2+ week, 3+ day ago   (596+ words) A long time ago in a city in the north of England, there was a bar called The Observatory. An old bank that had been split into three floors with a bar on ground one, a visit often prompted moments…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (614+ words) We started getting the messages early here, but nearly all of them said the same thing: “Have you heard it? Did you see it? Man, that is definitely the song of the summer.” The number being repped was Kick Stones…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (785+ words) Self Esteem by Scarlett Carlos Clarke There was an unmistakable end-of-term vibe at Forwards Festival this year, with several acts arriving in Bristol playing the final dates of lengthy tours. As such, the weekend often felt less like a festival…...

3+ week, 4+ day ago   (612+ words) There were many Tony Wilsons – entrepreneur, cultural icon, music industry innovator – and the latter manifested itself most obviously in the guise of the Factory Records label he co-founded in 1979. But as an innovator Wilson was far from infallible, and one…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (912+ words) Geese by Lewis Evans The last weekend of August has always been a busy one for music fans, but 2026 is a blockbuster. All Points East, Victorious, Forwards and Creamfields all take place over the bank holiday weekend, not to mention…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago   (614+ words) It’s the hypothetical question that’s hardest to answer: Faced with the prospect of your own mortality, how would you react? There are very clearly no right or wrong ways, but the stories of those who’ve been there might offer clues....

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (599+ words) Rightfully, we should distrust anybody who talks about the ‘new normal’. This is because the last half decade has taught us that, post-pandemic, this construct no longer exists, that stability is in turn fragile and temporary, and that basically anything…...

5+ day, 13+ hour ago   (712+ words) Raye by Aliyah Otchere The British relationship with festival weather is more hope over experience. You know what Yorkshire in August means. You’ve been here before. And yet, every year, you turn up anyway, waterproof rolled under your arm, quietly…...