleaford Mods and Kate Tempest and lengthy lockdown periods in which he put self-taught production techniques and poetry to tape.

The debut EP is slated for an October 3, 2025 release through Manchester-based Home Taping in partnership with EMI North. The EP will feature the previously released “City of Hope,” which received airplay from BBC 6 Music, BBC Introducing Manchester and Radio X. The EP’s latest single “talking mouth (on & on)” continues a run of material anchored around a minimalist as maximalist ethos that reminds me a bit of JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots. Featuring a throbbing and propulsive bass line, driving beats and a glistening synth melody, the song’s instrumentation serves as a woozy bed for Dagger’s laconic delivery.

Thematically, the song address the chaos of communication overload and how “conclusion arrives before irony does in the slow death of nuance,” according to Dagger.

“At first ‘talking mouth’ was a lot faster and more of a thrashy garage punk song, but I struggled to get the chorus to feel right at that pace. I slowed the tempo down and found that this let it breathe a lot more while still maintaining its distinct drive,” the rising Salford-based artist says. “The synth melody and sequencers then transformed the nature of the song completely. The initial recordings are still lying around somewhere, maybe I’ll put them on the bonus compilation in 2050.”

Fittingly, the accompanying video features Dagger and band performing in a studio, shot in a grainy security-style footage with an explosion of handwritten song lyrics and musings, typed out words, Polaroid photos and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: TTSSFU Shares Yearning and Propulsive “Call U Back”

Tasmin Nicole Stephens is a Wigan, UK-born, Manchester, UK-based producer, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the emerging and rising DIY shoegaze solo recording project TTSSFU (pronounced phonetically as T-T-S-S-F-U). With her TTSSFU debut EP, last year’s Me, Jed and Andy, Stephens quickly established an enormous and atmospheric sound, which some said deftly combined the dreamy and eerie qualities of The Cure with the breakneck BPMs of bands like The Strokes and The Drums.

Me, Jed and Andy EP featured “I Hope You Die,” which amassed well over, one-million streams on YouTube and “Studio 54.” Adding to a growing profile across the UK and elsewhere, the rising Wigan-born, Manchester-based artist began making the rounds of the British festival circuit, playing sets at Green Man, Bristol Sounds and Manchester Psych Fest among others. She also landed opening slots for the legendary Kim Deal, acclaimed JOVM mainstay Soccer Mommy, Mannequin Pussy and  English Teacher.

The rising British artist closed out last year by signing with Partisan Records, who will release her highly-anticipated sophomore EP, the seven-song Blown on August 29, 2025. Having gone into the EP intending to “write some pop songs and something happy,” what came out was much more aligned with her songwriting approach. The result is a quasi-real-time document of Stephens’ life in all of its messy and uneasy contradictions. pierced together by her diverse musicality and a souped-up sonic palette.

Blown EP‘s first single, the Chris Ryan co-produced “Call U Back” opens with an eerie, squealing siren call-like burst of feedback that wails through the song before it quickly turns into a propulsive and broodingly atmospheric bed for Stephens’ yearning delivery. The new single continues to showcase an artist with an unerring knack for pairing remarkably catchy hooks with unvarnished, deeply lived-in lyricism and songwriting.

“‘Call U Back’ is a song about when you really like someone and you chase them around to try and make it work, but end up just making a fool of yourself by holding onto the slightest chance of it working,” Stephens explains. “When you listen to it, imagine you’re drunk on a night out at the point that things slowly start to just feel awful…”

Directed by Lewis Vorn, edited Desperate Pervert Graphics’ Shea McChrystal, the accompanying lyric video for “Call U Back” features the rising British artist an old-fashioned landline, shot in grainy and glitchy VHS-styled tape, desperately attempting to reach al love interest, who may not all that interesting. And throughout the video, we see her start to lose her mind — perhaps from the fact that she has wasted her time on someone who’s not worth it.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Still Blank Shares Breakneck and Sultry “Ain’t Quite Right”

Rising, transcontinental duo Still Blank — Kaua’i, HI-based Jordy and Manchester, UK — have quickly established themselves as one of more enigmatic and exciting voices in contemporary alternative music. Drawing from shoegaze, grunge and folk, they’ve developed and honed a sound that’s difficult to pigeonhole, often minimalist and emotionally rich.

