Music heard, and observed

Skip to main content

Music heard, and observed

Enjoying established acts | Championing new and independent artists | Event promotions | Press kits, demos, EPKs, press passes, tickets etc. welcome: therealmusicobserver (at) gmail (dot) com

Search This Blog

Interviews
Live reviews
Exclusives
Best of ...
Contact / Submissions
Playlists
Gigs

Posts

YNES: Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya [Interview]

on May 24, 2022

alternative Coventry indie Indie Midlands interview pop punk post-punk YNES

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Metric: Doomscroller

on May 21, 2022

alternative Canada electronic electropop indie Metric

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Lizzie Esau: The Enemy

on May 13, 2022

alt-rock indie Lizzie Esau Newcastle

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

All roads lead to Leicester: Emma Mae + JJ Lovegrove + Greysha + Emily Carr [Live]

on May 02, 2022

Emily Carr Emma Mae Greysha indie JJ Lovegrove Leicester live music

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Music Observer April highlights - 20.04.22

on April 20, 2022

Blue Violet Emma Mae Friday highlights Jemima Coulter Kitty Perrin Matilda Mann Supersaurus Wyldest

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comic Sans: Just don't mention fonts ... [Interview]

on March 31, 2022

alternative Birmingham Comic Sans indie Indie Midlands interview

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Music Observer Friday highlights - 25.03.22

on March 27, 2022

A Cause In Distress Avalyn Friday highlights Holy Coves Nice Guy

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Nice Guy: Tonight

on March 25, 2022

alt-rock alternative indie Nice Guy Teeside

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Music Observer Friday highlights - 18.03.22

on March 18, 2022

Arcade State Blue Violet Friday highlights Serotones Thom Yorke

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Music Observer Friday highlights - 11.03.22

on March 12, 2022

Alex Jayne Friday highlights Graywave Nadia Sheikh The Mysterines

+

Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

New release horizon scanner:

11/1/25 - Rosie Gault: Dim lights
29/1/25 - Dictator: Middle of the road (EP)
7/2/25 - Arliston: Disappointment machine (Album)
28/2/25 - Hachiku: The joys of being pure at heart (Album(

Labels

2021
2022
2023
2024
222
A Cause In Distress
about me
acoustic
Africa
Album

Show more Show less

Popular Posts

Music Observer Friday highlights - 03.06.22

I haven't done one of these posts for a while and this is a bit of a hybrid, mopping up some music I've heard in the past couple of weeks but haven't had chance to write about yet. Hope you enjoy. Remember, a ll of the songs I write about (as well as lots of others) feature on my May 2022 and June 2022 playlists. Frances Gein - All I've Loved A song released today (3rd June) but which I've been listening to for a few weeks (thank you for the early preview Frances!). This is a slow paced, minor key folk tune, with a simple, calming and strangely comforting beauty. The song is centred around a picked-out guitar riff, which - couple with Frances' muted and mysterious vocals - gives it a satisfying grungy feel. But there's also some great use of strings, which start as a barely-there backing and build into something a little unsettling (matching closely to the lyrical progression). The ending is brilliantly done thanks to a surprise, low piano note which pu...

Grace Calver: My Life and Its Disasters [EP]

It’s just over a year since Grace Calver released arguably one of the best ever songs related to the undead - her debut single, ‘Zombie Conversations’ - pivoting from popular music blogger to accomplished artist in a way which felt natural and preordained. And now, here’s her debut EP, building on the success and catchiness of that first release. The brilliantly named 'My Life and Its Disasters' is five tracks of Grace Calver's well polished, finely honed brand of dream-pop-meets-grunge, sugar-coated angst rock. It’s an infectious, deceptively innocent style of writing - like a rainbow with a pot of boiling oil at the end. And let's also not forget that Grace plays all the tuned instruments, too, leaving only the drums to be outsourced (in this case to Oscar Liddiard). Two of the tracks on this EP are brand new, and perhaps best represent where Grace is now as an artist. She’s come a long way in a very short time, playing countless live shows, including several festiva...

Hannah Grae: Need Me Now

Welsh singer-songwriter Hannah Grae writes some ludicrously catchy songs, the kind that can drill themselves into my conscious and subconscious and obsess me for days on end. Just under a year ago, I felt compelled to write about 'I Missed The Joke' (a song from Hannah's debut album), which I described as "just about the perfect indie angst-rock ballad." This year, Hannah has released a sub-30 minute "mini-album", 'Nothing Lasts Forever'. Its main features are her recent singles, 'Better Now You're Gone', 'It Could've Been You', 'Screw Loose' and 'Who Dunnit?', all powerful songs making full use of her remarkable vocal talents. They've received a lot of attention. But there's also new material on the record, and the new and older songs combine to create something varied and really interesting, and which feels like a lot more than 28 minutes. The song which struck me and has stuck with me is the fo...

Amber Saqladi: Becoming a modern-day Siren [Interview]

Amber Saqladi began her journey as a song-writer scribbling poetry at age seven, before graduating to writing songs with a felt-tipped pen on sheets of A3 paper. But it took some time for this pastime to evolve into a way of life. "It's always been something I've done but it was never anything I really took seriously growing up. I was a very academic kid, so that's what I expected to do," Amber explains. By 15, though, she had started writing music more seriously, and gigging. "Since then, it's become undeniable that that's the thing I enjoy the most - being able to be creative, and be academic at the same time," she says. Amber quickly established herself as a familiar name on the music scene in her home town of Leicester, where she also recorded her first three singles at HQ Studios . "The music scene in Leicester is absolutely lovely - it's very community based. I can always count on the other musicians there to support me, and I...

Holly Humberstone: Paint My Bedroom Black [Album]

(Note: Now updated to reflect that the album has now been released!) Holly Humberstone just keeps on climbing. Last year, I wrote about her Glastonbury set, and how she winningly pushed through a spell of nerves. This year, she's elevated herself to regular Radio 1 playlist status, made her first headline festival appearance (at Barn on the Farm ), and successfully completed an intense headline tour of the U.S. All of this while the anticipation built for her second album. That second album dropped on Friday, 13th October, and for this one I broke my self-imposed rule of not writing about music until at least its release date. I just had to share some thoughts in advance. My first impression of the record: it's more direct, more mature, and more determinedly poppy in many places. There's a feeling that Holly is now freer and more confident to play with different vibes and rhythms: in places things are dark, soft and cinematic, but in others Holly has found the confidence ...

Archive

December 20246
November 20243
October 20242
September 20244
August 20244
July 20241
June 20242
May 20244
April 20245
March 20246

Show more Show less

Powered by Blogger

Copyright ©️ 2023 Phil Taylor