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

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William The Conqueror + Chloe Foy: The Big Difference, Leicester [Live]

on June 15, 2022

alt-folk alt-rock blues Chloe Foy Leicester live music roots William The Conqueror

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Music Observer Friday highlights - 03.06.22

on June 03, 2022

222 Alela Diane Beth Orton Frances Gein Friday highlights Georgi Clarke Headshrinkers The Great Leslie

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Lossline: Death Masks

on June 01, 2022

alt-rock alternative gloomcore indie Lossline Manchester

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YNES: Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya [Interview]

on May 24, 2022

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

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Metric: Doomscroller

on May 21, 2022

alternative Canada electronic electropop indie Metric

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Lizzie Esau: The Enemy

on May 13, 2022

alt-rock indie Lizzie Esau Newcastle

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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

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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

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

on March 31, 2022

alternative Birmingham Comic Sans indie Indie Midlands interview

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Music Observer Friday highlights - 25.03.22

on March 27, 2022

A Cause In Distress Avalyn Friday highlights Holy Coves Nice Guy

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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(

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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...

Chris Greig & The Merchants: Silent Disco

"One of Glasgow's most energetic indie-rock bands" is how Chris Greig & The Merchants have been described, and it's hard to argue with that when listening to their newest release, Silent Disco. The track absolutely exudes energy: from the sparkling, attention-grabbing opening solo guitar riff right through to the cheeky slapped-bass in the outro. This energy is well supported by the strong, chunky drums throughout - I've always enjoyed that feel of the rhythm pushing things forward purposefully and firmly, and this is a big feature here. And then, the drum sound really opens up with loads of cymbals leading into the chorus. Silent Disco is pretty short - just over two-and-a-half minutes - but this may be a calculated decision to end on a high, and keep the listener wanting more. It definitely works here. This is a track that you'll be tempted to put on repeat just so you can keep singing along to the ridiculously catchy chorus. You could be fooled into t...

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