A selection of some of my music writing for various websites and publications:
Review of ‘2017–2019’ by Against All Logic (March 2020) –
A gesture apposite for his somewhat meticulous approach to music-making, 2017–2019 sees Chilean-American electronic composer Nicholas Jaar…
‘Remembering the surrealist techno mixes of post-wall Berlin’ for Texture magazine (September 2019) –
Coming across as the type of bloke who avoids reminiscences on yesteryear when possible, Horst Weidenmueller — head of Berlin’s eminent !K7 label — is making an exception for the topic of the X-Mixes, an obscure series of audio-visual compilations commissioned by the record company in the mid-1990s…
‘2018: in five tracks’ (December 2018) –
It’s often around this point that we begin to see popular culture shed the skin of a decade…
‘Ten dance music genres from Europe that America doesn’t get’ for Vocal Media (September 2018) –
While it was the clubs of Chicago and Detroit that first brought house and techno music into the world back in the 1980s, most music aficionados of the electronic persuasion would agree that it has been the other side of the Atlantic where dance music has truly come into its own…
Review of ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ by Arctic Monkeys (June 2018) –
The fact that this will take its place as the weakest link of Arctic Monkeys’ repertoire doesn’t really tell the whole story…
Cover feature interview with The Vaccines for Exposed Magazine (April 2018) –
In a time where anthemic garage rock appears to command a pop cultural cachet roughly comparable to the bootcut jeans you thought you donated to a charity shop years ago, the kind of fanfare that surrounded The Vaccines before they dropped their debut LP back in 2011 already seems a relic of an altogether different, perhaps sweeter, era of music…
Marquis Hawkes review & Duke of Wolves interview for Live Circuit zine (April 2018) –
One of the capital’s finest young prospects of the here and now, Duke of Wolves have been turning quite a few heads a-lately on the festival circuit for their superb live performances…
‘Five singles to remember 2017 by’ for Vocal Media (December 2017) –
If there’s one silver lining that history tells us comes of tumultuous times, it’s that they tend to bleed rather well into all things creative. And while the year twenty-hundred-and-seventeen was always destined to be the long comedown from the disaster-trip that was in so many ways the year before, it would be rude not to also say that it has introduced us to some interesting new stars and shapes in the kaleidoscope of music…
Live review of The Libertines for Tramlines Festival newspaper (July 2017) –
Launching into ‘The Delaney’ and a set undoubtedly the highlight of many people’s weekends, it was difficult to believe that the almost immortal sight of Carl and Pete onstage together seemed, for many years, one banished to rock ‘n roll history. Far from the magnets of tabloid newspaper hue and cry they were back when they first visited Sheffield, though…
‘The Killers flex their muscles with ‘The Man’’ for ICM (June 2017) –
Whether your interest waned after ‘Hot Fuss’ or held all the way through to 2012’s Americana-drenched ‘Battle Born’, it stands testament to their impact on rock music over the last two decades that most people have something to say about The Killers…
‘Girl Friend announce break-up’ exclusive for ICM (March 2017) –
Manchester indie pop act Girl Friend have announced that they are to split with immediate effect. The troupe, fronted by siblings Amory and Eleanor Neish – Melling, revealed in a Facebook post on Friday evening (March 10) that they are to cease working and touring together, and will be “starting separate projects in the near future”…
Interview with The Amazons for Exposed magazine (March 2017) –
You don’t get much hotter tips than The Amazons at the moment…
Review of ‘Terrible Human Beings’ by The Orwells for ICM (February 2017) –
If not an adage, then it certainly rings true that it’s not always a question of what you put out as a band, but when. When it comes to timing, then, you’d easily be forgiven for thinking a raucous garage rock outfit of The Orwells calibre have an opportunity as golden as the handrails of Trump Tower right now with the release of ‘Terrible Human Beings’…
Interview with Alvarez Kings for Exposed magazine (February 2017) –
A name familiar in the steel city for many a year now, Alvarez Kings have been making quite the splash across the pond…
Review of Sundara Karma’s ‘Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect’ album, featured on RateYourMusic front page (January 2017) –
For what it is, you can’t say Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect is a particularly bad album…
Live review of Oddity Road at the Rocking Chair, Sheffield for ICM (January 2017) –
Soon to head out on a UK tour with fellow Sheffielders The Sherlocks, the journey ahead for Oddity Road could well be an interesting one…
Interview with Arcades for Indie Central Music (January 2017) –
When they weren’t celebrating the legendary triumph of their local team, the people of Leicester last year were also apparently keeping one of British indie’s biggest secrets to themselves; the raucous, electrifying outfit that is Arcades…
Live review of Travis at O2 Academy Sheffield for Exposed magazine (January 2017) –
