Tag: rock
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Maggie Rogers: Don’t Forget Me review – assured third album brims with singalong choruses
The ballads are few and far between on Maggie Rogers’ brilliantly written third record, which delivers one singalong belter after another. Don’t Forget Me doesn’t reinvent the singer-songwriter wheel, but what a fabulous wheel this particular album is.
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Dark matter: why the Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ is much more than a song
Metallica’s divisive ‘Nothing Else Matters’ was an unlikely hit for the famed metal band back in 1992. With its lovelorn vocals and unusual slow tempo for a notoriously thrashy quartet, its power still resonates with fans today, writes Alex Walden.
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Jade Bird: Burn the Hard Drive EP review – restrained breakup songs lack punch
Jade Bird’s knack for an anthemic chorus and soaring vocals go largely unused on this mixed EP, which opts for introspective healing over the roof-raising Americana of Bird’s first two albums.
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Jacob Collier: Djesse Vol. 4 review – his most gloriously incohesive yet
Ticking off everything from electropop to metal, Indian folk music to club-ready dance numbers, the finale of Collier’s four-album extravaganza is eclectic even by his standards. It makes for a mightily impressive listen, even if the 26 featured artists might overwhelm even his keenest fans.
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“They’ll definitely blow your mind”: five of the best female rock bands on the rise
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Alex Walden takes a deep dive into the world of alternate rock music to showcase some new female groups on the rise who are definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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Courting live at the Cluny review – indie’s next big thing has room for improvement
The Liverpudlian post punkers’ live offering is rough around the edges and their fixation with heavy-handed autotune grates – but they do possess the sort of roof-demolishing closing number most bands can only dream of.
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Undertone’s best songs of 2023
From chart-toppers to hidden gems, it’s time to reminisce about the most remarkable musical moments of 2023, as we countdown the year’s greatest hits.
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Squid live at Boiler Shop review – oddball post-punk casts a spell
Squid’s twisted, ugly brand of post-punk rock music was a perfect match for the industrial surroundings of Newcastle’s finest gigging venue for a set packed with interest and surprises, not least a theatrical twist at its climax.
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Theo Katzman live at Òran Mór review – Vulfpeck’s showman gets spiritual
On a damp and dreary night in Glasgow, Theo Katzman showcased his exemplary songwriting and impressive technique despite a set bloated with solos in one of those gigs overshadowed by my own circumstances.
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Olivia Rodrigo: GUTS review – the rallying cry of a generation
Equally packed with punk rock instant classics and beautifully understated piano ballads, Olivia Rodrigo’s bravura second album is somehow fiercer, wittier and altogether even stronger than her Grammy-sweeping debut.
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Jeff Rosenstock: HELLMODE review – punk’s golden boy plays it safe
Billed as both his most chaotic and “solid” record so far, Jeff Rosenstock’s seventh full-length is neither, but still provides its fair share of satisfying if familiar punk rock hits.
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boygenius live at the Piece Hall review – has Halifax ever seen anything like this?
On a first night in a glistening Piece Hall, the three individually lauded American songwriters brought almost unprecedented star power to humble old Halifax. Euphoric rock anthems and heartbreakingly fragile ballads had the superfans in raptures during a gig almost derailed by mass faintings.
Undertone 