Here we go again! As I continue to look back through my albums of the year, month by month. This time I'll take a look at April, which saw the return of The Strokes after seven years, the wonderful collaboration between Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes, amongst fantastic new albums from Enter Shikari, Fiona Apple... Continue Reading →
Origins of European Hip-Hop: Deutscher Hip-Hop
Next up in my series 'Origins of European Hip-Hop', I'll take a look at a fragmented and divided hip-hop scene in Germany. Whilst in both France and Italy artists had ideological differences, and both scenes had significant political impacts, no scene in Europe had the kind of political backdrop and contrast of musicians than that... Continue Reading →
Origins of European Hip-Hop: Rap Italiano
As I continue to take a look back at the dissertation I wrote a few years ago on the developement and impact of hip-hop in Europe, I now move onto my second country, Italy. In the last post I looked into Francophone Rap, a budding hip-hop scene in France, which produced artists such as MC... Continue Reading →
Album Reviews: My Top 5 Albums Released in March
Having already looked at my albums of the month for January and February, I now move onto March. The first two months of the year brought us some great music, and March continued in the same vein. Just like my previous posts, I’ll start with a quick update on the state of the world back... Continue Reading →
Origins of European Hip-Hop: Francophone Rap
After looking through some of my old work, I stumbled across the disseration that I wrote for my final project at university back in 2016, and decided to give it another read. Lockdown boredom may have reached new heights, and brought me to an educational read which I enjoyed more than I thought I would.... Continue Reading →
Album Reviews: My Top 5 Albums Released in February
Continuing to look back at some of my favourite albums released earlier this year, this time I'll take a look at the month of February. A month where everything seemed normal, it was the calm before the storm, as the full impact of COVID-19 lurked around the corner. Donald Trump was being impeached, Parasite won... Continue Reading →
Album Reviews: My Top 5 Albums Released in January
What feels like an eternity ago, when COVID-19 was a distant viral illness beginning to spread throughout Asia, when Harry and Meghan's decision to step down from royal duties 'split the nation', when we were all left realing from the heartbraking scenes of the Australian bushfires, before many other tragic events, including the death of... Continue Reading →
WATCH: FEVER 333 perform a live ‘LONG LIVE THE INNOCENT’ Demonstration
Last night, Fever 333 performed a live demonstration to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement, with all proceeds of the livestream going towards the Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Freedom Fund. Further to the performance, the band shared the below message: “This is a concentrated effort to encourage people to go beyond awareness and take action,”... Continue Reading →
Feature: My Top 5 Musicians Speaking Out on Racism
Like many, I've been following the news of the shocking and appaling murder of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in Minneapolis, USA. The consequential outrage of his killing has not only sparked protests there, but spread to other cities in the United States too and across the world, with demostrations in Auckland,... Continue Reading →
Feature: Top 10 Music-Related Things to Watch During Lockdown
The current situation with COVID-19 has left the world in lockdown, with venues closed and tours cancelled or postponed, a lot of artists have been forced to find new and innovative ways to stay connected wth their fans, such as live streaming performances from their home, going back through the archives and releasing footage of... Continue Reading →