Their unique sound comes from rather unlikely roots: Jordy grew up immersed in the natural rhythm of island life in Hawaii, gigging at weddings and fundraisers by the time she was in her early teens, while drawing inspiration from Hawaiian traditions and the solitude of Kaua’i. Ben, who was raised on Manchester’s rich and deep musical legacy, played some of his earliest gigs in pubs with his dad’s band. He developed a love of ambient textures, citing The Durutti Column and Vini Reilly as formative influences. The duo’s unlikely meeting in the UK sparked a lightning-in-a-bottle creative partnership that started as casual jam sessions in a Liverpool basement and quickly evolved to sessions ranging from stripped-back recordings on a broken, classical guitar to long studio sessions fueled by long walks through rural Wales and a shared commitment to imperfect perfection.

As a collaborative unit, their work draws from introspection and their surroundings, echoing the mood and vibe of acts like Yo La Tengo, Big Thief and Cat Power paired with lyrics informed by people-watching, dreams, nature and existential observation.

The duo’s sophomore single “Ain’t Quite Right,” comes on the heels of their critically applauded debut single “What About Jane,” which received praise from Under The Radar, Clash, Dork, DIY and a lengthy list of others. “Ain’t Quite Right” sees the pair swapping roles in the creative process while crafting a breakneck post punk tune that’s sultry and vulnerable yet simultaneously confrontational and accusatory in a way that subtly channels PJ Harvey.

“We wrote the song around Christmas in rainy Manchester while listening to a lot of Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey,” the transcontinental duo explain. “Usually, Ben leads the music and I work on lyrics and melody, but this one flipped. We wanted it to feel on edge—building tension. The lyrics explore a dysfunctional relationship where both sides are suffocating, and neither can let go. The guitar almost talks back to the vocal, responding with this jarring energy that adds to the unease.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Hello Cosmos Shares Furious and Urgent “Turn Off The News”

Manchester, UK area-based genre-defying, multimedia collective Hello Cosmos — Kendal Calling Festival founder Ben Robinson (vocals), Ben’s sibling Simon Robinson (drums), Placebo‘s and Lanterns on the Lake‘s Angela Chan (strings, keys) and Deathretro‘s Adrian Ingram (guitar, synths) — released their latest EP, Keep Digging earlier this year.

Written and recorded over a two-year period, the Jamie Lockheart-produced Keep Digging EP is the first of a batch of yet-to-be announced, forthcoming releases from the British outfit, which were created in Leeds-based Greenmount Studio, as well as studios in Manchester, New York, Florida, Los Angeles and Stockport, UK. The EP comes with a bold vision for the band, their Cosmic Glue imprint and their future live show.

Keep Digging EP‘s latest single “Turn Off The News” is also the first official single from the band’s forthcoming sophomore album slated for release next year. “Turn off the news,” begins with dramatic violin screeching before turning into blisteringly furious post-punk ripper anchored around alternating quiet-loud-quiet song structure that features scorching guitar riffage, thunderous drumming and a mosh pit friendly screamo-like hook paired with Ben Robinson’s incisive, politically-charged lyrics. Although rooted in UK political commentary, “Turn Off The News” captures the furious urgency of our moment here in the US with the daily normalization of fascism, lies and bullshit — with most decent people realizing they’ve been conned either by someone or the system as a whole.

The initial recording taking place the day after the UK left the European Union, the British outfit developed from a studio session that reflected the dark, uneasy, doom-laden and intense atmosphere throughout the country’s inner cities with the original working title “The Day After.” As the track progressed during sessions at Greenmount Studios during 2020, the song’s lyrics gradually developed around themes of negative news stories and who they serve, seeing the band tackling media manipulation and bullshit. And the song title’s changed to “Turn Off The News.”

