Undertone. A blog about music.
-
RNS/Hewitt live at the Glasshouse review – impeccable Mozart lacks bite
Angela Hewitt’s attention to detail and exquisite technique delivered some stunning moments of clarity in these two Mozart piano concertos, but also felt prosaic in places. A thrilling second half confirmed concertmaster Maria Włoszczowska as an exceptional talent.
-
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.
-
Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department review – megastar has nothing left to prove
Dramatic, high-profile recent breakups offer plenty of lyrical meat for Swift to sink her teeth into on her 11th album and the highlights are devastating, but ultimately TTPD shows a lack of daring perhaps to be expected of an artist who already has the formula for commercial success honed to a tee.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Thundercat live at O2 City Hall review – virtuoso bassist goes full jazz fusion
Thundercat may be one of the world’s most respected bassists, but in this exhausting set of samey solos his technical wizardry was largely lost to City Hall’s booming acoustics. Alex Walden and Bertie Kirkwood jointly report.
-
Every song from Eurovision 2024, ranked
It’s time for Undertone’s yearly dive into the best and worst of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
-
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.
-
“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.
-
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.
-
RNS/Kanneh-Mason live at the Glasshouse review – epic Beethoven pushes RNS to the limits
Starry pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason’s Clara Schumann had crystalline clarity plus a stunning cello solo, but it was Dinis Sousa’s vigorous tackling of Beethoven’s most fabled symphony that had RNS operating at their genuinely world class best.
-
Britain’s new age indie scene – a new sound is on the rise and you don’t want to miss out
A new wave of indie music has been brewing and the potential isn’t barred by any limits. Indie music has been huge in the UK for as long as I remember, but new factors are changing the sound of the new up-and-coming talent into something completely different. By Matthew Rowe.
-
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.
-
‘I still try to put people onto Sonic music today’: in conversation with genre-defying producer AshZone
Following the release of his new lofi-house single me and you, Alex Walden caught up with East London/Essex producer and artist AsheZone to talk about the story behind his most recent music video, some features you may have missed, and his influences as a producer as well as an artist.
-
Girl Ray live at Belgrave Music Hall review – playful disco gets lost in the mix
Playing to a sparse crowd in Belgrave Music Hall, Girl Ray’s undercooked hour of straightforward disco-pop had highlights but suffered from a muddy mix and was ultimately upstaged by their support act.
Want to support independent music journalism?
Undertone 