Music

Beyond litter and emissions: The environmental costs of loud sound at music festivals

The music festivals of the summer have packed up and moved on. Stages and sound systems have been dismantled, litter cleared, and land reseeded.

Why ‘No Bad Memories’ is my album of the year

I didn't expect how perfectly my personal happiness would fit an album so preoccupied with the sounds of old advertisements and obsolete electronics, filled with the relentless optimism of a world that believed the future could only get better. 

CUSP’s Dan Stock on the memories behind ‘English Country’

On Friday, CUSP, a Milton Keynes-based indie rock band, released their debut album, English...

The rise of the pop girlie: Marketing mediocrity or feminism in action?  

“GIRLS INVENTED PUNK ROCK, NOT ENGLAND”: so reads the iconic green T-shirt of Sonic Youth legend Kim Gordon. The slogan stands in defiance of an unfortunate truth in the music industry: femininity and credibility often exist in contention with one another.

This Old Dog review – ‘Convincing signs of newfound maturity’

Ollie Webb reflects on 'one of the best albums of 2017' - Mac DeMarco’s This Old Dog, which explores themes of old age and his relationship with his father.

Is it possible to release too much music?

Maxim Mower discusses the current trend of constant releases in Hip-Hop

In conversation with Matt Maltese

Ollie Braddy discusses 'brexit pop' and the London music scene with singer-songwriter Matt Maltese

Lucy Rose enraptures and comforts her audience in Oxford

Ollie Braddy reflects on an atmospheric evening of intricate vocals set against the backdrop of a 19th century church

Memorable sax solos and individual flair at the Varsity jazz-off

If this show was about demonstrating the very best they can do, then Oxford delivered

Ten years on, Burial’s ‘Untrue’ is still dripping with raw emotion

Joe Bavs reminisces on an experimental classic

Julien Baker ‘Turn out the lights’ review – rawness and painstaking detail

Julien Baker exposes the harsh realities of her mental health struggles, writes Ollie Braddy

The ‘new’ jazz must be seen as well as heard

The latest offering from the 'new' Jazz scene is an innovative success, writes Harriet Davis

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – “experimental and weird”

Barney Pite reexamines one of indie rocks most enigmatic classic albums

Why the Sgt. Pepper’s show cannot be missed

Kenji Newton is impressed with the Oxford Beatles' recreation of the classic album

Villians Review – ‘Pop songs with rock sensibilities’

Queens of the Stone Age don't quite live up to their high standard, writes Rowan Janjauh

A beautiful, entrancing mess of an album – with a piercing social critique

Clementine produces an sophomore album far from easy listening, writes Clara Dijkstra

Crete’s mountain musician of mystery

Jonathan Egid sheds light on one of Crete's most intriguing characters

The music of Latin American revolution

Daniel Antonio Villar explores the legacy of the Nueva Trova

A unique and uncomfortable experience

Lil Peep is our greatest living icon, writes Joe Bavs

Ignore the naysayers, opera is for everyone

Many have dismissed opera as unaffordable and elitist – they are missing out, writes Jack Pepper

Feel good indie for the oncoming winter

Superfood’s outlook on the alternative scene is refreshingly optimistic, says Charlie Hackforth

Sad and Loud, Ryan Adams Live

Thomas Athey reports on an eventful show at The Sage

‘It’s even kind of morale boosting, in a Lana kind of way’

Nicola Dwornik praises Lana Del Rey's latest subtle reinvention

‘A nuanced and complex musical creation’

Thomas Athey finds Public Service Broadcasting's 'Every Valley' has many peaks

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