Q&A: Africa Express – Moonchild Sanelly, Muzi and Poté on new album EGOLI

by Michael Hubbard

Africa Express, the sprawling cross-cultural exchange initiated by Damon Albarn and journalist Ian Birrell in 2005 which has since spawned marathon live shows, collaborations, four...

75 Dollar Bill: “Build the thing so you can make the sound you are after” &...

by Daniel Paton

Formed in New York in 2012, 75 Dollar Bill have been exploring a part-composed, part-improvised and highly meditative sound world for several years, eventually coming...

Richard Hawley: “We are being led by psychopaths.” – Interview

by Ben Hogwood

Richard Hawley declares himself “well braindead” on arrival. He has been doing a day of interviews, chatting about new album Further, with each one overrunning....

David Gray: “I’m about dispatches from NW3, walking the dog in Hampstead”...

by Ben Hogwood

David Gray is in a chipper mood. There are several reasons for this – the brightness of the cold, wintry morning on which we connect...

Rocket Girl’s Vinita Joshi: “Music gave so much to me, I wanted to give som...

by Sam Shepherd

Fully 20 years ago in London, after her time with Cheree and Che Records, Vinita Joshi was taking her first steps towards launching Rocket Girl...

Mercury Rev’s Grasshopper: “We really wanted that southern gothic feel that...

by Steven Johnson

The guitarist on Mercury Rev’s reimagining of Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete album

Shirley Collins: “I despair of the population who allowed themselves to be fooled...

by Ben Hogwood

Shirley Collins is truly a force of nature. Now in her early 80s, the folk singer continues to make music and develop as though she...

Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson: “I try not to take for granted that we’ll be g...

by Sam Shepherd

What began as a way for Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley to document their early musical endeavours back in 1998 has developed into a label...

Bernard Butler: “I became like a sponge” – Interview

by Ben Hogwood

Take a look at Bernard Butler’s discography and you will be surprised. Aside from the obvious entries of his huge contribution to Suede (the first...

Sting & Shaggy: “It was very much an accident” – Interview

by Ben Hogwood

There can only be one question to begin this interview – and it is just one word. Why?

The National’s Bryce Dessner on composing, collaborations and minimalist mentors

by Ben Hogwood

Bryce Dessner is in town – the Southbank Centre in London, to be more precise. Seizing the opportunity while his colleagues in The National are...

Erland Cooper: “I can see the seals, gannets and fishermen” – Interview

by Ben Hogwood

Erland Cooper is daydreaming. We are sat in his North London studio at the end of a hard day’s rehearsing and recording, nursing a peppermint...

Blancmange: “People want wall to wall music. Never mind the chords, feel the widt...

by Ben Hogwood

2017 is turning into a very good year for the duo whose name is a wobbly dessert. Blancmange began their work together in 1978, and...

Nick Mulvey: “We’re touching the miracle of things” – Interview

by Michael Hubbard

“Someone said, if you want to work on your art, work on yourself. Everything you create is a reflection of where you’re at. Another way...

OMD’s Andy McCluskey: “There are lies all over modern international politic...

by Ben Hogwood

Andy McCluskey is in high spirits. That in itself is an obvious statement, for in previous interviews with this publication he has never been anything...

Interview: EMA

by Bekki Bemrose

“I don’t wanna throw shade on anybody, but there have definitely been times when people will suggest, or make it feel like, [my music’s] impenetrable,...

Interview: Jane Weaver

by Max Pilley

Jane Weaver’s story is unlike many others’. Her Britpop band Kill Laura were signed to Rob Gretton’s label Manchester Records when they were teenagers, releasing...

Rick Wakeman: “If you’ve got good melodies you can do absolutely anything with ...

by Ben Hogwood

Rick Wakeman is pleasantly surprised. Joining him for lunch to talk about his new album Piano Portraits, we find ourselves first discussing one of the...

Interview: Erasure’s Vince Clarke

by Ben Hogwood

What do you get a band for their 30th birthday? Mute Records have the answer, for they have been showering Andy Bell and Vince Clarke...

Interview: Marius Neset

by Daniel Paton

Even after years of practice and a determinedly perfectionist work ethic, saxophonist and composer Marius Neset clearly still identifies an inherent degree of danger in...