I’m sitting down to type up this list, and there’s a prompt appearing in the WordPress text box, which I delete in order to write this sentence. It says: “Have you ever performed on stage, or given a speech?” The answer to that question, is yes, on both counts, but that’s not why we’re here… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2022
If there was a pop-punk-related list to be ticked off, August is Falling check all of the boxes on their long-awaited debut EP. Few bands in recent memory have been able to generate the buzz that August is Falling have without having ever released studio material. Hell, questions were starting to get asked as to… Read More August is Falling – the simple plan EP (Review)
The Baltimore band return from hiatus with hands up and arms out, and I return from my own hiatus to write about it. I should start here by saying that this music blog wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Have Mercy. Let’s cast our minds back. It’s 2013, and I’m taking a gap year between… Read More Have Mercy – Self-Titled (EP Review)
Hey, long time no see, Internet. Here I am, re-emerging from my year-long hibernation to participate in the annual record recap/love-in. It’s been quite the year, but you already know that. It’s been a year for music too, which is something you probably also already know. Here are my choice cuts from the last twelve… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2021
As has become a yearly tradition (and the only thing ever to be posted on this blog anymore), here are my favourite records of the past twelve months.… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2020
There’s a lot that I’ve been grateful for this year, and I am happy to report that 2019 has been a pretty solid year for yours-truly (if not the world at large). I took up running, which meant I took up heavy music again, and I got slightly better at speaking Chinese, even if I… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2019
I told myself I wasn’t going to write an AOTY list for 2018. Then I read everyone else’s AOTY list, and I decided I would. Here’s an AOTY list for 2018. By no means am I saying, definitively, that these are the best records of 2018 – I’m just saying they’re my favourites. I’ve included… Read More My Favourite Albums of 2018 (Another AOTY List)
I don’t know how other to start this post than with the line: I went for a drink with a woman once. It wasn’t by definition a date, and I’m not entirely sure that we knew each other well enough at the time to even qualify as friends, but we went for a drink and,… Read More Answering the Question, Fourteen Months Late (On toe and My Favourite Song)
You’re probably reading this on a mobile phone; this probably means that the majority of your close family and friends are only a few seconds and several dial tones away. The entire world is resting in the palm of your hand, easily accessible regardless of the distance between yourself and those confined within. But, there… Read More [Bullet Music] The Wonder Years – Sister Cities (Album Review)
Featuring: Kacey Musgraves / Listener / Manchester Orchestra / Household / THE FEVER 333 / George Ezra / Hot Mulligan / Hayley Williams / Julien Baker / William Fitzsimmons / Macseal / Marietta / Wil Wagner / The Streets / Wolf Alice / Now, Now / Kasabian / Noah Gundersen / Black Foxxes / Gender Roles… Read More The CRM Monday Mix #4
Featuring: Franz Nicolay / Ben Marwood / The xx / Catfish and the Bottlemen / Broken Social Scene / Joseph / Fleet Foxes / Emily Yacina / The Menzingers / Owen / Trophy Eyes / Perma / The Smiths / Jessica Pratt / The Hotelier / Hot Mulligan / Stars Hollow / Grimes / Foxx… Read More The CRM Monday Mix #3
Featuring: awakebutstillinbed / Muncie Girls / itoldyouiwouldeatyou / Phoebe Bridgers / Looming / Free Throw / The Bronx / Every Time I Die / Nervous Dater / Harmony Woods / Noname / The Written Years / Hovvdy / Nirvana / The Smith Street Band / Conjurer / Slingshot Dakota / Casey / Animal Flag /… Read More The CRM Monday Mix #2
This afternoon I sat down to write a poem inspired by Kayo Chingonyi’s recent collection Kumukanda. It’s a wonderful debut collection, rooted heavily in a childhood spent immersed in music. It finds him laboring over mixtapes and old cassette players, spacing the seconds between songs to ensure smooth transitions and optimal exposure. I read it… Read More The CRM Monday Mix #1 (Something New)
50) Vagabon – Fear & Force 49) Lucy Rose – Floral Dresses (feat. The Staves) 48) Moses Sumney – Doomed 47) Smidley – Pink Gallo 46) Vasudeva – Take Away 45) Mount Eerie – Ravens 44) Glassjaw – shira 43) Eisley – Defeatist 42) Have Mercy – Drive 41) Adult Mom – Patience 40) At… Read More My Favourite Songs of 2017 (With Playlist)
It’s that time of year again. I went all the way back to January to pick out the one-hundred records that have made my 2017. Give it a read:… Read More My Favourite Records of 2017 (100-1)
It’s been eight years, and I’m still not entirely sure how much I actually like this record. I do like it, it I remember going into it expecting it to be disappointing, and never really found enough within to chance the preconception. When Homesick dropped, British magazine Kerrang! gave Homesick a pretty damning 2/5, and part… Read More Record of the Day #25 – A Day To Remember, Homesick
How about this one for a throwback? Back when I didn’t have much of a fashion sense (not that I do now) and so only wore Nike trainers, tracksuit bottoms, and baggy hoodies, Original Pirate Material was my kind of record. I think of my rundown hometown in the early 2000s when kids used to walk around… Read More Record of the Day #24 – The Streets, Original Pirate Material
Here it is, the first record I ever owned. Even before I had a record player, I had Moose Blood’s debut 7″ Moving Home. Even just looking at these pictures gets me nice and nostalgic. This was where it all started, and what follows is four years of money I’ll never get back, but was spent… Read More Record of the Day #23 – Moose Blood, Moving Home
I had my first university seminar of my Master’s degree yesterday, and we spent a good amount of time discussing inspiration – what inspires us, how we inspire others, and how we seek out inspiration. I avoided mentioning that inspiration normally finds me at its most poetically potent after a drink or five, so instead… Read More Record of the Day #22 – Somos, Temple Of Plenty
I’m not a big advocate of greatest hits compilations. I see their merit, but I tend to treat them cynically – not as cash grabs, but mostly just as unnecessary. I can appreciate the appeal of having a record of nothing but hits, in that the experience is normally a much stronger one than a… Read More Record of the Day #21 – Red Hot Chili Peppers, Greatest Hits
Craig Reviews Music 