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.

Friendship, Feminism and Fun(damental Rights)

India Parker talks to Jess Bollands, the President of the Oxford Belles, about the enormous success of their latest music video

Chuck Berry – “One of the greats”

Will Cowie pays tribute to the late Chuck Berry

The Shins – Heartworms review

Akshay Bilolikar finds a confident and valedictory wisdom in the Shins' fifth effort

Circa Waves – Different Creatures review

Matt Roller deems the sophomore effort from Circa Waves to be refreshing, but inane

Spotlight: DFO

Will Cowie on those three magic letters

Spotlight: Emily the Snake

Emily the Snake are a funky outfit full of potential, says Will Cowie

A night for dancing and jumping

Daniel Curtis is left reeling from White Lies’ unpolished yet momentous performance at Oxford’s O2 Academy

Single of the Week: Calvin Harris’ ‘Slide’

Natalia Bus basks in the DJ producer's sunny new collaboration

Coldplay: ‘Something Just Like Piss’

Will Cowie carefully pulls apart the new Coldplay single

Spotlight: Yellow Days

Natalia Bus takes a look at new music

“Young, classy and capable of mischief”

Jacob Greenhouse is impressed by the freshness of Consortium Novum’s production of The Marriage of Figaro

Single of the week: Lana Del Rey’s ‘Love’

Natalia Bus chooses the baroque singer-songwriter's latest effort as her single of the week

Underground and boxed inside

Will Cowie on Boxed In’s concert at Village Underground

OxFolk reviews: ‘March Glas’ by Elfen

Ben Ray is entranced by Elfen's debut release, giving a small insight into the joys of the Welsh folk music scene

A dose of sarcasm, playfulness, and politics

Priya Khaira-Hanks is delighted by Kate Nash's down-to-earth rock 'n' roll at the O2 Academy

Laura Marling: always a woman

Ellen Peirson-Hagger delves into the folk singer’s most recent explorations of love and identity on her new album Semper Femina

An injection of life and joy in the dark

Romilly Mavin is energised by Two Door Cinema Club's electrifying performance at Alexandra Palace

Rag’n’Moan Man: human after all?

Dom Saad serves up a post-mortem for Rag’n’Bone Man’s "Human"

The winter’s dead, long live the Spring King

Ellen Peirson-Hagger’s ears are left ringing after a noise-fuelled night from a trilogy of bands at the Bullingdon

Spotlight: Bad Sounds

Will Cowie on new band of the week, Bad Sounds

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