While – admit it – it may be some time since you last thought about them, Travis have been steadily pottering away for the best part of two decades now…
Review of ‘Mapping the Rendezvous’ by The Courteeners for The Indiependent (October 2016) –
Having spent the last ten years thriving on the opinion they polarise, the case of Courteeners remains an intriguing one…
Review of ‘Cyan’ by Pleasure House for The Indiependent (May 2016) –
Rising like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of that evanescent ‘B-Town’ scene, Birmingham’s latest musical export has arrived in the shape of Pleasure House, a tight-knit quartet who have lunged their way onto the nation’s indie music radar in the last year or so…
Live review of Conor Houston at The Leadmill for Big Peach magazine (May 2016) –
When the comparisons to a late musical great won’t stop coming, it’s time to embrace them. That was, unequivocally, one of the many lessons in showmanship…
Review of Eagulls’ ‘Ullages’ for Big Peach magazine (May 2016) –
What do you do with that tricky second album? It’s a question as old as rock music itself, and one that ravages many a band still drunk on the fortunes of a strong debut…
Review of ‘Getaway’ by Blossoms for The Indiependent (April 2016) –
Considering their rather full-frontal assault on festival slots, the UK touring scene and undoubtedly the playlist of your local indie disco, one may find it difficult to deduce the mystery of Blossoms‘ debut still remaining nowhere to be seen…
Review of ‘Ideal Girl’ by The Cradles for The Indiependent (February 2016) –
Exalted recently as “everyone’s favourite Cardiff indie band” by BBC Radio Wales, The Cradles indubitably have their sights set well beyond the valleys with the 25th March release of ‘Ideal Girl’…
Review of ‘Shoot Me Baby’ by The Shimmer Band for The Indiependent (February 2016) –
Still fresh from a 2015 that was in no way short on touring, self-declared ‘Explosive Psych Poppers’ The Shimmer Band are currently riding a tide of publicity for their debut single ‘Shoot Me (Baby)’, with attention even coming in the form of Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6 Music show…
Live review of Liberty Ship at the Rocking Chair, Sheffield for Exposed magazine (February 2016) –
One unfortunate feature of Sheffield’s indie rock scene has always been the ephemeral nature of some of its promising acts…
Interview with Spector for Toast magazine (December 2015) –
After stylishly making their mark on the indie scene with their debut back in 2012, it was a long, arduous three-year wait between Spector’s debut and this summer’s Moth Boys. Now re-energised, re-vamped…
Review of ‘SOIA’ by Strange Bones for The Indiependent (December 2015) –
Strange Bones are one of those bands that are easy to throw the ‘raw’ adjectives at. And not without reason; the sound that emanates from this very much touted outift is tousled, winding…
Live review of Spector for Toast magazine (November 2015) –
The sardonic baritone of Fred MacPherson may not instantly evoke mental images of Henderson’s Relish and Tinsley cooling towers, but Spector are a band with Sheffield in their DNA…
Review of ‘Believe Me’ by The Traveling Zoo for The Indiependent (October 2015) –
Possessing a name that sounds like the best children’s book never written, self-declared “pre-autotune pop-rock” outfit The Traveling Zoo seem to be a veritable bundle of surprises. Having six members and already being onto their third album in three years may be the very least of them…
Review of ‘Blame It All On Me’ by Kobadelta for The Indiependent (September 2015) –
With a warmly received EP in May’s ‘Open Visions’, the momentum of a glowing NME review, and the promise of an intimate home’toon’ show next month, Newcastle’s Kobadelta have definitely had a better 12 months than you…
Review of The Libertines’ ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’ (September 2015) –
Good news; it’s not shit, something I think was very much the fear when…
Overview/review of Y Not Festival 2015 for Exposed magazine (August 2015) –
Driving hordes of music fans to the Peaks and biting at the heels of the likes of Glasto and Leeds, it does take some trying to believe that Y Not is, at heart, a house party that has spiralled more and more out of control every year…
Live review of Wolf Alice at The Leadmill, Sheffield for Exposed magazine (April 2015) –
Since they last played The Leadmill in May 2014, Wolf Alice have embarked on a stealthy hunt for mainstream recognition. With hotly anticipated debut album My Love Is Cool out in June..
‘Tramlines Festival funding from council reaches low’ (March 2015) –
Council funding for the annual Tramlines music festival weekend hit a record low in 2014, it has been revealed…
Interview with Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp for Exposed magazine (December 2014) –
Martin Kemp talks Steel City memories, Eastenders, the entertainment industry, and why he’d rather be Batman than Superman…
Live review of Blossoms at the Great Gatsby public house for The Indiependent (October 2014) –
A dark room illuminated by a rather alluring crescent moon-shaped light is perhaps just the right setting for Stockport nu-psychedelia outfit Blossoms. Channeling a ’60s vibe with modern sensibilities thrown into the mix, this is a band that are very much in the ascendancy…
benedict tetzlaff - deas. 