“The story of this song threads through some dark times for me personally, the UK and the globe,” Hello Cosmos’ Ben Robinson explains. “I always aim to be positive with Hello Cosmos vocals, writing from a place of sadness or negativity is much easier than making a positive statement interesting. But this track was a sign of the times so I went through my darker lyric notes, a lot had been written in the harder moments of lockdown, the 5 o’clock updates from Witty and Borris [sic], the Twitter rabbit holes on info on how PPE contracts had been abused, the whole circus show of Hancock and the media shitshow surrounding UK politics. This is where the title of the track comes from, at that time the news was so unhealthy and was constant, it wasn’t helping people it was beating us down with doom and paranoia constantly, while the media was celebrating having something to run with that had the attention of the world . . .

“Frustrating times all bottled up, so I took every bit of my anger and went into the vocal booth for the first scream I’d done since lockdown happened, I channelled everything I could into that chorus and let it all out, what you hear is the first and only take.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 69th Birthday, Peter Hook!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Peter Hook’s 69th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 69th Birthday, Bernard Sumner!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Joy Division and New Order co-founder Bernard Sumner’s 68th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Manchester UK’s TTSSFFU Shares Woozy “Studio 54”

Tasmin Nicole Stephens is a Manchester, UK-based producer, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind behind the emerging and rising DIY shoegaze solo recording project TTSSFU (pronounced phonetically as T-T-S-S-F-U). With TTSSFU’s debut EP, Me, Jed and Andy, which was released earlier this year, Stephens quickly established an enormous and atmospheric sound that according to some deftly combines the dreamy and eerie qualities of The Cure with the breakneck BPMs of bands like The Strokes and The Drums.

Me, Jed and Andy EP features “I Hope You Die,” a track that is nearing one-million plays on YouTube. Stephens has begun to make the rounds of the British festival circuit, playing sets at Green Man, Bristol Sounds and Manchester Psych Fest, as well as opening slots for acclaimed JOVM mainstay Soccer Mommy and Mannequin Pussy during those two acts’ UK tours. Adding to a growing profile, Stephens recently signed to Partisan Records, the label home of PJ Harvey, IDLES, Cigarettes After Sex, Blondshell and more. The label will be releasing the rising British artist’s forthcoming new material next year, a scheduled EP and a full-length studio debut.

“Partisan is a label that holds a lot of the bands I’ve looked up to for years, and for them to see enough potential in me to be signed was just mind blowing,” the rising Manchester artist says of her recent signing to Partisan. “I’m so grateful to be taken on by such a kind group of people who care about my music and future and are totally on board and patient with me. Biggest thank you goes to Matthew at Partisan who found me in the first place. Without him none of this would have happened x.”

And to close out a massive year, the Manchester-based artist will be opening for English Teacher during their upcoming November UK tour. But in the meantime, Stephens’ latest single off the Me, Jed and Andy EP “Studio 54” is a brooding and uneasy bit of sheogaze featuring an angular bass line, layers of eerie, reverb-drenched vocals and gently buzzing guitars that serve as a woozy bed for for the British artist’s ethereal, achingly tender lead vocal. “Studio 54” reminds me a bit of the big, reverb-soaked sound of My Gold Mask but with an eerie, dreamy quality. It’s slick synthesis of goth and shoegaze that sounds almost as though it could have been released during 120 Minutes MTV-era alt rock days — but subtle, modern sheen.

“‘Studio 54’ is about how Andy Warhol got swept up with the New York party scene and how it eventually pushed his partner Jed Johnson away,” Stephens explains. “Andy let Jed down many times, the drugs made him uncomfortable, and Andy seemed to care more about partying and hanging out with his famous friends. Jed eventually had enough and left him for someone else which ultimately broke him. The story resonated with me because sometimes I don’t recognise what I’ve got when I’ve got it and take things for granted.”

Directed by Seth Lloyd, the accompanying video follows Stephens as she prepares for and heads to a drug and booze-filled party that also features couples hooking up, fighting and breaking up in a seemingly infinite pattern.
“The video was super exciting to make with my good friend Seth,” the Manchester-based artist says. “It was amazing to create the vision that’s been sitting in my head for a while now and bring it to life with such a talented team. We also had some amazing extras who were so fun and helpful all night.”